Final rush of Kentucky lawmaking is on before 10-day break for vetoes

by McKenna Horsley, Sarah Ladd and Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern
March 13, 2025

FRANKFORT —  As the 2025 regular session hurtles toward a break for the 10-day veto period, lawmakers are ironing out House-Senate differences and preparing to give dozens of bills final approval Friday to ensure Republicans have time to override Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes.

Lawmakers from both chambers planned to meet Thursday night to resolve their differences over House Bill 775, which blossomed from an inconsequential “shell bill” earlier this week into 107 pages of of tax law changes, including making it easier for lawmakers to incrementally lower the state’s income tax rate in the future. Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, of Greensburg, told reporters he didn’t expect “anything out of left field” to come from the negotiations. The Senate is expected to take up the bill Friday. 

In a week of head spinning alterations to legislation, surprises continued Thursday, the 27th day of the 30-day session. Both chambers took only a few hours to approve changes in Kentucky’s abortion law. A Senate committee moved to narrow public access to police records, despite bipartisan opposition. And the House voted to allow students to leave their public schools for an hour of “moral instruction” each week. 

‘You don’t have to hide it’

Democrats, including Beshear, criticized what they said is a lack of transparency in how the Republican supermajority is moving significant new legislation with little notice by overhauling unrelated bills, piling on amendments or introducing committee substitutes. The deadline for filing bills was in late February.

“Listen, if you think you’re passing the right things, you don’t have to hide it,” Beshear said during his weekly news conference. “And it’s time to stop a lot of this ‘shell bill’ and committee substitute nonsense and embrace the people that elect you and allow them to actually see a transparent process.”

Givens countered that the legislative process is “available” to all lawmakers. He pointed to Democrats trying to put forth committee substitutes of two GOP higher education bills in a Senate committee. Both failed to pass. 

“I think if I were in the minority, I would complain as well, because being the minority, you’ve got to have some reason to stand up and talk,” Givens said. 

Democrats pointed to the changes in abortion law that surfaced for the first time Wednesday and were  approved by both Republican-controlled chambers within 24 hours. 

Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, said she hadn’t received the bill substitute in time to understand it or consult experts. She slammed “an intentional choice by the majority party in the way this legislation was moved to disenfranchise me and the people I represent on this very important issue.”

Chambers Armstrong and other Democrats passed on the revised House Bill 90. The original bill only paved the way for freestanding birth centers in Kentucky. Supporters of the amended bill say it will provide medical providers with additional clarity on how they can treat complicated pregnancies and miscarriages without running afoul of the state’s near-total ban on abortion.

“I really hope that this bill does take a step forward in terms of allowing doctors to provide lifesaving care,” Chambers Armstrong said. “I truly hope that that is what this legislation does. However, I don’t know that.”

A free conference committee made up of House and Senate members reached an agreement on calamity days for schools that were frequently closed by winter weather and floods this year. The Senate had added a provision to House Bill 241 protecting the Kentucky Virtual Academy, a controversial online school, from an enrollment cap imposed by state education officials in response to concerns about poor student performance and failure to meet staffing requirements. Under the compromise, schools can still seek to waive five required days and make up for lost instruction by lengthening the school day, while the free conference committee also agreed to “guardrails” to limit enrollment at the Kentucky Virtual Academy. The Senate adopted the new changes and  the House is expected to concur when it reconvenes Friday. 

Following the 10-day veto period, lawmakers will return to Frankfort on March 27 and 28, when they can overturn gubernatorial vetoes and wrap up the session. Lawmakers can pass bills on the final two days but would have no opportunity to override Beshear’s vetoes, thus the push to wrap up GOP priorities by end of business Friday.

Bills that moved this week

House Bill 90 has passed the General Assembly and awaits Beshear’s signature or veto. It will pave the way for Kentucky to have freestanding birth centers and clarify the state’s abortion ban. Senate Bill 100 was finally passed Thursday and is headed to Beshear. This bill would regulate retailers who sell nicotine products and set up a fine system for those who sell to minors. House Bill 495, which would cancel Beshear’s restrictions on conversion therapy, got an addition that prohibits Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming medical care, has passed both chambers. During the Senate debate, Sen. Danny Carrol, R-Paducah, diverged from the party line and voted against the bill. He explained he had read research about conversion therapy results. “And I guess what was most concerning were the suicide statistics related to that for children.” Sen. Michael Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, voted for the bill but said he only supported the conversion therapy portion. Democrats decried the bill as cruel. Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, who lost her transgender son to suicide in 2022, pleaded unsuccessfully for her colleagues to strike down the bill. “This hatred killed my child,” she said. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. House Bill 196 passed the General Assembly Wednesday and was sent to Beshear for his consideration. It would reduce the required number of coal miners trained and certified to handle medical emergencies to be on site for small coal operations.Senate Bill 89, which would roll back state water pollution protections, received final passage Thursday after the Senate concurred on changes made to the bill in a House committee.Senate Bill 202, which would regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages, has cleared the General Assembly and is on its way to Beshear’s desk. House Bill 398, which would further limit state labor protections by ensuring state officials can’t implement regulations that exceed federal standards, received final passage through the House Thursday and heads to the governor’s desk. 

Bills nearing final passage

Senate Bill 2, a high-priority bill to bar the use of public funds for hormone and surgical treatment of transgender prisoners, has passed the Senate and needs a House floor vote. House Bill 38, which would make it a Class D felony to violate a protective order on the third instance, has passed both chambers and awaits concurrence. Senate Bill 19 — originally mandating a moment of silence at the beginning of school days — was changed in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Thursday morning to provide “moral instruction” to public school students provided by  outside entities applying to public school districts. Students could choose to leave schooleach week for an hour of moral instruction. Other students would participate in noncredit enrichment classes or other educational activities. The bill still requires a moment of silence in public schools. The House passed SB 19 by a vote of 72-19. The Senate must decide whether to concur with the changes made by the House..A bill that originally added apartments with more than 48 units in the legal definition of “building” for industrial revenue bond laws was amended to add a swath of changes. Senate Bill 25 now includes establishing the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Board, making the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman an office within the State Auditor’s Office, as opposed to an independent office, and funding various local infrastructure projects. 

Bills with a question mark

Senate Bill 85 needs a House vote by end of day on Friday to be veto-proof. This bill is meant to close a months-long dispute between Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Auditor Allison Ball’s Office of the Ombudsman. House Bill 520 needs a Senate vote and concurrence of changes made to the bill by the House by the end of day Friday to be veto-proof. Law enforcement supporting the bill say the changes the bill would make to an exemption in the open records law would protect active police investigations, while open government advocates are concerned it could allow law enforcement agencies to erroneously withhold records.  House Bill 16, which would make water fluoridation optional in Kentucky, still needs a Senate committee hearing and a vote on the Senate floor. Senate Bill 61, seeking to remove public health regulations for private swimming pools, could be transformed by House Speaker David Osborne’s floor amendment to preempt local governments from limiting a proliferation of short-term rental  properties such as Airbnbs.

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