Legislation Detail

Download a Printable PDF of these Detailed Evaluations (with direct links to bills)
DISCLAIMER: These recommendations are preliminary with 1 or 2 people having read the legislation, and hence with limited collaboration and commentary. Final evaluations with come soon. KY Legislative Session reconvenes FEBRUARY 7, 2023 and is a short session (30 days).

Category Type	Bill & Summary Support Level & Evaluation		Reviewer & Priority
Govt Regulations	BR103	Codify that the only available selections on a KY issued birth certificate would be male or female.	John
B. Wesley	Support	The bill would statuatorily restrict the only designations for biological sex on a KY issued birth certificate to be male or female. It also states that their should specifically NOT be options to select “non-binary or any symbol representing a nonbinary designation, including but not limited to, X.” I think that the changes suggested are more than necessary and that implementing them would make it easier to make further changes in other statutes regarding student privacy (same sex restroom usage in schools), among other things, if there were a concrete and clear cut piece of legislation to tie those requirements to. However, I would suggest the removal of the additional language pertaining to what CANNOT be included as designations, and instead, would strengthen the language making it clear that ONLY male and female are to be included as possible designations and that any and all others are not allowed. Laura: I agree with making the language stronger indicating that ONLY male and female are designations that may be chosen. By stating what should be excluded you are setting yourself up to challenges regarding designated not expressly prohibited, except maybe to say that “any other designation is strictly prohibited.”	High (This year)
Taxes & Spending	BR333	Allows for Special Deputies to County Sheriffs to be paid for up to 180 hours in a calendar year.	Lance
M. Dossett	Only If Amended	Special Deputies (if they are legitimately necessary) should be able to be compensated for their time up to a certain amount. However… Concerns: (1) Concerned that this will become a handout scheme for the buddies of the county sheriff, hiring them on needlessly to get think a couple thousand dollars per year paycheck each. That’s potentially another drain on county budgets. Amendments: I’m not sure how to keep that from happening. Perhaps limit it to hours spent in service of emergencies (as specified in section 2). Laura’s thoughts: I don’t like that all decisions on what constitutes an emergency rests with one person. I also don’t like that the ONE person gets to pick who the special deputies will be. Maybe a committee that includes individuals outside the Sheriff’s office? Fiscal court is already setting the compensation rate. Maybe they can weigh in on when and who? I think section (3)(d) needs to include regardless of gender in addition to the other listed items. Section (2) should probably include the “aftermath” of an emergency and not just in preparation for and during the emergency.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	BR356	Allows entities other than County clerks to sell and distribute hunting and fishing licenses and removes guardian written premission req. for Hunting licenses for under 16.	Lance
B. Wesley	Support	Pretty innocuous. Not sure WHY we need to rename Hunting and Fishing licenses to Sportsman & Junior licenses to Youth. Concerns: (1) Is there a risk if a parent doesn’t know that a child has gotten a Hunting license? I don’t see one. This just takes away an unnecessarry burden. (2) If the County Clerks are no longer going to be the only entities selling such license (section 2.2), need to make sure that centralized records are still maintained and on a timely basis. Again, not sure why we need to open this up beyond clerks, but OK. Laura: I would say NO to removing parental approval. Why would we want to give a license to hunt to a minor without parental approval? A parent is in the best position to know if they are properly educated in handling firearms and to make decisions for minor children. My concern with the County Clerks passing the responsibility to other entities is maintaining accountability and accurate reporting.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB1	Reduces the state income tax to 4% from 4.5% stating in 2024, imposes several other taxes to make up some of the lost state revenue.	Lance
B. Reed	Support	Will definitely pass. The question is what taxes are going to make up the revenue. In this bill, it is mostly applying sales taxes to various services that previously had been untaxed.	High (This year)
Govt Regulations	HB100	Establishes a new Committee on Constitutional Enforcement.	Lance
S. Rawlings	Oppose	Don’t have an issue with supporting constitutional enforcement (obviously), but not sure what the actual need is for this. International orgs have no force of law in the US. The Supremacy clause makes the US Constitution and Federal above state law (and the Judiciary resolves those conflict where the Federal government oversteps its limits). It would be good to have a constitutional watchdog, but do we need another Committee? This is actually the Attorney General’s role already, does a referral mean anything? Would anything coming out of this committee have actual teeth, eg req. Attorney General to sue (and even if so, would that violate separation of powers)?	Low (Can wait)
Education	HB101	KDE cannot mandate COVID-19 vax requirement to attend school. Opposed only because HB92 is stronger bill.	Steve
J. Decker	Support	Very similar to HB31, but from a different angle. Doesn’t cover postsecondary schools. HB92 is the stronger bill.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB102	Defines insurance requirements for delivery network drivers (eg door dash), establish that company must notify driver in writing of his insurance requirements, allows insurers to deny coverage to the individual	Steve
M. Pollock	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Good that it clarifies some gray issues concerning insurance requirements for drivers and the requirements of the company the driver contracts with	Med (Standing committee review+)
Criminal Code	HB103	Refines the definition of “torture” of a dog or cat. Makes it a Class C felony for each act	Steve
R. Dotson	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Clarifies existing language and increases penalty for each offense. Makes each offense a separate crime. Lance: I would prefer retaining the provision that a first, single offense, is a serious misdemeanor, but multiple or repeat violations rises to felony.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Criminal Code	HB104	Adds ” the offender abused the corpse of the victim of kidnapping or murder by engaging in deviate sexual intercourse, sexual intercourse or sexual contact as defined in KRS.510.010″ to the list of aggravating circumstances considered in the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial	Steve
S. Heavrin	Support	Definitely, defiling a corpse sexually should be added to the list of aggravating circumstances.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Taxes & Spending	HB105	Constitutional amendment to exempt property owners over age 65 from paying increased taxation on their property due to increase in the value of their property	Steve
T. Huff	Support	Low priority because it cannot go onto the ballot this year, but definitely supportive.	Low (Can wait)
Health	HB108	Allows KY to form a commission to set up funding, rules and bylaws for the purpose of participating in the multi state Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact.	Steve
D.J. Johnson	Oppose	Can see where this could benefit hospital staffing shortages, but the hospitals created this crisis by forcing vaccines on their staff	Oppose (friendly)
Govt Regulations	HB109	Makes holding property beyond the length of a rental agreement a theft of service crime	Steve
M. Lockett	Support	Is a good bill but there are more pressing issues that need addressed	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB11	Tied to HB2, reallocates $16.6M from the transportation budget for electric charging station pre-payments to the Building of a Veteran’s nursing home in Bowling Green.	Lance
J. Petrie	Support	Just procedural, re-allocating the $16.6M that HB2 requires from the transportation budget.	High (This year)
Health	HB110	Adds “conscientiously held beliefs” to the list of exceptions to immunization requirements.	Steve
S. Baker	Support	Needed to be passed last year	High (This year)
Govt Regulations	HB112	Requires all vehicles on a highway with iron, steel or wooden wheels be equipped with a rubberized strip on the portion of the wheel that is in contact with the pavement.	Steve
W. Thomas	Only If Amended	Not sure what vehicles this is intended to affect. I have a concern that it may lead to extra cost for Amish horse carriages.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB113	Authorizes electrical inspectors to perform electrical work outside of the jurisdiction where they serve as inspectors.	Steve
P. Pratt	Support	Will allow those inspectors to find extra work outside their area. I don’t see a problem with that.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB114	Closes the Legislators Retirement Plan to new members effective this year. New legislators shall participate in the Kentucky Employees Retirement System. Legislators who entered the LRP on or after 1/1/2014 and participate in the LRP cash balance plan shall have their balance transferred to the KERS hybrid cash balance plan.	Steve
J. Tipton	Support	It’s a long bill with lots of details concerning the different retirement plans across the state. Stipulates that if a newly elected legislator is currently in another state retirement plan, he/ she can opt to stay in that plan. It’s overall a good bill with the intent of moving all of our legislators into the Kentucky Employees Retirement System, so they will have ” skin in the game” and will make certain it stays properly funded.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB115	Cleans up language related to what constitutes a police service animal and removes penalty for assault when killing a police service animal if a person reasonably feels they have to do so to save a life.	Lance
B. Wesley	Support	Solid bill, no issues with it. Just will be a matter of building support.	Low (Can wait)
Elections	HB116	Amends existing legislation to allow the Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts to submit names of nominees. Requires that all candidates and supervisors be at least 21 years of age	Steve
F. Rabourn	Support	Have no problem with this bill	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB117	Allows certain USDA exempted poultry producers to sell on a farm, farmer’s market or road side stand. Poultry sold at a farmer’s market or roadside stand must be frozen and wrapped.	Steve
S. Maddox	Support	Can help local farmers move their products to the local community. Seems like an excellent idea considering the supply chain issues we are currently dealing with.	High (This year)
Firearms & Military	HB118	Lower the age for carrying a concealed deadly weapon from 21 to 18	Steve / Lance
S. Maddox	Support	If they are old enough to join the military, then they are old enough to concealed carry.	High (This year)
Education	HB119	Allows home schoolers to participate in public school extra-curricular activities.	Lance
R. Dotson	Support	Good move, these parents are tax payers as well, why shouldn’t their kids be able to make use of public school resources for their kids? Amendments: Why INTERscholastic, why not scholastic as well (drama club, chess club, whatever)? Restrict participation in sports to the geographically nearest public school with the activity to their home within their county.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB12	Expands the prohibited activities while driving from texting on a cell phone to using all kind of communication devices and including holding a cellphone, etc.	Steve
J. Tipton	Oppose	Distracted driving is a serious issue, but does this actually reduce that? This is likely going too far, as a huge % of people do these activities. I think better education about the dangers of distracted driving is a better option. Concerns: (1) Adds more reasons to pull people over for things that aren’t necessarily unsafe (eg hands off talking). (2) Difficult to enforce. Laura’s Thoughts: Problems with this…. Many. This makes it impossible to use a map app like Waze but allows you to use your car’s navigation system if it is integrated into the vehicle. What’s the difference? Discriminates against people without Bluetooth systems…those speaking on Bluetooth are just as distracted as those holding a phone. How do you enforce any of this? How is changing a radio station while sitting at stop light any different than dialing a phone?	Oppose (friendly)
Health	HB120	Bans Sex Change operations and gender altering medications for minors in KY.	Lance
S. Maddox	Support	Children should not be making these life altering decisions. Amendments: Would love to refine the neglect and abuse statutes to explicitly exclude lack of “gender affirmation.” Would also love to avoid using leftist terminology in these definitions.	High (This year)
Taxes & Spending	HB123	Prevents entities doing business in Kentucky with gross receipts less than $100,000 from paying the limited liability tax	Steve
P. Flannery	Support	Affects only small business, which need help in this economy. Seems pretty reasonable.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB124	Prohibits use of TikTok on any state issued devices with internet connectivity	Laura
S. Sharp	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Prohibits the download or use of the TikTok application or visiting the TikTok website. Maybe add in (2) the prohibition of clicking any link with TikTok material. Also of concern is that there is no penalty listed for disobeying this legislation.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB125	Requires the Department of Public Health to incorporate information on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias into already existing materials, publish it on it’s website and distribute it to local health departments	Steve
K. Moser	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Good information for the public to know about, but not really a high priority. I’m not sure that Alzheimer’s disease and its contributing factors are well understood enough to make this highly effective, but fine.	Low (Can wait)
Education	HB126	Attempt to reverse law passed to try and fix the Teacher retirement system by allowing teachers to join the old system.	Steve
C. Stevenson	Oppose	Removes provisions from 2021 HB258 that created and adjusted benefits for individuals who became members of the Teachers Retirement System after January 1, 2022. Provide that they be eligible for benefits applicable to members who entered the system before January 1, 2022.	Oppose (bad bill)
Education	HB127	Establishes a 4-year scholarship for persons agreeing to serve as coal county paramedics, and establishes funding. (*May be better applied to MDs, RNs & LPNs and handled Paramedics expanding KEES for trade schools.)	Steve
A. Tackett Laferty	Only If Amended	Looks like a solution for a problem. Not a bad bill. Lance: Do Paramedics require a 4 year degree anyway? They shouldn’t. Why not expand KEES to trade schools that handle certification (like HB85), and then save this 4 year scholarship for physicians and LPN/RNs?	Low (Can wait)
Business Regs	HB128	Lays out in very long and very specific details both the rights of tenants and landlords and also their responsibilities. (*Goes too far restricting market and regulating, but esp. tenants do need more specified protections than offered by current law.)	Steve
N. Kulkami	Only If Amended	A very thorough bill. It lays out in very specific detail exactly what obligations both the tenant and the landlord have in a lease agreement and what rights they have in different scenarios. Very balanced. It doesn’t put any undue burden on either side and draws up specific rules and penalties for breaking those rules. Particularly like that a landlord must keep a separate deposit open for security deposits and can not intermingle personal or business funds with that account. Lance: Provisions for domestic violence & stalking scenarios as well as for when a tenant or landlord dies are also good. Lots of good here, just needs to partner with a Republican to strike out 1/4 to 1/3 of the bill that imposes unnecessary regulation and market restriction in a future session.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB129	Defines ” freestanding birthing centers,” req. the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to update administrative regs to establish licensing standards. Potential cost savings and access.	Steve
J. Nemes	Support w/ amendment suggestions	There are good requirements laid out for these centers, such as having the capability to transport patients to a hospital if complications occur. Could be beneficial for small communities that don’t have a nearby hospital, Also potential cost savings.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB13	Changes the annual physical exam requirement for school bus drivers to every 24 months.	Lance
K. King	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Lowers the requirements still at a reasonable level to reduce barriers for school bus drivers. However, need an exemption if the person has certain medical issues that require yearly or more examination (eg heart condition).	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB130	Allow the Soil and Water Conservation Commission to procure heavy equipment for loan or lease for the purpose of conserving soil resources, preventing erosion and protection of water resources. Require them to promulgate administrative regulations for purchase and use terms	Steve
A. Neighbors	Only If Amended	Needs clarifying language about which circumstances dictate leasing out equipment and which cases you would loan equipment out. Doesn’t limit how much can reasonably be spent on purchasing this equipment. Leaves open a lot of room for abuse.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB132	Exempt motor vehicles, recreational vehicles, trailers and semitrailers from state and local ad valorem taxes. Allows taxation on motorboats	Steve
P. Flannery	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Always good to see another form of taxation go away. Not sure how local governments will be able to replace this revenue stream	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	HB133	Allows Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarships to be used for a workforce solution training program offered by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.	Steve
S. Bratcher	Support	Allows local decisions be made concerning which occupations are in highest demand and gearing the scholarships to those fields. Seems like a really good idea.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB135	Empower the Transportation Cabinet to regulate Autonomous (self-driving) vehicles.	John O
J. Bray	Support	The main effects of the bill would be to: 1) Establish standards and definitions of AV. 2) Establish performance requirements and limitations. 3) Establish licensing and insurance requirements. 4) Empower the Transportation Cabinet with full authority over AV’s. No other state agency may tax or regulate AV operations. 5) Obligates the owner of the AV to notify appropriate state agencies in the event of a mishap.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	HB136	Prevents Council on Postsecondary Education from raising tuition more than 5% per year for residents, 7% for nonresidents, 4 year freeze for residents enrolled. Require unis to add two addl students to their boards & Senate confirmation of Gov noms to boards. (*Wait 1 session.)	Steve
W. Lawrence	Support w/ amendments	There’s a whole lot in this bill. Changes the makeup of the current university boards. Governor must have Senate’s approval to name replacements. Will this require special sessions to be called throughout the year for this purpose? Good to try and rein in the tuition increases of our universities, but I fear putting a 5 percent cap on it will make it likely they will raise it by that much automatically each year. Lance: I like the tuition increase caps, would prefer short AND medium term caps (eg 5% and no more than 20% cumulatively over 5 years)… or tied to the CPI. How can the senate confirm Gov picks when not in session? Do we need more student representation, it isn’t a co-op? Best to hold off until next session for this one.	Low (Can wait)
Health	HB137	Prohibit Vax Passports, require “conscientious belief” exemptions, and stop other egregious vax mandates in schools and elsewhere (ambitious).	Steve
S. Maddox	Support	Allows student, staff or faculty members to opt out of a postsecondary school’s immunization policy for specific reasons. Prohibit a public entity from creating standardized documentation with the purpose of certifying vaccination status. Require written notice of vax exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs or medical contraindication. Establish when health care providers can support a medical exemption, require notice of of federal mandates and available exemptions, establish civil cause and action for violations, prohibit Department of Public Health from releasing personal identifiable information from immunization reports, prohibit preschools, primary and secondary schools from promulgating new immunization policy and mandating compliance during a school year and allow objections to immunization based on conscientiously held beliefs. Very good bill. Needs to be taken up and passed immediately	High (This year)
Firearms & Military	HB138	Allow concealed weapons at government owned facilities, including postsecondary schools. (* Should not include students in high school.)	Lance
S. Maddox	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Amendments: This should not include any student in a high school (assuming that the concealed carry age gets lowered to 18).	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	HB139	Require that public university not discriminate based upon viewpoint in funding of student orgs or off-campus speech.	Lance
S. Maddox	Support	Good legislation, covers lots of speech suppression issues on college campuses.	High (This year)
Health	HB141	Establish Urgent Need Insulin Program and Continuing Access to Insulin Program. Establish eligibility guidelines application process, policies by which it is dispensed and manufacturer’s responsibilities. Establish responsibilities of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy for administering the program, that manufacturers report to the Board and that the Board report to the General Assembly.	Steve
D. Bentley	Support w/ amendments	Good to try and make sure that insulin is readily available to those that need it and assistance for those who are in need. Not sure if requiring the manufacturer to supply replacement for the supply given away won’t cause them to merely raise the price on the insulin that they will sell for purchase.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB15	Requires businesses to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid “family” medical leave per year.	Laura
C. Stevenson	Oppose	This creates a definition of “family member” that says “person with whom the employee shares, or has shared within the last year, a mutual residence and with whom the employee maintains a committed relationship.” This is allowing anyone to take FMLA to care for someone they date. It defines “health care provider” as “any persons licensed under federal or state law to provide healthcare services” and allows these individuals to determine whether the patient needs continuing treatment or supervision by a competent individual. LPNs are licensed by the state. Are we going to let them determine who needs to receive FMLA benefits?	Oppose (friendly)
Taxes & Spending	HB19	Excludes all distributions from military pension plans for veterans and their spouses from state income tax	Steve
W. Thomas	Support	All for doing anything we can to support our veterans. Lance: Generally agree, but where is the limit (we have a professional, voluntary military)? For me, this is probably going a bit too far.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Firearms & Military	HB2	Appropriates $16,630,000 towards veterans’ nursing home in Bowling Green	Laura
J. Tipton	Support	Appropriates $16,630,000 towards veterans’ nursing home. Beshear approved $2.5M to fund design and preconstruction costs in March of 2020. Expected to be a $ 30M facility per WKBO article on March 29, 2021. Then Spectrumnews reports on November 2, 2022 that it will be a $50M center. State allocated $10.5M toward facility already and another $19.5M from the Veterans Administration in 2021? This new appropriation totals $46,630,000.00 for what was originally expected to be a $30M project.	High (This year)
Govt Regulations	HB21	Set-up a process for homeless persons to obtain driver’s licenses or alternative ID using various homeless resource provider addresses.	Laura
R. Bridges	Oppose	How does an employee know that a person is actually homeless, etc.? What impact does this have on voting? How does this impact non-citizens? What qualifies a support org. to issue such a certification? Need more thought about the ways this could be exploited and manipulated by bad actors.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Taxes & Spending	HB24	Exempt members of the KY National Guard from motor vehicle taxes	Steve
B. Wesley	Oppose	all for doing anything we can to support our active duty military Lance: Generally agree that supporting the military is a positive, but there has to be some line on that if we are being fiscally conservative. Being part of the National Guard is, after all, a paid position.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Taxes & Spending	HB25	Veterans with a 100 percent service connected disability exempt from local and state vehicle taxes (up to 2 vehicles), local and state vehicle insurance taxes, fees for state issued IDs and not required to purchase hunting or fishing licenses	Steve
W. Thomas	Support	all for helping our veterans, particularly the disabled Lance: Particularly service members with severe disability, this is very easy to justify.	High (This year)
Govt Regulations	HB26	Prohibit use of public funds for lobbying activity by Public Agencies or Agents (incl. penalties), no self-dealing by gov’t org lobbyists/agents.	Denny
F. Rabourn	Support	Good idea. We need to research the definition of a public agency/agents further to see which orgs’ lobbyists would fall within the bounds of Public agents. As it stands, this prohibits public agencies from lobbying, which is a good idea. You shouldn’t be using public funds in an effort to try to self-deal (and expand your public agency).	High (This year)
Education	HB27	Define homeschool “learning pods”, exclude them from “child care center” or “family child care house” definition and their hiring reqs.	Steve
F. Rabourn	Support	I have a concern about page 9, lines 14- 15 ” who are enrolled in a public or private school and conducting instructional activities remotely,” Would this language exclude homeschool parents from starting learning pods without being affiliated with a school? Lance: It’s a good question to be certain about, but my understanding is that homeschoolers are regulated officially as private schools.	High (This year)
Education	HB30	Require students born male to use only those facilities designated to be used by males and students born female to use only those facilities designated to be used by females.	John
B. Wesley	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Ideas correct, language needs to be tightened up a bit. Section 3(1) needs to say: Every school restroom, locker room, and shower room designated for student use accessible by multiple students at the same time shall be designated for and used by biological male students only or biological female students only. Also require schools to provide the reasonable available accommodation to students who assert that their gender is different from their biological sex	High (This year)
Education	HB31	KDE cannot mandate COVID-19 vax requirement to attend school. Opposed only because HB92 is stronger bill.	Steve
S. McPherson	Oppose	Only covers up to 12th grade. Also need protection from postsecondary and all other parts of the state government, HB92.	Low (Can wait)
Education	HB32	Allow hiring of classified personnel without a high school diploma if the school district allows the employee the opportunity to obtain one at no cost to the employee.	Steve
K. Jackson	Support	Could help slightly alleviate unskilled staff shortages in the school system.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	HB33	Allow grants to colleges and universities for setting minimum tuition standards for teacher prep courses throughout the state.	Steve
J. Tipton	Support	Could potentially help alleviate teacher shortage.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB34	Permits a city to establish preference for awarding public construction projects to unions, negotiate wage minimums & set firearms regs.	Steve
J. Raymond	Oppose	Also Grants local gov. the authority to adopt and enforce ordinances that req employers to provide leave to their employees and to enact local firearms regs. A whole list of socialist desires. Terrible bill. No chance of it passing	Oppose (bad bill)
Education	HB35	Universal Pre-K: Reqs school districts to provide a full day preschool program for 3 & 4 year olds, operate on the school district calendar, provide transportation. (*For at risk kids? Fine. Otherwise, keep kids in the home.)	Steve
J. Raymond	Oppose	We don’t need to be putting 3 & 4 year old children into the school system, especially not for a full day, nor do the kindergarten students need to be attending a full day. Horrible idea. Lance: LESS indoctrination, the better for most kids. Also, any gains that this produces in the short term for most kids dissipate by 4th grade. At risk kids are a different issue.	Oppose (bad bill)
Education	HB36	Removes ” insured” from the definition of ” student loan.”	Steve
T. Truett	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Not sure why student loans are no longer insured.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB37	Allows a pass-through entity to pay income tax at the entity level. Allows applicable partners, members and shareholders to exclude the income from the pass-through entity to avoid double taxation.	Steve
K. Fleming	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Seems harmless. Shouldn’t have to pay taxes twice on the same income.	Low (Can wait)
Other	HB39	Reorganizes the Kentucky Horse Park Commission, it’s duties and function. (*Wait 1 year, plus No bill with racist “affirmative action” provisions should ever be codified into law.)	Steve
P. Pratt	Only If Amended	Does a good job defining the duties and responsibilities of the Commission. My only problem with this bill is the language used on page 5 lines 6 and 7…”including staff development and training programs for affirmative action.” Don’t understand why we are encoding affirmative action into statute.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB40	Establishes that any admin. reg. that is ruled deficient by the admin. review committee shall be null, in essence, as long as one of the originating board, AG & Gov. agrees.	Steve
D. Lewis	Support	Relating to administrative deficiency finding: grants an administrative body 10 days to appeal a legislative committee’s deficiency finding to the Attorney General, allows Attorney General 20 days to uphold or overrule. Withdraws or nullifies a regulation automatically if the appeal is not filed or the finding is upheld. Allows the Governor to act on the regulation if the finding is overruled and prohibits an administrative body from promulgating a similar regulation for at least a year after the finding was upheld. Seems to be a common sense detailed explanation of how the process should work. I think it’s a harmless bill.	High (This year)
Education	HB41	Directs the Kentucky Department of Education to develop a foster care student toolkit to assist school personnel in addressing the unique educational needs of foster children. (*KRS 158.4416 somewhat already does this.)	Laura
R. Raymer	Only If Amended	KRS 158.4416 was passed in 2022 regarding Trauma-informed approach to education. It set out guidelines for school counselors in every school to create a team and train teachers in dealing with students who have experienced all forms of trauma. This bill focuses on trauma informed practices that are already being taught but only asks that a person in each district, who will be “the foster care liaison,” to let the teachers, counselors and administrators know of the availability of the foster care student toolkit and encourage its use. While having this information available for those who want to read it is not bad, I don’t think it needs to be legislated. The KDE can regulate the creation of such a toolkit and make it available if it so chooses. Lance: I don’t trust the KDE’s judgement. If it is a good idea, it likely should be legally mandated. Nevertheless, probably best to just clarify KRS 158.4416 applies to any foster scenario.	Low (Can wait)
Health	HB42	Establishes a bill of rights for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and defines penalties for violations of these rights.	Steve
M. Hart	Support	Seems like a good bill	Med (Standing committee review+)
Taxes & Spending	HB44	Carve out a tax exemption for marketing services.	Bob
K. Fleming	Oppose	Hard to see this as anything but Pork for a particular industry.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB45	Establishes the Tax Expenditure and Economic Development Incentive Review Board of the GA to review, analyze, provide oversight, and make recommendations to the GA about tax expenditures and economic development incentives.	Lance
K. Fleming	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Establishes another committee, the purpose of which is relatively easy to justify given that the state has recently made Billion dollar grants / tax incentives. However, this committee MUST have mandatory requirements for public report disclosures, and assessments before any incentive legislation assigned (not up to leadership discretion, see section 7.5).	High (This year)
Elections	HB50	Require mayoral, city council, wards, legislative body members, school board candidates and soil and water conservation officers to have party affiliation and primary	Steve/ Lance
M. Lockett	Support w/ amendment suggestions	The effects of this are very complicated… Fine with non-school board (& non-judicial candidates, not addressed in this bill) being partisan races (though why does it matter for those positions, and do they need to be?). How does this actually change school board races? Won’t this actually prevent a candidate with different ideas actually making it onto the board to provide fresh perspectives?	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB51	Allows healthcare providers to charge even for the first copy of a patient’s requested healthcare record.	Bob
K. Moser	Oppose	The existing law is superior. These are the patient’s records, not the provider’s, and a single (first) copy shouldn’t be imposed on the patient.	Oppose (friendly)
Health	HB52	Defines stress injury, allows me increased length of treatment for stress-related injury to firefighters and allows lifetime cap on benefits.	Steve
K. Banta	Support w/ amendment suggestions	good bill. There is some worry that this could potentially be exploited, as with many psychological injury. Better to err on the side of taking care of first responders.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB53	allows lifetime orders of protection for victims of qualifying offenses; defines qualifying offenses	Steve
K. Banta	Support	good bill	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB54	Allows Medicaid coverage for midwifery services	Steve
R. Webber	Support	good bill. Lance: I suspect this would actually drop healthcare costs (with little to no impact of patient safety) by having a trained midwife delivering vs occupying a hospital bed, is that correct?	Med (Standing committee review+)
Firearms & Military	HB55	Exempts veterans with a 50 percent service related disability from fees for personalized license plates; increases fees for several types of plates.	Steve
R. Dotson	Support	good bill Lance: I don’t have a major issue with this, it is a minimal impact on revenue, I’m sure. We have to draw a line somewhere on tax carveouts, why not draw a line on these minimal costs?	Low (Can wait)
Health	HB56	Defines “regional community service program,” establishes conditions under which a regional program can provide services outside it’s area.	Steve
D. Bentley	Support	good bill	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB57	Recognize a competent adult’s right to bodily autonomy and inherent and absolute right to refuse medical treatment; prohibit any person, employer, entity, or health care provider from mandating medical treatment.	Laura
S. Rawlings	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Section 1 (a) says that the General Assembly recognizes that “Citizens of the Commonwealth are guaranteed autonomy over their own bodies and medical choices, and they possess the right to recieve or not received medications or treatment;” The problem with this is these words will be used against the argument for prohibiting abortion. The mantra of pro-choicers is that they should have autonomy over their bodies and medical choices. This needs to be re-worded with something like “Citizens of the Commonwealth are guaranteed to possess the right to receive or not to receive medications or medical treatments.”… or something carefully thought out. Lance: Agreed. Have to be very careful about the language here. One person’s autonomy cannot mean the direct killing of another person… I don’t think it can be receive or not receive medications either though (as most abortions are by medication currently).	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	HB58	Prohibit discrimination against medical care providers who decline to perform procedures that violate their conscience.	Laura
S. Rawlings	Support	Does several similar things: grant providers the right not to participate in or pay for services that violate their conscience; exempt providers from liability for exercising these rights; establish a civil cause of action for persons injured by violations of these provisions Amazing! Provides for cause of action and lays out recover for those who are the recipients of discrimination! Has excellent definitions as well.	High (This year)
Education	HB60	Asks school board to establish policy and develop procedures for a moment of silence and reflection at the start of each school day.	Steve
D. Fister	Support w/ amendment suggestions	May be difficult for the teacher to “enforce”. good thought, but low priority	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB61	Adds ” whole or ground coffee beans and dried tea to definition of home based processor.	Steve
D. Fister	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Low priority, not sure how many people this will affect	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB62	Redefines ” real estate brokerage” to include those who advertise for sale an equitable interest in a contract for real property.	Steve
D. Meade	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Not a high priority. Lance: Seems to include a common practice in commercial real estate under the umbrella of real estate brokerage regulation.	Low (Can wait)
Firearms & Military	HB63	Includes Space Force in definition of Armed Forces. Amends the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children to include the children of National Guard and Reserve personnel within the Compact.	Steve
S. Bratcher	Support	good bill, we added a new branch of the military, so need to include it in all existing legislation.	High (This year)
Firearms & Military	HB64	Extends period of time that a peace officer employed before December 1, 1998 may be separated from service before losing certification status from 100 days to 365	Steve
M. Dossett	Support	Seems like a good bill, it can be a hassle to regain certification and is a police officer’s fitness for the job going to degrade that much in 100 days? Plus 100 days isn’t that long to find a next job. 1 year seems reasonable. low priority	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB65	Allows Freedom Flag to be flown along with the American and Kentucky flags on September 11	Steve
M. Dossett	Support	These changes are pretty innocuous, but (a) where does it stop & (b) is it a 1st Amendment issue to allow 1 flag that isn’t an official flag and exclude others? Could open a can of worms.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB66	Creates winter and summer standards and a slew of other conditions for disconnection of service by retail gas and electric utilities. (*Some of this is good; but over-reg., most have similar policies anyway.)	Steve
L. Willner	Oppose	Establishes a certificate of need for persons who are at risk provided by a physician, physician assistant, community based service organization or faith based service organization. Prohibits disconnection on holidays, weekends or before 8 am and after 5 pm on weekdays. Allows for reconnection for partial payment within a payment plan, waiver of termination fees, reconnection fees and late fees for a customer with a certificate of need. Requires 14 day written notice prior to disconnection to a residence. Way to much restriction on the utility companies. Too much red tape for them to navigate through.	Oppose (bad bill)
Health	HB67	Req. any health benefit plan include 20 alternative pain therapy, if recommended by a doctor. (*Reducing opioid use is a HUGE priority, but this is ripe for fraud.)	Steve
C. Stevenson	Only If Amended	Require that any health benefit plan issued or renewed in Kentucky that provides coverage for hospital medical or surgical expenses shall include coverage for chronic pain treatments provided by a licensed professional. Require Medicaid and Medicaid managed care organizations to include coverage for chronic pain treatments. Require a health care practitioner discuss and refer or prescribe alternate treatments before initially prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance. Reasonable requirements for insurance to cover and a good focus on the practitioner’s responsibility to monitor the history of the patient and recommend alternate treatments before prescribing controlled substances. Should help with prescription pill abuse epidemic facing the Commonwealth. Lance: The motivation here is good (find a way to keep people in chronic pain off opioids if possible), but do we want everyone here with a claim of chronic pain to be taking 20 visits to alternative pain therapies? Seems ripe for fraud, need protocols to avoid this.	Low (Can wait)
Health	HB68	Require gov’t health benefit plans to cover epinephrine devices for persons 18 and younger.	Steve
C. Stevenson	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Require health benefit plans, Medicaid, KCHIP, self-insured employer health plans offered by the governing board of a state postsecondary institution and the state employee health plan to cover epinephrine devices for persons 18 years or younger and that the coverage not be subject to cost sharing requirements. Seems pretty reasonable but I think some cost sharing could be allowed to help offset the cost to the insurers. Just needs to be a reasonable amount.	Low (Can wait)
Business Regs	HB69	Reqs. employers to provide (exorbitant) earned paid sick leave to employees, penalizes employer who fails to follow.	Steve
C. Stevenson	Oppose	Employee can use after 90 days employment, sets forth allowable uses, designates how notice of need is provided by employee. Way too restrictive to the employer. Too liberal for the employee. You would gain 1 hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, which calculates to 69 hours per year of a 40 hour work week. Let employers set their own policy (or make the minimum requirements FAR lower).	Oppose (bad bill)
Govt Regulations	HB70	Restricts the KY Lottery or Corporation, it’s board or employees, from releasing the name or likeness of any winner of a lottery prize over 7 million who elects to have their identity withheld	Steve
K. Banta	Support	Solid bill, the rare person that comes into this level of money quickly can be the target of both scammers and thieves.	Low (Can wait)
Elections	HB71	Make sure that election related public notices are well-publicized.	Laura
J. Decker	Support	Redefines “City” to include all cities, not only those containing a population of 80,000 or more. Requires that the posting be submitted to the newspaper in enough time to be publicized within 10 days of the notice on the website when the purpose of the posting is to inform the public of a completed act, including those acts specified in KRS 424.130(1)(a), or within three (3) days of the posting when the purpose of the posting is to inform the public of the right to take a certain action, including the events specified in KRS 424.130(1)(b) and (d);	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB72	Codifies numerous reasonable regulations on transfer of property deeds after death. (*Final Provision on Inheritance Taxes would be best debated as a separate bill.)	Lance
S. Rawlings	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Should reduce the burden on probate courts. Overall, nothing objectionable here on the regulation side of things until the very end. The last provision eliminates all inheritance taxes (eg KRS 140.070), as far as I can tell. That is a big change and really should be debated on its own.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB74	Makes water fluoridation programs optional for local water districts	Steve
M. Hart	Support	Restore local control where state control is unnecessary.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Other	HB76	Sets up dates throughout the year to annually recognize different types of agriculture production.	Steve
B. Reed	Support	Not sure of the necessity of this, but suppose it’s harmless.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB77	Establish Day Light Savings Time in state if authorized by Congress	Steve
B. Reed	Oppose	Lance: I have no idea why this is a priority, or popular. Why DON’T people want the hours of the day aligned with when the sun is actually up? People want kids standing out at bus stops in the dark? I put it down as oppose, but if the case were made for it maybe it could be support. This bill doesn’t make that case at all.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	HB78	Cleans up language on familial relationships, replaces “consenting adults” with ” consenting persons”, makes any non-consenting person a victim.	Steve
K. Banta	Support	Good clarification of existing language.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	HB80	Provides that reimbursement paid to volunteer firefighters to respond to emergencies or the use of their personal vehicles should not be considered wages for the purpose of unemployment insurance.	Steve
D. Fister	Support	Not sure how many people this will affect. Don’t think we need to do anything that would discourage someone from becoming a volunteer firefighter. Lance: I believe this prevents volunteer firefighters compensation from disqualifying them from unemployment insurance and perhaps from income tax on those funds.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	HB81	Adds campers to taxable registered property.	Steve
S. Sharp	Oppose	Don’t need more new taxes.	Oppose (friendly)
Govt Regulations	HB83	Establishes expiration date and process for judgement liens. Provides that the expiration date can be postponed by the courts.	Steve
P. Flannery	Support	Good to have the liens expire without further court action. But could it harm someone who doesn’t realize they need to seek continuation in court	Low (Can wait)
Education	HB85	Expands the KEES program to include trade schools, and the number of hours that can be covered for each student in the program. (*Needs to merge in HB133’s “Approved workforce solutions training program” definition)	Bob / Laura
W. Lawrence	Support	I like this with the definition of “Approved workforce solutions training program” that is listed in HB 133. The HB 133 version’s definition allows for differences in what is high demand based on the geographic location of the program. I like this one better (HB 85) version because it adds “Properietary schools” such as barbering, cosmetology, embalmers and funeral directors. It also amends KRS 164.7879 to allow the use of KEES money by students who earned such but have moved out of state as a result of a parent/guardian’s military transfer.	High (This year)
Taxes & Spending	HB86	Establishes community restoration tax credit. Caps it at 50K per year.	Steve
W. Lawrence		Looks like a tax break for the banking industry to me. Lance: Not clear to me, I think it has something to do with the disastery recovery efforts in WKY and EKY. Reserving judgment to see what this actually is about.
Taxes & Spending	HB87	Exempts active members of the Armed Forces assigned to KY who are on temporary duty in other locations and members of the National Guard or Reserves from motor vehicle usage tax on vehicles purchased from KY motor vehicle usage tax.	Steve
S. Bratcher	Support	Seems aimed at avoiding the risk of double taxation for service members who are deployed in different states over the course of their service. (*Better than HB24)	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	HB92	Bans COVID mask, vax & test mandates in public schools (including post-secondary).	Lance
J. Calloway	Support	Last part of HB51 from last session. Bans mask, testing, and vax COVID-19 requirements in public schools including post-secondary. Good bill.	High (This year)
Education	HB99	Requires Department of Education to create a professional development training program for certified personnel, require each local district to implement it, require an additional day be added to the school calendar if the required training can not be completed in a day.	Steve
J. Nemes	Support	Hopefully this may streamline the process, but it could add more burden on teachers	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	SB11	Eliminate the ability (for the Governor) to close the road between the Capitol and Annex.	Lance
J. Schickel	Support	Minor bill, but the Governor should have never closed the road anyway.	Low (Can wait)
Health	SB12	Bars reporting requirements or employer penalties for physicians participating in “wellness programs” for work stress-related counseling. (*Good idea, but only if it extends to other health professionals.)	Peggy / Dolly
D. Douglas	Only If Amended	No significant problem with this. It’s a restriction of businesses, but a very reasonable one. However, it needs to apply to all Medical Professionals, not just physicians… or not at all.	Low (Can wait)
Health	SB13	Eliminate Certificate of Need requirement for counties with 2 neighboring competing states which lack them. (*Should apply to all counties, or at least all border counties.)	Lance
G. Williams	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Seems like an initial step to eliminating anti-competitive (state imposed monopoly) certificate of need requirements for health care facilities.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	SB14	Creates yet another licensing board, this one for professional music therapists.	Lance
G. Neal	Oppose	Why can’t this just be licensed and regulated the same as other psycho-therapists?	Oppose (bad bill)
Govt Regulations	SB15	Defines numerous consumer rights, and requirements for large companies that collect and sell consumer data (including legal penalties).	Dolly / Lance
W. Westerfield	Support w/ amendment suggestions	This bill is expansive, and needs much more study. The topic is highly important, addresses a major need, and clearly gets the law close to where it needs to be, however.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Elections	SB16	Adds provisions necessary to allow for future non-electronic (in addition to electronic) voting systems (eg notifying voters not to vote for more persons than they are allowed on a paper ballot).	Lance
A. Southworth	Support	Positive change. Gives locatities the ability to choose non-electronic voting systems in the future without violating federal regulations.	Low (Can wait)
Elections	SB18	Allows paper filing of campaign finance reports. (*Mostly unnecessary, all digital has been OK, but another option.)	Lance
J. Schickel	Support w/ amendment suggestions	No strong position on this. Now that it is all digital, why go back to paper? I guess some people don’t have a comp or would rather the SOS do the digital conversion.	Low (Can wait)
Elections	SB19	Moves the filing deadline from first Monday to the Last Tuesday in January.	Lance
J. Schickel	Support	Innocuous change that makes the timeline for filing in redistricting years more reasonable, and less overlap with the GA session in every year.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	SB21	Establish $50 fines for violating a traffic law captured on a monitoring device, and allows law enforcement to use them.	Lance
R. Thomas	Oppose	Will expand the use of articial surveillance devices for law enforcement purposes. Will thus allow for tracking of all vehicular traffic that the cameras encounter. Nope.	Oppose (bad bill)
Elections	SB23	Require a risk-limiting audit with exact matching hand countes of at least 5% of ballots after each election in order to certify it.	Lance
A. Southworth	Support	Uncertain of how often there would be count rematches between 2 different people through human error. Most unrealistic part: Require the machine manufacturers to pay for full audits when needed, would likely require new contracts with companies.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	SB24	Open up KEES scholarships for private and homeschool students with strong test scores.	Lance
J. Schickel	Support	Expands the Kentucky educational excellence scholarship program to students who didn’t graduate from a public school in Kentucky, and sets parameters for that.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Business Regs	SB28	Allows small farm wineries to sell up to 30K gallons of wine to retailers.	Lance
M. Wilson	Support	Good proposal to give these small businesses an additional source of revenue (bulk buyer).	Med (Standing committee review+)
Business Regs	SB32	Raises the minimum wage for businesses selling $500K+ per annum gradually until it is $15 in 2027.	John O
R. Thomas	Oppose	Like all minimum wage hikes, puts a strain on businesses, and is an unnecessary gov’t regulation. Bad economics.	Oppose (friendly)
Taxes & Spending	SB33	Creates a Kentucky Cybersecurity Center and dedicated trust and revolving fund from the GA to be housed within and run by the University of Louisville.	Lance
M. Nemes	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Intent of KentuckyCYBER is to research best cybersecurity practices, to assist KY Private and Public Sector in maintining high quality cyber defenses, and to form a high quality incident response team. High priority need (cybersecurity needs are rapidly escalating) but one that likely needs thorough review in committee in terms of how it is implemented. Concerns: (1) The fact that it is being set up at the University of Louisville may be controversial for competing schools (though the bill references existing expertise there in section 1.1). Fine, though provisions should be made for students at other commonwealth schools to attend courses in cybersecurity at UL remotely. Could a truly non-partisan entity be set up with multi-university involvement (perhaps even connected to Fort Knox)? (2) That any University is staffing and operating it (section 1.2) raises concerns in terms of its ability to be nonpartisan as is stated as in section 1.4f. This is a bigger issue that needs to addressed legislatively in terms of university hiring. (3) Should this be a dedicated fund and trust, or just part of general fund. Section 1.5-9	Med (Standing committee review+)
Taxes & Spending	SB34	CONST AMENDMENT – Freezes property valuations at the age of 65, or after turning 65 the date of acquisition, for primary residence and continguous real property.	Lance
M. Nemes	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Improvements: Why a Constitutional Amendment instead of just a bill (this will be really long and hard to process as an Amendment)? Want to make it really hard to violate this? Why not limit this just to the primary residence, and not include contingous property? Should there be a cap on asset value for this to kick in? What about a ban on property tax on the first $75K of primary residence value instead (hurts schools?)? Laura: I don’t like this as a constitutional amendment. People will not understand the confusing language to know how they wish to vote. It also makes it impossible to modify in the future if the legislature wants to make a more generous exemption. Given how property values have skyrocketed recently, a lower cap than value at age of 65 might be more appropriate.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	SB36	Expands the number of people on the Board of Pharmacy to 9 (from 6) with specific requirements.	Lance
J. Adams	Oppose	No inherent issue with this, but should wait until after the Governor’s race. No reason to give him the chance to appoint 3 more people. Next session? Fine, if there is caucus support. In general though, Repubicans need to start WEAKENING the power, and scaling back the size, of these unelected administrative positions.	Low (Can wait)
Health	SB37	ONLY the pharmacist in charge of an out-of-state pharmacy would be required to be registered, not any contracted pharmacists.	Lance
J. Adams	Oppose	Summary states: “Amend KRS 315.0351 to add that pharmacist in charge of an out-of-state pharmacy is required to be licensed in the Commonwealth.” This seems to be the opposite of what the bill actually does, it states that ONLY the pharmacist in charge is required to be licensed/registered, not any contracted pharmacists. Wouldn’t this make the licensing requirement less for contracted pharmacists operating under an out of state pharmacy less than that for an in state pharmacy in accordance with KRS 315.030?	Oppose (friendly)
Health	SB38	Collect medical claims data in one central database, managed in Frankfort	Laura/ Peggy See also HB 16
R. Alvarado	Oppose	Aren’t insurance companies already collecting all of this information and managing outcomes of their insureds individually? Why are we creating more bureaucracy? Will not be able to get self-funded group information – 69% of Kentuckians are in self funded groups. There is already a supreme court ruling against this requirement (it would mean having a separate agreeement with each group voluntarily providing the claims data). Probono services offered by physicians, hospitals, and at least 28 clinics in KY will not be captured so the data would never be a good picture of needs/outcomes.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Criminal Code	SB40	Requires that a Office of the Kentucky State Medical Examiner run genetic tests on any person under 40 that dies of unexplained causes. (*Needs opt-in, or opt-out provision.)	John O
P. Wheeler	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Needs to be opt-in by the family members, or at the very least with an opt-out option for the family. Genetic tests provide information NOT ONLY about the person tested, but about everyone that they are closely related to (none of whom can consent to that disclosure). Some people simply may not want to know about their genetic predispositions. Without stronger protocols in this state restricting the use of genetic information, this opens up significant privacy concerns.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Firearms & Military	SB41	Give sheriffs and deputy sheriffs statewide authority with protocols to perform law enforcement activities in counties outside of their appointment.	John O
M. Nemes	Only If Amended	Creates a new section of KRS Chapter 70 to give sheriffs and deputy sheriffs statewide authority, provide for protocols when sheriffs and deputy sheriffs perform law enforcement activities in counties outside of their county of appointment. Amends KRS 431.007 to set circumstances in which special deputies may assist in law enforcement outside of their county of appointment. Sets requirements non-origin deputies for contacting law enforcement of the county in which the event takes place.Good idea, presumably this only comes into play in emergencies/surges or when tracking suspect or investigation across county lines. We really need those restrictions, to keep the sheriff a county level constitutional office rather than “state police”.	Low (Can wait)
Taxes & Spending	SB42	Requires Finance Cabinet to contract with an outside entity to monitor Public Employee Health and Pharmacy benefit claims to reduce fraud and waste.	John O
S. Meredith	Support	Requires the secretary of the Finance Cabinet to contract with an independent entity to monitor all Public Employee Health Insurance health care service benefit claim. Allows the contract to include pharmacy benefits claims monitoring if used in lieu of the contract to monitor pharmacy benefit claims. Excludes health care benefits for Medicare eligible retirees from the purview of the monitoring entity.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Health	SB43	Allows a resident of a facility to designate an essential person, who could be a family member, who can visit even during a communicable disease outbreak.	John O
S. Meredith	Support	Amends KRS 216.505 to include communicable disease outbreaks and resident communicable disease status to exemptions for essential personal care visitors. Full endorsement. One of the cruelest aspects of the COVID lockdowns was the denial of family to elderly in facilities.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Govt Regulations	SB44	Allows limited and NQ2 licensed businesses to provide wine corkage (BYOB, with fee for drinking on premises). (*Fine, but must assure no NQ2 licenses issued for corkage in dry counties.)	John O / Lance
R. Webb	Only If Amended	Creates a new section of KRS Chapter 243 to authorize wine corkage in conjunction with a meal by a limited restaurant or NQ2 retail drink licensee. Establishes conditions to remove a bottle of opened wine from the premises. Amends KRS 242.260 to exempt corkage from dry and moist territory violations. Amends KRS 243.020, 243.034, and 243.084 to conform. Bill is fine, but there MAY still be a loophole wherein a business could get an NQ2 license in a dry county and allow corkage to circumvent county laws.	Low (Can wait)
Criminal Code	SB45	Eliminates the death penalty and commutes all such sentences to life without possibility of parole.	Lance
S. Meredith	Oppose	The death penaty is very rarely put into effect. It serves primarily as a negotiating tools for prosecutors in capital cases.	Low (Can wait)
Govt Regulations	SB46	Reorganizes the Office of the State Veterinarian, remaining divisions primarily.	Lance
J. Howell	Support	Seems entirely procedural, remaining divisions, etc.	Low (Can wait)
Health	SB47	Legalizes medicinal marijuana. (*At very least needs to have limits of mode of delivery.)	Peggy
S. West	Only If Amended	Do you lose your voting rights or second amendment rights if you get caught breaking this law? Worries are increased car wrecks, other products like gummies that might get kids involved, marijuana causes cancer at same rate as tobacco. Amendment: Must restrict the type of delivery option.	Med (Standing committee review+)
Education	SB49	Extends the provisional certification period for teachers from 2 to 4 years.	Lance
M. Deneen	Support	Simple bill, lessens the time pressure on people trying to transition into the teaching profession.	Low (Can wait)
Education	SB54	Same bit as HB85, but withoiut the trade schools.	Lance
J. Carpenter	Support w/ amendment suggestions	Fine, but HB85 is better by including trade schools.	Low (Can wait)
Business Regs	SB56	Unnecessary reg. that defines retail pet shop, breeder, etc. and prohibits sale of retail dogs, cats & rabbits.	Lance
D. Harper Angel	Oppose	Unneeded biz regualtion. Only good part is the idea of retail pet shops partnering with animal shelters to adopt shelter pets.	Oppose (bad bill)
Education	SB9	Create new sections of KRS Chapter 508 to define “hazing,” “student,” and “organization”; establish a Class D felony of hazing in the first degree; establish a Class A misdemeanor of hazing in the second degree	Laura
R. Mills	Support w/ amendment suggestions	There is a differentiation made between Hazing in the first degree (intentionally or wantonly participates and the result is serious physical injury or death) and Hazing in the second degree (recklessly participates in hazing without a stipulated outcome). Second degree allows a defense if the act was part of reasonable and customary (a) athletic competitions, (b) law enforcement training; or (c) military training. It can be a reasonable and customary event that still leads to the serous injury or death of a person. Shouldn’t the defense apply to first degree as well? The burden would be on the plaintiff to prove it was not reasonable and customary. Think about athletes who collapse.	Med (Standing committee review+)