Remote work options could change for some KY state employees
A provision in the bill that funds Kentucky’s Transportation Cabinet will not allow its workers to do their jobs remotely.
Under House Bill 501, “employees of the Transportation Cabinet shall not be permitted to telecommute unless specifically exempted by the Secretary of the Transportation Cabinet.”
The rule also requires exemptions be reported to the Legislative Research Commission quarterly.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear issued a line-item veto for the provision, but the legislature overrode it before session ended. A provision in another policy — Senate Bill 197 which awaits action from the governor — implements the remote work guidance July 1, 2027.
An “on-site work” provision is not included in other bills that allocate money and outline conditions for the operation of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.
The move is the most recent success by the legislature to limit the amount of state workers doing their jobs remotely.
In 2025, Senate Bill 79 passed through the Kentucky Senate with an amendment sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, that would have prohibited employees in the executive, judicial and legislative branches from teleworking. The bill did not get a committee hearing in the House.
Thousands of state employees shifted to remote work, at least part-time, during and following the COVID-19 pandemic that temporarily shut down state office buildings.
The 2025 personnel manual for the transportation cabinet says managers and department heads are responsible for approving telecommuting hours and days for its staff to work away from the office. Regular, scheduled telecommuting requires a formal agreement, while periodic or intermittent telecommuting for a short timeframe only requires a verbal agreement, the manual said.
All employees who partially telecommute are required, according to the manual, to work from their official workstation at least three days per week.
A spokesperson for the Kentucky Association of Transportation Engineers, an organization meant to improve working conditions, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Similar rules became effective for all state employees at the start of August 2025, according to a memo distributed to Kentucky’s cabinet secretaries, agency heads and human resources administrators by the secretary of the personnel cabinet.
Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear said Jim Gray, who had led the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for more than six years and was mayor of Lexington for two terms, would step down from his secretary position to take a part-time role as his special adviser on transportation. Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Goodman, who has been in the role since Beshear took office, replaces Gray as head of the transportation cabinet. Goodman was previously legal counsel for the transportation cabinet.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet employs more than 4,000 people. The cabinet has 12 districts to oversee road construction projects, maintain highways and bridges, inspect airports and runways and respond to bad weather incidents.
The cabinet is also responsible for motor vehicle and driver services, including driver’s license issuing, renewals and vehicle registration.
Delays at regional driver’s license offices were exacerbated last year following policies that lowered the minimum age to obtain an instructional permit, required in-person vision screening and the deadline to comply with REAL ID enforcement.
The executive branch and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have worked for the past year to improve driver’s licensing processes. Together, they’ve put in place a new line management and text check-in system and are doing an overhaul of its computer system.
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