Governor Beshear Vetoes HB 18. What’s next for source of income discrimination in Lexington?

Governor Andy Beshear has vetoed House Bill 18, which passed the Kentucky State Senate and House of Representatives last Tuesday.

Sponsored by Representative Ryan Dotson, HB 18 would prohibit local governments from enforcing source of income discrimination bans that prevent landlords from refusing to rent to tenants participating in any federal housing assistance program. This means that Lexington’s recently adopted source of income discrimination ban ordinance will be mostly unenforceable.

A veto override vote could happen at any point between March 11th and April 15th, the final day of the Legislative Session.

If the Legislature overrides Governor Beshear’s veto, HB 18 will take effect immediately. Lexington’s source of income discrimination ban ordinance became effective on Friday, March 1st.

Lexington’s Department of Law has advised the Human Rights Commission — who is charged with enforcing the source of income discrimination ban — to not enforce the ordinance at all, since HB 18 will likely be fully enacted by the time the Human Rights Commission would be able to penalize landlords not complying with the ordinance. The Department of Law will bring an amended version of Lexington’s ordinance to Council for consideration after HB 18 is enacted.

Lexington’s source of income discrimination ban does extend protections beyond Federal assistance programs. Income sources such as alimony, child support, and Social Security are protected under Lexington’s ordinance and are probably not impacted by HB 18. However, no information is currently available regarding how prevalent rental discrimination against these income sources is in Lexington’s housing market.