Some of the Proposed legislation in Kentucky as of February 22, 2025 (2 0f 4)
I am going to make 4 posts, as there are 128 bills pulled and updated out of the over 1000 bills proposed this term.
These are currently just some of the proposed bills, this is not a complete list. You can find the current complete list at https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislation/Pages/default.aspx
I will update the list throughout the term. Also, I will also update the Bills listed.
The list will be added to during the legislative session. You can call your legislators and leave a message at the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181.
If something is labeled as “Emergency”, it means if it becomes the Law, it goes into effect immediately. While I have been updated the Bills for years, and generally do not comment on them, there are some statements have pulled from other sources, as many times a Bill may read one way, but the impact is completely different.
This year is a “short session” which means that the legislators only meet for 30 days this year (unless a special session is called).
HB=House Bill SB=Senate Bill
There are 313 Senate Bills and 814 House Bills proposed as of today
If you haven’t read the proposed Bills before, you should know that in some cases the name of the Bill has no relation to what the Bill would actually do. For example, some of the Bills labeled as “parental rights” actually would override what the parent wants if it is contrary to the language of the Bill.
Also, as some of the terminology isn’t clear, so some of the proposed Bills have descriptions with them, from various sources.
HB 96 Coercive Control: To expand who you can get a protective order over. Amend KRS 403.720, relating to orders of protection, to define “coercive control” and “stalking”; amend the definition of “domestic violence and abuse” to include coercive control of a family member or member of an unmarried couple; amend KRS 456.010 to define “coercive control”; amend the definition of “dating violence and abuse” to include coercive control of a person with whom the perpetrator is or has been in a dating relationship; amend KRS 209A.122 to require the Administrative Office of the Courts to provide information on petitions for orders of protection where the basis of the petition is coercive control and whether parties to a petition for an order of protection were represented by a legal representative.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 97: People coming into Kentucky to commit a sexual offense: Create a new section of KRS Chapter 510 to establish the offense of traveling into the Commonwealth to commit a sexual offense; provide that no person shall be convicted of this offense and any offense specified in KRS 506.010, 506.030, 506.040, or 506.080 for a single course of conduct; provide that this section is intended to be a separate offense and shall be punished in addition to violations of sex crimes; provide that traveling into the Commonwealth to commit a sexual offense shall be punished at the same felony classification level as the underlying offense.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 98 To include kidnapping in the definition of a “violent offender”.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 99 Sex crimes to prohibit sexual intercourse with anyone in custody, anyone prosecuting those individuals and attorney who represent these with pending criminal charges (other than if they were already in that type of relationship. Amend KRS 510.060, relating to rape in the third degree, to prohibit a person from engaging in sexual intercourse with another person who is incarcerated by the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility; to prohibit a Commonwealth’s attorney, assistant Commonwealth’s attorney, county attorney, or assistant county attorney from engaging in sexual intercourse with another person who the attorney is prosecuting unless a prior sexual relationship exists; to prohibit an attorney for a criminal defendant from engaging in sexual intercourse with the criminal defendant unless a prior sexual relationship exists; amend KRS 510.090, relating to sodomy in the third degree, to prohibit a person from engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with another person who is incarcerated by the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility; to prohibit a Commonwealth’s attorney, assistant Commonwealth’s attorney, county attorney, or assistant county attorney from engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with another person who the attorney is prosecuting unless a prior sexual relationship exists; to prohibit an attorney for a criminal defendant from engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with the criminal defendant unless a prior sexual relationship exists; amend KRS 510.120, relating to sexual abuse in the second degree, to prohibit a person from subjecting another person who is incarcerated by the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility to sexual contact; to prohibit a Commonwealth’s attorney, assistant Commonwealth’s attorney, county attorney, or assistant county attorney from subjecting another person who the attorney is prosecuting to sexual contact, unless a prior sexual relationship exists; to prohibit an attorney for a criminal defendant from subjecting the criminal defendant to sexual contact, unless a prior sexual relationship exists.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 101 Assault on a peace officer: Amend KRS 508.025, relating to assault in the third degree, to enhance the punishment to a Class D felony if a person intentionally causes a peace officer to come into contact with bodily fluids; enhance assault in the third degree to a Class C felony if the person who causes a peace officer to come into contact with bodily fluids has a serious communicable disease and the contact is likely to cause transmission of the disease; enhance assault in the third degree to a Class C felony for a second or subsequent offense.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 102 “forever substances” : Create a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to establish a PFAS Working Group, create new sections of Subchapter 10 of KRS Chapter 224 to define terms; establish a reporting requirement for manufacturers that intentionally include PFAS in products manufactured for sale or distribution in the Commonwealth; establish a reporting requirement for PFAS release in the Commonwealth by manufacturers that intentionally include PFAS in manufactured products; amend KRS 224.99-030 to establish penalty for noncompliance with reporting requirements.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Natural Resources & Energy (H)
HB 104 Pretrial release: Amend KRS 431.066 to limit the use of money bail to certain high-risk defendants and create a preventive detention process for defendants of select risk levels and charge types; create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to establish a preventive detention hearing process and define the limited circumstances in which money bail can be imposed; amend various statutes to conform; repeal KRS 431.021, relating to guaranteed arrest bond certificates.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 106 Cannabis: Create a new section of KRS Chapter 218A to make possession of a personal use quantity of cannabis exempt from civil or criminal penalty; amend KRS 218A.010 to define “cannabis,” “personal use quantity of cannabis,” and “cannabis accessory”; amend KRS 218A.1422, regarding cannabis possession, to conform; amend KRS 218A.1423, regarding cannabis cultivation, to conform; amend KRS 218A.500, regarding drug paraphernalia, to exempt personal use cannabis accessories; amend KRS 218A.1421, regarding cannabis trafficking, to exempt personal use quantities; amend KRS 138.872 to exclude personal use quantities from the cannabis stamp tax; amend KRS 218A.410 and 533.030 to conform; create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to allow expungement of certain convictions relating to cannabis and to apply expungement retroactively; RETROACTIVE, in part.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 107 Unemployment Insurance employees: Amend KRS 341.370 to prohibit disqualification from benefits for workers unemployed as a result of domestic violence and abuse, dating violence and abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; create a new section of KRS Chapter 341 to direct the secretary of the Education and Labor Cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations; amend KRS 341.125 to require the secretary to provide training to personnel who process claims related to domestic or dating violence and abuse, sexual assault, or stalking and to report to the Legislative Research Commission annually the number of claims paid involving domestic or dating violence and abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; amend KRS 341.360 to conform; amend KRS 341.530 to charge benefits to pooled account for workers displaced from employment through domestic or dating violence and abuse, sexual assault, or stalking; amend KRS 341.550 to prevent benefit payments from pooled account from impacting an employer’s experience rating.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)
HB 110 Peace officers would be required to stop other officers from using too much force: Create a new section of KRS Chapter 15 to define terms; impose a duty on peace officers to intervene to prevent or stop another officer from using physical force that will cause unlawful serious physical injury, death, or deprivation of civil rights; impose a duty to provide or obtain emergency medical assistance; require reporting of intervention; provide administrative and legal protections; amend KRS 15.330 to require the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council to prescribe minimum standards for use of force by officer, an officer’s duty to intervene, and reporting of police officer misconduct; amend KRS 413.115 to require that an action for retaliatory personnel actions to be commenced within three years.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection (H)
HB 120 Gun safety for children: Amend KRS 527.010 to define “securely locked container” and make technical corrections; create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to prohibit unlawful storage of a firearm; establish elements of the crime as recklessly allowing access to an unsecured firearm by a minor; establish the crime as a Class B misdemeanor unless a physical injury or death results, in which case it is a Class A misdemeanor; provide that an affirmative defense exists if a minor obtained the firearm through the minor’s unlawful entry; provide that the Act may be cited as the Baby Dre Gun Safety Act.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 124 Firearm regulations: Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 to define “assault weapon,” “large capacity ammunition feeding device,” and “seller of ammunition”; require background checks for private firearms sales; require reporting to law enforcement of firearm and ammunition thefts and losses; require the safe storage of firearms; require the Department of Kentucky State Police to promulgate administrative regulations relating to the licensing of persons to possess handguns and assault weapons, the registration of handguns and assault weapons, and the logging of firearms and ammunition sales effective January 1, 2026; amend KRS 237.990 to establish penalties; create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to create the offense of criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon; amend KRS 395.250 to require an estate’s inventory to list each firearm; amend KRS 403.735 to require judges, when issuing an order of protection, to consider whether a person against whom the order is entered should be prohibited from possessing an firearm; amend KRS 504.030 to require judges in criminal cases where a person is found not guilty by reason of insanity to demand the surrender of the defendant’s firearms; amend KRS 506.080 to add that the offense of facilitation includes assistance in providing firearms; amend KRS 508.020 to include physical injury to a minor by virtue of the intentional discharge of a firearm within the offense of assault in the second degree; amend KRS 527.040 to require that the sentence for a felon in possession of a firearm be served consecutively to any other felony sentence; amend KRS 527.070 to include postsecondary education facilities within the existing ban on firearms in schools; amend KRS 532.030 to require the judge pronouncing a defendant guilty but mentally ill to demand the surrender of the person’s firearms; amend KRS 65.1591, 237.104, 237.115, and 532.025 to conform; repeal KRS 65.870, relating to the prohibition of local firearm control ordinances; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2026; EMERGENCY.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 125 “CROWN Act” : Amend KRS 344.010 to provide definitions of “protective hairstyle” and “race” that include traits historically associated with race; amend KRS 158.148 to provide that school disciplinary codes shall prohibit discrimination on the basis of race; provide that the Act may be cited as the C.R.O.W.N. Act.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)
HB 128 “Ban the Box” : Create a new section of KRS Chapter 344 to prohibit employers from considering or requiring disclosure of prior criminal history as part of the initial job application; provide that the Act may be cited as the Ban the Box – The Criminal Record Employment Discrimination Act.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)
HB 135 Workplace Violence Against Drivers: Amend KRS 508.025 to expand assault in the third degree to include causing or attempting to cause physical injury to a driver of any form of public transportation acting in the course and scope of the driver’s employment.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)
HB 142 Real property rights and “squatters”: Amend KRS 511.010 and 512.010 to define “squatter”; amend KRS 511.090 to allow a property owner or his or her authorized agent to request a peace officer to immediately remove any squatter occupying a dwelling or commercial building under certain circumstances; provide criminal and civil immunity to peace officers acting in good faith; amend KRS 512.020 and 512.030 to specifically include damage to residential or commercial property caused by squatters in the offense of criminal mischief; create a new section of KRS Chapter 514 to establish the offense of fraudulent sale or lease of real property.
2/4/2025 – (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)