June 2026 District 36 Newsletter: Bills passed, road plans and budget, and more

District 36 Newsletter

June 2026

Greetings!

Happy June! It's usually a great month in KY, everything is green and lush and the heat is not too intense. I like living where we have 4 seasons, with none too extreme - our climate is a real asset to the state.

In Frankfort, (after a few blessed weeks off), we are now in the "Interim Session", where we have joint committees, task forces, legislative policy conferences, and work on bills for 2027.

I need your input - send me a note and tell me what you would really like to see us work on in 2027. Only about 15-20% of bills get passed every year, and I start very early trying to build a coalition to get things done. Your input is valuable.

Over the next few months, I will recap legislation we passed in the 2026 session.

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Watch live internet video of the session, committees, and task forces on this KET link.

My 6 assignments are:

Elections & Constitutional Amendments Committee (Vice Chair)
State Government Committee
Transportation Committee
Small Business and IT Committee
Information Technology Oversight Committee
Air Mobility and Aviation Economic Development Task Force

I welcome your input and perspective on legislative issues (online form here).

My office number is 351D in the Capitol Annex.

Office phone is 502-564-8100.

State email is John.Hodgson@KYLegislature.gov

I will do my best to answer your questions and consider your input on District 36 issues if you would like to contact me.

District 36 Road & Traffic Plans

Gilliland & US 60 Intersection

Work is in full swing on the GIlliland & US60 intersection project. All intersections will be reconfigured to be perpendicular for safety. Summer is peak construction time, and the winter potholes are mostly repaired now.

Here is a recap of our approved 2027/8 Road budget for District 36, the first 3 are fully funded for completion. #4-13 are our long range plan that will require future funds.

US 60 at Gilliland Road/Eastwood project: previously funded, in work, for completion 2026/7
KY1819/Billtown Rd Reconstruction project: previously funded, in work, for completion 2026
Widen KY155 (Taylorsville Road) from I265 to the Fisherville intersection - $23,760,000 funded in new budget, for completion 2026-28 ------------- Projects past this line cannot be completed without more budget in future years
Extend Plantside Drive from Rehl Road to Taylorsville road by I-265 light - $11,000,000 in new budget, need $13,000,000 project funding in next budget for 2031 completion
Widen US60 (Shelbyville Road) to 6 lanes from Old Shelbyville Rd to North English Station $500,000 funded for Design in new budget, need $6,000,000 in next budget for completion 2030-31
Reconstruct KY 1531 (Johnson Rd) to make it wider with smoother curves - need $12,000,000 project funding in next budget for 2032 completion
Widen KY 1819 Watterson Trail through the Jtown Industrial Park (multiple phases) - $500,000 in new budget for Design Phase, need $66,000,000 in future budgets for 2032 completion
Widen KY 155 (Taylorsville Rd) PHASE 2, from KY 148 on into Spencer County - need $50,000,000 project funding in next budget for 2032 completion
Widen Taylorsville Rd from Tucker Station to Blankenbaker - need $21,300,000 to complete by 2032
I-64 New Exit - need $60,000,000 in future budgets to complete in 2032
I-64 connector road @ KY 1531 corridor - need $57,000,000 to complete in 2032
I-64 Bridge over Tucker Station repairs - need $10,730,000 to complete in 2031
Urton Ln Extension from I64 to Seatonville - need $61,500,000 to complete by 2032

So... that's a lot more money than we have, or are likely to get. We do a new budget every 2 years, and the priority will be completing started projects, so this list will not likely get done any time soon. Think of this as a long range plan; we have to start somewhere.

Help Metro stay on top of potholes by reporting online!

Constitutional Minute

Birthright Citizenship?

The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

This amendment was passed after the US Civil war in the late 1860s, with the primary purpose of ensuring those born as slaves in US would have full rights of citizenship. It was well understood at the time that a foreign visitor having a child in the US was not creating a new US Citizen. The key phrase is "subject to the jurisdiction of the US" - meaning someone who was born, to legal residents or citizens, and not someone born to a traveler, an illegal resident, or even an invader.

Somehow in the last 150 years, this clause has been twisted to automatically grant citizenship even to a baby that was born in a US territory by a mother who flew in specifically to give birth, and left shortly after. There are over 20,000 births each year from such "birth tourism", especially by communist Chinese nationals. Imagine what can happen when such a child is raised for 18+ years in all the values of communist China, and then pops into the US as a citizen and registers to vote. President Trump outlawed birthright citizenship by executive order, and the Supreme Court will rule later this month on the interpretation of the 14th amendment in such cases, and in the case of the millions of illegal aliens who give birth while on US soil. Stay tuned!

Legislative Update

I serve as Vice Chair of the House Elections committee, and passing election integrity legislation has been a top priority of mine for the last 6 years. I was happy to have collaborated with others to pass these bills:

Elections & Constitutional Amendments Committee 2026 Bills passed:

House Resolution 7 (passed unanimously) acts as a policy communication vehicle and emphasizes that elections should be conducted in a way that is secure, transparent, accessible, accurate, and trustworthy. It stresses the importance of maintaining public confidence in election outcomes and supporting the integrity of the voting process. The resolution also highlights several broad election principles, including:

Protecting the constitutional right to vote;
Ensuring only eligible voters participate;
Maintaining accurate voter rolls;
Preventing fraud and improper influence;
Supporting transparency and accountability in election administration

HB 139 (including HB 534) is a comprehensive election integrity improvement measure that strengthens voter-list maintenance, modernizes voting equipment and procedures, tightens voter identification rules, and improves overall election administration and security across the Commonwealth. The most important features of the bill are:

Requires systematic use of U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data and intergovernmental data-sharing agreements to identify and remove ineligible voters (deceased, people who have moved out of state, noncitizens, and ineligible felons), while maintaining strong safeguards to protect eligible voters from erroneous removal.
Allows State Board of Elections to share data with other government agencies investigating election offenses.
PHOTO ID required - this eliminates the use of the previously allowed forms of identification that do not include a photo, such as Social Security cards and public benefits cards (including SNAP cards).
Requires use of the US Government SAVE database to help eliminate non-citizens from the voter rolls starting January 1, 2028. I pushed hard to make this immediately effective in 2026, but the statewide County Clerks association lobbied the Senate very aggressively to delay for 18 months, and the Senate changed the bill.
Prohibits purchase of voting equipment that tallies votes with non-human readable barcodes or QR codes. This will enhance our human hand-to-eye post-election ballot count audits.
Allows a qualified political party committee, to endorse, support, oppose, and make contributions or expenditures to nonpartisan candidates such as Schol Board, Metro Council, Metro Mayor, and Judges.
Judicial candidates in nonpartisan elections are now allowed to publicly disclose their political party affiliation, state their current and past voter registration status, and communicate political values or views consistent with that affiliation. These provisions align Kentucky statutory provisions with federal court decisions protecting First Amendment rights. Judicial races remain nonpartisan, and candidates are prohibited from claiming to be an official nominee of any political party and from using party symbols, slogans, or imagery in a way that would imply they are running in a partisan election or selected by a political party to represent it.

SB 10 - places a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that would amend Section 77 of the Kentucky Constitution to limit a governor’s ability to grant pardons and commute sentences.

Ballot Question: Are you in favor of limiting a Governor’s ability to grant pardons or commute sentences by prohibiting him or her from granting pardons or commuting sentences during the time period beginning 60 days prior to the general election at which the Governor is elected, and ending when the Governor is sworn in for that term by amending the Constitution of Kentucky as stated below?

SB59 - Stops illegal campaigning with tax dollars - government entities like public schools puts a legal penalty on violating the existing ban on lobbying and campaigning for or against a ballot measure or candidate with taxpayer funded resources (ie: posting or emailing from a workplace computer, or during paid work time)

"In case you missed it" section:

Bills I have authored and passed into KY law in previous years:

2026 (long session)

HB10 Gubernatorial Transition - puts additional legal guardrails and records retention policies in place for the last days of a Governor's administration, to ensure that executive powers are not abused. Video of hearing

HB58 ALPR Limitations: limits use, retention, and sale of Automated License Plate Reader data VIDEO HERE

2025 (Short session)

SB129/HB18 Limits on Zoning Board Approvals Passed 76-12 watch video

HB19 Drone Privacy Passed 90-1

HB45 Ban Foreign Donations for Ballot Measures Passed 85-12

2024 (long session)

HB5 -Safer Kentucky Act I was a primary co-sponsor along with 6 others. Passed 75-23

HB43 : requires Fire Districts to notify homeowners and local elected officials before downgrading fire protection services in a way that impacts insurance rates. passed 93-0

HB44 Voter roll cleanup Bill passed 75-17 watch video here.

HB53 Post-election "eyeball" audits passed 87-8 watch video here.

2023 (short session)

HB 144 Ban on warrant-less government surveillance on private land Passed 81-13

District 36 Community Spotlight

New Amphitheater in Jtown!

Jtown has transformed a piece of land from a smelly liability (a decommissioned water treatment plant) into an asset - a beautiful, state of the art event venue and amphitheater.

The event space is available for rental for receptions, weddings, gatherings of all types.

The outdoor amphitheater has a couple of big concerts planned July 3 and 4, the "Stars and Stripes Fest" for America's 250 birthday. What a great way to launch this public facility!

They will have food trucks, concessions, and adult beverages available also.

The land connects to the nearby Veterans Park and the Jeffersonian via a footpath, making a great public recreation and event complex for the Jtown area. Shout out to District 36 resident Brian Abrams for overcoming many setbacks and driving this facility to completion!

Learn more: https://www.jtownamphitheater.com/

Let's protect faith, family, and freedom in KY - Liberty is a team sport!

Political Happenings in Dist 36

Primary Election Results

KY State Rep 36 -Thanks for your vote of confidence! I won my District 36 primary with 81%, the highest margin of all the HY House primaries. I do have an opponent in November also, who advocates pretty much opposite policy positions from mine, so its an easy choice one way or the other. (but I have a recommendation!)

School Board - we have 5 new Districts, and all are up for election in Nov. Our area is the blue district 3 in the map above. I strongly endorse Taylor Everett, who has proven his value, asking the hard questions about the budget mess and advocating for reducing wasteful spending. The other 4 Districts will all have new candidates, and I hope we can elect some folks who will not bankrupt the taxpayers with poor budgeting, as the current board has.

US Senate - Congressman Andy Barr won the R primary, in one of the most expensive campaigns in KY history. He will face Democrat Charles Booker in November, and their policy positions are about 180 degrees opposite.

KY State Senate - incumbent Julie Adams won the primary, and has a Dem opponent in November. She has been a very effective partner the last 4 years in budget and road negotiations for our area.

Metro Mayor - This is the first non-partisan Metro mayor race. Mayor Greenberg (center-left) and Wright (far left) will be facing off in November.

Greenberg is the clear choice between those 2; he has worked with Republicans in Frankfort pretty well the last 4 years on crime and urban cleanup and revitalization issues, and has been responsive in improving our District 36 pothole and snow plowing concerns.

Metro Council - (non-partisan now) in our area, incumbents Kramer and Piagentini will advance to the finals in November. They have represented a more conservative viewpoint on the council, and face more liberal and free-spending opponents.