Steve Riley, District 23 representative in Kentucky’s House, said the General Assembly plans to pass a bill extending Kentucky’s political filing deadline. The 2022 General Assembly kicked off Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2022.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
FRANKFORT — A bill to shift the filing deadline for political office passed in Kentucky’s House Wednesday and heads to the Senate for votes Thursday.
State legislators in the Senate are the next to vote on House Bill 172. The bill passed 84-12 in the House.
The bill seeks to extend the state filing deadline for political office due to delayed redistricting proceedings. It will head to Gov. Andy Beshear if the General Assembly passes it.
Lawmakers began Tuesday’s session with meetings regarding required redistricting of political representation lines. The redistricting is completed every decade following the census.
Steve Riley represents Kentucky’s 23rd District, which includes Barren County and a portion of Warren County. The representative said state lawmakers initially wanted to change only judicial and state offices’ filing deadline, but the action must include all offices — including local races.
“The hope was that we only had to push back those offices, but legal experts indicate that in order to avoid losing a lawsuit, we’re going to need to move everyone back,” Riley said.
Riley said he hoped county and local officials would not be impacted. But the move is necessary because redistricting measures shifted the way some constituents are represented.
“When we redistricted the House, we have a whole new district that is just Hopkins County, which is Madisonville, where there are no representatives,” Riley said. “Nobody knew to file for that position, so you’ve got to push those back and give people an opportunity to do this.”
The deadline was originally Friday, Jan. 7. The new deadline for all Kentucky political candidates would be Tuesday, Jan. 25.
The Senate will vote on the measure Thursday, according to the calendar released Wednesday afternoon.
