Laws that were passed during the 2025 session of the Kentucky General Assembly are set to come into effect on Friday.
Although that session ended on March 28, the majority of legislation passed doesn’t officially become law until 90 days after the session ends—unless it includes some type of emergency clause that would allow it to come into effect earlier.
Some of the bills include House Bill 1, which lowers the state’s income tax down to 3.5 percent as of January 2026, House Bill 4 which prohibits funding for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices at state public universities, House Bill 38, which makes violating a protective order three times in five years a class D felony and House Bill 315, which prohibits any foreign entity from purchasing, leasing or acquiring agriculture land in the state if they are associated with a hostile foreign government.
On the Senate side, Senate Bill 2 will come in effect—it prohibits public resources from being used to fund cosmetic or elective procedures like gender transitioning surgeries or hormone therapies for incarcerated individuals, and Senate Bill 73 that establishes the crime of sexual extortion.
While odd-year sessions are not traditionally considered budget sessions, lawmakers acted on several pieces of legislation which authorized the release of millions in funding allocated in the budget approved during the 2024 Regular Session.
This is only a handful of the legislation that passed in the session held earlier this year—you can find every bill that was filed or passed on legislature.ky.gov.