In this aerial view, the Barren River in Bowling Green floods around Kentucky Route 185. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
FRANKFORT — Kentucky senators voted unanimously to create a task force that would review how the state could become better prepared for natural disasters.
Sponsored by Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, Senate Concurrent Resolution 67 would create the Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task Force. If passed by the General Assembly this session, the task force would study disaster mitigation and planning in Kentucky.
While Webb had been working on the legislation for some time, it comes on the heels of devastating statewide floods and winter storms in February that killed 24 people. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican legislative leaders are in the midst of talks on state aid for affected communities.
The Senate voted 38-0 in favor of Webb’s bill on Thursday.
Any findings or recommendations from the task force would be due to LRC by Dec. 1, a little over a month before the 2026 legislative session begins. Next year, lawmakers will again decide the state’s biennial budget.
The resolution says Kentucky “has experienced an increase in the occurrence and magnitude of natural disasters, including flooding and tornadoes, as a result of shifting weather patterns.” Between 2011 and 2023, the state received 20 major disaster declarations from the federal government — making it the sixth most of any state during that time.
The task force would be directed to make recommendations on future and current policy needs for Kentucky and evaluate how other states respond to natural disasters. Members would include Republican and Democratic lawmakers, members of the Beshear administration, local government representatives and more.
“As a legislative body, we need to enhance physical operation, and we need to work together with the executive branch and the federal government and know what’s going on with the different appropriators and the dollars, and how it’s impacting people’s lives,” Webb said.
When asked about the resolution during his weekly press conference, Beshear said he had not yet read it, but praised the response of local emergency officials and Kentucky Emergency Management officials to natural disasters within the state — something he’s come to know well as a two-term governor.
“They learned something new, and they add it to the next disaster,” Beshear said. He pointed to recent steps to provide travel trailers quickly to house disaster survivors and emergency response teams pre-positioning swift boat teams to prepare for flood rescues.
Beshear did say the task force may quickly find that the General Assembly’s cap on emergency spending “is malpractice when it comes to how you need to respond to natural disasters,” adding that it hurts Kentuckians in need.
“If there’s a task force that wants to learn more and become engaged, we’re open to it,” Beshear said. “I’ll read the legislation, but there are pieces that we can do, and if this task force would push that, especially moving into a budget session, that could be a good thing,