Kentucky state lawmakers will return to the capital city of Frankfort on Jan. 2 to begin a legislative session that will culminate in a new state budget and new policies for the next two years and beyond. Some bills will pass easily, some may take months to move.
Then again, some bills won’t pass at all.
It all comes down to which issues lawmakers believe are critical to their region and the Commonwealth. Kentucky Senate and Kentucky House leadership will direct the flow of bills and resolutions, giving top billing to legislation that best matches state and party priorities.
The top priority for Kentucky lawmakers – passing a biennial state spending plan that topped $29 billion in general funds this budget cycle – plays into which bills will pass, or not, as legislators negotiate for their districts. But getting a budget passed will not be easy.
Budget sessions are notoriously difficult in Kentucky, where the majority of state dollars (at least 60 percent) are traditionally split between public education and Medicaid. Add in an ideological split between the Kentucky General Assembly and the Governor’s Office and the challenge grows. The two branches – legislative and executive – are expected to have strikingly different spending and revenue plans for the 2024 “budget” session.
This may seem pretty convoluted for the average citizen who just wants to know how a bill becomes law. To make things clearer, LINK nky has answers to some common questions about the legislative process in Kentucky.
How many bills can be filed in each legislative session?
There’s no limit to the number of bills that can be filed in a legislative session. Members of the Kentucky Senate or House can file as many bills as they like, but only a fraction (typically no more than 20 percent) become law each year.
Bills filed in a special, or “extraordinary,” session are limited to subjects specified by the governor. Kentucky voters last fall rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the General Assembly to call itself into special session for up to 12 days each calendar year. The proposed amendment fell short by 92,085 votes, according to certified 2022 general election results from the Kentucky Secretary of State.
Can anyone file a bill?
Only a member of the Kentucky General Assembly can introduce legislation for passage in the Commonwealth. But anyone can ask a Kentucky lawmaker to introduce a bill or resolution. It is very common for state lawmakers to introduce legislation drafted by state government agencies and even private citizens, depending on the issue. Professional organizations, interest groups, and model laws in other jurisdictions are all sources of bills that have become Kentucky law.
Once a Kentucky state lawmaker decides to file legislation, the bill or resolution must be formatted by legislative staff and signed by the member who will introduce it. That legislator becomes the bill’s sponsor, navigating the legislation through sometimes murky political waters until the session ends.
What happens if a bill dies? Can it be introduced again in the same session?
Bills and resolutions are assigned a unique number when they are introduced each legislative session (House Bill 1 or Senate Bill 2, for example). If a bill is voted down, that vote can only be reconsidered if the bill is still in possession of the chamber that cast that vote. If a bill has passed one house and been defeated in the other with no reconsideration of the vote, the bill dies.
Other bills, or amendments to bills, may be used to move legislation that has stalled. Otherwise it may be another year (or more) before that legislation has another chance to become law.
How long does it take a bill to pass the Senate and House?
That depends on House and Senate rules (procedure) and how they are handled. A vote to “suspend the rules” or other parliamentary maneuvers may be able push legislation through one or both houses within a few days. It can also take several weeks or months.
A 200 to 300 page state budget bill, for example, goes through months of review and amendment before lawmakers even begin to agree on a spending plan. Even much less contentious bills can take weeks to navigate both chambers.
Backing from the party in power can speed the process along, but even that isn’t a surefire indicator of a bill’s success. Bills filed by members of the majority party have been shipped to a committee and died there on more than one occasion. Legislation that appeals to a critical need or a party’s core ideology is more likely to make it through both chambers and onto the governor’s desk.
How many votes does it take to pass a bill?
The Kentucky Constitution states “No bill shall become law unless, on its final passage, it receives the votes of at least two-fifths of the members elected to each House, and a majority of the members voting.” That means at least 16 Senators and at least 40 State Representatives must vote in favor of a bill before it can go to the governor.
The vote threshold is higher for appropriations and revenue bills. Spending bills and bills that add to the state debt require what is called a “constitutional majority” of each chamber (or 51 votes in the House and 20 votes in the Senate) to pass in a budget session like this one.
A supermajority, or three-fifths of members elected to each chamber (23 Senators and 60 State Representatives), is required to pass spending and revenue bills in odd-numbered annual sessions.
What about constitutional amendments?
Kentucky constitutional amendments can be referred to the ballot by state lawmakers or addressed through a constitutional convention. Historically, most start as bills. A striking difference between a proposed constitutional amendment and most bills is how proposed amendments are enacted.
First there’s the number of votes required for the Kentucky General Assembly to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. The answer is a three-fifths majority of each chamber, or 23 votes in the Senate and 60 votes in the House.
Then there’s where proposed constitutional amendments go when they leave the legislature. Unlike most bills passed by the General Assembly, proposed amendments to the state constitution are not sent to the governor to be signed into law. They are sent to the Kentucky Secretary of State to be placed on the general election ballot for voter approval. If approved, the General Assembly may then pass new laws under the authority granted to it by the amendment.
Who can veto a bill passed in Kentucky?
Only the governor can veto a bill or resolution. A veto is the power of a governor to strike any legislation (except a proposed constitutional amendment) within 10 legislative days after he or she receives it. Those days exclude Sundays, but Saturdays and every other day are fair game.
Sometimes lawmakers decide to let a veto go unchallenged. Others are called up by the Senate and House for possible override, or reversal.
Both chambers have a longstanding tradition of setting aside one or two days after each veto period to override vetoes opposed by their majorities. That was the case during the 2023 annual session when lawmakers voted to override a veto to Senate Bill 150. The controversial law, now in effect, creates new standards for sex education and gender identification in public schools while banning gender affirming health care for minors.
What role do the courts play, if any?
Courts have a big say in what happens in the legislature. As the third branch of government, state and federal courts – or Judicial Branch – interpret law and may even declare laws unconstitutional.
Pivotal changes to Kentucky law have resulted from state and/or federal court rulings throughout history. Landmark rulings led to both the legalization of same-sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015) and statewide public education reform in Kentucky (Rose v. The Council for Better Education Inc., 1989). Legal challenges to Kentucky reproductive freedom laws are among those cases pending in the courts today.