It’s been over a month since the Kentucky legislature passed two different, slightly conflicting public notice bills. There has been some confusion about which one will become law when the current statute sunsets on June 30, but that question appears to have been answered last week.
When we last left the Bluegrass State, HB195 had been vetoed by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and HB351 had not. The governor later used his line-item veto to strike a number of provisions in HB351, a budget bill, including those relating to public notice. The Republican-dominated legislature ultimately overturned both of Beshear’s vetoes.
HB195 reduces the population threshold above which counties can opt to publish notices online, increasing the number of counties in the state authorized to do so from eight to ten. HB351 maintains the current 80,000-population threshold but requires every newspaper notice to state how much was paid to publish it.
So which law applies? It’s complicated, but Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson explained to his members last week why HB351 controls until it sunsets on June 30, 2020. Or until the legislature passes a different public notice bill in 2021, which Thompson fully expects it to try to do.