(LEX 18) — Kentucky Sen. Chris McDaniel has refiled his bill that would place a limit on the governor’s ability to issue pardons.
Senate Bill 126 would change Kentucky's constitution to prevent the governor from issuing pardons beginning 30 days before a gubernatorial general election, which takes place in November. That ban would continue until the inauguration in December.
"The power to pardon would remain in place for three years and ten months of every gubernatorial administration," said McDaniel. "But 30 days before a general election, and the time between the general election and the swearing-in, the power to pardon would not exist."
He explains that this change would keep Kentucky's governor accountable to the people.
"What this would do is it would give voters the opportunity to know and to assess what actions the governor had taken and whether or not they felt like those were appropriate," he said.
McDaniel first filed this bill after former Gov. Matt Bevin issued controversial pardons and commutations on his way out of office in 2019.
"In the Bevin administration, we saw rapists and murderers and so many others receiving pardons and commutations - all with no accountability to the overall system of justice," said McDaniel.
That situation still bothers McDaniel, especially because some of the people who received pardons and commutations from Bevin were later charged with new crimes.
"It's tragic and it's a tremendous twisting of justice in a way that's unfair. It's unfair to the original victim and it's unfair to the new victim," he said. "And it's unfair to society as a whole."
Will the bill receive enough support to become law? And since it's a constitutional change, will voters agree to it? McDaniel hopes more people will lend their support this year.
He points to last week's last-minute pardons from former President Joe Biden as another example of a lack of accountability.
