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Kentucky House swears in officers, adopts membership resolution and hears introductions of dozens of bills
Summary
On opening day the Kentucky House elected constitutional officers by acclamation, adopted a resolution establishing membership, read communications including several impeachment petitions, and the clerk listed numerous newly filed bills covering education, Medicaid, tax, health care and other topics.
The Kentucky House formally organized for the 2026 session by electing constitutional officers, adopting a resolution establishing membership, and taking up communications and a broad slate of newly filed bills.
The Gentleman from McCracken moved that nominated constitutional officers be elected by acclamation to serve through Dec. 31, 2026; the slate included chief clerk Melissa Bobby Fields, deputy clerk Adanna Hides, sergeant at arms Robert Courtney, chief doorkeeper Larry Montgomery, enrolling clerk Mary Jo Sullivan, cloakroom keeper Donna Hicks Montel and janitor John King. The officers were sworn in after the clerk administered the constitutional oath requiring support for the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Clerk’s reports included House Resolution 1, establishing the 2026 membership of the Kentucky House of Representatives, which the House adopted on the floor. The clerk also read communications listing citizen impeachment petitions filed against (as read into the record) Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine, Ballard County jailer Eric Coppas and Marshall County Family Court Judge Stephanie J. Perlow.
The clerk read a long list of newly filed bills and resolutions. Items reported included measures described as: House Bill 11 (independent school districts); HB 12 (privacy of members of the General Assembly); HB 13 (individual income tax rate); HB 14 (rural hospital operations and a revolving loan fund and appropriation, emergency); HB 15 (proposal for a new section of the Kentucky Constitution regarding Medicaid expansion); HB 16 (Medicaid-related measures); HB 17 (one-time payments to school district employees, appropriation, emergency); HB 18 (safe ownership of firearms); HB 20–23 (various measures relating to reproductive health care, privacy and related coverage); HB 25 (coverage for scalp-cooling systems used in connection with chemotherapy for breast cancer); HB 26 (workers compensation for first responders); HB 31–33 (housing, epinephrine device coverage, data privacy) and others reported by the clerk.
Representative Baumann and Representative Burke were noted as the sponsors on several of the listed bills. The House then recessed organizational business and adjourned until 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
Procedural note: many of the bills were only read by title on first reading and were placed on record for referral to committees; no final votes on substantive bills were held during this session.
