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Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky Reorganizes Broadband Authority Under Technology Office and Authorizes $110 Million in Debt
Last action · January 15, 2026: to State & Local Government (S)Sponsors: Gex Williams and 13 others
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What This Bill Proposed
AN ACT relating to the Kentucky Communications Network Authority and declaring an emergency.
Restructures state broadband oversight and management by shifting operations directly to existing personnel within the Commonwealth Office of Technology, altering administrative reporting lines and board compositions for state technology initiatives.
- The Kentucky Communications Network Authority was previously established to oversee the Commonwealth's high-speed open-access broadband network known as KentuckyWired. context
- The Commonwealth Office of Technology serves as the lead organizational entity within the executive branch regarding the delivery of information technology services. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Kentucky Communications Network Authority
The authority is administratively reattached, its executive director position is terminated, and its functions are transferred to the Commonwealth Office of Technology.
Commonwealth Office of Technology
The office assumes all functions, responsibilities, and records of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority, and its executive director takes over management and debt-incurring authority.
Legislative Research Commission
The commission receives copies of debt agreements and quarterly reports detailing remaining principal, interest, and the use of capital.
Key Facts
- All functions, responsibilities, records, files, and documents of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority are transferred to the Commonwealth Office of Technology.
- The position of executive director of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority is terminated.
- The executive director of the Commonwealth Office of Technology is authorized to incur debt in the name of the authority up to one hundred ten million dollars ($110,000,000) through contracts leveraging future revenues.
- Proposed debt or financing must be submitted to the Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee for review at least fourteen days prior to a committee meeting.
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- The authority must provide copies of debt agreements and quarterly reports on remaining principal, interest, and capital use to the Legislative Research Commission.
- The Kentucky Communications Network Authority and its board are attached administratively to the Finance and Administration Cabinet rather than the Office of the Governor.
- The board of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority is reconstituted to include ex officio members such as the chief information officer of the Department of Education as chair, the Attorney General, the Governor, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, and a representative from the Center for Rural Development.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to the executive director position of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority?
How is the board of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority changed under this bill?
What is the maximum debt the authority is permitted to incur?
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News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in Senate committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Jan 15, 2026SenateCommitteeto State & Local Government (S)
- Jan 12, 2026SenateIntroducedintroduced in Senate to Committee on Committees (S)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 9 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Consolidation of Independent Authority into Executive Agency
The legislation systematically eliminates the independent executive director position of the Kentucky Communications Network Authority and shifts its operational control and board oversight into the Commonwealth Office of Technology and Finance and Administration Cabinet.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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