Politics
Kentucky broadband board shake-up faces challenge in court
Gov. Andy Beshear issued an executive order seeking to restore his administration’s control of the KentuckyWired board, but a board member and the judge overseeing a related lawsuit questioned whether he has the authority to do so. The dispute comes as the state’s yearslong contract fight with network partner Accelecom heads toward a November trial.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear has issued an executive order seeking to reverse a Republican-backed restructuring of the board overseeing KentuckyWired, setting off a new dispute over who has authority to govern the state’s broadband network.
Beshear’s order, issued Wednesday, October 14, would restore the Kentucky Communications Network Authority board to its makeup before House Bill 314 became law this year. The legislation removed most of the governor’s appointees and shifted the majority of board appointments to Republican state constitutional officers.
Beshear cited a June Kentucky Supreme Court decision that blocked lawmakers from transferring control of the Kentucky Fair Board from the governor to the agriculture commissioner. Republicans who backed HB 314 said the changes were intended to improve oversight of KentuckyWired, which has been caught up in a contract dispute with private network partner Accelecom, also known as Open Fiber Kentucky Company LLC.
The legality of Beshear’s order was challenged Wednesday by Russ Hensley, a board member appointed after HB 314 took effect. Hensley said the Supreme Court decision did not authorize the governor to replace the board created by statute. He said he did not consider his service ended and reserved his objections to the order’s validity.
Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd also questioned the order during a Thursday morning hearing in the state’s lawsuit against Accelecom. The hearing was the last scheduled before a trial planned for November.
“I think I also know that he realizes he can’t declare statutes unconstitutional,” Shepherd said of Beshear. The judge said he believed HB 314 remained in effect, adding that Beshear could seek to intervene in the case and present his arguments.
The lawsuit concerns the parties’ contract disputes, including Accelecom’s request for permission to connect certain customers to KentuckyWired’s middle-mile network. Shepherd warned that continued litigation was harming the public interest, saying the network was not fully operational.
KentuckyWired consists of hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable intended to bring high-speed internet connections to every county seat. It supplies middle-mile service, which private providers can use to build the last-mile connections to homes and businesses. The network also serves school districts, courts, state offices, public universities, and community and technical colleges.
The board dispute adds uncertainty to the network’s governance as the contract case approaches trial. Shepherd said the longer the case continues, the more the public stands to lose from a program that is not yet fully operational.