General Assembly 2024 Adjourns
Lawmakers adjourned the 2024 Regular Session on Monday, April 15th after passing more than 200 bills into law.
Over 1200 bills were filed in the House and Senate this session (and that does not include over 500 resolutions filed in both chambers). All during the session, the Kentucky Conservation Committee checked all of these, resulting in a watch list this session of over 200 bills and resolutions that we felt had significant environmental or civic impacts. These included bills that impacted land conservation, energy development, water infrastructure, agriculture, toxics, civil rights, transportation, climate change, outdoor recreation and more.
Where we ended- Successes
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles: There were several issues we had been working on over multiple sessions. One of the last-minute “wins” this session was the removal of the $0.3 cent per kilowatt hour surcharge on electricity used by low-wattage public electric vehicle chargers, which resulted in a curtailment of an important “adopt-a-charger” program used by businesses and nonprofits throughout the state. Early in the session, Rep. Thomas Huff filed House Bill 398 to provide a “carve-out” for these low-wattage public chargers that small businesses and churches have been providing as a public amenity to their patrons. That bill was sent to Appropriations & Revenue where it sat during most of the session, however on the final day of the General Assembly, the language from H.B. 398 was incorporated into a supplemental revenue bill, House Bill 122, which effectively exempted public chargers of less than 20kW from the burdensome tax and has now been signed by the Governor. Our thanks to our friends at EVolve Kentucky electric vehicle group for partnering with us to successfully resolve this issue. In addition, we saw the elimination of the $60 fee on hybrid vehicles that was enacted earlier this year through legislation from the previous budget session. Two lawmakers from both parties filed legislation to remove the fee that penalized these efficient cars that already were paying their fair share for road maintenance through the gas tax, and that language ended up in House Bill 8.
Land Conservation: One of our perennial issues has been to secure more funding for land conservation— Primarily through support of the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund. The source funding for this important land conservation program has been steadily declining, and we have been looking to other states for policy models that can better support our conservation programs in the long run. However in the short run, we were able to take advantage of the fact that the state had potential one-time funding opportunities. As a result, we were able to secure $2 million in one-time funds in the 2024-25 budget for the Heritage fund through House Bill 1. Other one-time funding in the bill also included $1 million in funding for the Elizabethtown Parks and Trail Conservancy, and $2.5 million for Jefferson Memorial Forest among the many provisions.
Outdoor Recreation/Outdoor Education: We were excited to see the final passage this session of House Bill 712 (Fleming) to form the Kentucky Ohio River Regional Recreation Authority, and to see $7 million in funding to support the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center from the one-time funding in House Bill 1.. Also included in House Bill 1 was $720,000 in funding for Trail Town grants.
Where we ended- More Work Ahead
When it comes to environmental work, we never want to say an issue has been “lost”— it just means that the fight continues. Our pick for the most disastrous bill this session was the final passage of Senate Bill 349 (Mills) on April 12. This bill is destined to lead to higher electricity bills due to the fact that it creates significant new hurdles for the retirement of our inefficient, outdated coal-fired power plant fleets in Kentucky. We appreciate ALL of the hard work from our constituents and allies on this issue, and we will continue the fight to clean up and modernize this state’s energy grid, and continue the work to protect customers through the Kentuckians for Energy Democracy collaborative.
We were also disappointed to see the final passage of Senate Bill 16 (Schickel) during the final session days. This was the bill that prohibits the operation of unmanned aircraft, video or audio recording devices, or photography equipment on or above a concentrated animal feeding operation or commercial food manufacturing or processing facility without written consent of the owner, which will severely impact public transparency of how your food is processed.
Legislative Heroes this Session— Please “Thank” your lawmakers
It is SO important for constituents and the public at large to acknowledge the work of lawmakers who support our issues, and we also want to encourage you to contact these lawmakers (among many others) to express your appreciation:
Representatives Kim Banta and Lindsey Burke for their work in attempting to repair the disastrous energy policy bill Senate Bill 349 through amendments. While these amendments failed, we appreciate their courage to protect Kentucky ratepayers.
Senator Matthew Deneen for his help in supporting funding for Heritage Land Conservation funding and funding for the state’s trail towns.
Representative Thomas Huff for his work on eliminating excess fees on public electric vehicle chargers, and Senator Jimmy Higdon for working with us to try to establish the policies on electric vehicle chargers. Please also thank Representative Myron Dossett for raising his concerns about public chargers impacted in his district, and Appropriations & Revenue Chair Representative Jason Petrie for adding this fee adjustment to the revenue bill.
Representatives Ruth Ann Palumbo and Representative Steve Doan for proposing bills to eliminate the excess $60 fee on hybrid cars.
Representative Nima Kulkarni and Senator Cassie Chambers Armstrong for their work in bringing legislative attention to the issue of PFAS “forever chemicals” in our waterways and Senator Brandon Smith for successfully passing Senate Joint Resolution 149 asking the Cabinet to provide guidance on best management practices for PFAS discharges in our waterways.
Representative Ken Fleming for the successful passage of House Bill 712 to form the Kentucky Ohio River Regional Recreation Authority.
We are sure you have many of your own personal heroes this session, so don’t forget to thank them at this link.
A Word of Thanks to our Members, Supporters and Partner Groups
This “long” session that ended only this week but began the day after New Years, which can challenge the stamina of those who work the legislature. So I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the teamwork it takes to monitor and analyze the wide variety of legislation that comes across our desk, answering all the questions that our members and supporters have on these bills, and supporting our partner organizations as we work with them to build power to move the issues on their respective agendas.
First, I would like to thank the KCC Board of Directors, headed by our President, Gerry James. This experienced team has been able to rapidly review and debate hundreds of bills along with KCC staff to provide the best information on issues that are important to you.
Second, when it comes to deep analysis, there is no one better than Randy Strobo of Strobo-Barkley PLLC. Randy has been partnering with us for over a decade, and the important part of this work is not just having good expertise and instinct, but I would say the most important trait is to have the patience to persevere under intense pressure—because it can take many collective efforts before a particular issue can move to the “win” column.
And then, we have many “behind the scenes” heroes, where I want to give a particular shout-out to Glenye Oakford this session!
Also, we want to thank several KCC Partner Groups this session who have worked closely with us on several key bills, particularly the Kentucky Sierra Club, Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, the Kentucky Land Trust Alliance. and EVolve Kentucky. Our work is most effective when the groups we represent on legislative issues can also provide their expertise and activate their membership at critical times during the session. Learn more about KCC partner groups here.
Finally, the real heroes are you, our KCC members and supporters. We appreciate the time you have taken every week to make calls and visits to your lawmakers to make sure that your issues are being represented. Please let us know if there is more we can do for you.