The General Assembly just wrapped up week six of the 2023 legislative session. 

Next week, the House and Senate will convene on Monday and Tuesday to pass their final bills before entering into a period designated for concurrence. During this process, bills that have been amended in one chamber are approved by the house of origin before being sent to the governor for a 10-day veto period.

The constitutional amendment that would allow for school choice was finally assigned to a committee. The House Education Committee usually meets on Tuesday mornings, but a special meeting was called by chairman James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the bill isn’t on the agenda for the special meeting.

A House bill that would prohibit the KY Board of Education from mandating a COVID vaccine for public school attendance has passed on the House floor but hasn’t yet been assigned to a Senate committee.

Two bills, one from the House and one from the Senate, are expected to receive votes in the next two days. The House bill will keep politics out of the state's pension systems, while the Senate bill aims to protect non-profit donor privacy.

The House has passed a bill that would remove fentanyl testing strips from being classified as illegal paraphernalia. Fentanyl was responsible for 70% of last year's drug overdoses in Kentucky and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, has emphasized that people with substance abuse disorders should not be arrested while trying to stay alive.

A special meeting of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee is scheduled for tomorrow to discuss a bill that aims to phase out Kentucky's unfair bourbon barrel tax. Currently, bourbon is the only product taxed during production, as it ages. The proposed legislation would phase out this tax over a 16-year period.

Please refer to our updated bill tracker below for more information: