STOP SB178

Proposed Senate Bill 178 Would Limit Kentucky’s Ability to Protect Public Health
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In 2025, SB89 limited Kentucky’s authority to define and protect the “waters of the Commonwealth.” SB178 now proposes similar limits on the Commonwealth’s ability to adopt environmental and public-health protections that exceed federal minimum standards. Kentucky Waterways Alliance opposes Senate Bill 178 because it would significantly restrict Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet and Cabinet for Health and Family Services capacity to respond to emerging health and environmental risks.

SB178 would prohibit Kentucky from adopting environmental or public-health regulations that are more stringent or more protective than federal law on the same or a similar topic. Following 2025’s Senate Bill 89, which limited Kentucky’s ability to define and protect state waters, SB178 would further constrain the state’s ability to adopt protections tailored to Kentucky’s specific conditions, even when science, local data, or emerging threats indicate a need for stronger safeguards than federal minimum standards. This would affect Kentucky’s authority across a wide range of programs, including drinking water and groundwater protection, air quality, hazardous and solid waste management, mining and reclamation, septic systems, lead poisoning prevention, radioactive materials handling, and the protection of rivers, wetlands, and nature preserves.

KWA Executive Director Michael Washburn offered the following assessment:

“It would dismantle the idea that environmental protection exists to prevent harm and replace it with a system that can only respond after harm is already visible as illness. By locking Kentucky to the weakest federal standard and requiring proof of present, diagnosable human injury before new safeguards can be adopted, the bill deliberately removes risk from the equation. Elevated cancer risk would not count. The presence of toxic chemicals in drinking water or in people’s blood would not count. Increased likelihood of developmental harm to children would not count. Heightened exposure would not count. Unless Kentuckians are already demonstrably sick — and that illness can be directly tied to a specific pollutant — the state would be barred from acting. This is not a technical adjustment to regulatory process. It represents a fundamental shift away from the Commonwealth’s traditional responsibility to prevent harm and protect public health, moving Kentucky from a system designed to prevent damage to one that requires damage to occur before it can even be acknowledged.”

Kentucky has long maintained the authority to respond to local conditions and emerging risks in order to protect public health and natural resources. Decisions about how to safeguard the Commonwealth should remain grounded in the needs and realities of the people who live here.​

Kentucky Waterways Alliance is preparing a detailed, plain-language analysis of SB178 that will walk through the bill section by section and explain what it would mean in practice for Kentucky. We will share that analysis with our members and partners soon and will provide updates and opportunities for engagement as the legislation moves forward. This fact sheet published by Kentucky Resources Council is an excellent resource to learn more about SB178.