GA25 Adjourns Sine Die
Lawmakers concluded the 2025 General Assembly on the final day, Friday, March 28th, adjourning sine die. During the session there were 1441 bills and resolutions filed. From that list, KCC compiled a list of 239 bills and resolutions we had been tracking for our environmental audience (links above) and our two lobbyists actively worked all during the session meeting with lawmakers on our priority bills.
What is not included in our list to you, however, were also certain “shell bills” that we also monitor.— A shell bill is a is a legislative bill that typically begins with no substantive provisions other than the statute it would impact. And these are bills that are introduced for purposes of later being amended to include the actual legislative proposals advanced by the introducer. So during this session we also monitored a couple dozen of these types of bills, some of which evolved late into substantial pieces of legislation such as House Bill 4, impacting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
While each legislative session has its own distinct challenges, the issue of eroding transparency to the public has been frustratingly clear: This year’s “short session” continued the trend of limiting the ability for you, the public, to have a say in what your lawmakers are acting on. While we appreciate that you depend on KCC for being your watchdog, with our two lobbyists on the ground on your behalf at the Capitol, YOU should be able to know, in a timely manner, exactly what actions your lawmakers are taking and what the actual language is of bills they are working on. This is an issue where we need to increase our efforts to House and Senate leadership accountable.
We appreciate this Kentucky Lantern story, which summarized the last-minute actions this session that were being tracked by the Kentucky League of Women Voters, demonstrating the situations that interfered with your ability to hold lawmakers accountable this session.
Final Bill Highlights
In addition to the final actions on Senate Bill 89 (see below), lawmakers overrode the veto on several bills KCC has been watching, including House Bill 321, (KCC Oppose) which was originally a bill that provided training to local planning and zoning officials. However, after the adoption of a Senate Committee Substitute and concurrence by the House, HB 321 ended up with a very problematic provision that would limit the ability to appeal any decision under KRS Chapter 100 to "owners of real property within the zone where the property that is the subject of the final action is located." This limits who would have standing to appeal any zoning and planning decision by a Board of Adjustment, Planning Commission, or legislative body (city or county) such as rezonings, variance grants, conditional use permits, changes to binding elements, subdivision approvals, and development plan approvals. The bill was signed by the Governor. We also strongly opposed House Bill 137 that now prevents the use of citizen-based data and evidence in bringing complaints and enforcing laws related to air quality. While we lobbied the Governor on this bill as well, he allowed it to pass without his signature. See more bill highlights on our House and Senate updated lists.
Senate Bill 89 Becomes Law
Thank you for your hard-fought efforts
The signature bill for this session, as KCC followers know, has been Senate Bill 89, which now rolls back Kentucky’s water regulations. By overriding this veto, we become the only state in the country to give up our own authority to regulate our water in the Commonwealth. And who will pay for the cleanup of anything added upstream in these waters? Kentucky already has one of the higher cancer rates in the country.
As the final vote to override the Governor’s veto was happening on Thursday evening (March 27th) on a bill that had only been vetoed by the Governor on Tuesday, March 25th, KCC was in the company of a gathering of water activists at the Salt River Watershed Watch Summit. While KCC was co-hosting a session on water policy advocacy at the Summit, the attendees were participating with us in a blow-by-blow countdown of the final vote as it was happening.
Salt River Watershed Watch Summit
We had many who were working alongside us this session on this bill who were somewhat new to the many behind-the-scenes oddities of the legislative process as well as the twists, turns, rewards and frustrations that can happen between the time a bill is filed and when the final votes are completed. On conclusion of this bill, one of our friends commented that this work was “not for the faint of heart.” Yes, that may be true. And in the fifty years we have been doing legislative work, it can be hard to watch when folks are giving their all so passionately in a process that can be tremendously frustrating. But fighting for clean water IS for people who DO have a heart…and we thank every one of you for that passion.
While we know that folks are disappointed in the results, we are glad that so many of you gave your time and attention to this very important issue. Now that the session is over, we hope you will take some time to enjoy those precious waterways you have worked so hard to protect…and while you are at it, think about hosting a stream cleanup, get involved in citizen water testing, or better yet, contact your lawmakers and invite them to your favorite water site in their district to learn more about why these waters are so important to you. We are glad to assist with any project you can think of. But most importantly, please take a few minutes to hold your lawmakers accountable for their vote.
ACT: First, we ask if you can THANK the following lawmakers for their final votes on this bill to stop SB89:
House members to thank: Aull, Banta, Bojanowski, Brown, Burke, Camuel, Chester-Burton, Donworth, Elliott, Fleming, Gentry, Grossberg, Hancock, Jackson, Kulkarni, Lehman, McCool, Moore, Rorax, Stalker, P. Stevenson, Watkins, Willner.
Senate members to thank: Berg, Chambers Armstrong, Herron, McDaniel, Neal, Thomas, Webb, Yates.
ACT: Second, we ask if you hold lawmakers accountable for their final actions to roll back Kentucky’s water protections: See the full vote history here.
Finally: Thank Governor Beshear for his actions to protect Kentucky’s waterways.
There were many, many groups who stepped up in solidarity with us to stop this bad water bill—over 30 amazing organizations and a steering team of four core organizations who collaborated (Kentucky Conservation Committee, Kentucky Resources Council, Kentucky Waterways Alliance and the Kentucky Sierra Club) contributed tremendous staff time and resources to this effort. We hope you will consider supporting these organizations, and telling your friends about them. We also want to take the time to thank KCC staff Glenye Oakford and our legislative partner Randy Strobo for their professionalism and friendship this session.
What’s the Next Step?
So the session is over for now, BUT the Interim session will be starting after a break, AND lawmakers are now back home for a while, so it is a great time to begin work for the 2026 session, which will be a budget year.— KCC has already been working with groups who have been preparing issues for a budget session, so it’s not too early. As a matter of fact, one of the mistakes many people make is that they wait until the General Assembly is about to begin to start working on their legislative issues. The Kentucky Conservation Committee has provided support for civic groups and individual citizens on state government issues since 1975 and are here to help— so now is your opportunity to get your issues and plans in order in preparation for 2026. If you are interested in our support, whether it be for individual training or a presentation to a civic group, just ask. You can contact us here with your needs and issues.
And we also thank you for your support. We appreciate your contributions and ask for your help to grow our base! Note: Donations to KCC are not tax-deductible due to our effective direct lobbying work.