The busiest days of Kentucky General Assembly sessions are typically the two just ahead of the governor’s veto period — and Tuesday in Frankfort was no exception.
Wednesday is the final day that lawmakers in the dominant Republican supermajority can pass bills that are “veto proof,” as any legislation that Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoes in the subsequent week and a half can be overridden by Republicans when they return for the final two days of the 2026 session in mid-April.
With the clock ticking, Republicans sped through dozens of bills to final passage on Tuesday and sent them off to the governor for his signature or veto. They also moved other much-debated bills closer to passage, as the two chambers hammer out the differences between bills in conference committees.
Here is a rundown of some of the key bills that took a step closer to becoming law Tuesday, as they prepare for the final day to pass veto-proof legislation.
SB 137 — Provisional licenses for international doctors
Citing the need to lure doctors to hospitals and clinics in rural Kentucky, Senate Bill 137 is an effort to ease the path for foreign-born doctors who earned a license to practice medicine in another country. The bill would give immigrant doctors the ability to obtain a provisional license to treat patients in Kentucky.
The bill was sponsored by GOP Sen. Stephen Meredith of Leitchfield, who in a floor speech decried the current rhetoric in the country about immigration, which he called a "xenophobic virus." The bill passed with a large bipartisan majority in each chamber and was sent to Beshear on Tuesday.
SB 104 — Buffer zone around police
Senate Bill 104 would make it a crime to remain within 25 feet of first responders if they believe they are being obstructed, threatened or harassed; lawmakers sent it to the governor Tuesday upon final passage. It’s already a crime to obstruct first responders, but Senate Bill 104 gives police a new tool to order people to back away from them, or face legal consequences.
Democrats have raised concerns that the legislation could give police the power to block lawful observers and peaceful protesters whom officers feel are harassing them.
HB 607 — Louisville
House Bill 607 to reshape Louisville’s Ethics Commission and create new guidelines for city redistricting made final passage and now heads to the governor. The bill solely targets Kentucky’s largest city.
It would dismiss Louisville’s current Ethics Commission and replace all of its members, with appointment powers split between the mayor and Metro Council. The bill would also require half of the commission’s members to be Republicans and the other half Democrats. The new redistricting guidelines would require voter precincts be kept intact in future maps while removing a requirement that neighborhood boundaries be respected.
HB 58 — Automated license plate cameras
The first set of state laws to limit the use of automated license plate readers, known by the brand name Flock, House Bill 58 would limit the use of the cameras to law enforcement and toll collection. It sets a blanket restriction on retaining license plate data to 90 days, with a few exceptions. The bill blocks agencies from selling data to third parties and requires public agencies to publish a written policy on how they’ll use the cameras. Some lawmakers were critical of a Senate change that would allow the Transportation Cabinet to retain data indefinitely for tolling purposes.
Flock cameras have recently come under public scrutiny for how the data has been collected and shared with federal immigration officers, including within the Louisville Metro Police Department. The bill has finally passed both chambers and now heads to the governor’s desk.
HB 139 – Voter IDs, campaign donor limits, and more
The large omnibus bill, cobbled together from three different pieces of legislation last week, seeks to increase campaign donor limits, restrict allowed voter IDs, permit the sharing of private voter information with the federal government and more. It received final approval from both chambers and now heads to Beshear.
What started as a bipartisan elections cleanup bill now explicitly allows for more partisanship in judicial and other nonpartisan elections. House Bill 139 would also increase the limit on donations to an individual election to the federal level, which is currently $3,500 per election, up from $2,200.
HB 470 — Medicaid spending prohibition, peer support licensing
House Bill 470 started as a bill to address a crisis over licensing for peer support specialists in the addiction treatment industry, as a 2024 bill that went into effect in January required them to go through a new certification process. However, only a tiny fraction of the nearly 17,000 peer support specialists have been certified, with HB 470 pushing back that requirement to next year.
A last minute addition to the bill in the Senate would prevent Medicaid from paying out claims billed for “psychoeducation” services — a non-clinical service for those in addiction recovery. As Kentucky Public Radio reported earlier this month, state spending on psychoeducation skyrocketed in 2024, leading to concerns from state officials about fraud and a pending federal settlement over allegedly fraudulent billing with Addiction Recovery Care, the beleaguered company that was once the state’s largest recovery provider.
As HB 470 received final passage on the House floor Tuesday, GOP Rep. Kim Moser of Taylor Mill said the provision on psychoeducation was needed because this was “overbilled and abused to the tune of $300 million over the last five years.”
HB 6 — Child care omnibus
House Bill 6, which started as a large bill targeted at lowering barriers for child care providers, has morphed into something even bigger after two Senate floor amendments. Now, the bill includes a provision starting a pilot program to provide monetary incentives for parents and providers who get their children kindergarten ready.
The bipartisan legislation aims to streamline child care regulations, makes changes to the under-utilized Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership and includes requirements that providers be trained on children with disabilities. The House approved the changes late Tuesday, with 10 Republicans voting against the measure, sending it on to the governor.
SB 251 — Bypassing rulemaking for execution protocols
As the attorney general argues in court to dismiss a lawsuit over Kentucky’s execution regulations, Senate Bill 251 seeks to make the lawsuit over administrative regulations moot. The bill now heading back to the Senate for final passage would bypass the rulemaking process altogether, allowing the execution protocols to be created via internal memos and policies.
A House floor amendment would require those policies be published online, even if they don’t need to go through the lengthy administrative regulation process. SB 251 is a bid to expedite the return of the death penalty in Kentucky, which has been paused for more than 15 years due to court challenges.
SB 199 — Liability protection for pesticide companies
Senate Bill 199 protects companies manufacturing and selling pesticides and herbicides from lawsuits of people claiming they were hurt by their products, so long as the packaging contained a required warning label from the Environment Protection Agency.
The bill was lobbied for by the Kentucky Farm Bureau and pesticide industry due to a pending lawsuit finding a company liable for failing to properly warn about the cancer risk of products containing glyphosate. The EPA does not consider glyphosate a carcinogen and does not require such a warning on pesticide labels.
Farming lobbyists said the liability protections would protect them from pesticide costs going up and making it harder to grow crops at a profit, but opponents said it would shield giant corporations from accountability if their products cause harm. Such opponents included environmental groups and the 26 Republican lawmakers who voted against SB 199, including some in the “Make American Healthy Again” movement that has sounded the alarm on glyphosate risks.
The bill passed the General Assembly two weeks ago, with Beshear issuing his veto on Tuesday, writing that it “not only fails to protect Kentuckians, it also prevents justice for the harm they suffer.” Both chambers promptly voted to override the veto later that day, after which SB 199 became law.
