This story will be updated throughout the day.

Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session is officially — finally — coming to a close.

Lawmakers will spend Tuesday and Wednesday in Frankfort, overriding any vetoes from Gov. Andy Beshear, passing any last-second bills and wrapping things up before heading home for the year. 

Things will kick off at 10 a.m. Tuesday when the Senate gavels in, and everything must adjourn by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday (but they don’t have to stay that late). 

All of this year’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is already dead, but Queer Kentucky will still keep y’all updated about anything you need to know about using this handy-dandy live blog. So, bookmark it now and check back frequently for the latest from the state Capitol. 

Got a question on a legislative issue or want us to look into a bill for you? Drop a note in Queer Kentucky’s politics survey or contact lead politics writer Olivia Krauth directly at [email protected]. 

New posts will appear below this line, with the newest stuff being first. Be sure to scroll down to see any older content you may have missed. 

11:35 p.m. Wednesday — It is done.

Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session is officially DONE.

This session marks the first in a few years where no anti-LGBTQ+ bills became law in Kentucky.

Signing off, y’all — it has been a gift!

— Olivia.

11:15 p.m. Wednesday — Welp, that’s it

To anyone who has been following this live blog religiously, I apologize for how boring it has been, but rest assured, it is basically over.

It looks like the Senate and maybe the House are done for the night, so lawmakers are starting to go home, with a select few left behind to basically handle legalese and paperwork.

9:05 p.m. Wednesday — We’re still here

Remember how I said the end was near? Five hours ago? Yeah, we’re still going.

In my defense, last year, things were wrapped up early in the afternoon.

Things aren’t really happening — we’ve mainly had dinner break, and then discussed a few resolutions.

4 p.m. Wednesday — Just chillin’

Since we last spoke, the legislature has done a few things like eat lunch and get a few last-minute bills through committee, but it has overall been pretty chill.

The end is near, but I’m just not sure *how* near it is.

11:55 a.m. Wednesday — And we’re back

Happy Sine Die Day to those who celebrate! That just means this is the final day of Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session, and lawmakers must wrap everything up before midnight.

The House started at 10 a.m. and the Senate at 11 a.m. They dealt with all of the veto overrides Tuesday, so today should be a rather simple, short day.

8:05 p.m. Tuesday — See you tomorrow

The House and Senate are done for the day. The Senate will be back at 11 a.m. and the House starts a bit earlier at 10 a.m.

From what I can tell, they’ve gotten through all of the veto overrides, but still have a few things left to handle before they close out session. Last year, they finished the session early in the afternoon, so let’s see what they do this year.

6:50 p.m. Tuesday — Coming back from dinner

We’re slowly coming back from dinner break to the Senate not agreeing with the House’s changes on that big housing bill — Senate Bill 9 — I mentioned earlier today.

This means they’re doing a conference committee between the House and Senate to try and reach a compromise on the topic. Who knows what they’ll come up with, or when they’ll share that info with us.

3:55 p.m. Tuesday — Still rockin’ and rollin’

We’re really moving at a brisk pace today. Both chambers are basically done with all of the veto overrides, with just a few more left in the Senate. It looks like it might be an early end for the day, because I’m not totally sure what else they have left to do.

12:50 p.m. Tuesday — And the Senate is done with overrides

With a supermajority, the veto override process is generally pretty easy — a bit time-consuming, but typically easy for the Republicans.

The Senate had 10 Senate bills facing vetoes today, and overrode all of them in less than an hour. Now those bills will head to the House for the same process. (And once the House is done with their bills, they’ll head to the Senate.)

Of the Senate bills that got vetoed, several were education related. Two changed the power and makeup of the JCPS school board, and another would make it easier for outside education service providers — those often in charge of charter schools — to run public schools.

Meanwhile, the House is working through their veto overrides. They’ve already overridden vetoes on bills that would protect firearm dealers from lawsuits tied to guns and to allow 18-year-olds to carry concealed weapons.

12:30 p.m. Tuesday — Bills to watch

Just because it is the final two days of session does not mean lawmakers can’t pass new legislation. They can definitely do that, but they won’t have a chance to override Beshear should he veto it, so basically anything they pass now needs to be uncontroversial.

One big thing to watch is Senate Bill 9 — an omnibus housing package aimed at making it easier to build housing, therefore hopefully making it more affordable. This was a Republican priority bill in the Senate, but the House added a ton of stuff to it at the last minute before the veto period and the Senate didn’t agree to their changes before the veto period started.

Typically, that spells death for a bill, but Sen. Robby Mills (R-Henderson) — the bill’s sponsor — posted on social media that he hopes to still see the bill through by the end of session.

Of course, we’re still keeping an eye on House Bill 759 — the uncontroversial teacher certification bill that got a last-second anti-trans teacher amendment. The bill never got a vote, so the amendment hasn’t formally been struck down yet, but it fully expected to be dead. There’s still a chance the original HB 759 bill will get a vote in the last two days here, so we’ll keep you posted on that.

12:15 p.m. Tuesday — Rockin’ and rollin’

Hello, friends, welcome to the second to last day of the legislative session!

The Senate has been up and at ‘em for a bit, and they’re currently running through a series of veto overrides of various bills Beshear vetoed over the last two weeks. The House gavels in at noon and should start doing the same.

OK, what is a veto override and how does it work? When the legislature sends Beshear bills to consider, he can veto them — aka basically say no and explain why. But the legislature can override him with a simple majority vote — and they have about 80% of all seats in the House and Senate.

Both the House and Senate have to vote to override a veto, so two separate votes, and then they send the bill to the Secretary of State’s office to become law.

As Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session winds down, Queer Kentucky will be keeping y’all updated throughout all of it. 

Lawmakers will meet Tuesday and Wednesday to pass any final legislation before the veto period begins Thursday — a two-week-ish period where Gov. Andy Beshear will be able to sort through all of the bills on his desk and decide what to do with them. 

Basically all of this year’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is dead, which means it can’t pass this session, but Frankfort can be sneaky, so we’ll still be watching. (Plus, they have a ton of important stuff to get through over the next two days, including the next two-year state budget.) 

This story will be regularly updated over the next few days with any important happenings or interesting tidbits, so bookmark it, check back frequently and share it with your friends so they can do the same. 

Keep an eye on Queer Kentucky’s social media pages for any major news, and feel free to contact lead politics writer Olivia Krauth at [email protected] with any questions or thoughts you have about bills or the legislative session. You can also give us your thoughts in our 2026 politics survey.

New posts will appear below this line, with the newest stuff being first. Be sure to scroll down to see any older content you may have missed. 

10:35 p.m. Wednesday — Winding down

We’re starting to wind down for the evening, and it looks like the Senate is officially NOT going to take up HB 759.

Anything can still happen, technically, but the Senate is currently taking a break and waiting on a few final things to come over to them from the House side. Typically, when they hit this phase of the session, the Senate is very uninterested in resurrecting legislation they could’ve passed by now.

The House is also taking a break. Everyone is actively taking breaks.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday — Dinner is (almost) done

The House is back and powering through legislation, but the Senate is still finishing up its dinner recess.

That big $800 million one-time spending package I mentioned? Turns out it is now $1.7 billion in spending across 300 projects. I’m still wading through what those projects are.

6:15 p.m. Wednesday — Slowing down, but not done

Things are starting to slow down a bit for dinner, but we’re still expecting a late night.

I’ve lost track of how many bills are in conference committee mode right now. A lot of contentious stuff (at least between lawmakers) is actively being decided behind closed doors.

5:10 p.m. Wednesday — Crunch time

We’ve got about seven hours until lawmakers need to shut things down for the veto period, and I can’t tell if things are starting to slow down or they’re about to speed up. Several big-deal bills are still up in the air.

After passing the budget bills, the Senate took a break for caucus meetings. They still haven’t done anything with HB 759, and they don’t look particularly poised to do so.

When they get back, they’ll need to deal with (or not, I guess) several major issues. The House just rejected their changes to this year’s big Medicaid bill, so they’ll need to either recede from those changes or push the debate on Medicaid into conference committee mode.

They’re also running out of time to handle housing reform, one of their priorities of session. The House threw several housing reform bills into one and passed it earlier today, and now the Senate needs to accept those changes or push this into conference committee mode, too.

Other things that are still a major question mark include what is included in House Bill 900 — the state’s $800 million one-time spending bill — and what they’ll do with the JCPS board.

Meanwhile, the House is debating the budget bills now.

4:10 p.m. Wednesday — Is that a budget I see?!

At long last, lawmakers Senate are sharing details about the next state budget. Technically, budgets, because they have separate bills to deal with different branches, but still.

The budget has been in the conference committee process for the last several days. This is when the House and Senate don’t like each other’s versions of a bill, so a group of them sit around and try to find a compromise. This process is pretty behind-the-scenes, so we’re actively learning what the final budgets look like and it may still be a bit before written copies of the final bills are online for public viewing.

The main budget is House Bill 500. Senate A&R Chair Sen. Chris McDaniel said several state agencies will see a reduction in funding over the next two years, but did not say specifically which ones.

Something important to note: Unlike with most bills, Beshear can veto just parts of budget bills. So, if he generally likes the budget, but doesn’t think a certain thing should get funding, then he can line-item veto it. The legislature, though, can still override him (and they almost always do).

1:50 p.m. Wednesday — Just chillin’ (day two)

Once again, greetings from Frankfort!

Yesterday was pretty stop-start-stop-start, with long periods of lawmakers breaking for caucus meetings mixed with lengthy sections of back-to-back bill votes. We’ve seen much of the same so far today.

The House passed a few interesting bills, including a revised bill to overhaul Kentucky State University — the state’s only public HBCU — and one that would let local school boards hire education service providers — groups that typically run charter schools, to varying levels of success — to oversee public schools.

The Senate has yet to act on HB 759.

10:15 a.m. Wednesday — Off to the races

Good morning, y’all! Welcome to the final day of Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session before the veto period! AKA one of the absolute busiest days in the entire legislative session. (And perfectly timed on April Fool’s Day.)

Reminder: They have until 11:59 p.m. tonight to pass anything they may need to override a Beshear veto of. They can still pass legislation during the final two days of session on April 14 and 15, but they wouldn’t be able to override Beshear if he says no.

The Senate just got started for the day, and the main thing we’re watching there is and has been HB 759 and its anti-trans teacher amendment. Last night, I talked with a source who said the bill and its amendment are dead, but I’ll still keep an eye on it just in case.

The Senate also needs to vote on House Bill 2, a sweeping Medicaid proposal. You can read about that bill here.

The House is slated to start at 11 a.m. I’m expecting some kind of JCPS-focused legislation to come out of that chamber today, including a bill that could shift power from the JCPS school board to its superintendent, change how many board members there are and where they represent, and create a financial advisory committee for the large district.

Oh, right, and we still haven’t seen a final written copy of the next two-year state budget, nor do we have any idea how the state wants to spend around $800 million in one-time spending.

6:25 p.m. Tuesday — Calling it an early night?

These last two days of session before the veto period typically include long days and even longer nights, but it looks like that might not be the case this time around.

The Senate adjourned for the day around 40 minutes ago, without touching HB 759 or its amendment again. (The House, meanwhile, is going on about hour four of being recessed.)

They’ll be back at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Remember: They have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday night to pass anything remotely controversial to have a chance to override a likely Beshear veto during the final two days of session on April 14 and 15.

So, what could that mean for HB 759? They can’t touch it tonight, but if they want to pass the bill tomorrow, they’ll need to move it to the orders of the day, and then vote on it. That’s when the anti-trans teacher amendment would be withdrawn.

5 p.m. Tuesday — Bills, bills, bills

The House has been in recess for a bit now, and the Senate looks poised to join them shortly.

We’ve spent the last few hours powering through a ton of votes, including final passage for bills, agreeing with changes the other chamber made, and even a Senate override of a new Beshear veto on a bill protecting pesticide companies.

Bills on everything from child care access, to election tweaks, to the rights’ of protesters around ICE agents, have gotten votes this afternoon.

One thing that hasn’t: HB 759. Like I reported earlier, the bill was pulled from the consent calendar in the Senate shortly after noon. It hasn’t been assigned to the orders of the day, though, aka the spot it needs to be in order to get a full Senate vote. So, stay tuned on that.

3:20 p.m. Tuesday — Supreme Court “conversion therapy” ruling

Kentucky lawmakers undid a ban on “conversion therapy” for minors last legislative session, but they still had some reactions to Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling to overturn similar bans in other states.

“Today, the Supreme Court of the United States has once again betrayed the LGBTQ+ Community, especially our vulnerable youth,” Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said in a statement.

“As a licensed psychologist and the longtime sponsor of legislation to prohibit this discredited and deadly practice, I could not disagree more with this decision. 

“All young people in Kentucky deserve to be safe and to be their authentic selves.  As a mother and grandmother, I’m heartbroken. 

“State governments have a responsibility to protect children, not put them in harm’s way. Today’s SCOTUS decision prevents states from protecting against harmful practices that abuse children and can leave lasting scars,” she said. 

2:30 p.m. Tuesday — We’re just chillin’

Greetings from Frankfort!

We haven’t done a ton yet, mainly because the Senate has spent the last roughly two hours in caucus meetings — closed-door meetings with everyone in the party to get everyone in line, more or less.

Before they did that, though, the Senate pulled HB 759 from the consent calendar. This is a procedural step to allow the anti-trans teacher floor amendment to be withdrawn.

Meanwhile, the House has gotten through a lot, including giving a few bills around teacher misconduct final clearance. Those should head to Gov. Andy Beshear shortly.

11 a.m. Tuesday — What’s up with HB 759 and trans teachers?!

Lawmakers are set to gavel in at noon to formally kick off the day, but they’ve already had a pretty busy morning full of committee meetings to give some bills a quick vote.

One big thing I’ll be watching Tuesday: House Bill 759.

I wrote a whole post yesterday explaining exactly what is going on and fact-checking some other outlets who got it super wrong, but basically HB 759 has a last-second amendment to keep trans people from teaching. It is not expected to go anywhere, and the amendment’s sponsor is supposed to withdraw it before the bill itself gets a vote.

We don’t know exactly when that could happen, though, but I’ll be watching and I’ll update the live blog when it does.

Friends, the time is near: Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session has mere days left. 

Lawmakers are scheduled to meet four days over the next week to hammer out the details of the next two-year state budget, along with passing any other bills they think Gov. Andy Beshear could veto, by 11:59 p.m. on April 1. 

They’ll take the next two weeks off for the veto period — a time for Beshear to comb through all of the things they think should be law, and accept or reject them — before coming back to close out the session on April 14 and 15. 

Here’s what y’all need to know. 

When are lawmakers supposed to meet during the Kentucky 2026 legislative session?

Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session is supposed to have 60 legislative days, running from January to mid-April. Legislative days are days where lawmakers meet to vote on bills. 

They’ve burned through most of those days, leaving them with just six total scheduled legislative days:

• March 26
• March 27
• March 31
• April 1
• April 14
• April 15

They did, however, take a snow day in January that they could still make up. It is unclear if they plan on doing that, though.

What is the status of LGBTQ-focused bills? 

Kentucky lawmakers filed about 15 LGBTQ-focused bills during the 2026 legislative session — 10 anti-LGBTQ+ and five pro-LGBTQ+. 

As of March 25, all but two of them are dead. (And those two are on life support.) 

All of the pro-LGBTQ+ bills never went anywhere, and many of the anti-LGBTQ+ bills never went far, either. 

The dead anti-LGBTQ+ bills include ones to restrict drag shows and performers; limit how transgender Kentuckians can access gender-affirming health care, prohibit trans people in public buildings from using the restroom tied to their gender identity, and keep trans teachers out of Kentucky classrooms. 

Wait, how do you know that?

Let me be clear: This is Frankfort, and there are tons of ways to sneak in and rush through legislation at the last second (check out Queer Kentucky’s explainer on some of the key ways). A lot of folks tend to subscribe to the “it ain’t over until it’s over” mentality when it comes to calling time of death for bills.

But bills need at least five, but typically six, legislative days to fully get through the legislative process. We only have four days left before the veto period, so any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that hasn’t started moving yet literally doesn’t have enough time to do so. 

There are six total legislative days left if you include the two in mid-April after the veto period. Lawmakers could, technically, start moving bills now and fully pass them by the end of session — but Beshear would almost certainly veto them and the GOP-led legislature wouldn’t have a chance to override him. 

Couldn’t they just shove all this stuff in a different bill?

Yes, they could — and that’s a valid concern. That’s why Queer Kentucky will be monitoring Frankfort particularly hard over the next week. 

Could a group of lawmakers squash all of their anti-LGBTQ+ bills into one bill that’s much further along in the legislative process and rush it through? Technically, yes, but lawmakers haven’t shown much appetite for anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year. It doesn’t seem likely this will be a focus of theirs, particularly given the fact the budget is still in the works and other legislative issues like JCPS seem to be taking priority. 

What is the veto period? 

The veto period is a roughly two-week-long time where the legislature isn’t meeting and they’re just letting Beshear go through all of the stuff they’ve passed and decide what he wants to do with it. 

Once a bill lands on his desk, Beshear has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to decide what to do with it. He can sign it into law, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. 

Lawmakers want the vast majority of the bills that are going to be passed, passed before the veto period so they have a chance to override any of Beshear’s vetoes during the final two days of session. They can still pass things during the last two days of session, but they would not have a chance to override Beshear’s veto. 

What bills or trends should I watch? 

When it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, focus on Senate Bill 72 and House Bill 468. 

SB 72 would allow anyone tied to health care to deny service to someone based on their beliefs. It passed out of the Senate weeks ago, but hasn’t moved in the House yet. 

HB 468 initially dealt with how fairness ordinances could be enforced. But it saw some changes before passing out of the House, and now it is less of a threat to LGBTQ+ rights. But we’ll still be monitoring it in the Senate just in case. 

Outside of LGBTQ+ issues, here are a few things lawmakers are focusing on in their final days:

• • The budget: If lawmakers do anything this session, they need to craft the next state budget. This is in a conference committee — basically, when a bunch of lawmakers sit around a table and try to come to an agreement. 
  • JCPS: Between bills to change how many people are elected to school board, to ones shifting power to the superintendent, lawmakers are gearing up for lots of discussion around Kentucky’s largest school district. (Fayette County, you’ll see some action too; everyone else, you’re in the clear.) 
  • Medicaid: Lawmakers are making several changes to Medicaid to bring Kentucky in alignment with federal rules, but some have said the current proposal — HB 2 — goes further than needed. 

How can I follow along?

• Follow Queer Kentucky for up-to-date legislative updates.
• Check out our other civic explainers like How a Bill Becomes a Law in Kentucky: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Legislative Process.
• Sign up for legislative alerts for groups like the Fairness Campaign and ACLU of Kentucky.
• Follow your favorite advocacy groups and journalists on social media for any live updates out of Frankfort.
• Turn on KET or the LRC’s livestreams of committee meetings and House and Senate proceedings to watch as things go down and listen for any changes to bills.