Kentucky lawmakers override most vetoes by Gov. Andy Beshear

FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Lawmakers returned to Frankfort Thursday for the last two days of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly. However, the day was spent not necessarily making new policy but overriding the executive opposition to it.

“Veto of the governor notwithstanding” was a phrase that was heard many times on Thursday. It’s a routine all too familiar to the current General Assembly. The first day back from the veto recess is typically spent overturning most if not all the vetoes just decided in the past 10 calendar days, excluding Sundays, by Gov. Andy Beshear. Thursday was no exception, with override votes held throughout much of the day, with both chambers later concurring on those votes.

“So, this is a bill that will do damage to thousands of people in my district and overturning the veto is a terrible idea,” Rep. Adrielle Camuel said against HB 695, a Medicaid reform bill that could also introduce work reporting requirements.

Democrats spoke frequently to offer a last word against the overrides. The Republican majority took a different tone, rarely commenting on the vetoes being overridden. However, House floor leader Rep. Steven Rudy (R-Paducah) could be seen tossing veto messages in the trash as votes were being taken, which Kentucky Republicans lauded on social media.

Beshear vetoed 29 pieces of legislation, five of which were line items. At Thursday’s Team Kentucky, he said he was pleased with early bills like House Bill 1, which will cut the state income tax next year, but he criticized how committee substitutes were used in some instances to speed along bills with little public input.

“By the end of the session, it turned into nasty bills that make people feel unwelcome,” Beshear said.

Beshear pointed to bills like House Bill 495, a bill rolling back last year’s executive order banning conversion therapy, something Republicans have argued was an overstep in authority. A Senate substitute now also ends coverage for transgender care through Medicaid. A visibility rally was held ahead of the vote overturning the veto.

“I found myself comforting friends and neighbors who are going to lose access to the medicine that keeps them alive. I found myself comforting trans Kentuckians and their families who love this Commonwealth but have been consistently told by this extremist super majority that their Commonwealth does not love them back,” LFUCG Councilmember Emma Curtis, a transgender Kentuckian, said at the rally.

“I wish the Governor would take note of that, that he overreached his boundaries in terms of setting policy, where this body has the obligation and the responsibility of doing that,” Rep. Ken Fleming (R-Louisville) said later that afternoon when lawmakers voted to override the veto of HB 495.