By McKenna Horsley and Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has issued more than two dozen vetoes of bills approved by Kentucky’s Republican-controlled legislature ranging from Medicaid copays to lowering the legal age to carry a concealed firearm.
The GOP supermajority has the votes to override Beshear’s objections Tuesday and Wednesday, which are the final days of the 2026 legislative session.
The governor vetoed parts of House Bill 2, which makes changes to Medicaid which 1 in 3 Kentuckians rely on to pay for their health care. Beshear vetoed requirements that Medicaid patients start being charged copays and that enrollees prove community engagement — a work requirement — for three months before renewing coverage, along with other portions of the bill.
The Senate lowered the copays from the version that passed the House from $35 to $5 for health care services and $1 for prescription drugs beginning in October 2028. The House version also set the effective date sooner than required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which launches Medicaid cost sharing on Oct. 1, 2028.
Beshear, in his veto message, said copayments “will deprive the Commonwealth of a significant amount of federal funds available to Kentucky’s health care providers, since copayments are not an eligible state share to draw down matching federal dollars.”
“Additionally, the $5 copayment amount is overly prescriptive and limits the flexibility (of) the Department for Medicaid Services to design cost-sharing approaches that best meet program goals, federal requirements, and the needs of members and providers,” Beshear wrote.
Here’s a look at Beshear’s vetoes:
Senate Bills
• SB 1 — A revival of a 2022 law that the Kentucky Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional just before the legislative session that shifted power from the Jefferson County Public Schools board to its superintendent. Beshear vetoed the previous law and vetoed the new one, saying it continued to create “special legislation” that applies “only to the Jefferson County school district and treating it differently than all other public school districts in Kentucky.”
• SB 4 — Creates new rules for school districts that have a local population of more than 300,000, which is only Jefferson and Fayette counties and remakes the districts’ boards of education. In his veto message Beshear argued the bill wasn’t constitutional because it was “special legislation” and said that reorganization of boards, either in the two counties or elsewhere in the state, “should be made locally by the people who live there, not the General Assembly in Frankfort.”
• SB 59 — Prohibits using tax dollars to advocate for or against a ballot measure. The bill is a response to school districts that were criticized by Republicans for advocating online against a 2024 proposed constitutional amendment to allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools. Beshear “>said the bill is “far too broad and violates the First Amendment.”
• SB 65 — Nullifies an administrative regulation about the Medicaid outpatient pharmacy program that included regulations about Medicaid-covered drugs and diabetic supplies. It also nullifies regulations on tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product licenses. Beshear called the bill “another instance of legislative overreach that violates the Kentucky Constitution.”
• SB 77 — Green lights a state fund to back ibogaine research for treating opioid-use disorders. Beshear criticized the bill for picking one drug and “not a class of potential treatments or drugs.” He added: “This raises the concern that this legislation is meant to pay a specific company.”
• SB 100 — Exempts records and data created by the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission from the Kentucky Open Records Act. However, Beshear vetoed the bill on the grounds that it would remove governor appointments to a powerful executive committee within EPIC and give them to Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman.
• SB 173 — Establishes an annual Medicaid state plan and Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program state plan legislative review process. Beshear said the bill is a “legislative power grab” that gives legislative committees the power to review the plans “even when the legislature is not in session and does not exist.”
• SB 251 — Would allow the Department of Corrections to not be required to enforce administrative regulations regarding the death penalty. In his veto message, Beshear said that both the U.S. and Kentucky Supreme Courts “have ruled that such procedural safeguards must be in place to determine intellectual disability and ensure the Eighth Amendment is not violated” and the bill could open Kentucky to more lawsuits.
• SB 263 — Stems from a 2025 law for “schools of innovation,” which allowed school boards to subcontract their management to outside entities such as charter school operators. The bill would create the “school of innovation pilot project” and a state fund for that. Beshear said he was “concerned” that the bill “may be a back door attempt to divert public funding to nonpublic charter schools.” The state’s Constitution has repeatedly been interpreted to say that public dollars must only be used for public education.
• SB 291 — Creates a statewide licensing system under the Kentucky Motor Vehicle to track metals transactions. The bill is aimed at curbing theft of copper and other metals. Beshear said he vetoed the bill because the General Assembly did not give any additional dollars to the commission for the new responsibility.
House Bills
• HB 10 — Aims to limit actions Kentucky governors may take near the end of their terms in ways like having the attorney general, along with the Finance and Administration Cabinet, approve or disapprove any legal settlement above $1 million involving the executive branch 180 days before an inauguration. It would also give the Senate confirmation power over a governor’s cabinet secretary appointments. Beshear said the bill was “unconstitutional” in his veto message and argued that it could allow for a scenario in which a candidate for governor who is also serving as a constitutional officer could “prevent their opponent from carrying out necessary functions of their office.”
• HB 78 — Protects gun manufacturers and sellers from being sued for crimes involving firearms. Beshear said he vetoed the bill in honor of victims who died in a 2023 mass shooting in Louisville, including his friend Tommy Elliot.
• HB 96 — Changes the membership of the postsecondary education working group of the Council on Postsecondary Education to include lawmakers as voting members. Beshear said the bill “effectively turns an executive branch working group into a legislative committee overnight.”
• HB 139 — An omnibus elections bill that makes several changes, including increasing political donation limits. Beshear said “the foxes are guarding the henhouse” under the bill.
• HB 142 — Allows the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue five deer destruction permits to landowners whose lands have been damaged by wildlife. Beshear said he vetoed the measure after hearing concerns from Kentucky sportsmen and women and said the bill “places supervision of managing deer populations in Kentucky with agricultural interests rather than biologists with the required experience to manage such a program.”
• HB 312 — Lowers the age to conceal carry firearms from 21 to 18. Beshear said in his veto message that the bill would allow people under the age of 21 to “carry concealed deadly weapons, even though federal law restricts their ability to buy handguns.”
• HB 355 — Creates the Real Property Appraisers Board and would require all real property appraisals be performed by a licensed or certified real property appraiser. Beshear said the bill would limit Kentuckians’ ability to bring civil lawsuits against real estate appraisers and appraisal management companies.
• HB 379 — Restructures some elements of the Council on Postsecondary Education, like removing the definition of a “P-16 council,” or a council of educators and business representatives. Beshear vetoed the bill saying it would require the Kentucky Department of Revenue to collect debts owed to public universities. He added that the department used to do that, “but stopped because many times the Department would end up expending more resources than it brought in for gathering these debts on behalf of universities.”
• HB 387 — Removes a physician and a nurse from the Controlled Substances Prescribing Council and adds a livestock veterinarian and equine veterinarian. Beshear vetoed the bill because he said it would remove two medical professionals who “have significant experience in the fight against the opioid epidemic” from the council.
• HB 490 — Would allow the boards of Kentucky public universities and colleges to dismiss faculty for financial reasons, such as financial exigency, low enrollment in a program or major misalignment of revenue and costs. The bill has been opposed by a higher education union. In his veto message, Beshear said the bill “does not properly define the fireable grounds” a university may use and could lead to misuse “to target people, programs and research based purely on subject, politics, or many other unconstitutional grounds, under the guise of economic necessity.”
• HB 607 — Would restructure oversight mechanisms for city officials in Louisville, such as the Ethics Commission. Beshear vetoed the bill saying it is “unconstitutional special legislation.”
• HB 619 — Reorganizes the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s board. In his veto message, Beshear was critical of the bill for removing “any requirement for minority participation on the boards of regional universities,” reducing the board’s authority over budget and rules that govern personnel, and removing the boards of directors for each college.
• HB 652 — Moves the school mapping data program to the Kentucky 911 Services Board. Beshear vetoed the bill because it “provides no money to the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security (KOHS) to run this program.”
• HB 669 — Requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to determine if children in state care and custody are eligible for federal benefits. Beshear said the bill could “do away with” more than $11 million annually in funding that the cabinet uses to support foster care youth.”
• HB 904 — A lengthy gaming bill that among other things raises the age to gamble on sports to 21 and bans proposition bets, or “prop” bets, on Kentucky college athletes. Beshear vetoed the bill because it would allow the Kentucky Lottery Corporation and Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation to file administrative regulations without the governor’s approval. Beshear said the governor, as the head of the executive branch, “has a duty to ensure all laws are faithfully executed, including by agencies carrying out the law through regulation.”
• House Joint Resolution 50 — Directs Republican Auditor Allison Ball to study state policies that impact the opening of child care services in the state. Beshear said the auditor “lacks the programmatic and policy expertise to study all laws and policies that impact licensed and certified childcare centers in the Commonwealth.”
Overridden
Lawmakers have already overridden some of Beshear’s earlier vetoes this session, making them laws. Those are:
• SB 183 — Requires a proxy adviser contracted by a state retirement plan to complete an economic analysis before voting on or recommending a vote on a shareholder-sponsored proposal that is different from a board of directors’ proposal. Beshear said the legislation undermines the authority of the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority.
• SB 199 — Any pesticide registered with the Department of Agriculture and has an EPA approved label is “deemed sufficient.” Critics of the bill said it would block Kentuckians from suing pesticide companies for failing to warn of their products’ hazards.
• HB 1 — Opts Kentucky into a program of education grants for K-12 students promoted by the Trump administration and fueled by a new federal tax credit. Besher vetoed the bill and pushed back against Republicans support of charter schools, saying that more resources should be provided to public schools rather than creating more direct competitors for them.
• HB 314 — Remakes the leadership of the state’s broadband network KentuckyWired by removing the current director of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority and restructuring the KCNA board. Beshear called it an “unconstitutional partisan power grab.”
This story first appeared at the Kentucky Lantern, a member of States Newroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit organization. It is republished here under Creative Commons license.