republic-os/legislation/us/states/ky/2024rs/hb-595.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency."
description: "Amend KRS 13B.020 to remove the Registry of Election Finance from the list of agencies that are exempt from conducting administrative hearings pursuant to that chapter; amend KRS 121.015 to include in the definition of \"campaign committee\" that persons receiving contributions and making expenditures in support of a candidate or slate of candidates must be authorized to do so; define \"independent expenditure-only committee\"; include independent expenditure-only committee in the definitions of \"permanent committee\" and \"contributing organization\"; define \"reasonable cause\"; amend KRS 121.140 to increase the maximum penalty per day for violations; require that the Registry shall conduct administrative hearings pursuant to KRS Chapter 13B; amend KRS 121.150 to prohibit independent expenditure-only committees from certain solicitations and contributions regarding religious, charitable, civic, eleemosynary, or other causes or organizations established primarily for the public good; allow campaign funds to be used for the repayment of debt in a previous campaign for the same office; make technical corrections; amend KRS 121.160 to make technical corrections; amend KRS 121.170 to allow a committee campaign treasurer to be a registered voter from any state if the chairperson of the committee is a registered voter in Kentucky; replace the term \"federally registered out of state permanent committee\" with \"federally registered political committee\"; make changes to conform to 52 U.S.C. sec 30101(4)(a) and 52 U.S.C. sec. 30118; amend KRS 121.175 to allow members of the General Assembly to use campaign funds for certain legal fees; amend KRS 121.180 to increase the threshold requirement from $3,000 to $5,000 for campaign finance reporting requirements; change the amount of campaign funds per event or affair a candidate or slate of candidates can use to purchase admission ticket for, or contribute to another candidate or slate of candidates; establish deadlines by which candidates and slates of candidates shall file the required spending intent form; establish penalty for persons who fail to file the required form; replace the term \"unauthorized campaign committee\" with \"independent expenditure-only committee\"; make conforming changes; amend KRS 121.190 to establish additional guidelines for disclaimers in campaign communications; amend KRS 121.230 to establish permissible expenditures for the administrative costs of maintaining a political party headquarters; amend KRS 121.990 to establish penalty for persons who fail to comply with requests from the registry for records for audits; create a Class D felony for persons who knowingly fail to file required forms or knowingly include false information; amend KRS 121.210 to conform; EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2024RS"
identifier: "HB 595"
citation: "Kentucky HB 595 (2024RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Campaign Finance", "Corrections Impact", "Crimes and Punishments", "Effective Dates", "Emergency", "General Assembly", "Local Mandate", "State Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DJ Johnson", "K. Bratcher"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-02-20T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2024-04-05T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/debdf5f8-a3ca-435f-a7bb-f84b2979e0da"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/24RS/hb595.html"
source_hash: "427edaeac70d4d8b69656d118d2398f09305e21e0a05709e5b1cb6884d009305"
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 595 (2024RS) — AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 13B.020 to remove the Registry of Election Finance from the list of agencies that are exempt from conducting administrative hearings pursuant to that chapter; amend KRS 121.015 to include in the definition of "campaign committee" that persons receiving contributions and making expenditures in support of a candidate or slate of candidates must be authorized to do so; define "independent expenditure-only committee"; include independent expenditure-only committee in the definitions of "permanent committee" and "contributing organization"; define "reasonable cause"; amend KRS 121.140 to increase the maximum penalty per day for violations; require that the Registry shall conduct administrative hearings pursuant to KRS Chapter 13B; amend KRS 121.150 to prohibit independent expenditure-only committees from certain solicitations and contributions regarding religious, charitable, civic, eleemosynary, or other causes or organizations established primarily for the public good; allow campaign funds to be used for the repayment of debt in a previous campaign for the same office; make technical corrections; amend KRS 121.160 to make technical corrections; amend KRS 121.170 to allow a committee campaign treasurer to be a registered voter from any state if the chairperson of the committee is a registered voter in Kentucky; replace the term "federally registered out of state permanent committee" with "federally registered political committee"; make changes to conform to 52 U.S.C. sec 30101(4)(a) and 52 U.S.C. sec. 30118; amend KRS 121.175 to allow members of the General Assembly to use campaign funds for certain legal fees; amend KRS 121.180 to increase the threshold requirement from $3,000 to $5,000 for campaign finance reporting requirements; change the amount of campaign funds per event or affair a candidate or slate of candidates can use to purchase admission ticket for, or contribute to another candidate or slate of candidates; establish deadlines by which candidates and slates of candidates shall file the required spending intent form; establish penalty for persons who fail to file the required form; replace the term "unauthorized campaign committee" with "independent expenditure-only committee"; make conforming changes; amend KRS 121.190 to establish additional guidelines for disclaimers in campaign communications; amend KRS 121.230 to establish permissible expenditures for the administrative costs of maintaining a political party headquarters; amend KRS 121.990 to establish penalty for persons who fail to comply with requests from the registry for records for audits; create a Class D felony for persons who knowingly fail to file required forms or knowingly include false information; amend KRS 121.210 to conform; 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/24RS/hb595/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 107** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/24RS/documents/0107.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/24RS/hb595/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- Final Passage — **pass** (pass) · lower
- PASS HB 595 W/ scs1 — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- DJ Johnson — primary (person)
- K. Bratcher — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-20T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2024-02-20T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** to Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H) `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-28T05:00:00+00:00** taken from Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)
- **2024-02-28T05:00:00+00:00** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2024-02-28T05:00:00+00:00** returned to Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)
- **2024-02-29T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 2nd reading, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-01T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Monday, March 04, 2024
- **2024-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 93-0 with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2024-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-08T05:00:00+00:00** to State & Local Government (S) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Consent Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules as a consent bill `reading-2`
- **2024-03-15T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 21, 2024
- **2024-03-21T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 38-0 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-03-22T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2024-03-22T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** House concurred in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** passed 78-17 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2024-04-05T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 107) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/debdf5f8-a3ca-435f-a7bb-f84b2979e0da`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).