And Away They Go The 2026 Session of the General Assembly got underway on Tuesday, January 5. As is almost always the case, things started slowly this session. Outside of the Governor's Budget, there were no high-profile bills filed, no standing committee meetings and floor action of significance was limited to adoption of resolutions to set procedural rules. The pace of legislative activity will, however, pick up every week until sine die adjournment no later than April 15. To keep you informed, we will provide you a weekly recap of major developments, a report specific to your interests, and an updated bill list. Bill Filings and Issues There were, of course, many bill introductions: 292 in the House and 60 in the Senate. These filings were by and large low-profile bills and did not include priority bills for each chamber, which are usually denoted by low bill numbers. The notable filings included: - SB 10 - McDaniel: Constitutional amendment limiting gubernatorial pardons - HB 303 - Stevenson: Governor's version of the Transportation Cabinet budget - HB 304 - Stevenson: Governor's version of the Executive Branch Budget State of the Commonwealth Governor Beshear gave his seventh State of the Commonwealth address (and his final budget address) on Wednesday. Due to the renovation of the Capitol the speech was delivered at the Clark History Center in downtown Frankfort. This change meant that the Governor did not present while the General Assembly was in joint session, although legislators were invited to attend. In his address, Beshear outlined proposed spending and identified universal pre-K funding, raises for teachers, infrastructure improvements, and economic development as goals for the remainder of his tenure as Governor. The State of the Commonwealth address can be streamed HERE. It was no surprise that GOP leaders were not receptive to the Governor's initiatives for funding universal Pre-K or across-the-board salary increases for teachers, though there was some agreement on areas that need to be addressed such as affordable housing and rural hospital assistance. Filing Deadline Passes Friday, January 9, was the filing deadline for candidates for legislative office, confirming which of the 100 House members and 19 Senators will face primary or general election opposition. During the past several election cycles, turnover in membership of the General Assembly has been significant in large part due to voluntary retirements. When the books were closed in the Secretary of State's Office on Friday, 10 incumbent legislators (9 House & 1 Senate) had not filed to run for re-election. A few stats on each chamber's filing: House
- Districts Unopposed - 41 - Primary Races - 31 - Not Running - 9 (7 GOP & 2 Dem) Rep. Ken Upchurch (R) Rep. David Hale (R) Rep. Scott Lewis (R) Rep. Nancy Tate (R) Rep. Ryan Dotson (R) Rep. William Lawrence (R) Rep. Bill Wesley (R) Rep. Pamela Stevenson (D) Rep. Ashley Tackett-Lafferty (D) Senate - Districts Unopposed - 8 - Primary Races - 7 - Not Running - 1 (GOP) Sen. Jimmy Higdon (R) **Why it Matters** The number of incumbents that have a contested race can impact what legislation might be considered - or not considered - during a legislative session. It appears that it will be a relatively quiet election season with a large number of unopposed districts in each chamber. The Senate GOP has already guaranteed a return of their supermajority after the November elections. Majority parties in both chambers will have more flexibility in the issues they choose to consider without the pressures of putting forth difficult votes that could ultimately impact election day results. Big I Update Welcome to the 2026 Regular Session of the General Assembly! Tune in here every week to hear about the key bills and issues impacting independent insurance agents in the Kentucky legislature. Week 1 is in the books, but first, some housekeeping…Weekly during the session, we will highlight several bills/issues of interest in this report, but we encourage you to review the Big I bill list, which is updated nightly and can be accessed HERE. This is a static link that you can bookmark and review at any time, or you can subscribe to get it emailed to you periodically. As noted above there were no committee meetings this week, so most of the action was around filings…candidates and bills. First for the candidates. As is noted above the candidate filing deadline past on Friday. The impact to the Banking & Insurance Committees was as follows: Senate B&I - Five of the committee's 11 members are up for re-election in 2026 - 3 of the 5 will have a contested election - Chairman Carpenter drew a general election opponent House B&I - All of the 19 members of the House B&I committee are up for election in 2026 - Only 7 face a contested election - Chairman Meredith is unopposed As for the bill filings, things started out pretty slow. We encourage you to review the Big I bill list to make sure we have not missed a bill that is impactful to you. A few we wanted to highlight: - HB 144 - Provides an exemption from the title forfeiture statute to allow a vehicle to get a salvage title - HB 265 - This is a DOI agency bill to prohibit the creation of new W/C self insured groups - SB 94 - This is an Auto Dealers bill dealing with warranty reimbursement, make sure it doesn't impact us Looking Ahead No committee meetings this week. We do expect the House B&I committee to meet on 1/14 and to hear three health insurance bills: HB 164 (hearing aid mandate), HB 176 (prior authorization reform), HB 184 (NCOIL HSA model). We expect that the Senate B&I Committee will be very deliberate in its consideration of legislation out of the gate and they may not have their first meeting until later in the month. While we could see the PIP bill in committee in the next two weeks. Thanks for your advocacy and being a Big I member! Legislative Calendar While it may be changed by leadership, the current Legislative Calendar can be accessed HERE. Key dates include: January 19: No Session - Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday February 16: No Session - Presidents Day Holiday March 2: Last Day for New Senate Bills March 4: Last Day for New House Bills March 31 & April 1: Concurrence Days April 2-April 13: Veto Recess April 15: Sine Die Adjournment
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