Last year, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Kentucky analyzed seven of Kentucky’s 60-day legislative sessions over a 25-year period and found a dramatic increase in a set of maneuvers that make civic participation more difficult, the group said.
A year later, the league added data from the most recent session and found that number did not improve. Successful fast-tracked bills made up 37% of House and 23% of Senate bills that became law – demonstrating an increase among House bills and little change in the Senate.
In 1998, lawmakers fast-tracked 3% or fewer bills.
“We’re not asking for a change in the rules. We’re asking for the rules to be followed,” said Jennifer Jackson, president of the League of Women Voters of Kentucky.
The original report identified four key ways in which legislators fast-track proposals, limiting public feedback. Many of these maneuvers are violations, in either fact or spirit, of rules lawmakers set themselves or are required in the state constitution.
For example, the league pointed out that some bills are “read”— that is, formally announced on the House or Senate floor — before they are finalized in committee. The Kentucky Constitution requires three readings before a bill can pass the full House or Senate, but lawmakers frequently dispatch with those readings before the final language of a bill reaches the floor, leaving significant room for last-minute changes.
First Vice President Becky Jones said the lack of transparency blocks everyday citizens from participating and she argued that more participation means a better legislative product.
“All of these maneuvers create a negative compounding effect on the public participation in legislation and following legislation and making our voice heard,” Jones said.”It seems like there's a war of attrition on transparency.”
Lawmakers declined to change their rules last year after the league's first report, although a bipartisan group of lawmakers argued for changes to increase transparency and limit leadership power ensued in the General Assembly. The league said they have not met with any lawmakers to discuss their report.
This latest report added four more nontransparent maneuvers — some of which are methods that don’t necessarily speed a bill through the process, but make it harder for citizens to contribute.
The report noted that committee hearings were occasionally held at irregular times, especially for highly controversial bills. For example, a House committee called a special surprise meeting to discuss House Bill 2, which added a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to spend money on nonpublic education, instead of their regularly scheduled meeting. With less than three hours notice for the meeting, the room was nearly empty. That amendment would end up being one of the most controversial and expensive campaigns on Kentucky’s ballot before failing overwhelmingly.
Jackson noted that many committees cancelled their regularly scheduled meetings as well as scheduling surprise hearings. Budget subcommittees met especially infrequently; only three of the eight House subcommittees held any meeting during this year’s session, when the biennial budget was drafted.
The league also said that legislative records were inconsistent, with official records lagging significantly behind at the end of the session, and lamented the end of prefiled bills in 2022.
They also noted “shell bills,” pieces of legislation filed with hardly any content and later replaced with something else — often something controversial — after the deadline for filing legislation passes. The report analyzed eight sessions between 1998 and 2024, finding the number of shell bills filed went from a total of 15 in 2010 to 140 shell bells this year.
“The fact that they filed in batches right at the bill filing deadline tells you that they sort of front loaded, this opportunity to really speed through some kind of legislation,” said Janie Lindle, one of the research team members.
Jackson emphasized that the league is a nonpartisan group and does not hope to assign blame. The trend in low transparency began before Republicans gained a majority in both chambers. According to the report, use of nontransparent methods peaked in both chambers in 2014, when Republicans controlled the Senate and Democrats still held a majority in the House.
Jones said the trends are concerning regardless of which party holds a majority.
“The trend is the trend, and we looked at the data,” Jones said. “It's irrelevant who's holding power. We're reporting on what's happening to exclude the public from participating.”
House majority leadership did not immediately responded to a request for comment, and Senate majority leadership declined to comment.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
