KY General Assembly Week 1: Bills galore, Beshear’s final budget address & more

The first week of a legislative session is, in my mind, a bit contradictory.

The days are short, with legislators gaveling in and then fairly soon after heading right back out. Day 1, for example, saw both chambers adjourn in about 30 minutes. Some days were even shorter.

But on the other hand, the nights for journalists are long. Despite there being so little legislative action, the Bluegrass Politics team spends hours combing through heaps of newly filed bills, looking for the most impactful, important and interesting to write about for our readers.

We’ve already found plenty of those, with hundreds of bills, mostly in the House, already filed.

If you’re not familiar with the men who will shepherd a number of those bills to final passage — Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne — then catch up with this pair of in-depth profiles.

• Meet David Osborne: How KY Speaker Osborne leads evolving House GOP supermajority in the MAGA era -Reported by Alex Acquisto
• Meet Robert Stivers: How a ‘center-right’ KY Republican became the center of power in Frankfort -Reported by Austin Horn

Now, let’s dive in to these bills.

Kentucky Democrats’ priorities

State House and Senate Democrats wasted no time publicizing their legislative priorities, as both caucuses held press conferences unveiling policies they hope to see make it across the finish line by the end of session.

It’ll be an uphill battle for Democratic lawmakers. Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers, meaning any bill they want passed will need significant GOP support.

Common ground between the Democrats in both chambers included addressing the loss of federal funding for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, housing reform and raising the minimum wage.

For House Democrats, specific policies they propose are:

• Adding $50 million to the state budget in 2026 and $66 million in 2027 to address funding cuts to SNAP.
• Investing $335 million in a Rural Hospital Fund.
• Creating a $100 million Affordable Housing Loan Fund to help build and preserve affordable homes.
• Increasing the minimum wage in gradual steps to reach $17 an hour by 2029.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Gerald Neal emphasized he believes Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature agree on what is passed the majority of the time. The number he gave was 90%, although he added it varies from session to session.

“We probably come to agreement more than you would imagine,” Neal said. “But that doesn’t mean that we come to what we would like is the best thing that we could have, because this is a system of compromise.”

-Reported by Hannah Pinski

Stories from Week 1 of the 2026 General Assembly

On education:

• K-12 DEI Ban: Republican Sen. Lindsey Tichenor filed legislation to ban diversity, equity and inclusion practices in Kentucky’s K-12 public schools. Senate Bill 26 would prohibit differential treatment based on race, religion, sex, color or national origin and eliminate DEI offices, training and initiatives. The attorney general could enforce compliance through civil action. -Reported by Valarie Honeycutt Spears & Hannah Pinski
• Traceable communication: Sen. Lindsey Tichenor filed legislation clarifying a 2025 law requiring traceable communication between school staff and students. The new bill creates exceptions for virtual instruction, translation services, emergency situations and communications including parents. -Reported by Hannah Pinski
• Teacher safety: Sen. Matt Nunn introduced legislation Friday intended to strengthen protections for teachers from student violence. The bill would require one-year expulsion for students who physically injure staff, mandatory reporting of assault attempts, criminal penalties for failure to report and allow prosecutors to try students 14 and older as adults for felony assault. -Reported by Valarie Honeycutt Spears
• Scholarship tax credits: Rep. TJ Roberts filed legislation requiring Kentucky to participate in a federal tax credit scholarship program allowing up to $1,700 annual credits for private school donations. The bill transfers enrollment authority from Gov. Beshear to Auditor Allison Ball. Beshear called the measure unconstitutional. -Reported by Hannah Pinski

Other notable bills and stories:

• Beshear’s budget address: Gov. Andy Beshear unveiled his final budget proposal, including a $40.5 million request for pre-K expansion, serving 9,683 additional 4-year-olds. The proposal also includes $159 million annually for teacher raises. Republicans control the legislature and have not previously embraced his pre-K initiative or teacher raise proposals. -Reported by Hannah Pinski, Piper Hansen & Austin Horn
• Public access: Democrats criticized new rules for the temporary legislative chambers during Capitol renovation, saying they reduce transparency and public access. Republicans say the Annex remains open with designated public viewing areas. -Reported by Piper Hansen
• Citizen officeholders: Rep. Shane Baker filed legislation requiring only natural-born U.S. citizens to hold local elected offices like mayor and city council in Kentucky. A second bill proposes a constitutional amendment extending the ban to all state offices. Lexington Vice Mayor Dan Wu, born in China, called the measure a “culture war distraction.” -Reported by Austin Horn
• Mandatory reentry supervision: Some Kentucky lawmakers plan to end mandatory reentry supervision, which releases inmates six months early for community monitoring, following Ronald Exantus’ controversial release. Exantus killed 6-year-old Logan Tipton in 2015 but was released last October after serving less than half his 20-year sentence; he has since been ordered to serve out his sentence. -Reported by John Cheves
• Gerrymandering: Senate President Robert Stivers said lawmakers will not redraw Kentucky’s congressional map to eliminate the state’s only Democratic U.S. representative. Stivers told reporters he opposed the idea in conversations with White House officials and cited historical concerns about redistricting backfiring on Republicans. -Reported by Austin Horn
• Abortion protections: Rep. Lindsey Burke filed legislation to prevent prosecution of Kentuckians who seek reproductive health care outside the state and protect medical privacy. The bill follows the indictment of a Campton woman charged with fetal homicide after a medication abortion, though prosecutors later moved to dismiss that charge. -Reported by Piper Hansen
• Charlie Kirk Day: Republican lawmakers Rep. TJ Roberts and Sen. Steve Rawlings filed legislation to designate Oct. 14 as “Charlie Kirk Day” to honor the right-wing influencer who was fatally shot at a Utah campus event in September. Kirk founded Turning Point USA. -Reported by Hannah Pinski

The above takeaways were produced with the help of an AI tool, which summarized previous stories reported and written by Herald-Leader journalists. This content was reviewed and edited by journalists in the newsroom. Read more on our AI policy here.

What to look for in Week 2 of the 2026 General Assembly

Mostly? A lot more bills being filed.

Senators have until Monday, March 2, which the 38th day of session, to file new bills. Representatives have until the 40th day, Wednesday, March 4, to file their bills.

Notably, we’ve yet to see a budget proposal from Republicans. Yes, the governor has proposed his, but GOP lawmakers will pay it little mind, if past years are any indication.

And, if you’ve got thoughts about these bills or any other, service journalism reporter Aaron Mudd has a breakdown of how you can find and contact your legislator here.

Thanks for following our coverage of the Kentucky legislature. If you haven’t already, consider signing up for our (twice weekly during session!) Bluegrass Politics newsletter.

Feel free to reach out to me at tduvall@herald-leader.com with any feedback, tips or ideas.

This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 8:00 AM.

Tessa Duvall

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-334-0430

Tessa has been the Herald-Leader’s Politics and Public Affairs Editor since March 2024, after acting as Frankfort Bureau Chief since joining the paper in August 2022. A native of Bowling Green and a graduate of Western Kentucky University, Tessa has also reported in Texas, Florida and Louisville, where she covered education, criminal justice and policing.