The League of Women Voters of Kentucky (LWVKY) held The Democracy Principle Rally in the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda on Friday. Members of the League, citizen advocacy groups, and community leaders and friends totaling over 100 people, rallied to call for legislative transparency that includes and respects the voices of all citizens in the legislative process.
LWVKY President Jennifer Jackson spoke about the League’s in-depth research on the legislative process as the genesis for the Rally. The data, which go back to 1998, reveal that lawmakers have increasingly used tactics and maneuvers that minimize citizen participation and stifle full and open debate on significant issues.
The League provided several examples of legislation passed during the 2025 session that used multiple fast-track maneuvers to get across the legislative finish line:
• HB 4, restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and constraining instruction in public postsecondary institutions.
• HB90, originally focused on free-standing birthing centers, but last-minute additions included abortion-related provisions.
• HB241, a two-page bill allowing school districts to adjust calendars due to weather-related emergencies had multiple provisions about virtual education programs added on the Senate floor.
• HB 695, included last-minute changes to the state Medicaid program by adding mandatory work requirements for able-bodied adults.
• HB 775, a four-page bill on development districts that transformed to a 108-page bill making substantive taxation changes beyond development districts.
• SB 202, a five-page shell bill making innocuous word changes that became a 60-page bill to regulate the sale of cannabis-infused beverages.
Charts used to describe the ways in which these bills were fast-tracked can be found here.
Multiple citizen advocacy groups and community leaders attended the Rally and spoke about the compounded negative effects of a rushed legislative process and the necessity of including citizen voices. Featured speakers included:
• Ridhi Penmecha, a Western Hills High School senior and member of the Kentucky Student Voice Team said, “With the increased lack of transparency…we are not just excluded from the present, but cut out of the future.”
• Rev. James Todd Smith, who spoke on behalf of the Kentucky Council of Churches said related to HB 695 (the Medicaid bill) that legislators ‘knew what they were doing was wrong. How do I know? Because no one who believes their acts to be just or righteous does them under the cover of darkness.”
• Mark Ritter, Legislative Chair for the Kentucky Chapter of the Sierra Club, offered two recommendations to give the public time to understand legislation: allow 24 hours before voting on new language, and restore prefiled bills.
• Artie Ann Bates, MD, who represented the nonprofit Concerned Letcher Countians (CLC) said, “Fast-tracking is done insidiously, and at times, so rapidly that citizens and other legislators may not have a chance to thoroughly examine bills prior to the vote. The public is locked out of the legislative process and that undermines trust in Congress and our elections.”
• Prof. Joshua Douglas, from the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law described his children’s incredulity at the fast tracking process, and asked, “Do my 13-year-old and 9-year-old understand more about democracy than the legislature? It is the simple rules of playground fairness.” He suggested,”If they [legislators] don’t do the will of the people, vote them out!”
Becky Jones, League 1st Vice President said in conclusion: “All of Kentucky’s citizens deserve to be heard and respected. That’s why the League will continue to shine a light on the abuses of the legislative process. Democracy demands nothing less than full inclusion for all.”
League of Women Voters