---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to campaign finance."
description: "Amend KRS 121.015, relating to campaign finance, to define terms; create new sections of KRS Chapter 121 to establish reporting and record retention requirements for political issues committees and persons making independent expenditures; prohibit political issues committees from knowingly and willfully soliciting or accepting contributions from prohibited sources; establish certification requirements for treasurers of political issues committees and donors making contributions and independent expenditures; define activity that creates a presumption of a violation; prohibit foreign nationals from making a donation, contribution, or expenditure, soliciting another person to make a donation, contribution, or expenditure, or participating in another person's decision to influence a ballot measure; establish a cause of action for accepting or soliciting contributions from prohibited sources and failing to certify, report, or retain records; establish a right of privacy in donations to tax-exempt organizations; establish a penalty for a state or local governmental entity, court, or officer of the court that violates the right of privacy; amend KRS 121.190 to require a \"paid for by\" disclosure for advertisements advocating or opposing a ballot measure."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2025RS"
identifier: "HB 45"
citation: "Kentucky HB 45 (2025RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Campaign Finance", "Civil Actions", "Civil Procedure", "Corrections Impact", "Courts", "Circuit", "Crimes and Punishments", "Elections and Voting", "State Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 26
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-07T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2025-03-24T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/38a2928f-2c12-4c75-bf8d-1e376e1abe3f"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/25RS/hb45.html"
source_hash: "5fa72b3e5a43f8ef64942cfb6967608a1b1607df251b339ab4c75fd23f027da8"
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 HB 45 (2025RS) — AN ACT relating to campaign finance.

Amend KRS 121.015, relating to campaign finance, to define terms; create new sections of KRS Chapter 121 to establish reporting and record retention requirements for political issues committees and persons making independent expenditures; prohibit political issues committees from knowingly and willfully soliciting or accepting contributions from prohibited sources; establish certification requirements for treasurers of political issues committees and donors making contributions and independent expenditures; define activity that creates a presumption of a violation; prohibit foreign nationals from making a donation, contribution, or expenditure, soliciting another person to make a donation, contribution, or expenditure, or participating in another person's decision to influence a ballot measure; establish a cause of action for accepting or soliciting contributions from prohibited sources and failing to certify, report, or retain records; establish a right of privacy in donations to tax-exempt organizations; establish a penalty for a state or local governmental entity, court, or officer of the court that violates the right of privacy; amend KRS 121.190 to require a "paid for by" disclosure for advertisements advocating or opposing a ballot measure.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb45/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 57** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/25RS/documents/0057.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb45/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- PASS HB 45 W/ scs1 — **29–6** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **85–12** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage — **77–12** (pass) · lower

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-07T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2025-01-07T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-04T05:00:00+00:00** to Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-06T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-07T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2025-02-07T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
- **2025-02-12T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 85-12 `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-13T05:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2025-02-13T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** to State & Local Government (S) `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2025-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2025-03-07T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 11, 2025
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** Floor Amendment (1) withdrawn
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** passed 29-6 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage`
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-12T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2025-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** House concurred in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2025-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** passed 77-12 `passage`
- **2025-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2025-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2025-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2025-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 57) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/38a2928f-2c12-4c75-bf8d-1e376e1abe3f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).