Kentucky Elections Reform Bill Sees Major Changes Before Senate Vote

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Kentucky lawmakers are debating a significant elections bill that has undergone major revisions before heading to the Senate.

House Bill 139 received substantial amendments in committee on Wednesday, incorporating language from two other bills introduced this session and reshaping election-related policies.

“I think that there are some good things in this, and I really like a lot of the original provisions in the bill. It’s the sub-pieces that are giving you some heartburn,” Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D-Louisville) said.

The original House Bill 139 was introduced as a “continuous improvement” measure aimed at identifying procedural or technical issues that could affect future elections. It passed the House with a 92 to 1 vote in February.

Lawmakers retained those provisions in the updated version while adding elements from Senate Bill 154, which would remove social security cards and public benefits cards as acceptable voter identification due to the absence of a photo. The revised bill also includes House Bill 534, a broader reform effort designed to remove deceased or non-citizen voters from registration rolls, with implementation now delayed until January 2028.

Both added bills had cleared their respective chambers but stalled afterward.

“That brings the clerks to a neutral position if you’re interested in that,” Sen. Robby Mills said.

The revised language also allows the state board of elections to establish agreements with federal agencies to share specific voter information. At present, the Trump administration is suing more than a dozen states, including Kentucky, for declining to provide that data.

“The data that it would be giving is limited to a name, date of birth, and last four [digits] of Social Security number,” Rep. DJ Johnson (R-Owensboro) said.

“I am still concerned about the data sharing with the federal government. The lack of specificity, this body losing control as we sort of enter into some of those negotiations and concerns around false positives in other states,” Armstrong said in opposition.

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Michael Adams told FOX 56, “Secretary Adams is pleased to have worked with legislators to refine this bill and strongly supports the current version.”

House Bill 139 now moves to the full Senate for a vote.

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