Committee adopts substitute to raise local small‑purchase threshold and update procurement language

The House Standing Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Investment adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 392 that revises local procurement rules and related transaction provisions.

Representative Michael Meredith and Gracie Kelly of the Kentucky League of Cities described the substitute as the result of stakeholder negotiations with the Kentucky Press Association and the Kentucky Association of General Contractors. The substitute removes a proposed 'best value' procurement provision and a reciprocal bidder clause, lowers an initial proposed small‑purchase threshold from $60,000 to $50,000, and sets a mechanism to increase that threshold by $10,000 every five years to account for inflation.

The substitute would allow local governments to utilize state contracts that establish price ranges rather than a single specified price and create authority for independent evaluations where no standard evaluation exists, such as for surplus items. It also retains an exemption for law enforcement vehicles and related equipment from certain procurement procedures.

Committee members had no recorded objections during the floor motion and the committee recorded a favorable roll call to report the substitute to the House.

Sponsors said the changes aim to modernize procurement options for local governments and reduce procedural barriers to using competitively negotiated state contracts.