— by Dr. Jennifer Jackson, president of the League of Women Voters of Kentucky —
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky joined with other advocacy groups at the Capitol Rotunda on March 28 for the Democracy Principle Rally. Why? Because our representative democracy rests on a fundamental principle: We, the people, have a right to participate in decisions that affect us.
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky has documented how Kentucky’s legislative process, since 1998, has been manipulated in ways that increasingly minimize public input, stifling full and open debate on significant legislation.
Lawmaking should not be reduced to power plays, but be approached with careful consideration of intended and unintended consequences.
The 2025 legislative session was no exception, with numerous bills passed and sent to the governor using fast-track maneuvers and undemocratic tactics, often in combination. Legislators used combinations like these:
- File a “shell bill” with minor changes to existing law and assign it to a standing committee.
- Rush a bill by holding bill readings on the chamber floor before the committee even discusses and votes on the bill.
- Reschedule committee meetings with short notice to the public.In committee, introduce and vote on a substitute bill that some committee members cannot access before the meeting and the public has not seen.
- Send the bill for a floor vote that same day, giving non-committee legislators and their constituents little time to review the new language.
- Then, the shenanigans rinse-and-repeat in the next chamber.
- If such strategies produce a bill different from the originating chamber, specially appointed committees can produce yet another version for a final vote before the public and many legislators have time to review.
These strategies not only interfere with public participation, but legislators themselves may have limited access to bill substitutes before a vote, let alone journalists whose job it is to inform the public. Overall, these fast-tracking methods are unnecessarily hasty and may lead to careless mistakes or laws that are out of step with public opinion. Lawmaking should not be reduced to power plays, but be approached with careful consideration of intended and unintended consequences.
Among the bills that were passed using one or more of these maneuvers were:
- 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.
Prior to these past two sessions, the League made recommendations to the General Assembly on how to strengthen public participation by respecting the Democracy Principle. We described how Kentucky’s Constitution, laws, and legislative process rules actually provide opportunities for public participation in the lawmaking process. We urged the legislature to respect these constitutional and statutory requirements alongside its own procedural rules.
The 2025 legislative session lacks evidence that the General Assembly has taken these recommendations to heart. That’s why we took the message to the Capitol on the last day of the session, to unequivocally affirm that there should be no laws about us, without us. That is the heart of the Democracy Principle, and we will not let the people be ignored.
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