Kentucky Ordinances (2026)

Kentucky requires beekeepers to register colonies with the State Apiarist and comply with disease inspection requirements. The state regulates apiary health uniformly under KRS Chapter…

Kentucky law forbids anyone from letting cattle run at large. Owners are liable for all damage the animals cause, sheriffs may impound loose stock, and violators face a fine under KRS…

Kentucky prohibits importing, possessing, or transporting designated inherently dangerous wildlife as exotic pets. The Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources enforces these rules…

Kentucky has no stand-alone hoarding statute. Neglecting a hoard of animals is prosecuted under KRS 525.130 as cruelty to animals in the second degree: cruel neglect, or failing to…

Kentucky bars feeding wildlife statewide from March 1 through July 31 under 301 KAR 2:015, and prohibits feeding and baiting year-round on Wildlife Management Areas. Bird feeders…

Kentucky regulates retail sales of vapor products through state licensing, age verification, and tax requirements. Retailers must verify ID for buyers under 30 and comply with…

Kentucky's Office of Medical Cannabis licenses dispensaries under KRS Chapter 218B with statewide buffer requirements and a local opt-out system, allowing cities and counties to…

Kentucky law prohibits home cultivation of cannabis by patients, caregivers, and the general public. The medical cannabis program created under KRS Chapter 218B does not authorize…

Commercial drone operations in Kentucky require an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, with airspace rules preempting local restrictions. State law adds protections against…

Recreational drone operation in Kentucky is governed primarily by FAA rules under 14 CFR Part 107 and the Recreational UAS Safety Test, with state criminal statutes addressing…

Kentucky law sets the state minimum wage at the federal floor and bars local governments from establishing higher minimum wages. Court rulings have invalidated local ordinances that…

Kentucky has no predictive scheduling law, and state preemption prevents local governments from adopting fair workweek or scheduling ordinances. Employers retain broad discretion to…

Kentucky requires state approval before any construction, fill, or obstruction within the 100-year floodplain or stream channel under KRS 151.250, administered by the Division of Water…

Kentucky's Energy and Environment Cabinet administers the Kentucky Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for stormwater discharges, requiring permits for construction sites disturbing…

Kentucky's division, or partition, fence law, KRS Chapter 256, requires adjoining owners to share the cost of a farm boundary fence between their properties. It applies to agricultural…

Kentucky law restricts brush and natural debris burning under KRS 149.400, allowing only natural plant matter to be burned and prohibiting daytime burns near woodland during forest…

Kentucky law universally defines and regulates consumer fireworks under KRS 227.700-227.750, sets a minimum purchase age of 18, prohibits display fireworks without a permit, and…

Kentucky law universally prohibits outdoor burning between 6 AM and 6 PM within 150 feet of woodland during forest fire hazard seasons (Feb 15-Apr 30 and Oct 1-Dec 15), unless the…

Kentucky State Fire Marshal regulates LP-gas storage statewide under KRS 234.180 and 815 KAR 10:060, requiring NFPA 58 compliance and permits for installation of all flammable and…

Kentucky allows permitless concealed carry for adults 21 and older legally able to possess firearms, while continuing to issue concealed deadly weapon licenses. Local governments…

Kentucky law preempts local firearms regulation, reserving authority to the General Assembly. Cities, counties, and urban-county governments cannot enact ordinances regulating…

Open carry of firearms is generally lawful for adults in Kentucky who can legally possess a firearm. State preemption prevents local governments from banning open carry, though…

Kentucky allows lawful adults to carry firearms openly or concealed inside a motor vehicle without a permit. Permitless concealed carry at 21 and statewide preemption prevent local…

Every food truck operating in Kentucky needs a statewide mobile food unit permit, issued by the operator's home-county local health department under the Cabinet for Health and Family…

Kentucky's Office of Charitable Gaming, under the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation, licenses every charitable organization running bingo, raffles, or charity game tickets…

Kentucky's penal code doesn't outlaw a card game among friends. KRS 528.010 defines a "player" as someone who gambles solely as a contestant or bettor without taking a cut, and it…

Kentucky legalized sports wagering in 2023, but only tracks licensed by the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation can operate it, in person or through a contracted platform. KRS…

Kentucky has no single HOA assessment law. Condominiums get an automatic lien under KRS 381.9193, and planned communities formed after June 29, 2023 get a continuing lien under KRS…

Kentucky's Planned Community Act requires every homeowners association declaration or bylaws to provide for an annual meeting, notice of any association meeting sent no less than 10…

Kentucky overrides HOA documents in only a narrow area. KRS 381.800 voids any governing-document provision that bans political yard signs, and that override applies to all planned…

Kentucky sets no maximum dollar amount for a homeowners association fine, but since the Planned Community Act took effect on June 29, 2023 a board must give the lot owner written…

Kentucky splits association liens three ways. A planned community governed by KRS 381.785 to 381.801 gets a continuing lien under KRS 381.799 once any assessment sits unpaid for 30…

Kentucky permits home-based food sales under the Home-Based Processor and Microprocessor program administered by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, with statewide rules that…

Kentucky requires state certification or licensure for any home caring for children from more than one unrelated family, with capacity limits, background checks, and inspection…

Kentucky issues no microenterprise home kitchen permit. You cannot buy a licence to cook meals to order in your own kitchen and sell them to the public. The one route that lets a…

Kentucky has no statute that authorises, defines or regulates a sobriety checkpoint. The only roadblock provision in the Kentucky Revised Statutes runs the opposite way: KRS 189.126…

Kentucky is a one-party-consent state, and the consent can be yours. KRS 526.010 defines eavesdropping as recording an oral or wire communication "of others" without the consent of at…

Kentucky has no stop-and-identify statute. No section of the Kentucky Revised Statutes makes it an offense to decline to give your name to a peace officer during a street stop, and…

The Kentucky General Assembly has never enacted a statute that tells a driver what consent to a roadside vehicle search means, who may give it, or whether an officer must say it can be…

Kentucky imposes no statewide private tree removal permit requirement, with the Right-to-Farm Act protecting timber operations from local nuisance restrictions.

Kentucky's Division of Water and Public Service Commission oversee drought response, authorizing public water systems to impose mandatory conservation restrictions during emergencies.

Kentucky does not open any street to golf carts by state law. KRS 189.286 lets a city, county, urban-county, charter county, consolidated or unified local government, or special…

Kentucky law presumes any vehicle left on a county road or city street for three consecutive days to be abandoned, exposing the owner to a fine of $25 to $100 or ten to thirty days in…

If you reach your car while it is being towed from a private lot in Kentucky, KRS 281.924(5) requires the towing company to tell you, orally or in writing, that you may pay no more…

In URLTA-adopting Kentucky jurisdictions, KRS 383.660 requires a 7-day written notice to pay or quit for nonpayment of rent. For other material lease violations, the landlord gives a…

In URLTA-adopting Kentucky jurisdictions, KRS 383.595 requires landlords to meet building and housing codes, keep premises fit and habitable, maintain common areas and major systems…

In Kentucky cities and counties that adopted URLTA, KRS 383.615 requires a landlord to give at least two days' notice before entering and to enter only at reasonable times, except in…

In URLTA-adopting Kentucky jurisdictions, KRS 383.695 lets either party end a month-to-month tenancy with at least 30 days' written notice before a periodic rental date, a week-to-week…

Kentucky prohibits any local government from enacting rent control on private residential property. KRS 65.875 reserves authority over rents exclusively to the state General Assembly…

Kentucky sets no dollar cap on residential security deposits. Where the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies, landlords must hold deposits in a separate account…

Under KRS 413.010, a squatter can claim title only after 15 years of adverse possession of real property. KRS 413.060 shortens the period to 7 years where the occupant holds under…

Kentucky law restricts how local governments may zone agricultural land. Counties and cities cannot use zoning to unreasonably interfere with bona fide agricultural operations, and…

Kentucky's Right to Farm law protects established agricultural operations from nuisance suits and conflicting local ordinances. Farms operating for at least one year and following…

Kentucky imposes a statewide 1% transient room tax on all short-term lodging rentals under 30 days, including Airbnb, VRBO, hotels, campgrounds, and RV parks. Hosts and facilitators…

Kentucky political signs receive First Amendment protection that limits content-based local regulation. State law restricts placement on highway rights-of-way and within polling place…

Kentucky has no solar access law that overrides a homeowners association covenant. The Commonwealth's only statute on the subject, KRS 381.200(2), authorizes a voluntary solar easement…

Kentucky's net metering law guarantees rooftop solar owners a two-way meter and dollar-credit compensation for exported power. Eligible solar facilities are capped at 45 kilowatts, and…

Kentucky's Home Solicitation Sales Act (KRS 367.410-460) universally grants consumers a three-business-day right to cancel any door-to-door sale of $25 or more, with mandatory written…

Kentucky regulates public swimming pools, spas, and aquatic facilities through 902 KAR 10:120, setting uniform safety, sanitation, and lifeguard standards. Local health departments…

Kentucky prohibits the sale of tobacco, vapor, and alternative nicotine products to anyone under 21. The law conforms to federal Tobacco 21 standards and applies to all retail outlets…

Kentucky has not enacted a statewide ban on flavored tobacco or vapor products. Sales remain lawful for buyers 21 and older, with limited authority for local boards of health to…

Kentucky does not require residents or businesses to recycle. State law treats recycling as a policy priority, not a duty. Counties run solid waste programs, and only waste haulers…

Kentucky limits every visible light you add to a vehicle by color and by whether it flashes. Under KRS 189.040(14), visible front lights may only be white or amber and visible rear…

Kentucky has never written a dash camera statute, so the rule that decides where you may put one is the windshield provision, KRS 189.110(2). It bars operating a motor vehicle on a…

Kentucky has neither authorized lane splitting nor written an express ban on it. KRS 189.285, the section that governs how motorcycles are operated and ridden, says nothing about lane…

Kentucky puts the rule in its registration statute rather than its equipment chapter. KRS 186.170(1)(c) requires that plates be kept legible at all times, that the rear plate be…

A radar detector is legal in a private car in Kentucky. The Kentucky Revised Statutes contain no prohibition on owning, mounting or using one, and the word detector does not appear…

Kentucky has no studded tire statute at all. The four tire provisions in KRS Chapter 189, the chapter titled Traffic Regulations and Vehicle Equipment, regulate wheel chains, iron and…

Kentucky draws its tint line at 35 percent light transmittance on the side wings and side windows forward of or beside the driver, and 18 percent on any window behind the driver, with…