SB 63 Kentucky Senate · 2025 Regular Session

AN ACT relating to street-legal special purpose vehicles.

Summary
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 186 to define "special purpose vehicle" and "street-legal special purpose vehicle"; allow street-legal special purpose vehicles to operate on a highway under certain circumstances; prohibit street-legal special purpose vehicles from traveling a distance greater than 20 miles on a highway displaying centerline pavement markings; require street-legal special purpose vehicles to register the vehicle and comply with all requirements of KRS Chapter 186; direct the Transportation Cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations; amend KRS 186.020 and 186.050 to conform
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Mar 2025
Introduced Jan 9, 2025 Signed Mar 26, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Current/Final · 7 edits
MODERATE
The bill was significantly restructured to expand local government authority over street-legal special purpose vehicles while updating definitions and registration requirements. The most substantive change is that local governments now have the power to allow or prohibit these vehicles through local ordinances, shifting from a blanket prohibition to a locally-determined policy. Definitions were clarified to exclude farm/agricultural vehicles and low-speed vehicles, and new safety requirements like roll bars and seatbelts were added for multi-passenger vehicles.
Scope change
Expanded from a statewide uniform regulation to a system where local governments can adopt their own ordinances governing street-legal special purpose vehicles within their jurisdictional boundaries.
ELIGIBILITY

Local governments can now adopt ordinances to allow or prohibit street-legal special purpose vehicles on highways within their jurisdiction, replacing the previous blanket prohibition.

DEFINITION

Added definition of 'local government' to include cities, counties, charter county governments, urban-county governments, consolidated local governments, and unified local governments.

Excluded vehicles primarily used for farm or agricultural activities from the definition of street-legal special purpose vehicles.

REQUIREMENT

New safety requirement added requiring roll bars or roll cages for all street-legal special purpose vehicles, and seatbelt assemblies conforming to federal standards for multi-passenger vehicles.

Changed registration plate requirement from 'standard motorcycle registration plate' to 'motorcycle registration plate' for street-legal special purpose vehicles.

Added requirement for inspection by a certified inspector as a condition for registration of street-legal special purpose vehicles.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed prohibition on travel distance from 20 miles on highways with centerline pavement markings to 20 miles on highways within local government jurisdictions where operation is not allowed by local ordinance.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

394
Passed
Total votes 43
Mar 4, 2025
D Democratic6
6 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican37
33 Yea 4 Nay
89% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
30
Key actions
9
Committee
9
Mar 24, 2025
Introduced
filed without Governor's signature with the Secretary of State
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
lower
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
passed 38-0 with Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
Senate concurred in House Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
posted for passage for concurrence in House Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Committee
to Rules (S)
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
3rd reading, passed 93-2 with Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Mar 13, 2025
Upper · Passed
reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Mar 5, 2025
Committee
to Appropriations & Revenue (H)
lower
Mar 5, 2025
Committee
to Committee on Committees (H)
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
3rd reading, passed 34-4 with Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Feb 26, 2025
Upper · Passed
reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1)
upper
Feb 4, 2025
Committee
to Transportation (S)
upper
Jan 9, 2025
Committee
to Committee on Committees (S)
upper
Jan 9, 2025
Introduced
introduced in Senate
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.