Legislation Summary

SUMMARY: Which Bills Are Most Important?

Education

HB173 (J.Calloway) / SB102 (Tichenor) – Strong bill establishing parent’s right to protect their children in public schools. Most major concerns addressed: transparency, COVID mandates, safety, bodily privacy, indoctrination, obscenity, bullying. (HB177 is similar, but limited in scope. At present, SB150 barely moves us forward, focusing just on health care opt outs, pronouns, and curriculum transparency.)
HB139 (Maddox) – Reqs public univs not discriminate based upon viewpoint in funding, or off-campus speech.
HB119 (Dotson) – Allows home schoolers to participate in public school interscholastic extra-curricular activities (sports). (*Why not scholastic too: FFA, FHA, Plays, Chess club…?)
SB24 (Schickel) – Open up full range of KY Ed. excellence scholarships (KEES) for homeschoolers based on test scores.
HB85 (Lawrence) – Expands KEES program to include trade schools. (*Similar to SB54, but needs to merge in HB133‘s “Approved workforce solutions training program” def.)
HB30 (Wesley) – Reqs students born male to use only facilities, with an expectation of privacy, designated to be used by males (showers, locker rooms, restrooms); same for females. (*Needs to include sleeping quarters…)
HB288 (Tipton) – Prevents ALL K-12 schools from NDAs relating to misconduct involving a minor. Reqs school districts disclose any allegations or investigations to other districts and employee criminal background check every 5 yrs. Prohibit schools from hiring a violent or felony sex crime offender. (*Must protect due process.)
HB168 (Williams) – Limits financial influence peddling (large financial gifts) and operational control of programs in our universities from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria.
SB156 (West) – Estab state reading research center to replace Collaborative Center for Literacy Development (reading is prob. the most important priority in K-12 ed). (*Change is needed, but why will this iteration be better, more data reqs?)
HB27 (Rabourn) – Def homeschool “learning pods”, exclude from “child care center” or “family child care house” def. and hiring reqs.
HB32 (Jackson) – Allow hiring of classified personnel without a high school diploma if school district allows employee the opp. to obtain one at no cost to employee.
HB319 (Tipton) – Estab interstate compact for mutual licensure of teachers.
HB13 (King) – Changes the annual physical exam req. for school bus drivers to every 24 months.
HB33 (Tipton) – Set up grants for colleges to set up affordable teacher prep programs. (*Must also stop teaching left-wing pedagogy in Ed Colleges.)
HB389 (Banta) – Reqs public charter school boards adopt common comprehensive reading program that is reliable, valid, and aligned to reading and writing standards.
HB396 (Riley) – Remove elig restr for nonresident student participation in interscholastic athletics to have to sit out for one calendar year.
HB547 (Fugate) – Codifies/clarifies right to religious expression by public school teachers. (*Some concern with (3)(g) and #1A establishment clause.)
HB82 (Bojanowski) – Reqs districts to have official policies to identify and teach children with dyslexia, Start incorporating teaching strategies for dyslexics in teacher prep programs.
HB289 (Tipton) – Provide merger process for contiguous school districts. Reqs insolvent district be merged with contiguous school district.
HB315 (Tate) – Reqs school’s trauma-informed team incorporate child abuse and neglect awareness into provided training, guidance and assistance.
HB390 (Banta) – Estab and set reqs for Student Teacher Stipend Program. Provide up to $8K to student teachers. Appropriate $10M for Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness Program. (*No issue paying Student teachers, esp. given expense. Not excited about Loan Forgiveness.)
HB36 (Truett) – Removes “insured” from the definition of “student loans” that can be financed and purchased by the KY Higher Education Student Loan Corp. (*Fine, but need financial risk limits.)
HB60 (Fister) – Reqs school boards to estab policy and procs. for moment of silence each day.
SB25 (Wilson) – Cleans up language so achieving 3 hours of DUAL (college) credit counts as a postsec. readiness indicator.
SB49 (Deneen) – Extends provisional cert. period for teachers from 2 to 4 yrs (more time to complete reqs).
SB81 (Mays Bledsoe) – Reqs certified private and parochial schools operate with standard minimum instructional year instead of “not less than the public school district”. (*Standardizing it removes ambiguity, BUT MUST NOT impose hours req. on non-cert schools.)
SB128 (Higdon) – Reqs each school district annually report sick leave balances, and TRS report contain actuarial valuation, total liabilities, and costs for Teacher’s Retirement System.
SB169 (Wise) – Allows local board of education to enter into public-private partnerships. (*Would like some oversight mechanism and a time limit on contracts.)
HB421 (Timoney) – Allows school districts to contract for road improvements, replace energy-inefficient buildings on their properties. (*Must be clear, Transpo. Dept is not required to approve reimbursement for improvements.)
HB174 (Calloway) – CONST. AMEND. allows GA to fund non-common (non public) school ed. (*A version def needs to pass NEXT year.)
HB241 (Bray) – Cleans up language so “qualified mental health professionals” can exempt from compulsory school attendance.
HB244 (McPherson) – Estab high school(s) according to KY Guard Youth Challenge Program run by Adjutant General of the Nat’l Guard. (*Fine, if most funds are federal.)
HB305 (Raymond) – Def Child Care Development Fund and Child Care Assistance Program to access federal money (in 45 C.F.R. pt. 98) to assist working parents.
HB336 (Flannery) – Prohibit governing boards of regional state college and universities from entering into contracts for lifetime employment. (*Why not use this to reconsider tenure.)
OPPOSE THESE
SB107 (Wilson) – Estab new nom. committee to pre-screen 3 candidates KY Board of Ed openings; Req Senate approval of Commish. EQUITY Quotas. (*What if Repub. party fought for principles: meritocracy, no identity politics & NOT codifying Sex & Race quotas (eg 1.2b, 1.5)?)
SB91 (Harper Angel) – Removes prohibitions on abortions (chemical or otherwise) in public schools. Adds Rape and incest as justifications/exemptions for abortion.
SB5 (Howell) – Req school boards to establish processes for complaints about “harmful to minors” material: Principal, then school board, then keep the 1 child away from it. (*Bark, but no bite: No legal appeal (“progressive” school board?), HTM def. isn’t up to SCOTUS scrutiny (2 legs), leaves vulgarity unaddressed, public libraries?,…)
HB136 (Lawrence) – Prevents Council on Postsec Ed raising tuition 5%+ per yr for residents, 7% for non-rez, 4 year freeze for rez enrolled. Reqs Univs to add two addl students to their boards & Senate confirm of Gov noms to boards. (*Strike the students & Wait 1 session until inflation cools.)
HB145 (Tipton) – Estab Commonwealth Ed. Continuum, specifies membership, estab. terms and reqs Council on Postsec. Ed. to act as admin body for Continuum. (*MAYBE in a year after Gov election. Need more rep from trade schools.)
HB17 (Truett) – Elim half day kindergarten, making all full day. Shifts cost for counties now funding full day kindergarten onto the state. (*Isn’t it preferable for young kids to be at home?)
HB158 (Timoney) – Repl. req that teacher or employee submit affidavit to take sick or personal leave with simple statement. (*Why roll back a fraud prevention measure that’s in place?)
HB161 (Willner) – Reqs each school board in the state to have at least one student representative. (*Adults should make the decisions, period.)
HB203 (Swann) – Reqs public middle and high school curriculum to include instruction on the history of racism. (*No objection, but is it necessary (eg RS22 SB1)? If so, give a comprehensive world history of racism & slavery, incl all races.)
HB205 (Brown) / SB63 (Westerfield) – Prohibits discrimination based on race (already federal law; unless this is “equity”?). Def “protective hairstyles” (also largely unnecessary).
HB267 (Willner) – Prohibit public and private postsec institutions from inquiring about student’s criminal history for admit.
HB227 (Bauman) – Estab req for a school fiscal impact statement to evaluate potential costs to a school district by the passing of certain legislation. (*Good idea, but introduce it after we get the major changes to public school through.)
HB41 (Raymer) – Directs KY Dep. of Ed. to develop a foster care student toolkit to assist school personnel in addressing the unique educational needs of foster children. (*Good idea, but just clarify that KRS 158.4416 applies to fosters.)
HB127 (Tackett-Lafferty) – Estab 4-year scholarship for persons agreeing to serve as coal county paramedics, and establishes funding. (*May be better applied to MDs, RNs & LPNs, and handle Paramedics by expanding KEES for trade schools.)
HB126 (C. Stevenson) – Attempt to reverse law passed to try and fix the Teacher retirement system by allowing teachers to join the old system.
HB35 (Raymond) – Univ. 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.)

Elections

SB23 (Southworth) – Reqs risk-limiting audit with exact matching hand counts of at least 5% of ballots after each election in order to certify it. (* Assigning full audit expenses to vendor may require new contracts.)
HB214 (Hodgson) – Expand the Attorney General’s indep. inquiry of election irregularities from not fewer than 12 counties to… the AG or his /her designee must conduct a hand-to-eye recount in randomly selected precincts and races in each and every county. (*Less restrictive than SB23, perhaps easier to pass. Vols should be 1 Dem and 1 Rep.)
HB230 (Hodgson) – Req Sec of State to report to GA, county clerks, and public on website regarding voter reg cleanup.
HB71 (Decker) – Makes sure that election related public notices are well-publicized.
SB19 (Schickel) – Moves the candidate filing deadline from first Mon. to the last Tues. in Jan.
SB16 (Southworth) – Allows for future non-electronic (in addition to electronic) voting systems (eg notifying voters not to vote for more persons than allowed on a paper ballot).
HB50 (Lockett) / SB50 (Thayer) – Req mayoral, city council, wards, legislative body members, and soil and water conservation officers to have primary and school board candidates to use party affiliation. (*Too far? Serious thought needs to be given to unintended conseq.)
SB18 (Schickel) – Allows paper filing of campaign finance reports. (*Somewhat unnecessary, all digital has been mostly OK, but another option.)
HB191 (Bauman) – Creates procs. for filling an unexpired term on consolidated local gov’t council. (*Good, though 24 hours is short, and does 60 days put election on a Tuesday?)
OPPOSE THESE
SB61 (Meredith) – Institutes disastrous Ranked Choice Voting for State Legislature and State-wide executive races. (*Pick a reason to oppose: radical change, too complicated, lack of counting transparency, unnecessary…)

Health

HB58 (Rawlings) – Prohibit discrim. against medical care providers who decline procedures that violate their conscience.
HB92 (Calloway) – Req acceptance of exempt. from any gov’t COVID medical mandate: test, mask, vax (by schools). (*Best of several similar bills.)
HB120 (Maddox) – Bans Sex Change operations and “gender-altering” medications only for minors in KY.
HB137 (Maddox) – Prohibit Vax Passports, require “conscientious belief” exemptions, allow for suit for mandated vax injuries, and stop other egregious vax mandates in schools and elsewhere (ambitious).
HB156 (Dossett) / SB43 (Meredith) – Allows a resident of a facility to designate an essential person (eg a family member) who can visit even during communicable disease outbreak. HB156 also incl residential mental health facilities.
HB110 (Baker) – Adds “conscientiously held beliefs” to the list of exceptions to immun. reqs. (*Essential, if HB137 doesn’t move.)
HB57 (Rawlings) – Recognize competent adult’s right to “bodily autonomy” and ability to refuse medical treatment. Prohibit any person, employer, entity, or health care provider from mandating medical treatment. (*Some concern with term “bodily autonomy”.)
HB101 (McPherson) – After Committee Sub, Prohibits an entity from mandating COVID vaxx. (*HB92 is still the stronger bill, prohibiting the entire state government (incl. local school boards) from infringing parent rights here, but this is no a very good bill that is Vaxx Specific.)
HB54 (Webber) – Allows Medicaid coverage for midwifery services.
HB376 (Bentley) – Req cost-sharing for non-insulin drugs and certain equip/supplies for treatment of diabetes not exceed certain cost-sharing thresholds. Allow cost-sharing limit to be adjusted annually.
HB52 (Banta) – Def. stress injury, allows incr. length of treatment for stress-related injury to firefighters & lifetime cap on benefits.
SB13 (G. Williams) – Elim Certificate of Need req. for counties with 2 neighboring competing states which lack them. (*Should apply to all counties, or at least all border counties.)
SB68 (S. Meredith) – Reqs cost-sharing proceeds and benefits be passed in part to consumers through reduced premiums.
SB110 (Tichenor) – Allows KY Board of Nursing to suspend or reprimand nurse if on adult care-giver misconduct registry or finding of abuse or neglect of a child. Allows traveling nurse from another state to practice on very short-term basis. Limits # of nurse educators on KY Board of Nursing to between 3 and 6.
SB135 (Frommeyer) / HB282 (Roberts) – Req Cab for Health and Family Services set up panel to study and provide info on perinatal mental health. (*Similar but more comprehensive than HB282.)
SB90 (Higdon) – Reqs chem dep treatment centers provide transportation services so persons can leave.
SB29 (S.Meredith) – Estab eligibility criteria for Medicaid managed care orgs and limit # contracted by Dep of Medicaid Services to <=3. (*Hopefully not anti-competitive, but due to enhanced ability to scrutinize.)
HB176 (J. Nemes) – Cab of Health and Family Services shall develop guidelines and regs for health facilities’ workplace safety assessments and workplace safety plan.
HB129 (J. Nemes) / SB67 (Frommeyer) – Def “freestanding birthing centers,” reqs Cab. for Health and Family Services estab licensing standards. (*Potential cost savings and access.)
HB268 (Willner) – Estab advisory committee to review system of perinatal care in KY and make recs for improvement. (*Must give real solutions, not DEI trainings. See HB233)
HB238 (Bentley) – Prohibit discrimination against organs being donated to disabled persons. (*Good bill, bad official title from LRC.)
HB245 (Frazier Gordon) – Revise continuing ed reqs and clarify proof of completed work in a graduate program can qualify for periodic head trauma reqs for license renewal. Modify appl. reqs to be a supervising physician.
HB261 (McPherson) – Classifies assisted living facilities as residential, not institutional, buildings. Estab. procedural and compliance reqs.
HB346 (Moser) – Permit insurers to req insured try biosimilar biological products prior to providing for equiv branded prescription drug. (*Should req corresponding premium reduction.)
HB125 (Moser) – Reqs the Dep of Public Health to incorporate info on Alzheimer’s and other dementias into existing materials.
HB154 (Lewis) – Estab reqs for insurers of dental plans relating to assignment of benefits. Require them to provide coverage and providers to comply with assignment provisions.
HB170 (Flannery) – Reqs health insurance coverage for oocyte and sperm preservation services and medical services related to testicular and other urological cancers.
HB274 (Burke) – Reqs Health Access Nurturing Development Services program to provide ed info about maternal and postpartum depression.
HB350 (Bentley) – Prohibit insurers and pharmacy benefits managers from imposing several reqs on health plan insureds, like using online pharmacies.
HB391 (Neighbors) – Req long term care providers to eval and discuss opps for joint training as new regs and guidelines announced. (*Is this needed?)
HB68 (C. Stevenson) – Reqs gov’t health benefit plans to cover epi devices for <=18.
HB180 (Moser) – Reqs health benefit plans and Medicaid cover biomarker testing. (*Key for preventative medicine.)
HB275 (Chester Brown) – Reqs Medicaid coverage for doula services. Estab training and ed reqs for doulas. (*This actually cuts costs, correct?)
SB111 (Mays Bledsoe) – Expand reqs to serve as director of health in counties containing city of first class. No longer have to be a physician if master’s degree in public health or a related field and 5+ years experience.
OPPOSE THESE
SB118 (Westerfield) – CONST. AMEND. No right to abortion in the Constitution & GA can regulate as it see fit. (*A version of this needs to pass NEXT session. Can’t have “nothing” language, or explicitly state exceptions.)
HB204 (Raymond) – “Right to die/assisted suicide” for terminally ill patients. (*Leads to general devaluation of life; Req providers to pass patient on to someone who will assist suicide is egregious.)
HB51 (Moser) – Allows healthcare providers to charge even for the first copy of a patient’s requested own healthcare record. (*No, 1st copy should be free.)
SB12 (Douglas) – 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 virtually all health pros, esp. nurses.)
HB108 (WITHDRAWN) – Forms commission to set up funding, rules and bylaws to participate in multi state Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Compact. (*Good idea, reducing licensing redundancy, but post-COVID skittish about other states putting controls on our hospitals.)
SB47 (West) – Legalizes medicinal marijuana. (*At very least, needs some limits on mode of delivery.) Note: Conflicts with federal law and would invalidate ability to own firearm.
SB94 (Adams) – Removes prescribing authority from most APRNs unless partnered with doctor.
SB95 (Adams) – Expands number of people on Board of Pharmacy to 10 (from 6) with specific reqs. (*Not until next session, if at all.)
HB252 (J. Nemes) – Immunize health care providers for harm from health service act or omission other than gross negligence, or malicious or intentional misconduct. (*Blanket immunity? Must req ALMOST ALL saved on med. liability costs go toward reducing health care costs.)
HB290 (S.Bratcher) – Change regs for prescribing and dispensing controlled substances, and synchronization schedules. Update list of controlled substances allowed under a health plan benefit. (*Why remove hydrocodone?)
HB233 (Chester Burton) – Req health facilities provide written patient’s rights and maternal health disparities program. Req Dep for Public Health to track maternal death. (*Serious issue, good parts here. Racial disparity doesn’t mean racism; No mandated racism trainings.)
HB269 (Willner) – Allows parental depression screening to be claimed as service for child. Dictates coverage. (*Need more info on how much impact this would have.)
HB271 (Bojanowski) – Creates KY Child Mental Health Services Access Program. Estab its duties and responsibilities. (*Noble goal. Seems like another prog. that ignores core issues.)
HB272 (Bojanowski) – Reqs Medicaid to cover lactation counseling, consultation and breastfeeding equipment. (*Need a cap on expenditures, not universally needed.)
HB276 (Kulkarni) – Expands Medicaid eligibility to incl pregnant women and new mothers up to 12 months postpartum regardless of citizenship or national origin. (*Only if reported to ICE.)
HB277 (Kulkarni) – Allow inmate who is pregnant or has given birth in the last six weeks access to available certified professional midwifery or doula services. (*Opens up liabilities. With security, transport… does it reduce costs?)
HB278 (Raymond) –  Reqs health benefit plans to provide coverage for contraception, sterilization, pregnancy ed. with religious org exemption. (*Unnecessary, let people choose.)
HB311 (Raymer) – Prohibit Medicaid from req health professional or med group maintain KY physical location to be eligible as a Medicaid provider if they exclusively telehealth. (*Advantages out of state telemedicine too much.)
SB37 (Adams) – ONLY pharmacist in charge of an out-of-state pharmacy required to be registered, not any contracted pharmacists.
SB38 (Alvarado) – Collects medical claims data in one central database, managed in Frankfort. (*Potential to inc. transparency & price compet, but needs major refinement & security.)
HB67 (C. Stevenson) – Reqs 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.)
HB200 (Fleming) – Estab health care provider / GA partnership for scholarship funds for health care workers in areas of high demand. (*Only if pandemic mandate firings reinstated and no racist DEI component.)
HB208 (Roberts) – Reqs certain health insurance policies to provide coverage for an annual mental health exam, not subject to any cost sharing reqs. (*Would be good WITH cost sharing, and risk factors for mental illness.)
HB162 (Willner) – Prohibits mental health professionals from engaging in sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts with a person under the age of 18, or a ward who is over 18. (*Many people DO report changing each.)

Police & 1st Responders; Military and Firearms

HB144 (Hodgson) – Provides protection from warrantless in-person access to, or surveillance on, private open land by law enforcement. Reqs police to utilize body cameras and audio recording devices while there.
HB190 (Massaroni) – Restricts the use of the National Guard outside of the state in active duty combat unless Congress officially declares war or has taken official action pursuant to the U.S. Constitution.
HB63 (S. Bratcher) – Incl Space Force in def of Armed Forces. Amends Interstate Compact on Ed. Opportunity for Military Children to incl. children of National Guard and Reserve personnel within the Compact.
SB98 (Tichenor) – HB159 (Maddox) – HB153 (Bray) – FEDERAL FIREARM LAW ANTI-COMMANDEERING. Bans state or local law enf. from assisting Federal gov’t in enforcing its firearms laws. Sets penalties for helping feds (HB159 – incl. arrest Fed agents applying Fed law (*may not be legal)). (* Prefer SB98 date based laws, but from a set date in past like 2020-01-01 & SB98 agency level fines, firing. Would love addition of HB159 AG complaint and enforcement mechs & HB153’s outright bans on magazines unacceptable.)
HB221 (D. Lewis) – Prohibits the banking industry to track purchases from licensed gun dealers. Allows AG a cause of action for violations, and prohibits state agencies from interacting with violators.
HB219 (Raymer) – Adds on-job psych. trauma for police, firefighters, EMT, front-line staff, active duty Nat. Guard, as valid worker’s comp reasons.
HB223 (Freeland) – Allow police officers to receive addl leave time to attend mental health treatments & receive reimbursement for costs. Req supervisors to receive training on supporting officers. (*Shouldn’t this incl all 1st responders?)
SB89 (Douglas) – Authorize urban-county gov’t to re-employ police officers who have retired (up to 25 officers or 10% of current force). Officers cannot continue to accrue addl retirement and health benefits, but can draw pension.
HB380 (Witten) – Allows 20 yo to attend police officer basic training so long as they turn 21 prior to conclusion.
HB399 (Massaroni) – Permits officers and others employed by KY State Police to participate in political activities while off duty.
HB226 (Bauman) – Estab admin of behavioral community crises response (counseling for disaster situations) and transfers admin from the Dep. of Military Affairs to the Cab. for Health and Family Services.
HB25 (W.Thomas) – Exempts vets with 100% service-connected disability from local and state vehicle taxes (up to 2 vehicles), local and state vehicle insurance taxes, fees for state issued IDs and not req to purchase hunting or fishing licenses.
HB29 (D.Lewis) – Remove KY residency req for internment in vets’ cemeteries.
HB207 (K.Bratcher) – Allows law enforcement agencies to create their own wellness programs. Records are to be kept confidential, not subject to subpoena or open records request.
HB115 (Wesley) – Cleans up what constitutes a police service animal & removes penalty for assault when killing one if a person reasonably feels they have to do so to save a life.
HB64 (Dossett) – 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.
HB118 (Maddox) – Lower the age to concealed carry from 21 to 18.
HB138 (Maddox) – SB31 (Southworth) – Allow concealed weapons at government owned facilities, including postsecondary schools. (* Well thought out exception list, but should not allow any 18+ yo students in high school.)
HB157 (Hart) – Creates tKY Urban Search and Rescue Program under the Div. of Emergency Management. (*Wouldn’t it accomplish 2 priorities to train National Guard for this?)
HB87 (S. Bratcher) – Exempt members of KY National Guard and Reserves (or the regular military deployed in a different state) from motor vehicle usage taxes.
HB220 (Tate) – Estab procs. for issuance of driver’s licenses for service members stationed outside US but maintain KY residence.
OPPOSE THESE BILLS
SB41 (M.Nemes) – Give sheriffs and deputies statewide auth. with protocols to perform law enf. activities in counties outside of their appt. (*Good idea if restr. added (only emerg, pursuing suspect, following investigation). Sheriff is county level const. office, not “State Police”.)
HB351 (Fugate) – Allow state park rangers to have powers of peace officers outside of parks in all parts of the state. (*Not state police.)
HB373 (Blanton) – Revises lots of law enforcement certification statutes, most good. (*MUST remove ability of deputy jailers and corrections staff to make arrests outside of jail. Court security officers MUST be trained in order to make arrests…)
SB84 (Thomas) – Allows urban gov’t to regulate guns and ammo to reduce gun violence. (*Shall not be infringed. Stop criminals, not gun owners.)
HB253 (McCool) – Reqs Dep of Vet Affairs to create and distribute a vets’ benefits and service document to employers. (*Sec 1: Good.) Req employers to keep copies in conspicuous place. (*Sec 2: Unnecessary.)
HB265 (McCool) – Reqs Dep of Workplace Standards consult with Dep. of Vet. Affairs to create and distribute vet benefits and services posters for businesses with 50+ FT employees. (*Fine, but Better ways to accomplish.)
HB24 (Wesley) – Exempt members of the KY National Guard from motor vehicle taxes.
HB55 (Dotson) – Exempts vets with a 50% service related disability from fees for personalized license plates, increases fees for several types of plates. (*Minimal expense, have to draw line somewhere.)

Criminal Code, Courts & Justice System

HB3 (K.Bratcher) – Straight-forward changes to juvenile justice criminal code, incl procedures for handling truancy, evaluate treatment options for violent offenders. (*Murder/manslaughter need longer non-recidivism period to seal records. $ alloc is already ballooning.)
SB9 (Mills) – Define “hazing,” (ie (abusive) org. initiation rituals) “student,” and “organization”. Def Class D & Class A misdemeanor varieties.
SB115 (Tichenor) – Def “adult-oriented business” state-wide & requires them to excl. minors and not be within 1000 feet of places where families and kids congregate. After comm sub, an indecent exposure law that prohibits sexually-explicit performance from being exposed to minors. (*Still support, but lowered priority.)
HB78 (Banta) – Cleans up language on familial relationships that constitute incest, replaces “consenting adults” with ” consenting persons”, makes any non-consenting person a victim.
HB103 (Dotson) – Expands upon the def of torture of a cat or dog and makes each instance a separate crime. (*Should consider keeping 1st offense Class A Misd. or lower.)
HB338 (Neighbors) – Estab prospective juror may elect to be relieved of service on jury for period summoned, if the juror is age 70 or older.
HB341 (K.Bratcher) – Estab animal abuse in 1st & 2nd degree; allow law enforcement to seize & hold animals, and seek forfeiture & reimbursement from owner.
HB371 (Blanton) – Enhances promoting fentanyl, carfentanil or fentanyl deriv contraband to Class B felony, make it a “violent offense.” (*Some concern about “violent offender” part.)
HB323 (Herron) – Creates juvenile services fund to reduce recidivism via family wrap-around service, early intervention, alternatives to detention, reentry programs and facilities.
HB440 (J.Nemes) – Reqs appt of guardian ad litem for any unrepresented minor who is party to an interpersonal protective order. Estab protocols for proceeding against minor who violates order of protection.
HB53 (Banta) – Allows lifetime orders of protection for victims of qualifying offenses, and defines qualifying offenses.
HB330 (Dossett) – Incl APRN as qualified health professional authorized by court to examine individual for involuntary treatment for substance abuse disorder.
HB234 (Dietz) – Reg. use of collaborative law participation as a voluntary form of alternate dispute resolution (rather than adversarial legal proceedings).
HB247 (Doan) – Allow court to enjoin a party from filing any addl actions if a responding party does not pay attorney’s fees and costs within 60 days of final judgement & issue an anti-suit injunction to responding party if the court finds them a vexatious litigant.
HB249 (N. Wilson) – Incl killing a child <12 yo as aggravating circumstance for death penalty.
HB104 (Heavrin) – Adds having sex with corpse as aggravating circumstances considered in sentencing capital murder.
HB105 (Lockett) – Adds holding a rental over the terms of the agreement a theft of property.
HB348 (Raymer) – Makes it criminal to sell various hemp- or CBD-derived byproducts, esp. those that are “intoxicating” incl. delta-6 and delta-8 THC.
HB398 (Flannery) – Makes 3rd DUI within 10 years a Class D felony with min term of 120 days. Req any person arrested for DUI remain in custody for 8+ hours.
HB417 (Grossberg) – Create automatic class D felony expungement process after 5 clean years. (*Needs to be higher than 5, but core issue is employers unwilling to hire rehabilitated felons.)
SB80 (Carroll) – Prohibit registered sex offender from loitering <=1,000 ft of a school, playground, or day care. Adds healthcare providers working in emergency room to exemptions for 3rd deg. assault. (*2 unrelated bills. May need more precise def of loitering.)
SB119 (Deneen) – Slight changes to def of sex crimes: sexual abuse to sexual assault; expand sexual contact. (*Fine; should consensual incest be sexual assault?)
SB126 (Howell) – Estab official protocol for requesting/obtaining a change of venue in specified civil actions.
SB268 (Yates) – Allows for assessment of child support to person convicted of causing the death of a parent of a minor child through DUI. (*Very creative. Perhaps should include 1st and 2nd degree murder.)
HB235 (Calloway) – Elim educational exemption for criminal obscenity statutes. (*Mostly closes a nonsense loophole, what educational purpose would obscenity have?)
HB246 (Willner) – Removes statute of lim. for childhood sexual assault or abuse. Req every civil action involving either be accompanied by a motion to seal.
HB263 (Flannery) – Changes the term “drug court” to “specialty court.” Identifies programs and designates responsibility for collection of fees.
HB282 (Harper Angel) – Makes hit & RUN driving criminally injurious conduct, which allows for insurance compensation.
HB386 (Imes) – Expand reqs to move over or slow down when approaching emergency or public safety vehicle to incl any vehicle displaying a warning signal.
HB182 (Dietz) – Adds def of “child sex doll” and “traffic” to child obscenity criminal statutes. Makes a felony the possession, trafficking, or importing a child sex doll.
HB184 (Dietz) – On book, decriminalizes consensual homosexual sodomy. (*This law was deemed unconstitutional by SCOTUS in Lawrence v Texas (2003)).
HB212 (Aull) – Allows removal and banning of dog ownership for a person incompetent to stand trial who is charged with harboring a vicious dog.
HB262 (Flannery) – Removes references to manufacturer’s instr. for breath alcohol testing equipment, instead standard operating procs.
OPPOSE THESE
HB201 (Blanton) – Estab pilot program for automated speed enforcement in highway work zones and issue civil citation to any motorist traveling 10+ mph over posted speed limit. (*Slippery slope, No to AI surveillance law enforcement.)
SB45 (Meredith) / HB179 (Tipton) – Elim death penalty and reduces all such sentences to life without possibility of parole.
HB388 (Frazier Gordon) – Allows individuals who administer, deliver, distribute or sell controlled substances that result in death to be changed with murder. (*Very good idea; Must have “knowingly” & “a lethal dose.”)
HB300 (E.Callaway) – Provides Equal criminal homicide Protection for unborn child (fetus) in elective abortion decisions. (*Voters not ready for prosecuting mothers who get abortion; does provide counter-weight for Repubs. wanting to weaken restrictions though.)
HB266 (Willner) – Enumerates rights of incarcerated children. (*Good list, but meaningless without civil action or enforcement mechanisms.)
HB12 (Tipton) – Expands the prohibitions while driving from texting on a cell phone to all kinds of communication devices (fine) and lots of common activities (like holding a cellphone; goes too far).
HB181 (Dietz) – Relating to divorce actions where there are minor children involved, remove the requirement that 60 days must elapse before taking testimony. (*Why not cool off?)
HB239 (Frazier Gordon) – Reqs health care provider to order a toxicology test to determine if cause of overdose is an illicit drug. Reqs report of test to law enforcement and coroner if the individual died while in the hospital. (*Should have right to refuse, if conscious.)
HB317 (J.Nemes) – Provides general police powers of officer employed by metro correctional services. Estab disciplinary protocols relating to officer accused of misconduct. Allow officer to take 48 hours leave after critical incident. (*Don’t agree with full police powers. Leave should be mandatory.)
HB342 (Kulkarni) – Provide auto-expungement and sealing of records in forcible entry and detainer cases.
HB370 (Hart) – Makes criminal for <18yo, or >18 but <21 yo, who possess or attempt to purchase alt nicotine, tobacco, or vape products. Req local school boards to incl policies that penalize, even suspend, students for possessing. (*Criminalizing more young adults isn’t the answer.)
SB21 (R.Thomas) – Estab $50 fines for violating a traffic law captured on a monitoring device, and allows law enforcement to use them.
SB85 (R.Thomas) – Proposes people with disabilities have an attorney to represent their wishes rather than a Guardian ad Litem in guardianship proceedings. (*GAL likely better suited to the task for people with diminished capacity.)
SB97 (Wheeler) – Adds lasers to list of deadly weapons. (*Needs to specify a min power.)

Biz Regulations/Overreach

SB4 (Mills) – Bar public employers from automatically deducting dues from payroll for any labor organization that engages in political activities. (*Important, taxpayer dollars shouldn’t go to facilitating political speech a person doesn’t agree with.)
SB15 (Westerfield) – Def numerous consumer rights, and requirements for large companies that collect and sell consumer data (including legal penalties).
HB225 (Doan) – Removes compulsory annual dues above the cost to join and perform discipline operations required of members of the bar.
HB343 (Doan) – Allow recog of occupational licenses and gov’t certificates from other states, incl using work experience as a basis. Excl interstate licensure compacts.
HB438 (Swann) – Estab limits on use and sale of data captured by automated license plate readers. Data, under normal circumstances, can only be kept for 90 days. (*Don’t like the readers in general, esp. unregulated.)
HB525 (Doan) – Estab KY Gaming Commission to reg skill games (incl grey machines) and sets some initial limits. (*Go ahead and legalize and regulate them; may not happen until next year.)
HB256 (T.Smith) – Creates KY Gaming Commission, outlines its formation and reqs biz using electronic gaming machines (seems targeted to “grey machines”) to report to Commission. (*Go ahead, regulate & enhanced tax them.)
HB73 (Yates) / HB106 (Graham) – Regs wagering for fantasy leagues and organized sports (gambling) leagues. (*Horse is out of the barn with internet and neighboring state proliferation.)
HB264 (Flannery) – Estab General Reg Sandbox Advisory Committee and KY Office of Reg Relief. Applicants who demonstrate innovative offering or service can apply to have gov’t regs set aside while bringing product to market.
HB62 (Meade) – Redef “real estate brokerage” to include those who advertise for sale an equitable interest in a contract for real property.
HB113 (Pratt) – Authorizes electrical inspectors to perform electrical work outside of the jurisdiction where they serve as inspectors.
HB117 (Maddox) – Allows certain USDA exempted poultry producers to sell on a farm, farmer’s market or road side stand. Poultry sold like this must be frozen and wrapped.
HB61 (Fister) – Adds “whole or ground coffee beans & dried tea” to “home based processor”.
HB160 (Freeland) – Incr reporting reqs for entities using mixing zones to mitigate water pollution.
HB165 (Heavrin) – Reqs reporting by end of year regarding the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership Program, and permits the child care provider to terminate an active contract. (*The program is a gov’t handout to businesses, will be great to see if there is return on investment.)
HB167 (Koch) – 69 pages of changes to veterinary field. Deals with reqs for attaining license for vet, vet technician and vet assistant. (*Nothing seems amiss here on a quick pass, but waiting on impact statements. Needs to be throughly reviewed in committee.)
HB186 (Frazier Gordon) – Prohib the sale of air ambulance membership agreements to individuals enrolled in KY’s Medical Assistance Program. (*Seems to be meant to avoid charging people twice for overlapping insurance coverage.)
HB187 (King) – Def “green house gas emissions reduction agreements.” Requires that it be properly recorded to be binding on subsequent purchasers or creditors.
HB188 (Dixon) – Allows construction management-at-risk entities and construction manager general contractors to self-perform jobs up to 20% of the cost of the project when a subcontractor fails to perform. (*Seems like a good protection to assure a project actually finishes.)
HB189 (Banta) – Removes the transfer of lottery revenues from the Collaborative Center for Literary Development. (*Moves funds to other parts of the General Fund.)
HB192 (Tackett Laferty) – Reqs crew of at least two persons during operation of a train or light rail. (*Seems obvious in emergency sit., Is there a tech alternative?)
HB215 (Smith) – Removes population req and 1% occupational license fee (eg city payroll tax) limit. Allows county to void crediting of city occupational license fee to county. (*Means more worker taxes.)
HB224 (Flannery) – Sets up licensing reqs for “nonrecourse consumer legal funding” entity, a company that loans money to a client involved in a civil suit, and will collect repayment upon the conclusion of the suit. Limits collection to a percentage of the award.
HB232 (Duvall) – Incr min financial responsibility for adjuster licenses. Estab. reqs for public adjuster contracts, notice rights, inspection, investigation of claims and conflict of interest. (*How burdensome?)
HB287 (K. Bratcher) – Decr admin regs for charitable gaming orgs. (*Should retain background checks.)
HB307 (Raymond) – Req seller of rez property built prior to 1976 conduct tests for lead content. Req landlord to test for lead once every 5 years and inform tenants of results. (*Why every 5 yrs; test once, or every 10-15 yrs?)
HB405 (Fleming) – Estab multi-state licensure compact for social workers. (*Better to do this with all industries; eg HB343)
HB377 (Moser) – Removes expiration dates from gift cards.
HB416 (Lawrence) – Estab separate overweight fine schedule for violating posted bridge weight limit on any state maintained bridge over 75 yo. Reqs signage to be in place.
HB461 (Bowling) – Provide no county or waste management district shall compel confidential business information from solid waste management company.
SB120 (Wheeler) – Planned communities must file declaration with county clerk where community is located. Provides how an association shall be organized, with reqs for board and members, via bylaws.
SB28 (Wilson) – Allows small farm wineries to sell up to 30K gallons of wine to retailers.
SB30 (Girdler) – Reqs biz to present automatic renewal or continuous service offers clearly to consumers before purchase. Reqs biz to obtain consumer’s consent before changing terms, easy cancellation, and prior notice of change of service. (*Why so many exemptions?)
SB64 (Westerfield) – Alters security reqs for funds transfers; regs use of electronic docs as authoritative. (*Bill is very difficult to process, needs much scrutiny.)
SB82 (Girdler) – Adds category of people who can be issued temporary elevator mechanic license when there aren’t enough licensed mechanics (eg military trained).
SB83 (Girdler) – Sets cap for Dep of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s server training in alcohol regs (STAR) ed program at $10 per person per cert. period. (*IN and TN allow 3rd party training, so their costs vary; perhaps KY’s is currently $40.)
SB96 (B. Smith) – Allows local gov’t to issue permits for racing events. (*Needs min safety regs.)
SB72 (Storm) – Allows rebuilt and salvage cars to use the “speed title” process, with some limitations. (*OK, as long as other safeguards keep unsafe cars off the road here.)
HB217 (M. Meredith) – Incl application for salvaged titles under the electronic reg. system.
OPPOSE THESE
HB594 (Timoney) – Effectively eliminates “skill-based grey machines” by prohibiting them returning money (only non-cash redeemable merchandise). (*Better approach is regulation, eg HB525/HB256).
SB32 (R.Thomas) – Raises min. wage for biz selling $500K+ per annum gradually until $15.
SB44 (Webb) – 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 in dry counties.)
HB237 (M.Meredith) – Allows possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages at non-licensed venues within or sharing a boundary with an entertainment destination center with a license. (*Get a liquor license if you want people to be able to drink.)
HB147 (Roberts) – Prohibits employer from retaliating against employee who is a crime victim when taking leave (with notice) to attend court proceedings. Also, maintain confidentiality. (*Good idea. Eliminate “emotional and psychological” harm from def, perhaps only Class A misdemeanors+.)
HB248 (Heavrin) – Estab reqs for cert of recovery housing. Permits local gov’ts to assume inspection and enforcement duties. Direct the Dep. of Medicaid Services to seek approval to provide coverage for certified recovery houses. (Why regulate this?)
HB143 (Willner) – Estab reqs for bouncers, prohibits consumption of alcohol by a bouncer during working hours, and agency oversight. Allows for revocation or suspension of biz license. (*Some here is OK, but onerous training req.)
HB198 (Kulkarni) – Def “job posting” and “wage range.” Reqs all employers to include the wages or wage range for advertised positions.
HB128 (Kulkarni) – Lays out in very long and specific detail both the rights of tenants and landlords and also their responsibilities. (*Goes too far restricting markets and regulating, but esp. tenants do need more specific protections than offered by current law.)
HB209 (Roberts) – Makes it discriminatory if a potential employer asks questions about an applicant’s previous salary. Assesses civil penalty for violations.
HB456 (Grossberg) – Estab licensing, fees and reqs for roofing contractors. (*Need more, not less, roofers.)
HB150 (Upchurch) – Amends def of car dealer “franchise.” Permits a new motor vehicle dealership to propose a successor agreement. Limit audit and document retention req’s on recall work. (*What problem is this fixing? Auto manufacturers having too much power over dealers?)
HB228 (Brown) – Prohibits employers from considering criminal history until a bit later in the hiring process (ie not part of selection for initial job interview). (*Easing transition back into the work force IS important.)
HB415 (Lawrence) – Reqs reg of all non-motorized vehicles operated on public highways excl bicycles.
HB112 (W.Thomas) – Reqs 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. (*Is this just for Mennonites?)
HB149 (Upchurch) – Prohibits traveling in the left most lane of a multi lane highway (currently mostly only when passing) at a speed lower than the posted maximum speed limit if a vehicle is overtaking the driver from the rear.
SB56 (Harper-Angel) – Unnecessary reg. that defines retail pet shop, breeder, etc. and prohibits sale of retail dogs, cats & rabbits.
HB69 (C.Stevenson) – Reqs employers to provide (exorbitant) earned paid sick leave to employees, penalizes employer who fails to follow.
HB66 (Willner) – 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.)

Gov’t Regulations/Accountability

SB7 (Mills) – Bar public employers from automatically deducting dues from payroll for any labor organization that engages in political activities. (*Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t go to facilitating political speech a person doesn’t agree with.)
HB40 (D.Lewis) – Estab any admin. reg ruled deficient by the admin. review committee shall be null if one of the originating board, AG & Gov. agree.
HB204 (Rawlings) – Outlines relief for gov’t infringement of religious liberty. Waives sovereign gov’t and qualified immunity.(*Can RS22 HB495 provisions be in here?)
HB26 (Rabourn) – Prohibit use of public funds for lobbying activity by Public Agencies or Agents (incl. penalties). No public funds for self-dealing by gov’t lobbyists/agents. (*Impactful, deals with use of public funds, not talking to legislators.)
SB162 (Carroll) – Estab reqs for reasonable enhanced safety protocols in Juvenile Justice facilities including: local police backup, providing staff with pepper spray and tasers, emergency resp team and trainings.
HB254 (Bray) – Prohibit gov’t body from $100,000+ contracts with big company that discrim. against firearm ind. (*Expands recent law on coal. Why not other imp. industries?)
SB20 (Mills) / HB124 (Sharp) / HB155 (Witten) – Prohibits use of TikTok on any state issued devices or networks.
HB72 (Rawlings) – Codifies numerous reasonable regs. on transfer of property deeds after death. (*Final provision on inheritance taxes would be best debated as a separate bill.)
HB4 (Branscum) – Specifies processes and timelines for approving, building, and decommissioning electric generation facilities.
SB40 (Wheeler) – Reqs that Office of the KY State Medical Examiner run genetic tests on any person under 40 that dies of unexplained causes. (*Needs opt-in, or opt-out provision.)
BR103 (Wesley) – Only Male and Female should be options on a KY issued birth certs.
HB463 (Elliott) – Def terms, estab procs and parenting time credit for dealing with joint custody and initial $250 in medical expenses.
HB42 (Hart) – Estab a bill of rights for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and defines penalties for violations of these rights.
HB74 (Hart) – Makes water fluoridation programs optional for local water districts.
HB175 (Rabourn) – Prohibits sanitation district from charging a property owner for service unless they actually provide services, or there’s an approved plan to connect within two years.
HB185 (Witten) – Allows for work exper to be considered in lieu of a bachelor’s degree for unclassified gov’t jobs. (*Fighting college credentialism.)
HB210 (Pollock) – Contains provisions for insurer insolvency. Makes various other technical changes to regulation of insurance industry.
HB251 (Calloway) – Estab. “quantifiable instability of the built structure” as an automatic violation of the Uniform State Building Code.
HB258 (Petrie) – Remove the req for various state agencies to report to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue. (*Removes excessive & duplicate reporting.)
HB259 (Petrie) – Adjusts dates and reporting reqs for state agencies to report their budget analysis on odd numbered years to the GA/LRC.
HB313 (Bowling) – Redef “eligible project” to include when matching funds are available either on publicly owned property or meets certain cond. Elim. eligible grant recipient 10% match req. Bases program eligibility on census population, Caps avail funds at $2M per county, and DQs projs that receive discretionary mega-development funding.
HB378 (Moser) – Makes it ethical misconduct for legislator or leg agent to discriminate or sexually harass. Prohibits leg agents from campaign contribs to GA member seeking state-wide office during session.
HB70 (Banta) – Restricts KY Lottery Corp. and employees, from releasing name or likeness of any winner of a lottery prize over 7 million who elects to have their identity withheld.
HB178 (Tate) – For filling a vacant seat of county judge / executive, req Gov. to choose replacement from list of 3 names provided by the exec. committee of the same party affil. as previous judge / executive.
HB13 (King) – Changes mandatory physical reqs for bus drivers from annual to every 24 months.
HB56 (Bentley) – Def “regional community service program”, estab cond. under which regional program can provide services outside its area.
HB83 (Flannery) – Estab expir. date and process for judgement liens. Provides that the expiration date can be postponed by the courts.
HB114 (Tipton) – New legislators shall participate in the KY Employee Retirement System. Legislators who entered the LRP 2014+ and in the LRP cash balance plan shall have their balance transferred to the KERS hybrid plan. (*Makes legislators have “skin in the game” with KERS.)
HB231 (Elliott) – Allow Dep of Community Based Services to request name and fingerprint-based criminal background check adults in home in which a child is placed during an emergency placement. (*Need discard of fingerprint data.)
HB392 (Dixon) – Elim circuit clerk, instead vesting power to issue titles and licenses for motor vehicles in the County clerk only.
HB452 (Blanton) – Switches presumption in favor of public use for fishing along public water bodies and waterways. (*This shouldn’t invalidate fishing licenses or esp. catch limits.)
HB151 (Williams) – Allows grads of two year surveying programs with lots of field experience to skip finishing four year program for licensure.
HB116 (Rabourn) – Allows the KY Association of Conservation Districts to submit names of nominees. Reqs all candidates and supervisors be >=21 yo.
HB135 (Bray) – Gives Transpo. Cabinet auth. to reg autonomous (self-driving) vehicles.
SB62 (Westerfield) – Elim reqs that the govt disclose personal info, in particular nonprofit’s list of donors. (*Need close look at all contexts to which this applies.)
SB46 (Howell) – Reorg Office of the State Veterinarian, remaining divisions primarily.
SB11 (Schickel) – Elim ability (for the Gov.) to close road between Capitol and Annex.
SB92 (Higdon) – Regs use of assistance animals in public accom to assure person actually has a documented need for one.
HB385 (Imes) – Reduces req # of candidates submitted to Gov for appt to Geographic Information Advisory Council from six to three.
HB387 (Heavrin) – Amends multiple statutes to update references to more newly established committee names.
HB76 (Reed) – Sets up dates throughout the year to recognize different types of ag. production.
HB183 (Dietz) / HB206 (Brown) / HB211 (Aull) – Replaces the third day of June with the 19th day of June to commemorate Juneteenth National Freedom Day. (*HB183 is best, but strike RE Lee and FDR Day as well, and maybe add Good Friday “Day of Service”.)
HB197 (Kulkarni) – Def perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, reqs Energy and Environment Cabinet reg maximum PFAS limits and monitor in KY waters. (*Clean water is important, this isn’t already state/Fed reg?)
HB146 (Webber) – Reqs Off. of Unemployment Insurance advise claimant of addl benefits, job training opps & other reasonable changes. Adjusts min. weeks of benefits up from 12 weeks to 16. (*Don’t like removing scaled unemployment vs duration schedule; should just be region-specific, not statewide avg.)
HB328 (Johnson) – Makes participation date in County Empl. Retirement System if entering KY Dep of Criminal Justice Training Police Corp program prior to July 1, 2003 the date training began.
HB329 (Hart) – Reqs State Treasurer to either revise, cancel or keep effective any contract in which Gov’t Contract Review Committee issues non-binding recs to Sec. of Finance and Administration Cabinet.
SB52 (M.Nemes) – Reqs doc storage fees (eg by county clerk) be held in separate fund for their stated purpose (doc storage), not other country uses.
SB76 (Yates) – Extends current military specialty license plates to motorcycles.
SB163 (Wheeler) – Allows for some custom license plates and signage related to Country Music Highway.
SB93 (Webb) – Allows Lewis County BOE to sell a donated piece of land. (*Need more info about the gift & use of proceeds.)
HB166 (Heavrin) – Desig official pets of KY as domestic cats and dogs that reside in, or adopted from, KY animal shelters or rescue orgs.
HB367 (Gentry) – Desig coal as official rock of KY. Desig chalcedony as official mineral.
OPPOSE THESE
HB250 (WITHDRAWN) – CONST. AMEND. Allows persons with mental disabilities and Felons, except muderers, to have the right to vote. (*Not crazy, but Break the most serious laws, lose voice on what laws should be.)
SB78 (Yates) – CONST AMEND. Estab right to medical marijuana. Directs that if referendum passed, one permitting recr marijuana will be offered at the next election. (*Admitting that medical marijuana is trojan horse for recreational?)
HB594 (Timoney) – Basically eliminates “skill-based” “grey machines” by prohibiting them returning money (only non-cash redeemable merchandise). (*Better approach is regs, eg HB256/HB525).
HB21 (Bridges) – Set-up a process for homeless persons to obtain driver’s licenses or alternative ID using various homeless resource provider addresses. (*Need to examine unintended conseq (like voting) and fraud detection.)
HB140 (Bentley) – Estab Urgent Need Insulin Program and Continuing Access to Insulin Program admin by KY Board of Pharmacy, where manufacturers report to the Board to the General Assembly. (*Good intent, Is program needed with new federal price controls on insulin?)
SB65 (West) – Removes a particular deficient reg. (*Nothing wrong with this, but why not do this for EVERY deficient regulation: HB40.)
SB71 (Storm) – Adds other related adults (fine) and hospital administrators(?) to the hierarchy who can authorize an organ donation, and research/training to the list of reasons. (*Should be tied only to what donor and family would want, not hosp. admin.)
SB104 (West) – Revise membership reqs (incl Senate confirm) and term lengths of new members of KY Authority for Educational Television (KET). Current members appointed by Gov expire on effective date of act. (*Fine, but wait 1 year.)
SB122 (Mills) – Desig areas of Capitol Annex and parking spaces adjunct to Capitol and Annex to be (re-)allocated to GA and LRC. (*OK, but isn’t the issue a lack of space? Build more.)
HB77 (Reed) – Estab unchanging Day Light Savings Time in KY if authorized by Congress.
HB100 (Rawlings) – Estab new Committee on Constitutional Enforcement. (*Good intent here,some concerns about resource alloc., necessity, impact, and separation with AG’s powers.)
HB130 (Neighbors) – Allow Soil and Water Conservation Commission to procure heavy equipment (and make admin. regs) for loan or lease to conserve soil resources, preventing erosion, and protect water resources. (*Idea is fine, need clear spending and lease constraints.)
HB169 (Flannery) – Regs ATV driving on highways. Allows registration, reqs proof of insurance and payment of all registration and clerk fees. Allows local ords. to prohibit them on local roadways. (*Is this needed? Seems like a purely local issue.)
HB196 (Fleming) – Estab Mental Health Safety Center (SafeKY) within the Uni. of Louisville. Require SafeKY to develop and maintain a free use real-time electronic mental health app 24/7/365. (*Good idea; Better built privately, maintained by Family and Health services.)
HB332 (J.Nemes) / SB69 (J.Adams) – Reqs certain public buildings built after Jan 1 2025 have 1+ powered, height adjustable, adult-sized changing table (for the disabled).
HB366 (Gentry) – Creates prevailing wage board and reqs one for all public service projects.
HB500 (Heath) – Prohibits sale or lease of agricultural land to foreign nationals from some countries. (*Not bad, but: Must specify in 22 C.F.R. sec. 126.1 if countries are paragraph (d)(1), (d)(2) or (f)->(z)? Existing ownership? Targeted to near military bases?)
HB534 (Dietz) – Allows legally req notices published on digital news website if site meets certain quals. Allows local gov’t to publish ad directing public to its notice section on a digital news website. (*Should be in addition, not alternative, to local paper.)
SB14 (Neal) – Creates yet another licensing board, this for professional music therapists.
SB77 (Yates) – Def danger zone of 10′ in all directions from school bus. Rec. school districts buy buses with safety features or cameras; Encourages cities buy buses with enhanced safety features. (*Locals make these decisions.)
HB65 (Dossett) – Allows Freedom Flag to be flown along with American & Kentucky flags on Sept. 11. (*Fine, but opens door to other flags?)
HB218 (Raymer) – Designate Honor and Remember flag as state’s emblem of the US vets who gave lives in line of duty. Sets dates and locs it can be flown. (*Emblem status OK. Shouldn’t be flown above US or KY flag. Open door to other flags?)
HB39 (Pratt) – Reorg KY Horse Park Commission, its duties and function. (*Wait 1 year, plus No bill with racist “affirmative action” provisions should ever be codified.)
HB34 (Raymond) – Permits city to estab preference for awarding public construction projects to unions, negotiate wage minimums & set firearms regs.

Taxes & Spending

HB45 (Fleming) – Estab Tax Expenditure and Economic Development Incentive Review Board of GA to review, and make recs to the GA about tax expenditures and econ dev. incentives. (*VERY important for taxpayer transparency, but MUST have reqs. for public report disclosure & rules requiring assessments before any incentive legislation gets vote.)
HB1 (Reed; Passed, signed) – Reduces state income tax to 4% from 4.5% starting in 2024, imposes several other taxes to make up some of the lost state revenue. (*Repubs need a real discussion of tax priorities before future reductions.)
HB2 (Tipton; Passed.) – Alloc. $16.6M (from excesses in trans. budget) to the Building of a Veteran’s Nursing home in Bowling Green. Over-budget.
HB194 (Bentley) – Returns retirement distrib state tax exclusion from $31,110 to $41,110.
HB451 (Blanton) – Reqs state & local contracts buy needed iron, steel, aluminum manufactured in US unless waiver is granted. KY Buy American Act.
HB236 (Sharp) – Reqs that financial managers involved with gov’t pensions in the state act solely based upon pecuniary factors (ie making money), not ESG or ideological factors.
HB257 (Petrie) – Estab KY contribution trust fund to take charitable donations (eg to disaster relief efforts) and req the reporting of deposits to and expenditures from the fund.
HB446 (Petrie) – Allow monies in EKSAFE and WKSAFE funds to be used as loans for replacement, renovation or expansion of certain police, fire and ambulance stations.
HB80 (Fister) – Provides reimbursement paid to volunteer firefighters to respond to emergencies or use of personal vehicles should not be considered wages for unemployment insurance.
HB123 (Flannery) – Elim limited liability tax on small businesses in Kentucky with gross receipts less than $100,000.
HB243 (McPherson) – Estab employer’s organ and bone marrow donation tax credit. Allow employer tax credit for paid time off for an employee donator and for $ paid for a replacement employee. (*PART OF replacement funds?)
HB260 (Dossett) – CONST. AMEND. Incr. property tax exemption from $6,500 to $60,000 on primary residence for age 65+ and permanently disabled. Req it to be indexed every two years. (*Wait NEXT session, different take than SB34.)
HB553 (Petrie) – Cleans up the Biennial Payroll to remove allocation for actuarial costs related to paid sick leave.
SB33 (M.Nemes) – Creates KY Cybersecurity Center and revolving fund to be housed and run by Univ of Louisville. (*Concerns about being under UL control; purported to be grant $ maker.)
SB34 (M.Nemes) / HB105 (T.Huff) – Freezes property val at age of 65, or date of acquisition after turning 65, for primary residence and contiguous real property. (*Don’t love it as Const. Amendment (long, will confuse). Needs some means testing.)
SB42 (S.Meredith) – Reqs Finance Cabinet to contract with an outside entity to monitor Public Employee Health and Pharmacy benefit claims to reduce fraud and waste.
SB112 (McDaniel) – Allows the sharing of tax information when requested for an audit.
HB242 (Timoney) – Estab attendance threshold for citizen members of the Comm. on Race and Access to Opportunity. Establish reporting reqs for appts. (*The members don’t even show up? Do we genuinely need this commission?)
HB37 (Fleming) – Allows pass-through business to pay income tax at entity level. Allows (wealthy) shareholders to exclude this business taxed income to avoid SALT cap limits on federal indiv. taxes. (*Need to revert to current law, if IRS closes loophole or SALT cap expires.)
HB213 (Doan) – Exempts currency and bullion from sales and use tax. (*Don’t like carve outs, but these function as a common medium of exchange.)
HB240 (Kulkarni) – Estab $7,500 tax credit for homeowners >65 yo or who have a physical or mental impairment for home mods to increase habitability and efficiency. (*Fine, but Recycled or sustainable components?)
HB222 (Gooch) – Extends the levy for hazardous waste management assessment against hazardous waste generators from June 30, 2024 until June 30, 2032. (*Reasonable to make them pay for long-term clean-up.)
HB270 (Bojanowski) – Exempt baby bottles, wipes, breast pumps, breast pump supplies, and children’s diapers from sales and use tax. (*Carve out, but one promoting new families. Fine.)
HB443-5/HB449 (Petrie) – Various minor technical corrections (eg fiscal biennium).
OPPOSE THESE
HB450 (Blanton) – Rural Jobs Act, allots $50M of state matching capital for investments in growth biz (esp. East & Wast KY). (*Great idea; why excl small biz, other struggling counties?)
HB15 (C.Stevenson) – Reqs biz to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid “family” medical leave per yr.
HB44 (Fleming) – Carve out a sales tax exemption for marketing services. PORK.
HB142 (Willner) / HB229 (Brown) – Def feminine hygiene products, exempts them from sales or use tax (for four years?). (*No big deal, but why a special carve out?)
HB216 (Kulkarni) – Estab employer student loan tax credit equal to 50% of amount paid by the employer on loan. (*Taxpayer funded company fringe benefits to repay student loans.)
HB255 (Smith) – Allows counties to add up to 3% sales tax on restaurants.
HB202 (Pratt) – Provides sales tax exemption for 30 years for new const. on data centers. (*If the math works out, fine. Tax incent can be great investments. But, 30 years(?) for 20 to 30 empl.?)
HB413 (P.Stevenson) – Estab refundable tax credit for renters in the amount of 25% not to exceed $1000. (*MAYBE a 1-time credit for pandemic/inflation; should be encouraging ownership.)
HB420 (Freeland) – Exempt houseboat rentals from transient room taxes. (*Could justify Houseboat rentals of 30 days+.)
HB152 (Webber) – Estab Taxpayer Transplant Program to recruit remote workers (using incentive grants to attract qualified employees) to the Commonwealth. (*Isn’t the opportunity cost training people here to do these jobs? Which is more likely to stick around?)
HB132 (Flannery) – Exempt motor vehicles, recreational vehicles, trailers and semitrailers from state and local ad valorem (proportionate to assessed value) taxes. (*Favors the wealthy. There should be more tax on a Ferrari than a Ford.)
HB273 (Bojanowski) – Exempt from sales tax breast pumps & supplies. (*Fine, but see HB270.)
HB81 (Sharp) – Adds campers to taxable registered property.
HB19 (W.Thomas) – Excl. all distr. from mil. pensions for vets and spouses from state income tax.
HB193 (Tackett Laferty) – Estab refundable $1000 tax credit for certain volunteer firefighters. (*Good idea, but must include all 1st responders.)

Here’s what to do to influence legislators:

EVERY WEEKDAY WHILE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS IN SESSION (the GA reconvenes February 7th):

1. Put the Legislative Hotline number into your speed dial so you can call and leave a message quickly: 1-800-372-7181. Call as early as possible in the day. The line is open 7am to 9pm M-Th and 7am to 6pm F. They may close early due to inclement weather.
2. They are very nice and are just there to take your message. If you give them your name and address, they will tell you who your Senator and Representative are. The next time you call, they will have you on file.
3. Call the Legislative Hotline [EXAMPLE reasons can be in this summary, but you are encouraged to use concisely your own words] and say this : “I would like to leave a message for:

My Senator:

• Support SB 102. Get the nonsense out of our public schools!
• Support SB 9. Hazing is dangerous and risks the lives of young people. It must be stopped.
• OPPOSE SB 61.  Ranked Choice Voting is just going to confuse voters.
• Support (pick any other listed SB bill).

My Representative:

• Support HB 173. The public schools must Protect our Children!
• Support HB 119. Homeschoolers should have access to public school activities, their parents’ pay taxes.
• Support HB 137. Enough with all of the COVID Mandates!!
• Please co-sponsor HB 92. Discrimination by schools based on personal COVID health choices is wrong.
• Support (pick any other listed HB bill).

EXTRA CREDIT:

4. Internet search “KY find my legislator” and choose the first option or to Find Your Legislator. Enter your address, and click on the pin to Find your Legislator(s) and it will show their phone and email.
5. Call your legislator’s direct phone number (which can be found on the right hand side of their LRC House or Senate website) and leave the above message and a brief reason. Be polite and succinct.
6. Email your legislator (right hand side of their LRC House or Senate website) and leave the above message. Only email a single legislator at a time (don’t CC: or BCC: lists). Put the key point in the SUBJECT line.  Keep it brief and friendly. (Ex: Subject: Co-Sponsor and Vote for HB58)
7. The best way to influence legislators is face to face. Call them and set up an appointment, or ask for some time if you see them in person. They are busy, you won’t have long (15 min?): at most focus on 1-3 bills, or 1 or 2 issues; be courteous (you want something from them, don’t articulate them as DEMANDS); do your research, and know the issue; be able to explain your concerns & the reasons for their importance to you (& his/her constituents) in plain English.

A MORE DETAILED EVALUATION OF ALL OF THESE BILLS CAN BE FOUND HERE:
https://ky22.hereisliberty.com/2023-detail