Lexington, KY - Gov. Steve Beshear has called a special session to begin in mid-August for the Kentucky General Assembly to consider legislative and judicial voting districts.
Legislative redistricting is required every decade in accordance with findings from the US Census to ensure Kentuckians are equally represented by elected officials. A redistricting plan passed by the 2012 legislature was overturned a month later by the State Supreme Court citing issues with how the districts were divided.
Under that plan, Lexington Democratic Senator Kathy Stein's district would have been moved to an area along the Ohio River and Lexington would have been represented by Henderson Democrat Dorsey Ridley.
A release from the Governor's office states leaders in both the House and Senate have indicated "a willingness to utilize the same census numbers for legislative and judicial redistricting as were used for Congressional redistricting in 2012. This will make all redistricting plans consistent and avoid having to address Congressional redistricting again."
Despite the amount of time between today's call for a special session and its slated to start date on August 19, Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson said there are no plans to add anything to the legislature's agenda.
During a special session, the legislature is bound by the state constitution to only address issues explicit in the governor's call. Beshear has stated in the past a desire to bring the legislature in to consider tax reform, but that was not part of the call issued Thursday. However, governors do have the ability to amend calls for additional topics.