A proposal from state Republicans to change oversight of city officials in Louisville has cleared its first step.
House Bill 607 passed out of the House Local Government Committee Tuesday morning. Among several changes, the bill would dissolve Louisville’s current Ethics Commission and replace all its members. The mayor and Metro Council would share the authority to appoint new commissioners. The legislation would also require the commission to be split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
Seven Republican lawmakers representing parts of Jefferson County sponsored the bill.
Republican state Rep. Chris Lewis of Louisville, the primary sponsor, said HB 607 would also shift control of Louisville’s Office of Internal Audit from the mayor to Metro Council. Lewis said the change is appropriate because Metro Council oversees city agencies.
“It simply defies common sense for the person in charge of auditing those agencies to be hired and work at the direction of the chief executive, whose very agencies they are charged to audit and investigate,” he said.
HB 607 would also clarify that Metro Council has the authority to review regulations approved by the Louisville Metro Board of Health or the Solid Waste Management District Board, also known as the 109 Board. The council would be able to override those decisions within 45 days of their issuance.
Lewis said the changes are meant to “establish proper institutional processes” and should not be viewed as criticism of Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg.
He said state Republicans have consulted with a bipartisan group of Metro Council members, as well as Greenberg and the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office. However, not everyone supports the proposed changes.
The bill’s sponsors did not consult the current chair of the Ethics Commission, who said some provisions in HB 607 could threaten the commission’s ability to provide independent oversight. At least one Metro Council Democrat also criticized the proposal for reinforcing partisan divisions.
When asked about the bill during a press conference last week, Greenberg did not endorse the proposal. He said he would rather focus on the current system instead of continuing to modify Louisville Metro Government.
“There have been a lot of changes in place over the years,” Greenberg said. “So, we’ve been in touch and have provided some feedback to Rep. Lewis.”
The bill passed the committee largely along party lines, with two Democratic state representatives voting against it. Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton, a Democrat representing the Shively area, did not vote.
The legislation now heads to the full House for consideration.
Other proposed changes
In addition to oversight and ethics reforms, HB 607 would establish new guidelines for redistricting.
Louisville Metro Council redraws the boundaries of its 26 districts every 10 years following the U.S. Census. Each district must have roughly equal populations. As a result, districts in growing parts of Jefferson County tend to shrink in size, while those in areas losing population expand.
The most recent redistricting took place in 2021 and was handled by a bipartisan committee.
Supporters of HB 607 criticized the maps created during that process because they split existing voter precincts. Lewis said that leads to unnecessary costs for the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, strains resources and causes confusion among voters.
Republican state Rep. Jason Nemes, a co-sponsor of the bill, went further, saying Metro Council members divided precincts “for nothing except for political purposes.”
Under the bill’s current version, Metro Council would be required to keep voter precincts intact unless splitting them is necessary to maintain equal district populations. The legislation would also define equal population standards, stating that districts cannot vary from the ideal population by more than 2.5 percent.
Critics of HB 607, including Democratic state Rep. Rachel Roarx of Louisville, pointed out that the bill removes the requirement that the council must respect neighborhood boundaries. She said this could allow new districts to cut through neighborhoods in order to keep voting precincts together.
“I think that is one of those fundamental pieces,” Roarx said. “Keeping neighborhoods and those generally agreed-upon areas together is really important.”
Roarx added that it remains unclear what problems the proposed changes in HB 607 are meant to address.
The original version of the bill also included a provision that would have made it easier to form new independent cities within Jefferson County by lowering the number of required petition signatures. Lawmakers already reduced that requirement in 2024.
That section was removed during the committee meeting Tuesday morning.
However, another provision remains in the bill. It would give groups seeking to form a new city one year to gather petition signatures, rather than allowing unlimited time.
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