AIA KY Legislative Update: 03-03-2026

Weekly Legislative Update

March, 2026

Bill Activity Report

AIA Kentucky Weekly Legislative Report for the Week Ending February 27, 2026.

This week marks a major milestone in the 2026 General Assembly. Monday is the last day to file bills in the Senate and Wednesday is the last day in the House. There are still a lot of shell bills they will be able to modify, but there will be no new bills filed after Wednesday. There are currently over one thousand bills that have been filed this session.

Last Wednesday the House held a special Appropriations and Revenue Committee where they unveiled their version of the budget. HB 500 saw a lot of changes in the committee sub including fixes to the state employee health plan that had drawn so much criticism the week before. It has since been voted out of the House and is now in possession of the Senate, where more changes are expected. Ultimately this process will resolve after passing the Senate and being assigned to conference committee between both chambers. There has been some talk of a possible revenue bill at some point, but with little details on what will be included.

HB 254 passed out of committee last week with major changes. The current version of the bill only addresses temporary toilets and showers with added language clarifying who is allowed to declare an emergency – addressing most AIA’s concerns. The bill sponsor indicated it was never his intention to allow for any temporary structure to be exempt from the building code and it was simply an oversight. It is in the orders of the day for Tuesday to be heard on the House floor.

There was a Senate bill introduced last week (SB 225) that would require a cost-benefit analysis for any new regulation on the residential code and prohibit Housing, Building, and Construction from promulgating any new regulations on the residential code until January of 2029. After speaking with the bill sponsor, he said the pause on new regulation until 2029 was not in his initial bill request and he was unsure how it was added. He suggested it will likely come out and to check back with him this week to verify.

March marks the final stretch of the session as there are only three legislative days in April. There will be a lot more action on bills in the coming weeks and longer nights for the General Assembly as the end draws near.

Click here for the current status of bills AIA Kentucky is tracking.

Greg & Andrew Brotzge

AIA Kentucky Lobbyists

AIA KY Government

Affairs Committee

The AIA Kentucky Government Affairs Committee reviews, provides feedback, and recommends positions on pending legislation.

Eric Steva, AIA is the AIA Kentucky Government Affairs Committee chair. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Mr. Steva or AIA KY's Executive Vice President Kelly Ives, AIA. Any AIA Kentucky member in good standing is eligible to serve.

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Please consider joining many of your fellow members who have already contributed by making a donation to the Kentucky Society of Architects Political Action Committee (KSA PAC)!

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Week In Review: February 23rd - 27th

Kentucky House passes federal tax credit scholarship program bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky House has passed a measure to opt the state into a first-of-its-kind federal program, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, called the federal tax credit scholarship program.

Spectrum News

New Kentucky House GOP budget fixes insurance issue, ups education spending

In their latest version of the state executive branch budget bill, House Republicans put more money into education and fixed an issue that could have hurt state employees’ health insurance, according to a copy reviewed by the Herald-Leader.

Lexington Herald-Leader

Surge in KY utility disconnections raises alarms as federal funding falls short of need

Kentucky electric utilities made more than 268,000 utility disconnections over a recent 12-month period as federal funding to prevent disconnections fell far short of Kentuckians’ financial need, according to a recent analysis of state and federal data.

Kentucky Lantern

Kentucky would opt into federal plan for private-school tuition aid under GOP bill

FRANKFORT — A House committee approved a bill that would allow Kentucky to participate in a federal education tax credit program established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Kentucky Today

Kentucky GOP bill to ban machine gun conversion devices moves forward

GOP legislation that would make it a crime to own a device that converts a firearm into a machine gun passed a committee vote Tuesday.

WFPL

Kentucky legislature moves to adopt federal ‘school choice’ tax credit

A bill authorizing a federal tax credit for those who donate to K-12 scholarship funds is moving speedily through the Kentucky legislature.

WFPL

Kentucky tobacco settlement dollars dwindle, putting programs at risk

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers are taking a closer look at programs funded by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

Spectrum News

KY would ban ‘Glock switch’ devices on semi-automatic handguns under House bill

Kentucky would enact a state ban against a thumbnail-sized device that can convert semi-automatic handguns into automatics under a measure moving to the House floor.

Lexington Herald-Leader

Paid surrogacy in KY banned under bill proposed by anti-abortion lawmaker

A Republican state lawmaker wants to make commercial surrogacy in Kentucky a felony offense.

Lexington Herald-Leader

Artificial intelligence couldn’t be your therapist under KY House bill

Under a bill passed Monday by the Kentucky House of Representatives, artificial intelligence would be banned from providing therapeutic treatment plans. Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article314810951.html#storylink=cpy

Lexington Herald-Leader

actionTRACK - Hannah News Service, Inc.

Questions or comments may be directed to Legislative Chair Eric Steva, AIA, Lobbyist Greg Brotzge or Executive Vice President, Kelly Ives, AIA.

Kelly E. Ives, AIA, CAE, LEED AP

Executive Vice President

AIA Kentucky

859.223.8201

kives@aiaky.org