Follow along with the last two days of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session

Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session is finally almost over. 

Lawmakers will spend Thursday and Friday in Frankfort tying up some loose strings and mainly overriding several (if not all) of Gov. Andy Beshear’s nearly 30 vetoes. 

Queer Kentucky will be monitoring things so you don’t have to (but, obviously, feel free to join us in civic engagement). We’ll be updating this story as things progress from now until the clock strikes midnight Friday and lawmakers, per the state constitution, must go home. 

 

6:21 p.m. Friday: Y’all, it is done!

Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session is officially over. Actually, it ended close to an hour ago. I’ve yet to hear from anyone — lawmakers, journalists, even the Senate Gallery doorkeeper — who can prove that this isn’t a record time on the final day of session.

As expected, it was a light day. The change to HB 501 to clarify that lawmakers are directly targeting transgender people’s hormone therapies in a new law blocking Medicaid coverage of such treatments cleared the House, but Beshear will have a chance to veto it and lawmakers will not be able to override him. He has until April 9 to make a decision.

But it looks like the other two bills I mentioned this morning — SB 132 and HB 392 — did not end up going anywhere.

Unless something crazy happens, I do believe this is the end of the live blog. Thanks for following along!

4:23 p.m. Friday: We’re almost done

Seriously. The House just wrapped up passing any bills it was interested in. All there is left to do now is some paperwork-type of formalities. At this point, the vast majority of senators have left the scene. We’re about to adjourn at a record time.

3:11 p.m. Friday: They’re running out of stuff to do

Friends, it looks like the end is near. The Senate has spent much of the last two hours waiting on the House to send them a single bill: Senate Bill 9, which creates paid maternal leave for teachers.

And that’s kind of all they had left to do, Senate Majority Floor Leader Max Wise said. Now all eyes are on the House.

1:32 p.m. Friday: Lunch break is almost done

Just checking in from Frankfort to say we haven’t done much except take some lengthy lunch breaks. The Senate is about to restart and the House is expected back closer to 2 p.m.

We’re still expecting an early end to the day compared to the typical final day of session. When they adjourn, they’ll do so sine die — meaning anything filed this year that hasn’t been passed is officially dead.

11:24 a.m. Friday: Senate clarifies HB 495

The Senate passed a new version of House Bill 501 that would clarify Kentucky’s new ban on using Medicaid for gender-affirming care. The change, which the House now needs to confirm, clarifies that only hormone treatments meant to treat gender dysphoria are banned.

8:42 a.m. Friday: The final day begins

Hello and welcome to the final day of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session!

We’re looking at a hopefully short and easy day in Frankfort after the legislature knocked out most of their business Thursday. The House and Senate both start at 9 a.m. and currently have pretty light agendas, but they can always add bills and resolutions to the list.

A few things I’ll be watching:

• I’m hearing some rumblings that the House could vote on Senate Bill 132, which will allow health care professionals to refuse to treat someone based on moral or religious grounds. Most thought this bill was dead, and if it is resurrected and passed, Beshear would be able to veto it and lawmakers won’t be able to overrule him.
• Another bill potentially back from the dead: House Bill 392. This would require inmates to be assigned to facilities tied to their assigned sex at birth. It also needs a House vote, and Beshear would also be able to veto it.
• A late Senate floor amendment to House Bill 501 would clarify the new HB 495 ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming health care, specifically saying hormone treatments for gender dysphoria would be outlawed. The original law currently says “cross-sex hormones in amounts greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy person of the same age and sex.”

The session must end by midnight tonight, but Senate President Robert Stivers told reporters earlier this week they’re hoping to have everything wrapped up in time for the UK men’s basketball game around 7:30 p.m.

8:55 p.m. Thursday: Everything is overridden

Lawmakers have called it a night after spending the day overriding basically all of Beshear’s vetoes. New laws include sweeping restrictions to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at colleges; weakened labor and water rules; and language aimed at “clarifying” when doctors can provide abortions.

We still have one day of session left, with the House and Senate expected to start at 9 a.m. Friday.

5:01 p.m. Thursday: Advocates react to HB 495 veto override

Shortly after lawmakers overrode the veto of HB 495, Chris Hartman, the leader of the Fairness Campaign, said, “It’s a sad day in Kentucky.

“Two anti-LGBTQ bills will become law with devastating consequences for our community. HB495 opens the door to ‘conversion torture’ and denies Medicaid coverage for transgender healthcare. Likewise, SB2 denies healthcare to transgender inmates. Both are cruel and have no place in our Commonwealth.”

Senate Bill 2 became law Wednesday after Beshear let it become law without his signature.

4:36 p.m. Thursday: HB 495 veto overridden

Conversion therapy will be allowed in Kentucky and transgender Kentuckians will no longer have gender-affirming health care covered by Medicaid after lawmakers overrode Beshear’s veto of HB 495 Thursday afternoon.

The reversal of Beshear’s executive order blocking conversion therapy in the state will go into effect immediately.

2:40 p.m. Thursday: House overrides HB 495 veto

Greetings from Frankfort, where the House and Senate have spent the bulk of the day overriding Beshear’s vetoes.

Main thing of note for now is that the House has overridden Beshear’s veto of House Bill 495, which allows conversion therapy and blocks transgender people on Medicaid from accessing gender-affirming care. The Senate also has to override the veto in order for it to become law.

What to know about the last two days of #KYGA25 

Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature will be focused on overriding Beshear’s vetoes. The GOP has a supermajority in both chambers, so it’ll be relatively easy for them to do this, but it will probably be kinda time-consuming. 

The only anti-LGBTQ+ bill left in the game is House Bill 495, which blocks transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from getting gender-affirming health care and undoes Kentucky’s current ban on conversion therapy. Beshear vetoed this (at the Fairness Dinner, no less), but it is expected to be overridden. 

Some other override situations to keep an eye on include, but aren’t limited to:

• House Bill 4, which broadly restricts colleges and universities’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
• House Bill 90, which proponents say adds needed clarity to Kentucky’s abortion ban, but opponents say actually makes things more difficult for doctors and pregnant people. 
• Senate Bill 89, which Beshear’s veto message argues could make more water pollution and devastating floods a real possibility for the state. 
• House Bill 398, which would weaken the state’s worker protections. 

We’re so late into session that there are very few bills that can still pass that haven’t already — especially when it comes to anything high-profile or controversial. But lawmakers will likely have a few more mundane bills to get through. They can still pass bills to Beshear’s desk, but they just won’t have a chance to override him should he veto them. 

Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session, legally, must end by midnight Friday.