---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to municipal annexation. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 81A to provide standing to certain individuals to contest annexation of otherwise unpopulated territory; grant the city standing to contest the failed annexation election under KRS 120.250; set a limit of 2 years to contest the annexation of territory; amend KRS 65.012 to change referendum petition signature requirements to include a business or other organization as a petitioner."
description: "AN ACT relating to municipal annexation. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 81A to provide standing to certain individuals to contest annexation of otherwise unpopulated territory; grant the city standing to contest the failed annexation election under KRS 120.250; set a limit of 2 years to contest the annexation of territory; amend KRS 65.012 to change referendum petition signature requirements to include a business or other organization as a petitioner."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2018RS"
identifier: "SB 97"
citation: "Kentucky SB 97 (2018RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["R. Girdler"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 21
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2018-01-22"
last_action: "2018-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bc2dee57-1114-4afb-9a2a-fb7e34c7160d"
source_url: "http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/18RS/SB97.htm"
source_hash: "f71e8aef01bb03a4d6dd5c7d4e27977bcb327aa2eb5b8eb14f11601a098a7617"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky SB 97 (2018RS) — AN ACT relating to municipal annexation. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 81A to provide standing to certain individuals to contest annexation of otherwise unpopulated territory; grant the city standing to contest the failed annexation election under KRS 120.250; set a limit of 2 years to contest the annexation of territory; amend KRS 65.012 to change referendum petition signature requirements to include a business or other organization as a petitioner.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HCS1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB97/HCS1.pdf)
2. **Most Recent Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB97/bill.pdf)
3. **SB 97 (As Introduced)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB97/orig_bill.pdf)

## Sponsors

- R. Girdler — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-01-22** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-01-23** To State & Local Government (S) `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-07** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `reading-1`
- **2018-02-08** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2018-02-12** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Monday, February 12, 2018
- **2018-02-12** 3rd reading, passed 34-0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-02-13** Received in House
- **2018-02-15** To Local Government (H) `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-26** Posted in committee
- **2018-02-28** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute `reading-1`
- **2018-03-01** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2018-03-07** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 8, 2018
- **2018-04-02** 3rd reading, passed 74-17 with Committee Substitute `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-04-02** Received in Senate
- **2018-04-02** Posted for passage for concurrence in House Committee Substitute
- **2018-04-02** Senate concurred in House Committee Substitute (1)
- **2018-04-02** Bill passed 36-0
- **2018-04-02** Enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
- **2018-04-02** Enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
- **2018-04-02** Delivered to Governor
- **2018-04-13** Signed by Governor (Acts, ch. 155) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bc2dee57-1114-4afb-9a2a-fb7e34c7160d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).