FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 15, 2026) – Attorney General Russell Coleman praised the General Assembly for overriding the Governor’s veto of a piece of legislation created to deliver long overdue justice in Kentucky. The Senate and House gave final passage to Senate Bill 251 (SB 251) which would remove bureaucratic red tape from the process to impose the death penalty in Kentucky.
The bill, sponsored by State Senator Steve West (R-Paris), allows the Kentucky Department of Corrections to set execution procedures through internal policies and memorandums, making the department exempt from formal administrative regulations. This allows a more streamlined process and avoids lengthy, drawn-out hurdles.
At least ten courts in other states have held their state’s department of corrections is not required to make regulations about the death-penalty process. Kentucky now joins that group and is no longer required to engage in a lengthy, formal administrative rulemaking process to conduct executions.
On Tuesday, senators voted 30 to 7 in favor of overriding the Governor’s veto. The House voted 74 to 16.
Twenty-four inmates currently sit on Kentucky’s death row, and many have tried for decades to avoid their sentence delivered by a jury.
“Families and victims should matter more than the governor’s future political ambitions,” said Attorney General Coleman. “I'm grateful to Sen. West and the General Assembly for this legislation and commend them overriding the governor's veto.”
SB 251 also requires Kentucky Department of Corrections to publish any internal policies online.
AG Coleman’s office recently argued for the dismissal of a 2006 case which is at the center of a 15-year ban on executions in the Commonwealth. A dismissal would clear the way for about a dozen executions.