2026-09-10 · Kentucky · Legislation · Did not pass

What happened. Kentucky's 2026 Regular Session opened with two Senate bills on short-term rentals that could not have been further apart. Neither was ever referred to a standing committee. Both died where they were filed.

Senate Bill 54, filed 9 January 2026 by Senators Reginald Thomas and Gerald Neal, would have confirmed and enumerated local authority to regulate short-term rentals. Senate Bill 112, filed 21 January 2026 by Senator Craig Richardson, would have preempted most of it. Each bill's record shows a single action: introduced, to Committee on Committees.¹³

SB 54: what local governments could do

SB 54 would have created a new section of KRS Chapter 65 providing that “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a local government may enact ordinances regarding short-term rentals that include but are not limited to” — and then listed them: creating a registry; imposing licensing or inspection fees; restricting the locations or zones where short-term rentals may operate; prohibiting use of a property that has been the subject of ordinance violations or criminal activity; restricting the total number in the jurisdiction or marketed by one person; restricting the number within a portion of the jurisdiction or the proximity of one to another; and requiring an owner to occupy the property while it is in short-term use.

Its definition of “short-term rental” expressly reached a “unit in a condominium, cooperative, or timeshare,” and any detached or attached accessory dwelling unit on the same lot as a residence, rented for terms of less than thirty days.

SB 112: what local governments could not do

SB 112 ran the other way through KRS Chapter 100. A local government could not require a conditional use permit; impose density-based restrictions, including spacing between rentals or caps on the percentage of units in a building or district; prohibit operation in a residential zone; regulate the time, duration, frequency or time of year of use; limit how many properties one person or entity operates; impose any residency requirement; restrict short-term rental platforms; or bar a tenant with the landlord's permission from offering a leased property.

It offered a single permitted mechanism in exchange: a one-year permit per property, capped at $150 for an initial permit, with no fee for renewal, a thirty-day decision deadline, and revocation available for up to a year after three or more citations in a calendar year.

And it would have voided contrary local rules outright: “This section shall supersede and render void and unenforceable any local ordinance or regulation to the contrary,” with attorney's fees and costs available against a local government found to have violated it.

1. SB 54, Kentucky General Assembly 2026 Regular Session — bill record; single action, to Committee on Committees ↩
2. SB 54 (2026) — full text authorising local short-term rental ordinances ↩
3. SB 112, Kentucky General Assembly 2026 Regular Session — bill record ↩
4. SB 112 (2026) — full text of the preemption, including the association savings clause ↩
5. Steele v. SRH, LLC (Ky. App. 21 Aug. 2026) (to be published) — covenant did not burden the short-term rental lots ↩