Interim Session 2026
This week is the beginning of the Interim Session. The 2026 interim session officially begins this week on June 1 and runs through mid-December. (Calendar here). As opposed to the General Assembly where each chamber has its own set of committees, lawmakers during the Interim session meet in Joint Committees composed of members from both chambers. Statutory and special committees may also meet during the interim period.
What to Expect: During the Interim Session, joint committees hold discussions and task force findings help shape key legislative priorities and bills that will be debated during the next legislative session. They will also hear testimony from constituents, advocacy groups, and state agency officials.
At this point in time, we anticipate that three core topics will be continuing from the 2026 General Assembly, which will be housing, energy, and data centers.
All interim meetings are open to the public and broadcast live. Livestreams of the committee meetings will be provided by Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and the Legislative Research Commission. Links to livestreams here.
KCC will be monitoring all committees where important environmental issues are on the agenda. We are also working with partner groups and lawmakers on presentations around key issues. We encourage you to take advantage of this time to visit with your lawmakers on the issues you care about, and we are here to work with you to help make the most of your visits. Contact us!
News to use
Data Centers continue to be a major topic, with new announcements increasing. LG&E and KU said it had 29 potential data center projects in its pipeline in total, and the CEO of LG&E and KU’s parent company told investors in May that the total prospective electricity demand from potential data centers could be around 12 gigawatts of electricity.
One of the latest announcements involves TeraWulf, a company originally started to mine Bitcoin, that is now building data centers. It was announced this past week that they are planning a data center that would use more than 1 gigawatt of electricity in a Greenup County industrial park. The EastPark industrial park is the same site where state and local officials speculated would be the site of a brand new primary aluminum smelter, which would have been a major job-creating project for the state (the project ended up in Oklahoma, however it still has not confirmed a power contract).
Meanwhile, you may remember our friends from the citizens’ group “We Are Mason County” who presented on a data center proposal in their community at our January legislative conference (presentation here). It was also announced last week that the Mason County Joint Planning Commission approved a re-zoning of over 2000 acres from agricultural to rural industrial. Legal actions have been filed to challenge this development.
KCC Upcoming Events
We hope to see you at one of these many upcoming events soon!
June 6, 2026 (Saturday, 9AM-2PM) KCC at Bluegrass Greensource Riverfest, Clifton Boat Ramp, Woodford County. The goal of Riverfest is to connect communities to local water ways, water quality education, and resources while enjoying some outdoor summer fun on the water with friends and community members of all ages.
June 13, 2026 (Saturday) KCC Nuclear Tour. We are working with our friends at KFTC on another tour of the former Fernald Nuclear Feed Materials Production Center in southwest Ohio, as part of Cincinnati Climate Week. Just signup here to receive updated information including meetup sites for this field trip. Participants will carpool to the site which is a short drive from downtown Cincinnati.
July 10, 2026 (Friday, 7PM) KCC hosts a screening of the film Roots So Deep, a documentary on regenerative farming. The presentation will be at the Mason Co. Library’s community room, 218 E. 3rd St., Maysville, KY. Signup here.
August 28, 2026 (Friday Evening) KCC hosts the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, Lexington. Tickets here.
September 19, 2026 (Saturday 10AM-2PM) —KCC at Monarch Fest - Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Lexington. This free event will feature kids’ crafts, monarch tagging, make-your-own-pollinator seed mix, and other activities.
October 24, 2026 (Saturday, 10AM) — KCC at Louisville Earth Walk, Seneca Park, Louisville. Come join KCC and other environmental nonprofits for a celebration of safe and clean water, air and soil.