Hello darkness, my old friend
Here comes the final third of #KYGA25
Y’all, we are two-thirds of the way DONE with Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session!
Unfortunately, this also means the next two weeks are going to be downright chaotic, starting first with a surprise day of specially called committee meetings on Monday. The House and Senate won’t gavel in, but lawmaking will still lowkey happen.
But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Let’s pick up where we left off: A jam-packed Thursday in Frankfort.
What happened Thursday
The nudes bill
Senate Bill 7, which appears to give you intellectual property rights over your nudes, easily and unanimously passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday AM. It is now scheduled for a full Senate vote Wednesday afternoon.
The film bill
Senate Bill 1 — aka the Senate’s top priority, at least by bill number — also easily and unanimously passed out of committee. This is the one that will create a central point for anyone involved in the film industry to work in Kentucky — find potential sites to shoot, get info about tax credits, etc. The office would essentially act as a smart hype person connecting Hollywood to Kentucky.
And you may not believe this but, people seemed happy. Jovial, even. Yes, in Frankfort. (And, can I just say, what is historically the hottest committee room in the Capitol Annex.)
Dem Sen. Reggie Thomas said during the committee meeting that he understands he’s been rather critical of the Senate GOP’s priorities this session *insert hot committee room laughter* but this seems to be a good priority. And lawmakers got to make their jokes about which ones of their colleagues should or should not be cast by Hollywood. (Dem Sen. David Yates appears to have been tapped as Kentucky’s Hugh Jackman.)
This one could come up for a Senate vote as early as Tuesday afternoon.
The conversion therapy bill
House Bill 495, which prohibit bans on conversion therapy in Kentucky, passed out of the House State Government Committee a party line vote — GOP yes, Dems no.
As per usual when it comes to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, its passage came after several folks testified against it. This time, those voices mainly came from conversion therapy survivors and trained psychologists, who pointed out decades of research has shown said “therapy” does not work and is actually more harmful to LGBTQ+ people forced into it.
GOP Rep. David Hale, the bill sponsor, said the measure would allow parents to have a say over what mental health services their child receives and allow them to pick things that align with their morals and values.
When asked if he thinks it OK to allow discredited mental health practices to continue, Hale basically said he respects all of those who testified but he found them to be “not correct.”
It is worth noting that Hale is a pastor, as well as the committee chair. He also started the meeting with a prayer, which, while not common practice in my experience, is apparently allowed. And yes, a bill focused on mental health services did not go to the House Health Services Committee.
HB 495 could get a full House vote as early as Tuesday.
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The SEEK bill
I didn’t cover this one previously, but it is now worth noting.
The latest version of Senate Bill 6 would radically redefine what Kentucky considers to be “funding public schools.”
Typically, SEEK is just how much districts get per student. (It is obvs way more complex than that.) But what is important to know is that that per student rate does not currently reflect how much is spent on teachers’ pensions at the state level.
However, when GOP lawmakers talk about education funding — something they’re often dinged for — they often point out how a significant chunk of the state’s budget goes to funding pensions, and therefore, by GOP girl math, the majority of the state budget goes to education.
Now, with SB 6’s latest version, the SEEK formula would also include “fringe benefits” aka the amount that goes to pensions and stuff like it.
It is giving … we’re still not fully funding public education but let’s try even harder to act like we are.
This passed committee and is scheduled for a Senate vote as early as Tuesday.
One big question I have: Will this change how much schools actually get? I think it is more likely for this to mean the legislature will just say, oh, we’re going to radically increase the SEEK per student number but it will just reflect all that is being spent. Instead of keeping the rate the same and factoring in how much is spent on pensions, which would decrease how much schools actually get.
The NTI bill
Another one I didn’t mention last newsletter: House Bill 241, which would give districts who used up their online learning (NTI) days some extra flexibility, passed out of the Senate Education Committee.
It can come up for a full Senate vote whenever now.
What happened Friday
Actually, not much. There was some fighting over House Bill 6, which deals with who can do administrative regulations, in the House, but it still passed.
And then the big anti-diversity, equity and inclusion bill in higher ed bill — House Bill 4 — got its first reading in the House. This signals it is officially on the move, which is good for supporters because if it hadn’t started to move by this coming Thursday, it wouldn’t pass in time to become law.
HB 4 is assigned to the House Postsecondary Committee, which is scheduled to meet at 8 a.m. Tuesday. No agenda has come out yet, but I’d be surprised if HB 4 didn’t make the cut.
What’s coming this week
Monday: Again, the legislature isn’t technically in session, but several committees are scheduled to have specially called meetings, including:
9 a.m.: Senate State and Local Gov will hear the bill to create a Kentucky version of DOGE.
Lots of discussions of Kentucky’s disaster responses, including a resolution to create a task force around the issue at the 11 a.m. Senate VMAPP committee meeting and a hearing from officials at the 1 p.m. joint House and Senate A&R meeting.
12 p.m.: Senate Education will hear Senate Bill 68 from GOP Sen. Steve Rawlings that … I really want to hear him explain what he intends by all of this.
Tuesday - Thursday: Expect lots of everything and some longer nights than earlier in the session. Committee meetings all day and then House and Senate gavel in for votes at 2 p.m. each day.
REMINDER! Thursday is lowkey the final day for controversial bills (looking at you, DEI) to start moving through the legislative process. Each bill takes six days (five if they plan it out perfectly) to pass through both the House and Senate and to the governor’s desk. The GOP needs for those six days to happen before the veto period starts in two weeks. If they don’t make it happen, they can still pass bills at the end of the month but won’t be able to override Beshear’s veto.
Friday: House and Senate gavel in at 9 a.m.
Counting down to…
4 days until generally the last day for any controversial bills to start moving in order to get passed before the veto period (March 6)
12 days until the last day before the veto period (March 14)
26 days until the last day of #KYGA25 (March 28)
113 days until my birthday (June 23)
153 days until Fancy Farm 2025 (Aug. 2)
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