Though the 2025 session of the Kentucky General Assembly ended in late March, hundreds of organizations have continued spending millions of dollars lobbying state legislators in the following five months.
From April through August, businesses and advocacy groups have spent nearly $10 million lobbying state lawmakers, according to filings submitted to the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission this week.
That total is slightly higher than the $8.7 million spent lobbying the Kentucky General Assembly during the three-month session at the beginning of this year, when legislators could pass bills into law.
Each of the nearly 1,000 groups registered to lobby Kentucky lawmakers must file a monthly report in each of the first four months of the year, identifying the lobbyists they hired, their expenditures, and the bills and issues they sought to influence legislators to support or oppose. The reports due this week were from the May to August period, with a final report for the rest of the year due in January.
Though the 2025 session ended March 28, lawmakers began holding interim committee meetings in Frankfort beginning in June, as well attending national and regional legislative conferences — all of which provided continued access for lobbyists.
While a large majority of spending over the past five months went toward payments to lobbyists, several groups documented spending thousands of dollars on events held for lawmakers at out-of-state conferences, which provided more access for lobbyists to discuss legislative issues.
Kentucky Chamber continues trend as leading lobbying spender
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce spent more than $150,000 on lobbying during the 2025 session — nearly double the nearest group — and has continued to set the pace over this summer.
The statewide business advocacy group reported spending $188,678 to lobby legislators since April, with nearly all of that going to its 14 registered lobbyists.
The chamber was able to help steer several of its top priority bills to passage this year, including one to cut the individual income tax rate and another to roll back enforcement of any state worker safety regulation that is more stringent than federal minimums. The group’s latest filing states that it continued lobbying lawmakers over the summer on “General Business Issues.”
The chamber is a perennial leader in lobbying spending, placing first in eight of the past 10 years.
The second-highest lobbying spender over the past five months was the Kentucky Hospital Association, which spent more than $125,000 on its six registered lobbyists.
During the session, the hospital advocacy group lobbied for Senate Bill 14 to allow hospitals to receive drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturers at a lower cost. The bill cleared that chamber but stalled in the House.
The Kentucky Hospital Association heavily lobbied Congress over the summer on the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” heralded by President Donald Trump and Republicans, though this is not reflected in the state lobbying reports. The group originally supported the version of the bill that passed the House but opposed the Senate version that passed into law — arguing its cuts to Medicaid and direct payments to hospitals would “devastate” health care in Kentucky, potentially causing hospitals to close and the loss of 20,000 jobs.
The hospital group’s report with the state this week indicated it lobbied Frankfort lawmakers over the summer on the same state-directed Medicaid reimbursement program for hospitals that was cut by Congress, as well as issues such as pharmaceutical drug costs, Medicaid reform and certificate of need reform.
Groups sponsor legislator receptions at out-of-state conferences
Filings with the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission show several organizations spent thousands of dollars over the summer to have access to lawmakers at out-of-state and regional legislative conferences, hosting receptions for those from Kentucky.
The Kentucky League of Cities, which advocates for city governments across the state, reported hosting “Kentucky Night Events” for state legislators at four different conferences in Chicago, Boston, Indianapolis and Birmingham. Along with food, beverage, lodging and transportation expenses for lobbyists, the league spent more than $7,000.
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce also reported spending nearly $5,000 hosting 11 events for state lawmakers — nine within the state, as well as the Boston and Birmingham conferences. The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce also reported spending $9,000 on receptions for state lawmakers in that region and Boston.
Liquor giant Brown-Forman reported spending more than $6,000 hosting receptions for Kentucky legislators at the Boston, Indianapolis and Birmingham conferences, as well as a Derby brunch in Louisville this May.
Ramey-Estep Homes, an eastern Kentucky substance abuse treatment and behavioral health provider, reported spending more than $11,000 on receptions at the same three out-of-state conferences, as well as on food, beverages, lodging and transportation for lobbyists.
Electric utility providers were also big spenders on receptions for Kentucky legislators. The Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives and the East Kentucky Power Cooperative combined to spend more than $20,000 on conferences within and outside the state.
More than $15,000 of this spending was on their “Electric University” program held in Somerset, in which their lobbyists gave lawmakers “the understanding and real-world experience they need to make informed decisions on energy policy.”
Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities — the largest electricity provider in the state — also sponsored events for state legislators at the Boston, Indianapolis and Birmingham conferences. Though they did not report spending more than $1,000 at those events, LG&E/KU did report $66,621 of lobbying spending in the five months after the legislative session, ranking the company third in total spending after the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Kentucky Hospital Association.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
