It is crunch time in Frankfort: Friday is the last day Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature can pass bills and know they’ll be able to override any vetoes from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

Read: Any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation needs to pass today, otherwise it is dead for 2025.

Here’s a general outline of what to watch for Friday, plus an outline of where things go from here. We’ll be updating this story throughout the day, too, so go ahead and bookmark this page and keep an eye on our socials for the latest.

11:42 p.m.: House OKs more health care restrictions for transgender Kentuckians

Kentucky’s House also just voted to block gender-affirming health care from transgender inmates in Kentucky — all 67 of them. This one will also go to Beshear’s desk for consideration.

They approved Senate Bill 2 on a 73-12 vote with mere minutes remaining before the veto period.

Minority Whip Rep. Lindsey Burke (D-Lexington) called out GOP leadership for calling the bill after just passing HB 495, which also restricts access to gender-affirming care — and did so with such little time left on the clock.

“What a wasteful piece of legislation, what a waste of our time when we actually could do something to help instead of hurt,” Burke said.

11:09 p.m.: House OKs blocking health care from some transgender Kentuckians

After using a swift legislative move to stifle debate on HB 495 at the 11th-hour, the GOP-dominated legislature will be sending a bill to both block gender-affirming health care from transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid and prohibit bans on conversion therapy to the governor’s desk.

Five House Democrats spoke against the bill before GOP leadership ended debate and immediately called for a vote on the bill. It passed on a 67-19 vote, with Rep. Kim Banta being the lone Republican to join the Dems in voting against the bill.

10:41 p.m.: Clock is ticking, y’all

Checking in real fast to confirm that my prior statement of this being a long night is true.

My eyes are on the House right now, which needs to take action on basically all of the bills I told y’all to watch tonight in the next, um, 80 minutes or so. Anything controversial must be passed by midnight in order to withstand a potential Beshear veto, so the clock is ticking.

The House just started debating House Bill 495, which would ban transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from accessing gender-affirming health care as well as prohibit bans on conversion therapy.

Stay tuned here and you can watch live on KET, if you’d like.

6:30 p.m.: A last-second Senate change aimed at transgender inmates

It has been a long day and it is expected to be an even longer night. Lawmakers gaveled in this morning and have largely been bouncing between closed door caucus meetings, last-second committee hearings to hammer out final details of a handful of bills and votes on a variety of topics.

This morning, the Senate changed an uncontroversial bill initially aimed at mental health facilities — House Bill 392 — to require inmates to use facilities tied to their assigned sex at birth. The House needs to agree with the changes in order for it to advance to Beshear’s desk for consideration.

What to expect in Kentucky’s legislature Friday

Expect a dizzying rush of legislation mixed with random, at times lengthy, periods of downtime as lawmakers meet with their caucuses behind closed doors.

Also, you should probably expect an incredibly long day — the Senate starts at 9 a.m. and the House at 10 a.m., and they have until midnight to pass whatever they’d like.

What are the bills to watch on Friday?

Queer Kentucky has been tracking LGBTQ-focused legislation all session, and only a handful of the bills are still at play this late into the legislative session.

The biggest one to watch Friday is House Bill 495. This is the one that initially wanted to just undo Beshear’s ban on conversion therapy, but then suddenly also wanted to block transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from receiving gender-affirming health care.

HB 495 passed out of the Senate Thursday, and now the House needs to approve the new health care ban language before the legislature sends the bill to Beshear’s desk.

And then two bills — Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 132 — could get a House vote Friday. SB 2 would block gender-affirming health care for transgender inmates, and SB 132 would allow health care providers to refuse to offer certain treatments if they don’t want to for religious or moral reasons.

You might also want to keep an eye on House Bill 392, which is poised for a Senate vote on Friday. It is about mental health facilities and has sailed through the legislature thus far. However, Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson (R-Bowling Green) — the sponsor of SB 2 — added a floor amendment that would, if passed, require inmates to use facilities tied to the sex they were assigned to at birth.

The Senate may not approve it, but it is worth watching. Like HB 495, this would need to go back to the House for approval before it goes to the governor if it gets changed.

And what if the House doesn’t like these changes?

I will try to make this as conversational as possible.

OK, so, if the two chambers don’t agree on something, it goes to a thing called a conference committee. Basically, a group of lawmakers talk about the bill and can change around its parts to try and reach a compromise. But they can’t add anything new in; they’ve gotta work with what they’ve got.

But if this doesn’t work, then they get to go to a free conference committee. Now, they can kinda do whatever to reach a compromise. They can add, subtract, multiply, divide, whatever it takes to strike a deal.

Typically, the free conference committee works, so I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if there is a step after that other than the bill failing to pass.

And I’ll remind y’all that in this situation, they’d be trying to do all of this in a day that is typically the legislature’s busiest.

What happens after Friday?

Everyone is in a rush because the veto period starts at, like, 12:01 a.m. Saturday. This is a block of time dedicated to Beshear reviewing everything passed thus far, and vetoing what he doesn’t like. (Of course, he can also sign things into law, or let them become law without his signature.)

There are then two days of the legislative session left — March 27 and 28 — where the legislature can override those vetoes. So, the GOP-heavy legislature needs to pass anything controversial now so they get the last say.

They can still pass stuff on those last two days, but then Beshear gets the last say — not them.