Thursday is officially the halfway point of Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session, y’all.
Let’s take a look at some midseason stats, shall we?
By the numbers
By the end of Day 29 (Feb. 18), lawmakers had filed 1,050 bills and resolutions.
I’m going to focus on bills for the rest of the newsletter, but I do want to give a quick special shout out to the Senate for apparently loving a good lil resolution. About one-third of everything they’ve filed this year have been resolutions, compared to just 9.8% of what the House has filed.
Of those 1,050 measures, 870 of them have been bills: 203 from the Senate and 667 from the House. (That’s pretty proportional to how many members each chamber has in the overall legislature.)
Who is getting it done?
Well, we’ve literally only had one bill make it to the governor’s desk so far (and that happened Wednesday afternoon): Senate Bill 172 about energy prices.
Including that one, roughly 14.5% of all bills filed thus far have cleared at least one chamber.
The Senate tends to be quick at the start of session, so it makes sense that they’ve passed out 24.1% of the bills filed in their chamber thus far compared to the House’s 11.4%.
Who is filing what?
Oh, yeah, here we go, everyone (read: the lawmakers excited for good press) loves this part.
Looking at bills only, here’s the current leaderboard:
- Rep. Vanessa Grossl (R) — 25 bills filed.
- Rep. Daniel Grossberg (D) — 23.
- Rep. TJ Roberts (R) — 22.
- Rep. Lindsey Burke (D) — 22.
- Rep. George Brown Jr. (D) — 22.
- Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D) — 21.
- Rep. Chad Aull (D) — 17.
- Rep. James Tipton (R) — 16.
- Rep. Pamela Stevenson (D) — 15.
- Rep. John Hodgson (R) — 15.
House Dems tend to file a lot, so them taking up six spots isn’t super surprising to me. (And I understand Grossberg isn’t part of the Dem caucus, but I’m including him in that total because he’s a Dem.)
Also, that’s the list for all lawmakers. The senator with the most bill filings so far is Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R) with 11. Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D) is in second for that chamber with 10 filings.
Of course, only one lawmaker has gotten their bill through to the governor as this point: Sen. Phillip Wheeler (R).
By party, Dems continue to disproportionately file more bills.
The latest in policy and politics
- Y’all, I fear I neglected to properly track the one bill I said I would absolutely monitor: House Bill Six, Seveeeen.
- HB 67 got filed last week and I missed it! I apologize.
- It appears to be a similar measure to the changes to Senate Bill 181 — lots about who can contact students, how, and when.
- Senate Bill 67 appears to still be up for grabs, should anyone need that information.
- Gov. Andy Beshear is writing a book because I don’t think you’re allowed to run for president without writing a book.
- “Go and Do Likewise” is supposed to be about how Beshear’s faith shaped his personal life and political career, and is supposed to be “unusually candid.” Big if true.
- Something about the font and type spacing on the cover (and the way they covered up so much of Winnie) is throwing me off. I do fear I can’t currently get past it. Was it made in Canva?
- Also, where is Winnie’s other leg?
- Ron DeSantis appeared in Frankfort Wednesday to push for a measure to push the feds to balance the budget. Because why not.
On the horizon
- Got another jam-packed day in Frankfort Thursday before another likely easier Friday. You can check each day’s list of meetings here.
- Still no budget vote yet, but budget subcommittees have been meeting like crazy and a new GOP lawmaker has vowed to not vote for the current version of the budget pretty much every time I check Facebook, so be on the watch for a refreshed version of House Bill 500 potentially come up for a first committee vote next week.
- Biggest issue causing the no votes? The changes around state employee health benefits, which the personnel cabinet said would be “devastating” if passed as is.
- Public education funding (or the lack thereof) also causing fights. (But when is it not.)
Remember: Lawmakers have until the first week of March to file new bills.
Oh, and btw
Thank you to everyone who reached out to regarding my dearly beloved Morticia. She has been taken to the doctor and they should have a diagnosis and treatment plan available in the morning.
Please continue to pray for her and her doctors at the Mitsubishi dealership, for a swift and cheap remedy to her ailments that will allow her many more trips to Frankfort and lifespan past her current 229K miles.
Go and Do Good, y’all.
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Follow Olivia Krauth at The Gallery Pass.
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