Kentucky lawmakers overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto to pass HB 490, a bill that would make it easier for public colleges to terminate faculty for “bona fide financial reasons.” The legislation includes standards such as financial exigency, low enrollment, and mismatches between departmental costs and revenues. Beshear warned the bill creates an “ambiguous and vague” standard and could enable politically motivated targeting of tenured professors under the guise of economic necessity. Faculty and labor groups including the AAUP and AFT argued the change could threaten research capacity and chill faculty speech. The bill also requires notice and an opportunity to respond before removal, and institutions would have until Oct. 1 to establish termination policies. The override adds momentum to a broader state-level reassessment of tenure protections in higher education.