AN ACT relating to administrative regulations and declaring an emergency.
SB 23 revises Kentucky’s administrative regulation review process in KRS Chapter 13A. It updates definitions and expands the authority and procedures of the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee and legislative committees when reviewing proposed and existing regulations. The bill strengthens notice, hearing, and comment requirements, including electronic notice to registered stakeholders, targeted notice to small business and local governments when they may be affected, and more detailed statements of consideration explaining public comments and agency responses.
The bill also changes how regulations are scheduled, deferred, reviewed, and found deficient. It clarifies when regulations are placed on committee agendas, sets quorum and voting rules for committee action, limits repeated deferrals, and preserves the ability of committees to conduct informational reviews. In addition, SB 23 makes a separate change to local occupational license tax administration by directing the Secretary of State to prescribe standard tax return forms and maintain them on a public website, while allowing tax districts to opt out or seek hardship exemptions. The act is declared an emergency and takes effect immediately upon enactment.
SB 23 amends multiple provisions of Kentucky law, primarily KRS Chapter 13A governing administrative regulations, and also revises KRS 67.767 on local occupational license tax forms. Its practical effect is to increase legislative oversight of agency rulemaking, broaden public access to proposed regulations, and impose more detailed procedural obligations on administrative bodies, including notice, comment handling, and reporting to the regulations compiler. It also affects the Secretary of State, tax districts, local governments, small businesses, and regulated entities by standardizing tax forms and formalizing participation in the regulatory review process.
The voting record suggests broad bipartisan support and little overt opposition. The Senate passed the bill unanimously 38-0, and the House passed it overwhelmingly 92-1. The absence of committee transcript material limits insight into detailed debate, but the strong margins indicate general agreement with the bill’s goals of improving transparency, public notice, and legislative review of regulations.
The main areas of potential contention are procedural and administrative rather than ideological. The bill increases obligations on administrative bodies by requiring more notice, more detailed comment responses, and additional reporting to legislative committees, which could be viewed as burdensome by agencies. The changes to deferral rules, quorum requirements, and committee authority may also be seen as strengthening legislative control over executive rulemaking. On the tax-form provisions, local tax districts retain some flexibility through opt-outs and hardship exemptions, suggesting that standardization was balanced against local autonomy concerns.