The League of Women Voters of Kentucky on Wednesday released a new report outlining challenges to public participation in Kentucky’s government processes.
The report, titled “How Can They Do That: 2025 Challenges to Transparency and Citizen Participation in Kentucky’s Legislative Process,” adds data on processes used to pass bills in the 2025 General Assembly to information on prior legislative sessions.
“Kentuckians deserve thoughtful, high-quality laws strengthened by input from the people who live under those laws, ” said Jennifer A. Jackson, M.D., president of the LWVKY. “Now that so many important decisions are being made at the state level, our legislators should take the time to listen to public comment to ensure the laws they pass truly serve all Kentuckians. Why would legislators cut out voices of their constituents and rush such important work?”
The analysis of the 2025 session is the first time the League has examined fast-track maneuvers in 30-day sessions. The analysis shows that the rate of fast-tracking in the 2025 short session was about the same as in recent 60-day sessions. Of bills that became law, roughly one-third of House bills and one-fourth of Senate bills were fast-tracked by the Kentucky General Assembly in ways that make it difficult or impossible for citizens, journalists, and fellow legislators to review and comment on important and sometimes controversial bills.
The report also notes the continued use of four additional tactics that hinder public access and demonstrate poor use of legislative time. LWVKY says the processes violate what the it calls the Democracy Principle: We, the people, have a right to participate in decisions that affect us.
Major findings
The League analysis found in the 2025 legislative session, the General Assembly continued to use four fast-track maneuvers identified in its prior reports:
• Holding required “readings” of bills before any committee has considered the bill, allowing bills to be fast-tracked with no time for public input.
• Last-minute committee substitutes: Legislators replace original bills with last-minute substitute versions, allowing little or no time for the public to review or comment before the committee votes.
• Holding “floor” (full House or Senate) votes on bills the same day those bills were approved in committee.
• Holding floor votes on free conference committee reports — often containing significantly changed language — on the same day the reports are filed.
The 2025 report also reviews the four additional tactics identified in the 2024 report that challenge the Democracy Principle:
• Loss of prefiled bills. The legislature discontinued access to prefiled bills, making it hard or impossible for Kentuckians to prepare for the legislative session.
• Shell bills. Legislators file bills with little or no substantive language to use as placeholders for more substantive language to be inserted after the deadline for filing legislation.
League of Women Voters of Kentucky
• Committee meetings held at irregular times or not at all. Instead of holding committee meetings at the scheduled time, surprise meetings are held outside the published schedule.
• Inconsistent access to records of legislative action. The legislature provides inconsistent access to important records, such as minutes of committee meetings and the legislative Journals of Proceedings required by the Constitution of Kentucky.
Major recommendations
The League said the General Assembly must strengthen citizens’ participation in our democracy. It can do that in multiple ways:
• Hold the three required bill “readings” on separate days after a standing committee sends the bill to the whole House or Senate for a vote.
• Make committee substitute bills available online at least one full day before the committee meeting where the substitute will be considered.
• Allow at least one full day between the last standing committee action on a bill and the House or Senate floor vote on the bill.
• Allow at least one full day between free conference committee revisions to a bill and the House and Senate floor votes on that changed bill.
• Restore pre-filed bills.
• Limit the need for and use of shell bills by filing substantive bills before filing deadlines.
• Transact most committee business during regularly scheduled meetings.
• Announce any additional committee meetings in the daily legislative calendar published the night before.
• Make records of legislative proceedings and committee meetings available to the public in a timely fashion.
The report is available at lwvky.org/how-can-they-do-that. Appendices with methods, sources and data for each challenge are also available at that website.
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky