FrankGoortani/open-us-law huggingface dataset:
Ky. Const. art. I, § 148 — Article I / Section 148
Ky. Const. § 148
Status: in_force

Section 148   Number of elections -- Day and hours of election -- Qualifications of 
officers -- Employees to be given time to vote. 
 
Not more than one election each year shall be held in this State or in any city, town, 
district, urban-county or county thereof, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. 
All regular elections of State, county, city, town, urban-county, or district officers shall be 
held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. All elections by the people 
shall be between the hours of six o'clock a.m. and seven o'clock p.m., but the General 
Assembly may change said hours, and all officers of any election shall be residents and 
voters in the precinct in which they act. The General Assembly shall provide by law that 
all employers shall allow employees, under reasonable regulations, at least four hours on 
election days, in which to cast their votes. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 3, 1992. 
History:  1992 amendment was proposed by 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 168, sec. 16; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 25 — Article I / Section 25
Ky. Const. § 25
Status: in_force

Section 25   Slavery and involuntary servitude forbidden. 
 
Slavery and involuntary servitude in this State are forbidden, except as a 
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 242 — Article I / Section 242
Ky. Const. § 242
Status: in_force

Section 242   Just compensation to be made in condemning private property -- Right 
of appeal -- Jury trial. 
 
Municipal and other corporations, and individuals invested with the privilege of 
taking private property for public use, shall make just compensation for property taken, 
injured or destroyed by them; which compensation shall be paid before such taking, or 
paid or secured, at the election of such corporation or individual, before such injury or 
destruction. The General Assembly shall not deprive any person of an appeal from any 
preliminary assessment of damages against any such corporation or individual made by 
Commissioners or otherwise; and upon appeal from such preliminary assessment, the 
amount of such damages shall, in all cases, be determined by a jury, according to the 
course of the common law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 46 — Article I / Section 46
Ky. Const. § 46
Status: in_force

Section 46   Bills must be reported by committee, printed, and read -- How bill 
called from committee -- Votes required for passage. 
 
No bill shall be considered for final passage unless the same has been reported by a 
committee and printed for the use of the members. Every bill shall be read at length on 
three different days in each House, but the second and third readings may be dispensed 
with by a majority of all the members elected to the House in which the bill is pending. 
But whenever a committee refuses or fails to report a bill submitted to it in a reasonable 
time, the same may be called up by any member, and be considered in the same manner it 
would have been considered if it had been reported. No bill shall become a law unless, on 
its final passage, it receives the votes of at least two-fifths of the members elected to each 
House, and a majority of the members voting, the vote to be taken by yeas and nays and 
entered in the journal: Provided, Any act or resolution for the appropriation of money or 
the creation of debt shall, on its final passage, receive the votes of a majority of all the 
members elected to each House. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 196 — Article I / Section 196
Ky. Const. § 196
Status: in_force

Section 196   Regulation of common carriers -- No relief from common-law liability. 
 
Transportation of freight and passengers by railroad, steamboat or other common 
carrier, shall be so regulated, by general law, as to prevent unjust discrimination. No 
common carrier shall be permitted to contract for relief from its common law liability. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 29 — Article I / Section 29
Ky. Const. § 29
Status: in_force

Section 29   Legislative power vested in General Assembly. 
 
The legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representatives and a Senate, 
which, together, shall be styled the "General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky." 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 232 — Article I / Section 232
Ky. Const. § 232
Status: in_force

Section 232   Manner of administering oath. 
 
The manner of administering an oath or affirmation shall be such as is most 
consistent with the conscience of the deponent, and shall be esteemed by the General 
Assembly the most solemn appeal to God. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 121 — Article I / Section 121
Ky. Const. § 121
Status: in_force

Section 121   Retirement and removal. 
 
Subject to rules of procedure to be established by the Supreme Court, and after 
notice and hearing, any justice of the Supreme Court or judge of the Court of Appeals, 
Circuit Court or District Court may be retired for disability or suspended without pay or 
removed for good cause by a commission composed of one judge of the Court of 
Appeals, selected by that court, one circuit judge and one district judge selected by a 
majority vote of the circuit judges and district judges, respectively, one member of the bar 
appointed by its governing body, and two persons, not members of the bench or bar, 
appointed by the Governor. The commission shall be a state body whose members shall 
hold office for four-year terms. Its actions shall be subject to judicial review by the 
Supreme Court. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 4, 1975, effective January 1, 1976. 
History:  Repeal and reenactment proposed by 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 84, sec. 1; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 86 — Article I / Section 86
Ky. Const. § 86
Status: in_force

Section 86   Compensation of President of the Senate. 
 
The President of the Senate shall receive for his services the same compensation 
which shall, for the same period, be allowed to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, and during the time he administers the government as Governor, he shall 
receive the same compensation which the Governor would have received had he been 
employed in the duties of his office. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 3, 1992. 
History:  1992 amendment was proposed by 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 168, sec. 9; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 71 — Article I / Section 71
Ky. Const. § 71
Status: in_force

Section 71   Gubernatorial succession. 
 
The Governor shall be ineligible for the succeeding four years after the expiration of 
any second consecutive term for which he shall have been elected. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 3, 1992. 
History:  1992 amendment was proposed by 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 168, sec. 2; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 243 — Article I / Section 243
Ky. Const. § 243
Status: in_force

Section 243   Child labor. 
 
The General Assembly shall, by law, fix the minimum ages at which children may 
be employed in places dangerous to life or health, or injurious to morals; and shall 
provide adequate penalties for violations of such law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 41 — Article I / Section 41
Ky. Const. § 41
Status: in_force

Section 41   Adjournment during session. 
 
Neither House, during the session of the General Assembly, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in 
which it may be sitting. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 186 — Article I / Section 186
Ky. Const. § 186
Status: in_force

Section 186   Distribution and use of school fund. 
 
All funds accruing to the school fund shall be used for the maintenance of the 
public schools of the Commonwealth, and for no other purpose, and the General 
Assembly shall by general law prescribe the manner of the distribution of the public 
school fund among the school districts and its use for public school purposes. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 3, 1953. 
History:  1953 amendment was proposed by 1952 Ky. Acts ch. 89, sec. 1; 1949 
amendment was proposed by 1948 Ky. Acts ch. 163, sec. 1, and ratified on 
November 8, 1949; 1941 amendment was proposed by 1940 Ky. Acts ch. 64, sec. 1, 
and ratified on November 4, 1941; original version ratified August 3, 1891, and 
revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 245 — Article I / Section 245
Ky. Const. § 245
Status: in_force

Section 245   Revision of statutes to conform to Constitution. 
 
Upon the promulgation of this Constitution, the Governor shall appoint three 
persons, learned in the law, who shall be Commissioners to revise the statute laws of this 
Commonwealth, and prepare amendments thereto, to the end that the statute laws shall 
conform to and effectuate this Constitution. Such revision and amendments shall be laid 
before the next General Assembly for adoption or rejection, in whole or in part. The said 
Commissioners shall be allowed ten dollars each per day for their services, and also 
necessary stationery for the time during which they are actually employed; and upon their 
certificate the Auditor shall draw his warrant upon the Treasurer. They shall have the 
power to employ clerical assistants, at a compensation not exceeding ten dollars per day 
in the aggregate. If the Commissioners, or any of them, shall refuse to act, or a vacancy 
shall occur, the Governor shall appoint another or others in his or their place. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 158 — Article I / Section 158
Ky. Const. § 158
Status: in_force

Section 158   Maximum indebtedness of cities, counties, and taxing districts -- 
General Assembly authorized to set additional limits and conditions. 
 
Cities, towns, counties, and taxing districts shall not incur indebtedness to an 
amount exceeding the following maximum percentages on the value of the taxable 
property therein, to be estimated by the last assessment previous to the incurring of the 
indebtedness: Cities having a population of fifteen thousand or more, ten percent (10%); 
cities having a population of less than fifteen thousand but not less than three thousand, 
five percent (5%); cities having a population of less than three thousand, three percent 
(3%); and counties and taxing districts, two percent (2%), unless in case of emergency, 
the public health or safety should so require. Nothing shall prevent the issue of renewal 
bonds, or bonds to fund the floating indebtedness of any city, county, or taxing district. 
Subject to the limits and conditions set forth in this section and elsewhere in this 
Constitution, the General Assembly shall have the power to establish additional limits on 
indebtedness and conditions under which debt may be incurred by cities, counties, and 
taxing districts. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 8, 1994. 
History:  1994 amendment was proposed by 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 168, sec. 4; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 4 — Article I / Section 4
Ky. Const. § 4
Status: in_force

Section 4   Power inherent in the people -- Right to alter, reform, or abolish 
government. 
 
All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their 
authority and instituted for their peace, safety, happiness and the protection of property. 
For the advancement of these ends, they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible 
right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may deem 
proper. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 58 — Article I / Section 58
Ky. Const. § 58
Status: in_force

Section 58   General Assembly not to audit nor allow private claim -- Exception -- 
Appropriations. 
 
The General Assembly shall neither audit nor allow any private claim against the 
Commonwealth, except for expenses incurred during the session at which the same was 
allowed; but may appropriate money to pay such claim as shall have been audited and 
allowed according to law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 172B — Article I / Section 172B
Ky. Const. § 172B
Status: in_force

Section 172B   Property assessment or reassessment moratoriums. 
 
Notwithstanding contrary provisions of Sections 170, 171, 172, or 174 of this 
Constitution, the General Assembly may provide by general law that the governing bodies 
of county, municipal, and urban-county governments may declare property assessment or 
reassessment moratoriums for qualifying units of real property for the purpose of 
encouraging the repair, rehabilitation, or restoration of existing improvements thereon. 
Prior to the enactment of any property assessment or reassessment moratorium program, 
the General Assembly shall provide or direct the local governing authority to provide 
property qualification standards for participation in the program and a limitation on the 
duration of any assessment or reassessment moratorium.  In no instance shall any such 
moratorium extend beyond five years for any particular unit of real property and 
improvements thereon. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 3, 1981. 
History:  Creation proposed by 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 113, sec. 2.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 258 — Article I / Section 258
Ky. Const. § 258
Status: in_force

Section 258   Constitutional Convention -- How proposed, voted upon, and called. 
 
When a majority of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly 
shall concur, by a yea and nay vote, to be entered upon their respective journals, in 
enacting a law to take the sense of the people of the State as to the necessity and 
expediency of calling a Convention for the purpose of revising or amending this 
Constitution, and such amendments as may have been made to the same, such law shall 
be spread upon their respective journals. If the next General Assembly shall, in like 
manner, concur in such law, it shall provide for having a poll opened in each voting 
precinct in this state by the officers provided by law for holding general elections at the 
next ensuing regular election to be held for State officers or members of the House of 
Representatives, which does not occur within ninety days from the final passage of such 
law, at which time and places the votes of the qualified voters shall be taken for and 
against calling the Convention, in the same manner provided by law for taking votes in 
other State elections. The vote for and against said proposition shall be certified to the 
Secretary of State by the same officers and in the same manner as in State elections. If it 
shall appear that a majority voting on the proposition was for calling a Convention, and if 
the total number of votes cast for the calling of the Convention is equal to one-fourth of 
the number of qualified voters who voted at the last preceding general election in this 
State, the Secretary of State shall certify the same to the General Assembly at its next 
regular session, at which session a law shall be enacted calling a Convention to readopt, 
revise or amend this Constitution, and such amendments as may have been made thereto. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 68 — Article I / Section 68
Ky. Const. § 68
Status: in_force

Section 68   Civil officers liable to impeachment -- Judgment -- Criminal liability. 
 
The Governor and all civil officers shall be liable to impeachment for any 
misdemeanors in office; but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than removal 
from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit under this 
Commonwealth; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be subject and liable to 
indictment, trial and punishment by law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 253 — Article I / Section 253
Ky. Const. § 253
Status: in_force

Section 253   Working of penitentiary prisoners -- When and where permitted. 
 
Persons convicted of felony and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary shall 
be confined at labor within the walls of the penitentiary; and the General Assembly shall 
not have the power to authorize employment of convicts elsewhere, except upon the 
public works of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or when, during pestilence or in case of 
the destruction of the prison buildings, they cannot be confined in the penitentiary. 
 
That Section 253 of the Constitution be amended so that the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky may use and employ outside of the walls of the penitentiaries in such manner 
and means as may be provided by law, persons convicted of felony and sentenced to 
confinement in the penitentiary for the purpose of constructing or reconstructing and 
maintaining public roads and public bridges or for the purpose of making and preparing 
material for public roads and bridges, and that the Commonwealth of Kentucky may, by 
the use and employment of convict labor outside of the walls of the penitentiary by other 
ways or means, as may be provided by law, aid the counties for road and bridge purposes, 
work on the State farm or farms. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 2, 1915. 
History:  1915 amendment was proposed by 1914 Ky. Acts ch. 93, sec. 1; original 
version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 233A — Article I / Section 233A
Ky. Const. § 233A
Status: in_force

Section 233A   Valid or recognized marriage -- Legal status of unmarried 
individuals. 
 
Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a 
marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage 
for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 2, 2004. 
History: Creation proposed by 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 128, sec. 1.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 239 — Article I / Section 239
Ky. Const. § 239
Status: in_force

Section 239   Disqualification from office for presenting or accepting challenge to 
duel -- Further punishment. 
 
Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, either directly or 
indirectly, give, accept or knowingly carry a challenge to any person or persons to fight in 
single combat, with a citizen of this State, with a deadly weapon, either in or out of the 
State, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this 
Commonwealth; and if said acts, or any of them, be committed within this State, the 
person or persons so committing them shall be further punished in such manner as the 
General Assembly may prescribe by law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 36 — Article I / Section 36
Ky. Const. § 36
Status: in_force

Section 36   Time and place of meetings of General Assembly. 
 
(1) 
The General Assembly, in odd-numbered years, shall meet in regular session 
for a period not to exceed a total of thirty (30) legislative days divided as follows: The 
General Assembly shall convene for the first part of the session on the first Tuesday after 
the first Monday in January in odd-numbered years for the purposes of electing legislative 
leaders, adopting rules of procedure, organizing committees, and introducing and 
considering legislation. The General Assembly shall then adjourn. The General Assembly 
shall convene for the second part of the session on the first Tuesday in February of that 
year. Any legislation introduced but not enacted in the first part of the session shall be 
carried over into the second part of the session. In any part of the session in an odd-
numbered year, no bill raising revenue or appropriating funds shall become a law unless it 
shall be agreed to by three-fifths of all the members elected to each House. 
 
(2) 
The General Assembly shall then adjourn until the first Tuesday after the first 
Monday in January of the following even-numbered years, at which time the General 
Assembly shall convene in regular session. 
 
(3) 
All sessions shall be held at the seat of government, except in case of war, 
insurrection or pestilence, when it may, by proclamation of the Governor, assemble, for 
the time being, elsewhere. 
Text as Ratified on:  November 7, 2000. 
History:  2000 amendment was proposed by 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 407, sec. 1, and ratified 
November 7, 2000; 1979 amendment was proposed by 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 440, sec. 2, 
and ratified November 6, 1979; original version ratified August 3, 1891, and revised 
September 28, 1891.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 15 — Article I / Section 15
Ky. Const. § 15
Status: in_force

Section 15   Laws to be suspended only by General Assembly. 
 
No power to suspend laws shall be exercised unless by the General Assembly or its 
authority. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 62 — Article I / Section 62
Ky. Const. § 62
Status: in_force

Section 62   Style of laws. 
 
The style of the laws of this Commonwealth shall be as follows: "Be it enacted by 
the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky." 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 184 — Article I / Section 184
Ky. Const. § 184
Status: in_force

Section 184   Common school fund -- What constitutes -- Use -- Vote on tax for 
education other than in common schools. 
 
The bond of the Commonwealth issued in favor of the Board of Education for the 
sum of one million three hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars shall constitute one 
bond of the Commonwealth in favor of the Board of Education, and this bond and the 
seventy-three thousand five hundred dollars of the stock in the Bank of Kentucky, held by 
the Board of Education, and its proceeds, shall be held inviolate for the purpose of 
sustaining the system of common schools. The interest and dividends of said fund, 
together with any sum which may be produced by taxation or otherwise for purposes of 
common school education, shall be appropriated to the common schools, and to no other 
purpose. No sum shall be raised or collected for education other than in common schools 
until the question of taxation is submitted to the legal voters, and the majority of the votes 
cast at said election shall be in favor of such taxation: Provided, The tax now imposed for 
educational purposes, and for the endowment and maintenance of the Agricultural and 
Mechanical College, shall remain until changed by law. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.
Ky. Const. art. I, § 12 — Article I / Section 12
Ky. Const. § 12
Status: in_force

Section 12   Indictable offense not to be prosecuted by information -- Exceptions. 
 
No person, for an indictable offense, shall be proceeded against criminally by 
information, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in 
actual service, in time of war or public danger, or by leave of court for oppression or 
misdemeanor in office. 
Text as Ratified on:  August 3, 1891, and revised September 28, 1891. 
History:  Not yet amended.