Most Important Bills in the 2025 Session

This session, 1080 bills, and 84 binding resolutions, were filed.
Of those, 121 were signed into law by the Governor, 11 became law without his signature, 29 Governor vetoes were overridden, and 1 (HB622) vetoes carried forward because the legislation was filed too late to override the Governor.

HB1 lowers the state income tax 4% => 3.5% starting with tax year 2026; ~$720M returned to taxpayers & HB775 sets up a framework for incremental step downs smaller than 0.5% going forward
HB4 severely limits DEI initiatives in public higher ed
SB2 ends taxpayer funding of many elective transgender surgeries and hormones in prisons & HB495 ends taxpayer funding of that via Medicaid as well as the Gov’s unilateral prohibition on conversion therapy
SB4 is a 1st pass at Gov’t AI regs; some 1st Amendment concerns related to election deep fakes
SB25 & HB695 establishes a Medicaid Oversight Board and requires able-body persons to work, among other reforms, providing help to limit the growth in expenses in this budget-busting program.
HB6, SB65 & SB84 limits the power of the administrative/deep state, requiring legislative oversight of high economic impact regulations, eliminates administrative regulations determined by the legislature to be deficient, and ending the judicial deference to administrative regulations.
HB2 allows people charged sales tax on bullion or collectable coins to sue the governor due to what the legislature has determined to be an unlawful line-item veto last session.

 

My favorite bills of this session were:
HB90 allows for small free-standing birthing centers in KY (though CON laws in general still remain) as well as clarification of cases where abortion CAN be conducted in the law, and
HB208, which I have brought up several times over the past 3 years, requires school boards to limit cellphone use in schools.
HB240 requires kindergarten and 1st graders who cannot pass a reading test at the end of the school year to repeat the grade.

 

Smaller bills, but positive and interesting:
HJR 15 restores the Ten Commandments monument back to the KY Capitol grounds.
HB10 limits squatter’s rights, imposes criminal penalties for intentional damage
HB190 requires school districts to provide advanced educational opportunities.

 

Some bad laws did pass the GA:
SB202 & HB775 (somewhat related SB100) officially legalizes & taxes recreational marijuana in drink form like liquor (and requires licensing that allows warrantless search of businesses, piggybacking on RS24’s terrible HB11 bill). These bills were bad enough that the Governor actually signed them.
HB399 makes it a felony to protest in a way that delays the legislature 3 times, which could have a chilling effect of free speech,
HB520 makes it easier for law enforcement to avoid open records requests by changing the standard for withholding from “would” to “could” disclose important information about sources and methods in investigations. Note: I’ve never met a citizen who wants more restrictive open record laws, only various gov’t unions and yet we get one or more of these bills almost every year.
HB664 opens the door wider for legalized, automated speed cameras targeting highway work zones
HB493 tow truck biz regs (needs more vetting).

 

Misses that should have passed, but did not get a floor vote:
SB75 – concealed carry down from 21+ to 18+, young women have a right to practical self-defense),
SB132 – doctors shouldn’t have to risk their careers to follow their conscience),
SB59 – religious institutions should be able to build needed affordable housing).
HB37 – removal of sales tax on non-profit goods and services.
HB211 – legalizes and regulates “cigar bars” regardless of local ordinances.

Interesting Occurrences

Representative Bill Wesley verbally confronted a man in a white sequined dress coming out of a women’s bathroom during a “Trans Joy” day at the capitol. This sparked Senator Karen Berg (whose late child was a transgender activist) to confront Rep Wesley on the House floor with a slap/hard pat on the back which got her floor privileges permanently revoked.

The most interesting vote this session was on a House Floor Amendment to SB120 which would have passed a “Tebow Bill” allowing homeschool children to play sports at their local public school:
The “Yes” voters thought that was a good idea, since their parents pay taxes to pay for those schools and resources. The “No”s thought that wasn’t a good idea, and those not voting decided not to go on the record. Note: John Hodgson did modify his vote to “Yes” when he returned to the chamber.
It will be interesting to see who supports this general idea (I prefer a much more expansive version) in future sessions, which passed the House in 2017 when it was last given a floor vote.