Facts About the Kentucky General Assembly
Discover key facts about the Kentucky General Assembly, including its history, structure, and state government functions.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — If the current legislative session was the Kentucky Derby, we’d be coming around the final turn and entering the stretch.
Feb. 9 marks the 42nd day of the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly, with 18 to go. Lawmakers will continue to meet daily for the next three weeks until the veto period begins in early April, with two more days at the Capitol after that for legislators to vote on overriding potential vetoes.
The filing deadlines for new bills were last week, and many pieces of legislation are moving quickly in Frankfort. Here’s a quick look at bills that advanced last week that will be worth watching:
SB 8 — A reworked PSC
Senate Bill 8 would change the member requirements for the Kentucky Public Service Commission — which regulates more than 1,100 utilities operating statewide — and add two new members who would be appointed by the state auditor, effectively diluting the governor’s power or oversight of PSC membership.
Under the bill, the chair of the commission would be elected amongst the commissioners, not appointed by the governor. The chair’s salary? Also determined by the commissioners.
Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation will help support Kentuckians in reviewing utility rate cases and hopefully hasten the process.
Critics of the bill raised concerns about a section that would make the attorney general the sole representative for customers, requiring advocacy groups to prove a “special and unique” interest in the case — likely cutting advocacy groups out of the picture and preventing them from intervening in cases.
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While on the floor, Smith introduced an amendment removing that section and creating a framework to allow advocates and organizations with legitimate interests to intervene.
Although the bill has passed the Senate, it will likely receive pushback from the governor’s office. In a Team Kentucky press conference, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear criticized the bill and the Republican-led legislature’s attempts at moving power from the governor’s office to the state auditor.
“They’ve done these shenanigans for six straight years,” Beshear said. “This is my sixth session as a governor, four as attorney general and a couple of special sessions. I’ve never seen them try to move something from a Republican officeholder to a Democratic officeholder, but I’ve seen them try to move a whole lot in the other direction.”
The bill passed 30-5 through the Senate on March 6. It now heads to the House.
SB 199 — Pesticide warnings
Senate Bill 199, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, would make any pesticide registered with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture or the Environmental Protection Agency that has an EPA-approved label automatically fit Kentucky’s warning label requirements. If passed, that would make it much more difficult for Kentuckians to sue pesticide manufacturers for adverse health risks later on.
Although it might not seem controversial at first glance, the bill united both hardline Republicans and Democrats on the Senate floor, with many raising concerns about the health risks of pesticide use. Several Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, Sen. Philip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, and Sen. Shelly Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, spoke against the bill and questioned the lobbying power of chemical companies that manufacture pesticides.
Wheeler brought up previous chemical agents that were found to be major causes of cancer, including DDT and Agent Orange, as well as the $7.25 billion proposed settlement from Bayer to resolve thousands of lawsuit that claim its weedkilling product Roundup caused cancer.
“If we give immunity in these cases, we’re essentially saying, if these claims are later proven to be true, and some of them are in pending litigation, we’re basically saying that these Kentuckians don’t matter, these Kentuckians don’t deserve to collect,” Wheeler said.
The bill passed through the Senate on March 5 with a 23-13 vote and will head to the House.
HB 534 — Elections omnibus
House Bill 534, from Rep. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, drew significant scrutiny before passing through the House. The elections legislation with several notable changes to current law moved to the Senate on a 53-40 vote on March 5, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.
Some of the bill’s notable provisions include:
● Monthly reviews of noncitizens on Kentucky voter rolls, with a requirement to remove names of ineligible voters and notification sent to the state’s attorney general, along with authorization for the State Board of Elections to work with the federal government to identify noncitizens who are registered to vote;
● Removing names of individuals convicted of a felony whose cases are currently on appeal from voter rolls;
● Allowing candidates for judicial office to publicly discuss their political party affiliation;
● And allowing Kentucky politicians who currently hold elected federal office to be a candidate for two different federal offices in one election, if one of the offices is decided by the United States Electoral College. The only office that applies to is U.S. president.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who has not hesitated at times to vote against President Donald Trump’s policies, has not shut the door on speculation he may make a run for the White House in 2028. He would also be up for reelection that year as a U.S. senator, a role he’s held since early 2011. State Rep. Joshua Watkins, D-Louisville, was the only representative to speak out against the provision during the March 5 vote on the House floor.
Other Democrats spoke up with concerns about disenfranchising voters appealing felony convictions, in the event the verdicts against them were to be later overturned. And multiple party members were critical of the provisions pertaining to noncitizens, with Rep. Adrielle Camuel, D-Lexington, calling them “another example of a nonproblem” aimed at riling up voters to be concerned about “a very major situation that isn’t actually happening.”
The bill advanced on a relatively narrow margin and is pending in the Senate.
HB 593 — Data center energy costs
House Bill 593 was filed by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, with a group of five co-sponsors that includes House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect. The legislation would take steps to ensure companies hoping to build data centers in Kentucky are legitimate and are able to take on additional energy costs instead of dropping them on consumers.
The bill from Bray, who previously co-chaired the legislature’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, includes several clauses regulating data centers, which are critical for AI usage but often require huge amounts of energy, a hurdle that frequently draws community criticism.
The legislation requires a nonrefundable application fee of at least $75,000 — Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the clause could help scare off “cowboy developers” who buy large amounts of land in hopes of building a data center on the property but are unfamiliar with the development process — and requires the company to pay for an electric supplier study, with provisions aimed at ensuring the data center does not drive up service rates for non-data center customers.
The bill is on its way to the Senate after passing in the House on a 90-4 vote on March 4. It has not yet been given a committee assignment.
Reach Keely Doll at kdoll@courier-journal.com. Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com. Reach The Courier Journal’s politics team at cjpolitics@courier-journal.com.
