As has been covered widely in statewide and local media, the Kentucky General Assembly has been called into an extraordinary session to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. During the weeks since the Kentucky Supreme Court issued its opinion (in the litigation against the bills passed during the 2021 Regular Session limiting emergency executive powers) once again recognizing the role of the Legislature as the exclusive policy making authority in state government, the leadership in both the Senate and the House have worked together, and negotiated with the Governor’s office, to bring a series of bills forward for the legislature to consider. These bills address a number of issues related to the pandemic, including childcare and school settings, healthcare and healthcare workforce matters, liability protections previously enacted by the legislature, and restoring several (but not all) of the executive actions already taken by the governor that most agree need to be in place for a short while longer.

These bill drafts will be on the legislature’s website soon, but I wanted the public to be able to see them as early as possible. I’ve created the general headings for each of the linked PDFs below to help you locate each bill draft by subject matter.

Note:

The economic development bill, known unofficially as BR26 before it gets filed at the start of the Extraordinary Session, is wholly unrelated to the COVID pandemic. This is an economic development bill the Governor has asked us to consider as part of negotiations with a confidential development prospect.
The legislative compensation bill, known unofficially as BR19 before it gets filed at the start of the Extraordinary Session, eliminates legislative pay during veto days during Extraordinary Sessions.