Legislative Liaison

Legislative Liaison

2021 Session Begins!

The 2021 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly begins this first full week of January with the early introduction of bills and taking care of organizational issues. Both the House and Senate increased their Republican majorities as a result of the November 2020 elections. This will set up partisan battles with Democratic Governor Andy Beshear during this odd-year, 30-day session.

Both the House and Senate have signaled their stances with the introduction of several bills that would limit the executive authority of Governor Beshear, especially as these executive powers relate to the COVID-19 Executive Orders issued by the governor in 2020. Another early focus of the legislature will be on limiting abortion rights. House Bill 2 would allow the Attorney General to seek injunctive relief as well as civil and criminal penalties to remedy violations of KRS Chapter 216B relating to abortion facilities.

House and Senate leadership continues with little change. Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) remains the Senate President. David Givens (R-Greensburg) will serve as President Pro Tempore. David Osborne (R-Prospect) will again serve as the Speaker of the House and David Meade (R-Stanford) will be Speaker Pro Tempore.

 The Kentucky Rural Water Association will not be hosting its annual Legislative Breakfast this year due to COVID-19 concerns.

Important LRC Contact Information

The state maintains a comprehensive Legislative website: http://www.lrc.ky.gov. From this site, you can view all bills and resolutions, contact legislators, by email and check on legislative committee schedules and calendars.

The Kentucky General Assembly also maintains several toll-free phone numbers for citizens to offer feedback or opinions. The Legislative Message Line is (800) 372-7181. The Bill Status Line is (866) 840-2835.

Coming issues of e-Liaison will contain summary information for bills that we are tracking with details on the most recent activity for each bill. We will continue to highlight timely legislative news that is important to our members in each weekly issue. If you would like to suggest that we add a bill to the e-Liaison for tracking purposes, please contact KRWA.

Keeping up with the Legislature has never been easier! The state has updated its Legislative website:https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/Pages/default.aspx. From this site, you can view all bills and resolutions, contact legislators by email and check on legislative committee schedules and calendars. You can reach a legislator in person by calling 502-564-8100 (not toll-free).

The toll-free meeting schedule information line is 1-800-633-9650. The toll-free message line is 1-800-372-7181, to leave a message for a legislator or an entire committee. The TTY message line is 1-800-896-0305. En Espanol, el nombre es 1-866-840-6574. The toll-free bill status number is 1-866-840-2835.

Every issue of e-Liaison will contain summary information for each bill that we track with a section that details the most recent activity with the bill. We will continue to highlight timely legislative news that is important to our members in each issue. If you would like to suggest that we add a bill to the e-Liaison for tracking, please contact KRWA. By clicking on the link, you will be taken to the bill summary on the LRC’s website.

The Kentucky legislature convenes in regular session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January for 60 days in even-numbered years and for 30 days in odd-numbered years. It convenes in special sessions at the call of the governor.

The Kentucky Constitution mandates that a regular session be completed no later than April 15 in even-numbered years and March 30 in odd-numbered years.

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