Kentucky Legal Research Guide

The Kentucky legislature convenes in the regular session for 60 days in even-numbered years and for 30 days in odd-numbered years. The governor may call a special session. The Kentucky Constitution mandates that a regular session be completed by April 15 in even-numbered years and by March 30 in odd-numbered years.

Standing Committees + Interim Committees
Bills which are introduced are assigned to a standing committee, and the assignments are determined by the subject of the bill.  Bills are often pre-filed before the legislature meets and interim committees are responsible for drafting bills which are prefiled before the legislature meets. 

The Legislative Research Commission - LRC
LRC is a full-time service body for the legislature.  The LRC provides committee staffing; bill drafting; oversight of the state budget and educational reform; production of educational materials; maintenance of a reference library and Internet site;, and the preparation and printing of research reports, informational bulletins and a legislative newspaper.

Laws & Legislation

Kentucky Acts
Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  Final session laws arranged in chronological order and produced by the Legislative Research Commission.

Effective Date of Acts
The Kentucky Constitution specifies that an act becomes law 90 days after the General Assembly Adjourns, unless the act contains a delayed effective date or an emergency clause.

The Legislative Research Commission is responsible for the codification process for Kentucky laws.  There are two official/certified editions of the KRS and both editions are annotated. The KRS is divided by subject into forty-four titles which are further divided into chapters, which are further divided into sections.

Bluebook Citation