KY General Assembly Week 8: Budget moves, bill filing deadline nears & veto watch

A wise woman once said we were rapidly approaching the part of the General Assembly where legislators make haste in moving bills.

That woman was me. I told you a week ago to prepare thy snack drawers accordingly, and if you didn’t listen, that’s really on you, pal!

But here we are, preparing to cross the threshold of session being two-thirds of the way behind us. Bills are moving quickly. (Too quickly in some cases, Democrats say.)

A not-so-wise woman once said the budget bill, House Bill 500, was “seemingly in no hurry.”

That woman was also me. One of my snacks was, apparently, crow.

After about a month of waiting, House Republicans introduced their revised version of the budget bill first filed in late January. They promised all along the original bill was merely a starting point, and they were true to their word on that.

The excitement began Tuesday when GOP lawmakers issued subpoenas to officials within Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration, a necessary action, they said, in order to get “necessary data and information” to craft a budget. Beshear’s team, meanwhile, dismissed the move as “a stunt with no merit.”

A committee substitute for HB 500 was introduced and quickly passed Wednesday, which increased funding over the next biennium by more than $1 billion. It cleared the full House Thursday on a largely party-line vote.

Another bill that moved quickly this week: House Bill 1, which essentially enrolls Kentucky into a federal tax credit scholarship program. The Senate gave it final passage Friday. Beshear hasn’t said what he’d do with this bill yet, but vetoing it is my semi-wise guess.

‘Speed-dating’ with the senator

The Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations and Revenue “speed dated” Sen. Danny Carroll and three of his proposed bills Wednesday morning. All three passed unanimously and will head to the Senate chamber for a floor vote. (As of this writing, they’re all scheduled for March 2.)

The bills are:

• Senate Bill 57, which would set aside $75 million to help developers cover federal nuclear permitting costs if the project is located in Kentucky. The money would be distributed under the guidance of the Kentucky Nuclear Development Authority and be called the Nuclear Reactor Site Readiness Program.
• Senate Bill 125 is the senator’s third attempt to create a structure of evaluation and placement of mentally ill children and teens in the criminal justice system. The bill also proposes two new girls-only Department of Juvenile Justice detention centers and a mental health juvenile detention facility.
• Senate Bill 191 would create a kindergarten readiness incentive program to be piloted through the University of Kentucky. It would pay back child care providers and low-income families whose children are not in pre-K programs but test as ready when they reach school age.

After about four minutes of testimony related to the nuclear costs bill, Committee Chair Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, said, “senator, I’m going to stop you for a second because the second half of this committee is the Danny Carroll show.”

Carroll, a Paducah Republican, sat at the testimony desk for half of the hour-long committee meeting where he answered few questions from his colleagues about the three bills as they joked they were going through speed dating rounds with him.

“I like speed dating, Mr. Chairman,” Carroll said as the committee adjourned.

-Reported by Piper Hansen

Coffee with the President: Stivers Returns

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, invited reporters back to Goodwood Brewery to discuss the budget, bills and other legislative happenings for a 40-minute conversation Wednesday, the morning after some Republican lawmakers issued subpoenas to the Beshear administration.

Stivers said he wasn’t aware that was happening until he read about it in the press Tuesday night.

With less than a week until the Senate bill filing deadline, which is March 2, Stivers said to expect legislation regarding election law and gubernatorial transitions to still get filed.

“For all practical purposes, a year from now, the governor’s office will have no real relevance...They’re just going to be closing it up from April 1 until Dec. 10,” Stivers said. “I’m not pointing the finger at this group. Every governor has done it. They try to appoint people, or they try to put people in merit positions, and that’s really not fair to the next governor coming in.”

Stivers also touched on the progress of bills that already have been filed, including Sen. Lindsey Tichenor’s, R-Smithfield, Senate Bill 26, which would ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at K-12 schools. While the bill has yet to get assigned to a committee, Stivers said “it’s being worked on.”

“We’re working on a couple of things there...(and) with her on some language,” Stivers said. “We understand what she’s trying to do and appreciate the work she is trying to do, but we believe there’s some potential legal issues.”

-Reported by Hannah Pinski

More takeaways from Week 8 of the 2026 General Assembly

• Medicaid: The Kentucky House passed House Bill 2 on a 77-21 vote, which would implement federal work requirements and copays for some Medicaid recipients. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ken Fleming, aims to streamline operations and reduce fraud. Democrats criticized provisions exceeding federal minimums, particularly copays. -Reported by Hannah Pinski
• Surrogacy: Rep. Nancy Tate filed House Bill 697 making commercial surrogacy a felony in Kentucky. The bill would criminalize paid surrogacy agreements while allowing altruistic surrogacy with expense reimbursement only. -Reported by Hannah Pinski
• Records access: House Bill 567 would allow public agencies to require Kentucky photo identification before releasing public records. The bill passed committee 14-1, with supporters citing AI chatbot misuse of records requests. Critics worry about access barriers and privacy concerns, as agencies could require in-person ID verification. -Reported by John Cheves
• Amendments: Senate President Robert Stivers filed Senate Bill 262 allowing constitutional amendments to appear as summaries instead of full text on ballots. The proposal follows recent Republican amendment defeats, including 2024’s school choice measure. Critics call it anti-transparency, while supporters say full text creates voter confusion and lengthy ballots. -Reported by Austin Horn
• Data centers: House Bill 593 passed committee unanimously, requiring data centers to cover transmission and infrastructure costs without passing expenses to existing ratepayers. The bill includes a $75,000 application fee and mandates companies generate their own electricity or purchase it on the open market if they don’t enter power purchase agreements. -Reported by Piper Hansen
• Removal update: Fayette County school board chair Tyler Murphy’s lawyers filed a 30-page response arguing Rep. Matt Lockett’s petition to remove him violates the Kentucky Constitution. Murphy faces allegations of failing to provide adequate oversight during the district’s financial troubles. His lawyers claim removal by address is no longer constitutionally applicable. -Reported by Valarie Honeycutt Spears
• AI guardrails: House Bill 455 passed the House 88-7, prohibiting artificial intelligence from making independent therapeutic decisions or generating treatment plans without licensed therapist review. Supporters cited concerns about AI models encouraging harmful behaviors. -Reported by Austin Horn
• Glock switch: House Bill 299 would make possession of devices that convert semi-automatic handguns into automatics a Class C felony. Police chiefs support the state ban, citing increased use in rapid-fire shootings. The bill mirrors existing federal law. Two Republicans voted against it in committee citing Second Amendment concerns. -Reported by John Cheves

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 we’re looking for in Week 9 of the 2026 General Assembly

Bills, bills, bills.

The filing deadlines for new bills in the House and Senate are this week. After that, no more new legislation can be filed. However, shell bills are still a thing. That’s where the contents of one bill, usually a seemingly innocuous bit of legislation, are subbed out with something entirely different during the legislative process.

Many advocates and members of the minority party say shell bills are sneaky maneuvers meant to circumvent transparency and accountability to the public. Republican leaders, however, say Democrats did the same thing when they were in power, so turnabout is fair play.

Veto Watch 2K26 has also begun with the passage of HB 1.

And, yet again: the budget. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn.

Thank you for following the Herald-Leader’s coverage of the Kentucky General Assembly. If you haven’t already, consider signing up for our (twice-weekly during session!) Bluegrass Politics newsletter.

Give me a shout at tduvall@herald-leader.com with any feedback, tips or ideas.

This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 5:00 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.