---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product licensure and declaring an emergency."
description: "Create a new section of KRS 438.305 to 438.350 to establish application form requirements for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; prohibit the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control from establishing any additional licensure requirements beyond those prescribed in statute; require the department to publish and maintain on its website the components required for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; amend various sections of KRS 438.305 to 438.350 to require the Secretary of State to notify retailers that a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license is required to sell authorized nicotine vapor products; establish application requirements for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; require the department to publish the application form on its website within 30 days of the effective date of this Act; require the licensing fee to be refunded to the applicant if a license is not issued; require a licensure renewal form and a licensing fee to be remitted to the department upon the renewal of a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; define \"batch license\"; allow a retailer with a license issued by the department under KRS Chapter 243 to renew a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license on the date of its next renewal; allow an applicant or licensee to batch license using a singular application or renewal form; allow a licensee to batch license on the date of its next alcohol licensure renewal or 1 year from the date of issuance of its tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; require an applicant or licensee who chooses to batch license to multiply the licensure fee by the number of locations to be licensed or premises to be renewed; require the department to establish a singular application and renewal form for a batch license; allow the department to require a supplemental form for batch licensing if an alcohol license requires further information; grant a grace period to applicants for any error identified in an application by the department; establish requirements for a change of ownership; establish grounds for denial of an application; require the department to promulgate administrative regulations relating to tobacco, nicotine, and vapor licensing within 30 days of the effective date of this Act; repeal KRS 438.3065, which establishes transitional licensing; prohibit this Act from delaying enforcement; require any retailer selling tobacco, nicotine, or vapor products in Kentucky that does not currently hold a license to remit the initial application form and licensing fee within 60 days of the effective date of this Act; credit a licensee's 2025 licensing fee to the licensee's upcoming licensing fee payment for 2026; RETROACTIVE, in part, to January 1, 2026; EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "SB 245"
citation: "Kentucky SB 245 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alcoholic Beverages", "Boards And Commissions", "Effective Dates", "Emergency", "Licensing", "Occupations And Professions", "Public Safety", "Retroactive Legislation", "Secretary Of State", "State Agencies", "Tobacco", "Vaping"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["J. Higdon", "R. Webb"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 53
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2026-02-25T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-10T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a79f284f-08a8-4d40-b63f-ea07cd0cd008"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/sb245.html"
source_hash: "bb29a66fdd2bed839fea77f5b600fb49c32c70e34ca69c657313a7787498bda4"
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 245 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product licensure and declaring an emergency.

Create a new section of KRS 438.305 to 438.350 to establish application form requirements for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; prohibit the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control from establishing any additional licensure requirements beyond those prescribed in statute; require the department to publish and maintain on its website the components required for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; amend various sections of KRS 438.305 to 438.350 to require the Secretary of State to notify retailers that a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license is required to sell authorized nicotine vapor products; establish application requirements for a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; require the department to publish the application form on its website within 30 days of the effective date of this Act; require the licensing fee to be refunded to the applicant if a license is not issued; require a licensure renewal form and a licensing fee to be remitted to the department upon the renewal of a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; define "batch license"; allow a retailer with a license issued by the department under KRS Chapter 243 to renew a tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license on the date of its next renewal; allow an applicant or licensee to batch license using a singular application or renewal form; allow a licensee to batch license on the date of its next alcohol licensure renewal or 1 year from the date of issuance of its tobacco, nicotine, or vapor product license; require an applicant or licensee who chooses to batch license to multiply the licensure fee by the number of locations to be licensed or premises to be renewed; require the department to establish a singular application and renewal form for a batch license; allow the department to require a supplemental form for batch licensing if an alcohol license requires further information; grant a grace period to applicants for any error identified in an application by the department; establish requirements for a change of ownership; establish grounds for denial of an application; require the department to promulgate administrative regulations relating to tobacco, nicotine, and vapor licensing within 30 days of the effective date of this Act; repeal KRS 438.3065, which establishes transitional licensing; prohibit this Act from delaying enforcement; require any retailer selling tobacco, nicotine, or vapor products in Kentucky that does not currently hold a license to remit the initial application form and licensing fee within 60 days of the effective date of this Act; credit a licensee's 2025 licensing fee to the licensee's upcoming licensing fee payment for 2026; RETROACTIVE, in part, to January 1, 2026; EMERGENCY.

## 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/26RS/sb245/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 70** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0070.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/sb245/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- PASS SB 245 — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage — **78–0** (pass) · upper
- Pass — **85–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE OF SB 245 — **35–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- J. Higdon — primary (person)
- R. Webb — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-25T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-25T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** to Licensing & Occupations (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-04T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-04T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 05 2026
- **2026-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** passed over and retained in the Orders of the Day `passage`
- **2026-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (1) filed `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (1) withdrawn
- **2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** passed 36-0 `passage`
- **2026-03-10T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-10T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** returned to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading `reading-2`
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** returned to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Friday, March 20 2026
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 85-0 with Floor Amendment (1) and Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Rules
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in House Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1)
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** passed over and retained for concurrence in House Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1) `passage`
- **2026-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** passed over and retained for concurrence in House Committee Substitute (1) and House Floor Amendment (1) `passage`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** Senate refused to concur in House Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1)
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Rules
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for receding from House Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1)
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** House refused to recede from Committee Substitute (1) and Floor Amendment (1)
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** Conference and Free Conference Committees appointed in House and Senate
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report filed in House and Senate
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report adopted in House
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report filed in House
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration Free Conference Committee Report in House
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in House
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** passed 78-0 `passage`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Rules
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration of Free Conference Committee Report
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in Senate
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** passed 35-1 `passage`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-04-10T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 70) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a79f284f-08a8-4d40-b63f-ea07cd0cd008`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).