12 Questions Ahead of Kentucky's 2025 Legislative Session
Can I get a yee-haw?
Yes, hello, hope everyone is using this snowstorm to fully prepare for the upcoming legislative session. (No? Just me? OK, that’s fine.)
Gonna dive straight into tonight’s newsletter, which is just a bunch of questions I have ahead of session, about session.
Writer/editor note: Just like last time, some of what you’re about to read was already published in Queer Kentucky. Again, that’s where you’ll find all of my full-length reporting this session, so make sure to follow them.
But, unlike last time, I’ve added a ton of new questions and information. This newsletter is not turning into a copy-and-paste situation, I promise.
What are we gonna do about the snow?
No, but seriously. Are we all supposed to get to Frankfort safely by Tuesday, and if so, how?
Let’s just run through the situation. Session starts on Tuesday. The Kentucky Constitution says, “The General Assembly shall convene for the first part of the session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January…” (emphasis mine).
I’m not a lawyer but I have covered enough sessions to know “shall” isn’t typically a “maybe.” (The legislature can set their own calendar within the confines of the Constitution, so if this happened mid-session, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But it is impacting Day One.)
ICYMI: We are in the middle of a massive winter storm. I literally looked out the window earlier today and was stunned to see my street had been plowed already. I quickly realized it hadn’t been plowed; I was just seeing the tiny portion of my black SUV that wasn’t covered in inches of snow.
Lawmakers don’t really have the option of working from home (I think that’s partially their fault, but it doesn’t matter right now). And a lot of ‘em have to make a bit of a trek to get there. Looking just at the Senate, the average lawmaker has about a 93-mile-long drive to get to Frankfort. (Yes, I made an entire spreadsheet to figure that out.)
Gov. Andy Beshear already closed state office buildings for Monday. And he can do it again. However, it is my understanding that Beshear’s proclamation only closes down the parts of the state Capitol under executive branch control — so the legislature could do their own thing.
If anyone reading this happens to have insight, please do share. Because if I can get an extra day to perfect my First Day Frankfort ‘Fit, that would be splendid.
Will 2025 truly capture short session energy?
There’s been some interest in making 2025 the return to traditional short session energy — basically, focus on small bills and technical or clean-up language and nothing else.
Explainer: Kentucky’s legislature meets every year. In even-numbered years, they handle the budget and meet for a total of 60 days from January to mid-April. And in odd-numbered years, they have a “short session” where they only meet for 30 days from January to March.
Historically, short sessions are supposed to be for fixing things — not major legislative overhauls. However, lawmakers strayed from tradition recently, including in 2023, where they thought it would be fun to pass laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth, legalizing sports betting and also legalizing medical marijuana. All in 30 (legislative) days.
You know, we’ll see.
When do the committees meet? What time should I be there?
I’m serious. Yes, I’ve been a credentialed member of the Frankfort press corps for years and just learned The Gallery Pass is officially recognized as a media outlet in the eyes of the Kentucky legislature (again, yes, I’m serious), but I need someone to tell me when the committees meet.
Typically, legislative leaders share a standing list of when every committee meets a few weeks, at least, before session. Of course, they can call special committee meetings whenever, but that schedule is crucial. And it should be public by now.
We were told last month the committee schedule wasn’t expected until January. We are now less than two days from kick-off, and … I have no clue what’s going on.
If you or a loved one has any intel on the committee schedule, please do not hesitate to share it with me.
Outside of snow, what’s happening in the first week?
Typically, the first few days of session focus on press events, bill filings and formalities. Oh, and photo ops.
Here’s what’s on my docket as of rn:
Tuesday: Session starts with the House and Senate gaveling in I believe at noon, tons of bills get filed, everyone and their families get photos taken, I try to wear my best Frankfort ‘Fit and try to get one of my very talented photojournalist friends to take a photo of me as well.
Wednesday: House/Senate gavel in (probably at 2 p.m., but not sure), more bills get filed, Beshear has his annual State of the Commonwealth address at 7 p.m. in the House chambers. It will be livestreamed.
Thursday: House/Senate gavel in (probably at 2 p.m., but still not sure), more bills get filed.
Friday: House/Senate gavel in (more likely to be at 9 a.m., but not sure), more bills get filed, everyone says goodbye.
As you can see, my planner is looking a lil sparse, so if you know of or are a group holding a media event or press conference of some kind, let me know so I can add it to my calendar! I’m at olivia.krauth@gmail.com.
Will Kentucky move towards eliminating the income tax?
Short answer: Yes, just a matter of when.
One of the GOP-dominated legislature’s top priorities is — and has been — reducing Kentucky’s income tax, and it is expected to be the main thing they do the first week of session. They did this in 2023, too.
This time, they’re expected to pass legislation to drop the state income tax to 3.5% in 2026, which would be their next step toward their ultimate goal: ~eliminating the income tax.~
Beshear said recently he would support legislation cutting the income tax, too. He signed the 2023 bill, too, but, of course, there has been fighting between the GOP legislature and the Dem governor over who exactly gets to take credit for that. (Be prepared for more of that.)
If there happens to be a snow day, though, they may not be able to knock this out in week one. But it depends on how they approach the snow situation, and it doesn’t really matter; between the GOP supermajority and Beshear, it’ll pass.
What will the new faces in Frankfort do?
I’m not expecting too much to happen in the first week outside of the income tax, snow and bill filings. Oh, and getting an early sense of what the new (and semi-new) lawmakers plan on doing in office.
About 15% of Kentucky’s lawmakers are rookies or semi-rookies. Two state reps jumped to the Senate — Louisville Dem Keturah Herron and NKY Republican Steve Rawlings — while the House will have 15 new members (with one being former state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian) and the Senate will have 4.
The power balance between Dems and the GOP basically stayed the same, but fresh blood is always fun.
In the Senate, the four newbies are all Republicans:
Craig Richardson — Replacing former Sen. Whitney Westerfield. Will be the Health Services vice chair.
Aaron Reed — Beat former Sen. Adrienne Southworth. Will be the VMAPP committee vice chair.
Matt Nunn — Taking over former Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer’s district.
Scott Madon — Won a wild last-second write-in race to replace late Sen. Johnnie Turner.
And in the House, here are the Republicans:
Kim Holloway — Beat former House Ag Chair Richard Heath.
JT Payne — Replacing Jonathon Dixon.
Ryan Bivens — Replacing Courtney Gilbert, who briefly replaced Brandon Reed.
Chris Lewis — Taking over for Kevin Bratcher, who ran for Louisville Metro Council.
Tony Hampton — Replacing Phillip Pratt.
TJ Roberts — Taking over for Rawlings, who is moving to the Senate.
Vanessa Grossl — Narrowly beat former House Dem Minority Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson.
Mitch Whitaker — Replacing Jacob Justice.
Aaron Thompson — Replacing Danny Bentley.
And the new House Dems:
Mary Lou Marzian — Technically isn’t new because she held this seat for decades.
Josh Watkins — Taking over for Herron, who switched to the Senate.
Adam Moore — Taking over former GOP Rep. Killian Timoney’s seat.
Erika Hancock — Taking over for former House Minority Floor Leader Derrick Graham.
Matt Lehman — Replacing former House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts.
Anne Donworth — Replacing Ruth Ann Palumbo.
What is going to happen to Daniel Grossberg?
I talked about this a few newsletters ago, so I’ll keep this brief.
Basically, I think we’re all familiar with the hot water Rep. Daniel Grossberg has been in over the last several months. He’s been blocked from his own caucus, plus a bunch of other Dem groups and spaces.
It is unclear what, if anything, will happen to Grossberg once the session starts. A two-thirds vote could remove him from office, but it is unclear if that vote will be called.
With school choice out, what’s next for education?
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the GOP’s attempt to allow public dollars to go to private schools in November, but education is still expected to be a big deal in Frankfort this year. (Because when is it not?)
Don’t expect anything related to “school choice,” though. After Amendment 2 failed, legislative leaders have made it pretty clear they’ve heard the voters and will try to find other ways to improve education.
Expect the legislature’s education gaze to fall heavily on Jefferson County Public Schools, the state’s largest district and a longtime target of Frankfort.
But I’m not sure exactly what that could look like. A state task force focused on examining JCPS during the interim session ultimately only recommended the task force meet again next year before issuing any major recommendations, such as splitting up the district.
And in a surprising move, the House split its education committee into two: One section for K-12 issues, the other for higher ed. It’ll be interesting to see why they did that, and specifically why they put the committee chair Rep. James Tipton — who has focused much of his legislative energy on K-12 issues, and was expected to push for more teacher misconduct legislation this year — in charge of the higher ed side of things.
What anti-DEI proposal will win out?
Speaking of education: Bills aimed at limiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher ed will return this year.
ICYMI: The GOP prioritized anti-DEI legislation last session, and then ultimately failed to do anything regarding one of its largest priorities because they couldn’t agree just how far they should go with it.
They spent much of the interim session discussing the topic and hearing from college and university leadership, and everyone expects at least some version of DEI legislation to be considered in 2025.
What exactly that could look like? Not sure — especially because some universities preemptively made big changes to how they handle DEI efforts in the wake of the 2024 session. And despite answering several questions from lawmakers, there is definitely some distrust on the GOP lawmakers’ side that universities didn’t just shuffle people and job titles around without actually stopping anything the lawmakers would like to end.
Historically, with culture wars legislation, there are typically multiple versions of a bill filed ranging in, um, for lack of better terms, anger and harshness levels. But with this amount of work last year and during the interim, I don’t know if that’ll be true this time around.
What could possibly be next for LGBTQ+ issues?
Anti-DEI legislation will likely impact LGBTQ+ rights, but if the last few sessions are any sign, expect more to face the LGBTQ+ community this year.
One lawmaker already suggested he’d file a “bathroom bill,” and GOP Rep. Josh Calloway said on social media he has a bill drafted that appears, based on his tweet, would block money from funding gender-affirming surgeries for inmates.
With a new Trump presidency and likely subsequent federal changes, anything is possible. But the culture wars tides are always shifting, and in Kentucky, it looks like they’re going to be focused more on higher ed issues for another year.
But this is the Kentucky legislature, and I know better at this point to rule anything out. It is important to note the Senate also just elected two folks who championed anti-LGBTQ+ bills — Sen. Robby Mills, who sponsored the bill aimed at keeping trans girls off girls’ sports teams in 2022, and Sen. Max Wise, who sponsored SB 150 in 2023 — to leadership roles.
And, yes, of course, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on everyone’s favorite legislative topic: drag shows.
What else should I keep an eye on?
I’ve repeatedly learned that no amount of prep will fully prepare you for the, um, chaos that is a Kentucky legislative session.
I think I’ve touched on all the highlights, but here is an assorted collection of things I came across or thought of while doing legislative preview coverage that might also pop up:
Foster care: This was a huge deal in July of 2023, and the GOP got mad at Beshear over it, but then didn’t make it a massive legislative priority during the 2024 session, but very recently sent out a statement blasting Beshear for doing Beshear stuff and not addressing the foster care situation. So, I guess this seems to be a GOP priority again, idk.
Task forces: Outside of the JCPS task force, there were also housing and AI task forces this interim. So, those topics could come up, but they’re also complex issues that lawmakers have struggled to really do much with in the past.
Water: Mills, the incoming Senate GOP Caucus Chair, and incoming House Minority Floor Leader Pam Stevenson told Spectrum News that water infrastructure — and one-time funding, a rarity in a non-budget session — could maybe be a thing.
More water: Oh, and the perennial bill to remove fluoride from water could definitely come back for another attempt at success.
Even more water: On a personal note, I will be looking for any and all legislation to create more water fountains in the state Capitol. We all deserve to be hydrated.
The Ten Commandments: Calloway said he has a bill drafted to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools. If Louisiana is doing it, why not us, right?
But you tell me: What do you want me to watch for in Frankfort? Drop your ideas and suggestions in this survey, please and thank you.
Where can you find me during session?
In my car crying.
Fair warning! I don’t know which platforms I’ll use the most, but here’s a full list of where to find my work and me during session:
For video recaps/explainers/answering your questions: I will go down with the TikTok ship.
For aesthetically pleasing things to add to your Insta story: My professional Instagram.
For full-length articles: Queer Kentucky.
For regular recaps + analysis: The Gallery Pass. (Please tell your friends to subscribe!)
Incredibly, I think that’s it. Keep an eye on my socials for any updates on whether or not we get a snow day this week. I’ll be back soon!
Thanks Olivia for the preview analysis! Safe travels to you!