LEXINGTON, Ky. — The 2025 Legislative Session is 50 days away as both chambers, the House and Senate, will gavel in Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Lawmakers gathered Monday in Lexington at the Central Bank Center for the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s legislative preview.

What You Need To Know

  • Kentucky's 2025 Legislative Session will begin Tuesday, Jan. 7 

  • Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said he expects to tackle issues such as artificial intelligence, housing and tax consequences 

  • House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said he expects less new legislation and more tweaks to legislation to prevent special sessions 

  • Keeping Kentucky open for business remains a yearly priority

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, previewed legislative priorities for the 2025 General Assembly session. The Senate Majority Caucus elected Stivers to another term as Senate president last week, a move that will become official once the full body ratifies the nomination.

“It gives you a certain sense of satisfaction and pride and thankfulness to have the opportunity but also the support," Stivers said.

Stivers will be the longest-serving president of the Senate as he's held the role since 2013. Stivers said he wants the 2025 30-day legislative session to look at 30 to 40 bills seriously, rather than hundreds in years past.

“Let’s talk about tax consequences, let’s talk about housing, let’s talk about artificial intelligence," Stivers said. "Let’s talk about those issues that are the big important issues and everything else can wait." 

Osborne was elected to a fourth term as speaker and said he expects some big issues to be addressed but wants to return the short session to its original intent.

“We’ve used it very aggressively over the years, but the original intent of the short session was to use it to make tweaks to legislation, to deal with things that come up, to prevent special sessions," Osborne said. "I think you’ll see more of that." 

Osborne said he also expects to see legislation addressing diversity, equity and inclusion policies in higher education, a hot topic in the 2024 legislative session.

"The universities have made quite a few changes as a result of that conversation that's been ongoing, but I think there will be some additional legislation that will ensure those changes remain permanent as opposed to reverting back," Osborne said.

Kentucky has seen several record economic investments over the past few years. The latest, a $712 million project in Shelbyville with Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing, a subsidiary of e-Storage, is opening a production plant by the end of 2025. The record investment for Shelby County will bring 1,572 skilled, high-tech jobs.

“We’ve done a very good job at controlling our taxes," Stivers said. "That’ll probably be one of the first things we do when we go into session, is take the necessary steps to drop the tax rate from 4% to 3.5%." 

The Kentucky General Assembly gavels in Jan. 7. The Democratic Caucus has yet to announce leadership positions in either chamber.

Related Stories