AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 158.645 to modify language on core capacities, specify the intent of K-5 education, and define terms; amend KRS 156.070 to give the state board the responsibility for adopting or rejecting the state academic standards, adopting or rejecting instructional materials collections, setting a timeline for adoption updates, and ensuring alignment of academics across the state; create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to deconstruct the approved academic standards and provide free guides to districts with sample curricula; amend KRS 156.395 to define instructional materials collections; amend KRS 156.405 to change the State Textbook Commission into the State Instructional Materials Council, require the State Instructional Materials Council to recommend instructional materials collections to the state board for adoption; amend KRS 156.415 to conform; amend KRS 156.433 to require school districts to utilize instructional materials collections from list approved by the state board; amend KRS 156.474, 156.407, 156.410, 156.420, and 156.425 to conform; amend KRS 156.435 to require the State Instructional Materials Council and Kentucky Department of Education to publish the approved instructional materials collections list on its website; amend KRS 156.437, 156.438, 156.439, 156.440, 156.445, 156.460, 156.465, 156.470, and 156.476 to conform; amend KRS 158.6452 to modify membership of the School Curriculum, Assessment, and Accountability Council, and require biennial report on membership and meetings by commissioner; amend KRS 158.6453 to require the School Curriculum, Assessment, and Accountability Council recommend academic standards to the state board for adoption, specify adoption update timeline; require Education Professional Standards Board to require alignment with academic standards as condition of educator preparation program approval; amend KRS 7.410 to conform; amend KRS 157.360 to remove school-based decision making council ability to waive class size maximums in kindergarten through grade one; amend KRS 157.195 and 158.6450 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/5/2025 - House Primary and Secondary Education (H), (Bill Scheduled for Hearing)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/13/2025 - (H) Returned to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school safety.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to allow school districts to implement a wearable panic alert system; establish system criteria; require the Department of Education to provide a list of approved wearable panic alert systems; require the Center for School Safety to establish the Wearable Panic Alert Grant Program; amend KRS 158.446 to allow the Center for School Safety to distribute wearable panic alert grants using funds appropriated in the biennial budget to support school safety. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except authorize the Act to be cited as Alyssa's Law.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/7/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to moments of silence and reflection.

Amend KRS 158.175 to require moments of silence or reflection at the start of each school day and establish guidelines.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to public employee benefits.

Amend KRS 61.598 to exempt from the pension spiking provisions any increases in rates of pay authorized or funded by the legislative or administrative body of an employer or mandated in a collective bargaining agreement approved by the legislative body of the employer that are provided to members of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System, County Employees Retirement System, or State Police Retirement System. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except amend KRS 16.198 to require Kentucky State Police to promulgate administrative regulations to establish vacation, bereavement, and sick leave for Trooper R Class and commercial vehicle enforcement R Class employees at the same rate as that of an officer with less than five years of service.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/24/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 76)

AN ACT relating to misconduct in schools and school-sponsored activities.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to prohibit a public school district or public charter school from entering into a nondisclosure agreement relating to misconduct involving a minor or student; amend KRS 160.380 to define "abusive conduct"; require school district applicants to disclose being the subject of any investigations or disciplinary actions in the previous 12 months relating to abusive conduct and consent to a reference check; require school districts to conduct reference checks; require nonpublic schools and public school districts to disclose any investigations or disciplinary actions related to abusive conduct of applicants; provide immunity for disclosures made about school employee conduct; require school districts to request all related information from public and nonpublic schools and the Education Professional Standards Board (ESPB); require schools and EPSB to provide the records; require requests for information to be satisfied in 10 working days; require EPSB to create and implement procedures for information requests; require all school district applicants to list all schools of previous and current employment on the application; require a school district to internally report and investigate to completion all allegations of abusive conduct; require all records relating to an allegation of abusive conduct to be retained in an employee's personnel file unless the allegation is proven false; provide that that certain requirements apply to public charter schools; amend KRS 156.160 to direct the Kentucky Board of Education to include employment standards in the voluntary certification standards for private schools; make technical corrections; amend KRS 160.151 to define "certified nonpublic school"; require employees of certified nonpublic schools to submit to a national and state criminal background check and a CA/N check; require certified nonpublic school personnel to have a state criminal background check every five years; prohibit a certified nonpublic school from hiring a violent or felony sex crime offender; require a certified nonpublic school to conduct reference checks on all applicants; prohibit a certified nonpublic school from entering into a nondisclosure agreement related to misconduct involving a minor or student; make technical corrections; amend KRS 156.095 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to develop a training related to sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships for employees to undergo every five years; make technical corrections; amend KRS 161.151 to conform; require that an allegation of abusive conduct be reported pursuant to KRS 620.030; amend KRS 158.4431 and 156.492 to make conforming changes.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to interpreters.

Amend KRS 309.312 to allow an interpreter in a K-12 classroom setting with a score of 4.0 or above on the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) and passage of the EIPA written test to meet certification requirements. HCS (1) Delete original provisions; create a new section of KRS 309.300 to 309.319 to establish requirements for an educational interpreter license; require the board to grant licensure to an applicant holding a valid license issued by another state if it is based on standards equivalent to or exceeding the standards required by statute; amend KRS 309.300 to define "educational interpreter"; amend KRS 309.301 and 309.314 to conform. HFA (1) Delete original provisions; amend KRS 309.312 to create an educational: K-12 license for an interpreter working in a K-12 educational setting; amend KRS 309.314 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/12/2025 - (S) SECOND READING, to Rules

AN ACT relating to choking prevention in schools.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define "anti-choking device"; require school cafeteria personnel and other expected users of the device to be trained if a school obtains an anti-choking device; provide immunity from civil liability for rendering emergency care or treatment with an anti-choking device or the Heimlich maneuver at a public or private school; provide that the Act may be cited as Landon's Law.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/18/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to campaign finance.

Amend KRS 121.015, relating to campaign finance, to define terms; create new sections of KRS Chapter 121 to establish reporting and record retention requirements for political issues committees and persons making independent expenditures; prohibit political issues committees from knowingly and willfully soliciting or accepting contributions from prohibited sources; establish certification requirements for treasurers of political issues committees and donors making contributions and independent expenditures; define activity that creates a presumption of a violation; prohibit foreign nationals from making a donation, contribution, or expenditure, soliciting another person to make a donation, contribution, or expenditure, or participating in another person's decision to influence a ballot measure; establish a cause of action for accepting or soliciting contributions from prohibited sources and failing to certify, report, or retain records; establish a right of privacy in donations to tax-exempt organizations; establish a penalty for a state or local governmental entity, court, or officer of the court that violates the right of privacy; amend KRS 121.190 to require a "paid for by" disclosure for advertisements advocating or opposing a ballot measure. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except make technical corrections; amend KRS 121.015 to include in the definition of "independent expenditure" the expenditure of money or other things of value for a communication that advocates or opposes a ballot measure; delete new language creating definitions for "directly," "indirectly," "person," and "prohibited source"; amend KRS 121.175 to include fundraisers in the definition of "allowable campaign expenditures"; allow members of the General Assembly to use campaign funds to contribute directly to another candidate, slate of candidates, political party, or caucus campaign committee until his or her campaign funds have been exhausted and the account has been closed, provided contribution limits aren't exceeded; amend KRS 121.180 to specify that a candidate or slate of candidates may contribute campaign funds directly to another candidate or slates of candidates for state or federal office; amend KRS 121.190 to require that any type of general public political advertising which advocates or opposes a candidate, slate of candidates, group of candidates, or ballot measure be identified by the words "paid for by."

  CURRENT STATUS

3/24/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 57)

AN ACT relating to sexual extortion.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 531 to establish the crime of sexual extortion as a felony; provide for enhancements to penalties; create a new section of KRS Chapter 411 to establish a civil cause of action for sexual extortion; amend KRS 17.500 to include sexual extortion in the definition of "sex crime"; create new sections of KRS Chapter 158 to require superintendents of local school districts to notify students in grades six and above and parents and guardians of all students of the crime of sexual extortion; require local school boards to display posters with the definition of sexual extortion and contact information for entities offering assistance to victims in secondary schools; amend KRS 164.2518 to require postsecondary institutions to display posters with the definition of sexual extortion and contact information for entities offering assistance to victims in residential facilities and buildings containing instructional spaces, student services, and academic support services.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.557 to increase the time period between mandatory summative evaluations for tenured certified school staff from once every three years to once every five years; provide that additional summative evaluations may be performed at the discretion of the individual's immediate supervisor but shall not be imposed as a uniform requirement across the system; amend KRS 158.060 to provide teachers access to their employment contract upon request; amend KRS 156.095 to require the Department of Education to create and local school districts to implement a four year recurring professional development training schedule that includes all required professional development trainings; provide that all certified school employees shall complete designated trainings within 12 months of initial hire and at least once every four years thereafter; consolidate state-required certified school personnel trainings; create new sections of KRS Chapter 158 to relocate language currently contained in KRS 158.060 related to the display of designated hotline information and the publication of and school lessons on evidence-based suicide prevention awareness information; amend KRS 158.070 to remove language regarding professional development trainings consolidated elsewhere; amend KRS 160.346 to prohibit the Department of Education from requiring comprehensive school improvement plans and comprehensive district improvement plans not expressly required by federal law; amend KRS 156.492, 157.360, and 158.4416 to conform; amend KRS 161.031 to remove the mandate for an induction program for new teachers; require a report identifying school districts that do not implement an induction program for new teachers; require the Department of Education to conduct a review of the reporting requirements imposed upon public schools and public school districts; eliminate all reporting requirements not expressly required by state statute or federal law; submit a report on the remaining reporting requirements; provide that the Act may be cited as the Red Tape Reduction Act. HCS (2) Retain original provisions, except permit schools and districts that are not required by federal law or state statute to complete a comprehensive school or district improvement plan to voluntarily complete the plan, in whole or in part, or use alternative measures for fulfilling federal reporting requirements; require the Department of Education to submit two reports to the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee on continuous school and district improvement plans and on the Cognia software used for school and district planning, including to establish the minimum contents of the reports by August 1, 2025, and October 1, 2025, respectively; require that any submission request contained in that software not expressly linked to a requirement imposed by federal law or state statute be discontinued unless extended by an act of the General Assembly during the 2026 Regular Session; delay the effective date of the termination of any reporting requirement not expressly required by federal law or state statute until after the 2026 Regular Session; amend KRS 156.070 to prohibit the Kentucky Board of Education from adopting any new reporting requirement not expressly authorized by federal law or state statute; require the department to submit to the appropriate Interim Joint Committee on Education, a report recommending reporting requirements to be incorporated into statute during the 2026 Regular. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except remove amendments to KRS 160.346 which would prohibit the Department of Education from requiring comprehensive school improvement plans and comprehensive district improvement plans not expressly required by federal law.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 145)

AN ACT relating to civil liability of a parent or guardian.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 411 to establish civil liability against a parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible for a minor if the minor causes the injury or death of another by the use of a destructive device, explosive, firearm, or other deadly weapon; provide limited exemptions; amend KRS 411.155 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in schools.

Repeal and reenact KRS 158.178, relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to wages.

Amend KRS 337.275 to raise minimum wage for employers to $9.50 an hour on the effective date of this Act and incrementally thereafter to $15.00 an hour on July 1, 2029; raise the state minimum wage for tipped employees to $5.00 an hour on the effective date of this Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority.

Amend KRS 61.505 to establish the Office of Financial Management within the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority; amend KRS 12.020 to conform; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/13/2025 - (S) SECOND READING, to Rules

AN ACT relating to employers of the Teachers' Retirement System.

Amend KRS 161.220 to add WeLeadCS, a virtual computer science career academy for Kentucky high school students, to the list of participating employers of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS). HCS (1) Retain original provisions; require the Teachers' Retirement System's consulting actuary to provide a breakdown of actuarial liabilities by each participating employer in the annual actuarial valuation.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/24/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 64)

AN ACT relating to providing free feminine hygiene products for elementary and secondary students.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define "feminine hygiene product"; require each public school that includes any of grades four through 12 to provide free feminine hygiene products to female students; require each local board of education to adopt policies for the distribution of free feminine hygiene products.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to undesignated glucagon.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit health care practitioners to prescribe and dispense undesignated glucagon in the name of a school or to a trained individual; permit trained individuals to receive, possess, and administer undesignated glucagon during diabetic medical emergencies; permit schools to stock undesignated glucagon; provide for immunity from civil liability for any personal injury resulting from good faith actions to use undesignated glucagon to treat diabetic medical emergencies.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Health Services (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 161.030 to specify authority of the Education Professional Standards Board over educators hired by public schools only; amend KRS 199.894 to define "learning pod" and exclude them from the definition of "child-care center" and "family child-care home"; amend KRS 194A.381 to exclude learning pods from certain youth camp requirements.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to property exempt from taxation.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to exempt for homeowners who are 65 years of age or older any increase in the valuation of their permanent residence that is assessed after the later of the year the homeowner turned 65 or the year the homeowner purchased the property; require the exemption to be in addition to the exemption provided in Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky and notwithstanding Sections 171, 172, and 174 of the Constitution of Kentucky; apply the exemption to increases in valuation that occur after the date the amendment is ratified by the voters; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)

AN ACT relating to the Ten Commandments in public schools.

Amend KRS 158.195 to allow the reading or posting of the Ten Commandments in a public school building, classroom, or event.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to historical instruction.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to require African history instruction in certain middle and high school world history and civilization courses; require Native American history instruction in certain middle and high school United States history courses; require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations establishing academic standards for the required historical instructions; require superintendents to adopt curricula for required instruction; require the Department of Education to collaborate with the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage and the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission to develop recommended curricula and instruction guidelines for the required historical instruction, elective high school course offerings in African history and Native American history, and relevant professional development materials.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to discriminatory practices against a person.

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.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to a living wage.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 337 to require any employer doing business in Kentucky that receives governmental incentives or subsidies to pay its employees a living wage.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to home and hospital instruction.

Amend KRS 158.033 to allow a student admitted to an inpatient facility to receive home and hospital services effective on the day of admittance.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/18/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 27)

AN ACT relating to the taxation of retirement distributions.

Amend KRS 141.019 to increase the retirement distribution exclusion from $31,110 to $41,110 for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to public school curriculum.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to develop a guide for instructional materials collections adopted by the State Instructional Materials Commission that details the academic standards addressed by the materials, how the instructional materials are connected to specific learning targets aligned to the standards, sample questions, skills, and products students should be able to answer or demonstrate to meet the academic standards, and a curriculum guide for using the educational materials; amend KRS 156.395 to define "instructional material collection"; amend KRS 156.405 to reestablish the State Textbook Commission as the State Instructional Materials Commission and establish the scope of the commission's duties and membership; amend KRS 156.415 to reestablish fees for filing instructional materials collections for consideration and to conform; amend 156.433 to delete reference to the state textbook fund and to conform; amend KRS 156.474 to apply to all educational funds and to conform; amend KRS 156.407, 156.410, 156.420, 156.425, 156.435, 156.437, 156.438, 156.440, 156.445, 156.460, 156.465, 156.470, 156.474, and 156.476 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to property exempt from taxation.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to exempt from taxation a portion of the assessed value of real property maintained as the permanent residence of an owner who is a veteran or first responder; require an owner's disability status to meet the same disability requirements under Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky; allow real property maintained as the permanent residence of the surviving spouse of a veteran or first responder to receive an exemption based on the qualifiers of the veteran or first responder prior to his or her death; allow the General Assembly to set qualification requirements by law; prohibit a property from receiving more than one exemption under this new section of the Constitution of Kentucky; allow the exemption to be in addition to the exemption provided in Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky; provide that the exemptions supersede contrary provisions of Sections 171, 172, and 174 of the Constitution of Kentucky; apply the exemptions to property assessed on or after January 1, 2027; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)

AN ACT relating to independent school districts.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 160 to establish a process for the creation of new independent school districts; define terms; establish a petition process for voters of a qualifying city to place the question of creating a new independent district and local board of education on the ballot; specify the requirements for the question and the board of education provisional election; establish the initial terms of office for the interim board of education; establish the transition of authorities from the originating district board of education to the boards of both the altered originating district and the new independent district; require the Kentucky Department of Education to calculate assets and liabilities of the originating district for division to the altered originating district and the new independent district; authorize the altered originating district to maintain control and use of assets until the scheduled transfer to the new independent district and authorize the continued payments of debts; establish a negotiation process between the altered originating district and the new independent district to resolve the division of the originating district's assets and liabilities; establish a deadline for the negotiation to conclude; provide a process for resolution of disagreements; establish a deadline for the transfer of all assets and debts; authorize the altered originating district to continue to assess and collect taxes for both districts until the close of the tax year in which the new independent district is fully operational; provide for the distribution of collected taxes during the transition period; require the mayor of the city to call the newly elected interim board of new independent district to meet; allow the interim board to request assistance from the Kentucky Department of Education; establish the transition process for the new independent district to become fully functional; allow the interim board to submit a waiver request for a statute or administrative regulation to the Kentucky Board of Education; authorize the interim board to enter into service contracts with another school district during the transition; establish a process for the interim board to vote to terminate the establishment of the new independent district due to financial nonviability during the transition; establish the transition from an interim board to a fully functional board of the new independent district; require the continued collection of taxes restricted to the payment of debt or interest; waive the requirement for school-based decision making for the first year of operations of the new independent district; require the interim board of the new independent district to develop a transition plan and establish the requirements of the plan; create a new section of KRS Chapter 157, relating to state formula funding calculations, to establish a projection model for the first year of full operations of the new independent district and the altered originating district.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to public school facilities.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 162 to define terms; require at least 95% of restroom facilities in a specified school building be designated for a specific biological sex; amend KRS 156.160 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school lunches.

Amend KRS 160.345 to require a school council to adopt a policy requiring students to be assigned a lunch period of at least 30 minutes in length; amend KRS 158.153 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to teachers.

Amend KRS 158.060 to require teachers to be compensated for noninstructional planning time within their school day during which they are required to supervise or instruct students; amend KRS 164.787 to expand the program eligibility of the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program to include a program that leads to a bachelor's degree in education in a critical shortage area.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) WITHDRAWN

AN ACT relating to school board elections.

Amend KRS 160.200 to require the offices of boards of education to have a partisan primary or partisan election; amend KRS 160.210 to require school board candidates to have emblems of political party affiliation presented on the ballot; amend various KRS sections to conform; and repeal KRS 160.250 and 160.260, relating to election of local board of education members.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/28/2025 - floor amendments (1) and (2-title) filed

AN ACT relating to Option 9 alternative teacher certification programs.

Amend KRS 161.048 to allow employment in substitute teaching to qualify as part of the required residency or paraprofessional component of an Option 9 alternative teacher certification program.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to undesignated glucagon.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit health care practitioners to prescribe and dispense undesignated glucagon in the name of a school or to a trained individual; permit trained individuals to receive, possess, and administer undesignated glucagon during diabetic medical emergencies; permit schools to stock undesignated glucagon; provide for immunity from civil liability for any personal injury resulting from good faith actions to use undesignated glucagon to treat diabetic medical emergencies.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Health Services (H)

AN ACT relating to restoring religious liberty.

Amend KRS 446.350 to define "government" and "substantially burden"; outline procedures and relief that may be sought if statute is violated; outline procedures and relief for any inmate who alleges a violation of this statute; establish duties and authority of the Attorney General; apply to laws adopted before or after the effective date of this statute; include severability clause; waive sovereign, judicial, and governmental immunity; waive qualified immunity under specified circumstances.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to fiscal statements.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 6 to define "Fiscal note"; require fiscal notes to be filed with the clerk in the chamber of the General Assembly for each bill or resolution that is filed; establish requirements related to fiscal notes for the director of the Legislative Research Commission; require fiscal notes to contain specific information; amend KRS 6.950, 6.955, 6.960, 6.965, and 6.970 to rename fiscal note to local government mandate statement; amend KRS 13A.190, 13A.230, 13A.250, and 13A.280 to rename fiscal note to fiscal note on state and local government.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to teacher scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.769 to remove expected family income from the selection criteria for the teacher scholarship; amend KRS 164.7889 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to advanced educational opportunities.

Amend KRS 158.6453 to define "advanced coursework"; require each local board of education develop an accelerated learning plan for students with identified strengths; direct local board of education to adopt policies for advanced coursework in designated subject areas; establish a reporting requirement for the Kentucky Department of Education related to the number of accelerated learning courses offered, the demographics of eligible students, the number of students placed in those courses, and the number of students not placed in those courses; amend KRS 160.348 to direct school-based decision making councils to adopt designated policies relating to advanced courses; provide that students who meet certain criteria shall be granted automatic enrollment in advanced coursework; provide that a student shall not be withdrawn or excluded from advanced coursework without written parental consent. HCS (1) Delete original provisions; amend KRS 158.6453 to define "advanced coursework"; require each local board of education to develop a district plan for advanced coursework and accelerated learning; establish minimum requirements for the plan; establish permissive components of the plan; direct the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations related to the district plan; direct the Department of Education to establish guidelines; amend KRS 160.348 to direct school-based decision making councils to adopt designated policies relating to advanced courses and accelerated learning.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 148)

AN ACT relating to dual credit scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.786 to add eligibility for high school freshmen and sophomores, require an "approved dual credit course" to be in the statewide general education core; provide that scholarships shall be awarded in order of application date; revise scholarship to allow two career and technical dual credit courses in each academic year of high school and two general education dual credit courses in the 11th and 12th grades; amend KRS 164.787 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/19/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 44)

AN ACT proposing an amendment to Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to taxation.

Propose to amend Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky to provide the General Assembly the authority to exempt all or a portion of any class of property from taxation or eliminate all or a portion of any tax and the related provisions of that tax; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)

AN ACT relating to concealed deadly weapons.

Repeal KRS 237.115, which interprets the application of the license to carry concealed deadly weapon statute as permitting postsecondary facilities, local governments, and units of state government to limit concealed carry in governmental buildings; amend KRS 150.172, 237.110, and 527.020 to conform; amend KRS 237.110 to no longer prohibit the carrying of concealed deadly weapons in schools and specify that the prohibition of carrying concealed deadly weapons in airports is limited to areas controlled by the Transportation Security Administration; make technical corrections; amend KRS 527.070 to add persons with valid licenses to carry concealed deadly weapons to the list of those permitted to possess weapons in schools.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to teachers.

Amend KRS 161.030 to remove the authority of the Education Professional Standards Board to require successful completion of assessments prior to teacher certification; amend KRS 161.048 and 161.053 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to materials, programs, or events alleged to be harmful to minors.

Amend KRS 158.192 to require the local board of education to allow parents and guardians an opportunity to orally recite passages from materials, programs, or events subject to appeal; require immediate removal of the material, program, or event if the board denies a parent or guardian the opportunity to orally recite passages.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to technology in public schools.

Amend KRS 158.165 to require local boards of education to adopt a policy to, at a minimum, prohibit student use of a personal telecommunications device during the school day with specific exceptions; amend KRS 156.675 to include social media in prohibited material to be made inaccessible through school technology and provide the scope of social media to be prohibited. HFA (1) Change prohibited time from the school day to instructional time and add an exception for when a student is authorized by a teacher.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/26/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 90)

AN ACT relating to the Teachers' Retirement System and declaring an emergency.

Amend various sections of KRS Chapter 161 to remove provisions of HB 258 enacted during the 2021 Regular Session that created and adjusted benefits for individuals who become members of the Teachers' Retirement System on or after January 1, 2022; repeal KRS 161.633, 161.634, 161.635, and 161.636, relating to university and nonuniversity members; provide that these members shall be eligible for the benefits applicable to members who entered the system immediately prior to January 1, 2022; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to employment.

Amend KRS 336.130 to delete references restricting rights of public employees to organize, associate collectively, or strike; amend KRS 336.180 to redefine "labor organization" and delete definitions of "candidate," "committee," "contributing organization," "contribution," "election," "electioneering communications," "employer," "fundraiser," "independent expenditure," "political activities," "public employee," "slate of candidates," and "testimonial affair"; amend KRS 336.990 to conform; amend KRS 67A.6904 to allow urban-county governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 67C.406 to allow consolidated local governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 70.262, 78.470, and 78.480 to remove exceptions; amend KRS 345.050 to allow public employers to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 336.1341 and 336.135 to conform; repeal KRS 65.016, 336.132, and 336.134.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to employment.

Amend KRS 336.130 to delete references restricting rights of public employees to organize, associate collectively, or strike; amend KRS 336.180 to redefine "labor organization" and delete all other definitions; amend KRS 336.990 to conform; amend KRS 67A.6904 to allow urban-county governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 67C.406 to allow consolidated local governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 70.262, 78.470, and 78.480 to remove exceptions; amend KRS 345.050 to allow public employers to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; repeal KRS 65.016 and 336.132.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (H) WITHDRAWN

AN ACT relating to labor standards.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 337 to require every employer to establish a workplace policy that provides employees the right to disconnect from communications from the employer during nonworking hours; amend KRS 337.990 to provide a penalty for violation of the lunch period requirements in KRS 337.355 and for violation by an employer of a right to disconnect workplace policy.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to teacher professional development.

Amend KRS 156.095 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to create a professional development training schedule for certified personnel; require each local district to implement the schedule; require an additional day to be added to the school calendar if required training cannot be completed in a single calendar day; require school districts to submit a report to the department on the status of professional development training.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to civil rights.

Repeal and reenact KRS 344.010 to define terms; amend KRS 344.020, relating to the purpose of the Kentucky's civil rights chapter, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.025, 344.040, 344.050, 344.060, 344.070, and 344.080, relating to prohibited discrimination in various labor and employment practices, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 210.033, 344.030, 344.100 and 344.110 to conform; amend KRS 344.120 and 342.140, relating to prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation and advertisements therefor, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.170, 344.180, 344.190, 344.300, and 344.310, relating to the state and local human rights commissions, to include prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the scope of their powers and duties; amend KRS 344.360, 344.370, 344.380, and 344.680, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain housing, real estate, and other financial transactions, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.367, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain insurance sales, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.400, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain credit transactions, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 18A.095 to conform; make technical corrections.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to high school graduation requirements.

Amend KRS 156.160 to require any course meeting the health requirement for high school graduation to include information on the organ donation program.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to primary school.

Amend KRS 158.305 to require kindergarten students to be given a universal screener within the final 10 instructional days of the school year; require beginning with the 2025-2026 school year require that a student remain in kindergarten for an additional year if they did not make adequate progress in kindergarten; prohibit a school from requiring a student who turns seven by August 1 to remain in kindergarten; require the school to reevaluate the reading improvement plan of any student remaining in kindergarten; allow a student provided an additional year in kindergarten to advance through the primary program when it is determined to be in the student's best interest. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except require the universal screener be given to kindergarten students within the final 14 instructional days rather than the final 10 instructional days; change the conditions required for retention of a kindergarten student; limit placement authority of a student eligible for special education and related services to the admissions and release committee. SCS (1) Retain original provisions; require first grade students to be given a universal screener within the final 14 instructional days of the school year; provide for a first grade student to remain in first grade based on the criteria previously set forth; provide that a student who previously remained an additional year in kindergarten cannot be required to remain an additional year in first grade; provide that a student can only be required to remain in first grade for one additional year.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/27/2025 - delivered to Secretary of State; (Acts Ch. 103)

AN ACT relating to education and declaring an emergency.

Allow local school districts to make up days missed by adding instructional time to student attendance days; notwithstand the requirement for the student instructional year to have 170 student attendance days; allow waiver of up to five student attendance days if a school district is unable to provide the required 1,062 hours of instruction by June 4, 2025; require local boards of education seeking to revise its calendar to submit a plan for approval to the Department of Education; allow instructional time made up and days waived to count as employee contracted days; EMERGENCY. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except provide five disaster relief student attendance days; require the commissioner of education to deny school day waiver requests for school districts that did not make up days by adding time to the student instructional day. SCS (2) Retain original provisions; include an incentive for school districts that do not use any of the five disaster relief student attendance days and the five days waivable by the commissioner of education; provide those school districts with five additional low attendance days; amend KRS 157.320 to define "virtual program"; amend KRS 157.360 to include virtual programs in the exclusion for class size loads of 150 pupil hours per day for a teacher; amend KRS 158.120 to establish nonresident pupil enrollment limitations for a district's virtual program; require that no further nonresident pupil enrollments is to occur after June 30, 2028; prohibit the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Board of Education, and the Kentucky Department of Education from establishing or implementing, or requiring a school district to implement, any cap, limitation, or restriction on enrollment for a virtual program; prohibit the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education from reducing or withholding any funds due to a school district from the fund to Support Education Excellence in Kentucky based on the district's operation of a virtual program; sunset prohibitions on June 30, 2028, EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/27/2025 - BECAME LAW WITHOUT GOVERNOR'S SIGNATURE; (Acts Ch. 94)

AN ACT relating to KEES scholarships for students attending noncertified schools.

Amend KRS 164.7874, relating to KEES awards, to define terms; amend KRS 164.7879 to establish the use of a specified equivalent grade point average for eligible graduates of certain private, parochial, or church schools based on the Advanced Placement exam score, dual credit courses grade point average, or a combination of both; amend KRS 164.7881 and 164.7884 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the evaluation of educator preparation programs.

Amend KRS 158.840 to require the Education Professional Standards Board, rather than the Council on Postsecondary Education, to ensure teacher education programs provide highly skilled teachers; require the board to report to the Legislative Research Commission every three years and regularly report program data to an external evaluator.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/15/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 17)

AN ACT relating to prohibited uses of tax dollars.

Amend KRS 65.013 to create a cause of action for violations of the use of tax dollars to advocate for or against public questions on ballot or to lobby or participate in executive agency lobbying; establish time limitation to commence suit and appropriate venue; provide damages recoverable per violation; allow for a class action; prohibit holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for individuals held civilly liable; create a new section of KRS Chapter 65 to establish criminal penalty and a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for individuals found guilty for a violation.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)

AN ACT relating to school bus stops.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 189 to define "bus stop camera system," "school bus stop," and "qualifying school district"; require the installation of video cameras at each school bus stop in a qualifying school district; require the unit of government responsible for maintaining the road where the bus stop is located to install the cameras and retain the video images; specify the allowable uses of the video images and provide for retention timeframes; require school districts to notify the Transpiration Cabinet and all local governments that maintain roads in the district of the location of school bus stops.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Transportation (H)

AN ACT providing maternity leave for public school employees.

Amend KRS 161.155 to provide 20 maternity days to district employees who give birth; establish the terms and conditions for use of maternity days.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to teacher scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.773, relating to the Student Teacher Stipend Program, to specify that an eligible student is a Kentucky resident as determined by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (authority) and is student teaching at a Kentucky public school or certified nonpublic school; specify that the authority shall disburse stipend funds to eligible students directly or through the participating institution; allow the authority to establish criteria for an eligible student who is student teaching outside of Kentucky but is otherwise eligible. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend KRS 164.769 to remove expected family income from the selection criteria for the teacher scholarship; amend KRS 164.7889 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/19/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 43)

AN ACT relating to social studies curriculum.

Amend KRS 158.196 to require social studies instruction, materials, and academic standards to include the roles and contributions of indigenous peoples, people of color, and people from other marginalized or non-European groups, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the history of the United States and the Commonwealth.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school district employees and making an appropriation therefor.

Appropriate necessary funds for local school districts to provide a five percent salary increase to eligible employees in fiscal year 2025-2026; APPROPRIATION.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to reading and writing in schools.

Amend KRS 158.307 to define "dysgraphia"; require the Department of Education to annually review and update the dyslexia toolkit; expand dyslexia toolkit required guidance and include dysgraphia and other reading and writing difficulties; require rather than allow local boards of education to develop a policy on dyslexia; require rather than allow the policy to include certain items; require the department to compile and maintain data on dyslexia reported by local school districts; require the department to report dyslexia data to the appropriate Interim Joint Committee on Education; amend KRS 164.304 to require postsecondary institutions offering teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia by the 2026-2027 school year, rather than the instruction being contingent on availability of funding.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/28/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Amend KRS 407.440 to add gender-neutral language and make technical change.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Families & Children (H)

AN ACT relating to leave from employment.

Amend KRS 337.415, relating to court-ordered appearances by employees, to define terms; prohibit employers from discharging or retaliating against an employee who is a crime victim when the employee takes leave to attend proceedings associated with a crime; require an employee to give an employer reasonable notice to take leave when practicable; provide guidelines for use of paid leave; require the employer to maintain confidentiality of records and communication with employee crime victim; create a private right of action for improper discharge, discrimination, retaliation, and failing to maintain confidentiality; amend KRS 337.990 to establish penalties for employer violations.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to school curriculum.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define "Success Sequence"; require all students to receive instruction on the Success Sequence during grades 7 and 10 beginning with the 2026-2027 school year; require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations to establish academic standards for instruction on the Success Sequence; require the Department of Education to develop guidelines for implementing Success Sequence instruction; permit superintendents to partner with Kentucky-based nonprofits to develop required curriculum.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school districts.

Amend KRS 160.041 to provide a merger process for any contiguous school districts; require the Kentucky Board of Education to determine the terms of merger for an insolvent district if no agreement between the school districts can be reached, and to promulgate administrative regulations regarding mergers due to insolvency.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement in schools.

Amend KRS 160.346 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to annually identify schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI); require the audit of a CSI school to include an assessment and recommendation regarding the principal's capacity to lead the turnaround effort; remove the required use of a turnaround vendor by a CSI school; require the department to establish professional learning for teachers in a CSI school; require the superintendent of the district in which the CSI school is located to adopt evidence-based curriculum and select high-quality instructional materials for the school. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except require the superintendent and principal of a school identified for comprehensive support and improvement to collaborate with the Department of Education to create a turnaround training and support team; require a local board of education to approve the turnaround team.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/26/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 92)

AN ACT relating to preschool and kindergarten education.

Amend KRS 157.3175 to require school districts provide a full-day preschool education program for eligible three and four-year-olds; establish eligibility for the program; require that preschool for three year old children continue to be funded through a grant process and preschool programs for four-year-old children be funded under KRS 157.310 to 157.440; require preschool programs to operate on the school district calendar; require transportation be provided; amend KRS 158.031 to include preschool education programs for four-year-old children in the primary school program; amend KRS 157.320 to remove the definition of "kindergarten full-time equivalent pupil in average daily attendance"; amend KRS 157.360 to remove a reference to the kindergarten full-time equivalent; amend KRS 158.030 to include a preschool education program for four-year-old children in the definition of "common school"; remove language allowing kindergarten to operate for less than six hours on a school day; amend KRS 158.060 and 160.1596 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to high school graduation requirements.

Amend KRS 156.160 to allow participation in physically demanding interscholastic athletics, or similar activities, as determined by a local board of education to satisfy physical education course graduation requirements; make technical corrections.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to educators.

Amend KRS 160.160 to authorize a local board of education to establish minimum score requirements for certified positions within the district on specific assessments related to content knowledge, competency in educational practices, or both; require the district include minimum score information in any posts or notices for a related certified vacancy; amend KRS 161.030 to remove successful completion of assessments prior to receiving a teacher certification; amend KRS 161.048, 161.010, and 161.053 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/12/2025 - received in Senate

AN ACT relating to financial literacy.

Amend KRS 158.1411 to require one credit in financial literacy during the eleventh or twelfth grade for students entering grade nine during or after the 2026-2027 school year; direct minimum topics to be covered in the course; direct that the financial literacy course be accepted as a math, social studies, or elective course graduation requirement; require the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission, to determine which courses meet the financial literacy course requirement. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except remove the requirement that the financial literacy course be taken in the 11th or 12th grade; remove the requirement that the financial literacy course be accepted as meeting a math or social studies credit; include instruction on the critical review of documents and the ability to provide a signature in cursive.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/24/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 58)

AN ACT relating to sanctuary policies.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 61 to define terms; prohibit state and local governmental entities from adopting sanctuary policies; require law enforcement agencies to use reasonable resources to support the enforcement of federal immigration law; prohibit policies which would restrict the sharing of information with federal immigration agencies; require compliance with federal requirements when a defendant subject to an immigration detainer has been sentenced in a criminal case; require correctional facilities to provide information regarding the date of discharge to federal immigration agencies and cooperate in the transfer of an inmate to federal custody; require completion of a sentence before an inmate may be transferred to federal custody in cases where the inmate is a violent offender; require a law enforcement agency to provide notice to a judge if a person in their custody is subject to an immigration detainer; require counties to endeavor to enter into agreements with federal immigration agencies regarding the housing of persons in county jails who are subject to immigration detainers; create a rebuttable presumption that a state or local officer who intentionally violates any of the provisions has committed malfeasance and neglect of duty and is subject to impeachment; allow the Attorney General to make findings that a local government has violated the Act; and to withhold road aid funding if the local government willfully violates the Act by refusing to cease a violation; create a private right of action against an official that has adopted a sanctuary policy; waive immunities when a person is injured by a person released as a result of a sanctuary policy; amend KRS 177.360 and 177.366 to require county road aid moneys be suspended upon notice by the Attorney General of willful violations by a local government and reinstated upon notice by the Attorney General of compliance; provide that the Act may be cited as the Lawful Immigration System Act of 2025.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Local Government (H)

AN ACT relating to a deduction for union dues.

Amend KRS 141.019, relating to income tax, to define terms; allow a deduction from gross income for union dues and professional membership dues paid for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2030; amend KRS 131.190 to allow the Department of Revenue to report on the exclusion; make technical changes.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/18/2025 - (H) WITHDRAWN

AN ACT relating to school district use of autonomous vehicles.

Amend KRS 186.763 to prohibit school districts from operating fully autonomous vehicles for transporting students.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to human sexuality instruction in public schools.

Amend KRS 158.1415 to exclude puberty instruction from the prohibition of human sexuality instruction for students in the fifth grade and below; make human sexuality instruction opt-out for parents instead of opt-in.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to child sexual abuse instruction.

Amend KRS 158.1415 to exclude age-appropriate child sexual abuse instruction from the prohibition of human sexuality instruction for students in the fifth grade or lower.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to intranasal epinephrine.

Amend KRS 158.832 to include intranasal epinephrine to list of medications used to treat anaphylaxis; amend KRS 158.836 to include intranasal epinephrine as permissible for schools to keep.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Health Services (H)

AN ACT relating to human growth and development instruction.

Amend KRS 158.1415 to require a school district to adopt health curricula that includes human growth and development instruction that meets specific criteria; set restrictions for the instruction that grants parents an opportunity to review materials and opt their child out of instruction; provide that the Act may be cited as the Baby Olivia Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/12/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school transportation and declaring and emergency.

Amend KRS 189.540 to authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations to require regular instruction of pupils in school bus safety; allow school district to obtain an exemption from any school bus safety instruction requirement if the district transports forty-eight or fewer pupils in the district's gross average daily attendance of transported pupils; require exempted districts to develop and implement a school bus safety instruction policy. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; remove the requirement that the school district request the exemption from the Kentucky Board of Education; require that the safety instruction be provided prior to the use of district-owned school buses; require that failure to implement a mandatory instruction policy be grounds for the Kentucky Board of Education to revoke the school district's exemption. SCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend KRS 189.540 to authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations to govern the operation of passenger vehicles used to transport students that are owned, leased, or privately contracted by school districts; require operators of a passenger vehicle that is owned, leased, or privately contracted by the district to transport students to possess a valid Class D operator's license; amend KRS 156.153 to require the regular inspection of school buses and passenger vehicles, but limit the inspection of non-daily use passenger vehicles to once every three months; EMERGENCY

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 151)

AN ACT relating to school construction.

Amend KRS 158.447 to require local school boards to consult with the Center for School Safety when constructing or renovating school buildings.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/7/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to teachers.

Amend KRS 158.060 to require teachers to be compensated for noninstructional planning time within their school day during which they are required to supervise or instruct students.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to transportation network company services.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 281 to establish procedures and requirements for providers of youth transportation network company services to children under the age of 14; allow school districts to contract with providers of youth transportation network company services for pupil transportation, subject to approval by the student's parent or legal guardian; amend KRS 281.010 to define "youth transportation network company services" or "youth TNC services."

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Transportation (H)

AN ACT relating to school nutrition.

Amend KRS 158.850 to define terms; ban schools from selling or providing ultra-processed foods during the school day.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to students.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 159 to allow the enrollment of a child on a part-time basis in a school district; establish conditions for the part-time enrollment; amend KRS 158.120 to prohibit a district's nonresident pupil policy from discriminating against any pupil on the basis of residential address, abilities, disability, race, ethnicity, sex, or socioeconomic status; require the policy be posted on the district website; prohibit charging tuition to any child; require a board of education to establish policies for a calculation to determine enrollment capacity; establish requirements for a district's nonresident pupil policy; require districts to report to the Kentucky Department of Education numbers related to nonresident pupils and require the department to publish the reports on the department's website, authorize the department to promulgate administrative regulations for nonresident enrollment appeals processes and forms; amend KRS 157.350 and 156.070 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to reemployment after retirement in the Teachers' Retirement System.

Amend KRS 161.605, relating to the Teachers' Retirement System, to remove language requiring superintendents to make every reasonable effort to hire qualified applicants for teaching and nonteaching positions, increase the percentage of retired members that an employer can employ full-time from three percent to 10 percent, increase the number of retired members that a local school district may employ under the critical shortage provision from one percent of total active members employed by the school district or two members to 10 percent or four members, remove Kentucky Virtual High School the list of schools the Department of Education operates, remove the pension waiver program, and make technical changes; amend KRS 156.106 to remove language requiring superintendents to make every reasonable effort to hire qualified applicants for critical shortage areas; direct that current participants in the pension waiver program may continue to participate. SCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend KRS 161.605 to require the system to continue to provide health coverage and benefits to TRS retirees reemployed by an employer who does not participate in a state-administered retirement system except as required by the Medicare Secondary Payer Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 144)

AN ACT relating to teacher professional development.

Amend KRS 158.070 to provide that certified school personnel shall be compensated for professional development activities required outside of the days scheduled in the school calendar or regularly scheduled hours in the school work day.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to teachers.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; establish the prospective educator scholarship; define eligibility for the program; direct the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to administer the program; provide monetary awards for student loan repayment for eligible students who complete qualified teaching service; establish the prospective educator scholarship fund.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to chaplains in schools.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 161 to require school districts and public charter schools to employ a chaplain or accept a chaplain as a volunteer; set eligibility for employed and volunteer chaplains; require that employed and volunteer chaplains submit background checks; amend KRS 160.380 to include a volunteer chaplain as an adult who is required to have a background check; provide that the Act may be cited as the Teachers and School Chaplains Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the display of child labor laws in public schools.

Amend KRS 158.195 to require each public school with students in grades six through 12 to display a printed abstract of certain child labor laws, including limited and prohibited occupations and work hour restrictions for minors; require the information to be posted on the school's website.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to preschool and kindergarten education.

Amend KRS 157.3175 to require school districts provide a full-day preschool education program for eligible three and four-year-olds; establish eligibility for the program; require that preschool for three year old children continue to be funded through a grant process and preschool programs for four-year-old children be funded under KRS 157.310 to 157.440; require preschool programs to operate on the school district calendar; require transportation be provided; amend KRS 158.031 to include preschool education programs for four-year-old children in the primary school program; amend KRS 157.320 to remove the definition of "kindergarten full-time equivalent pupil in average daily attendance"; amend KRS 157.360 to remove a reference to the kindergarten full-time equivalent; amend KRS 158.030 to include a preschool education program for four-year-old children in the definition of "common school"; remove language allowing kindergarten to operate for less than six hours on a school day; amend KRS 158.060 and 160.1596 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to workers' compensation for educators.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 342, relating to workers' compensation, to define "educator;" set out when psychological injuries are valid workers' compensation claims for educators when no physical injury exists; amend KRS 342.0011 to modify definition of "injury" to include certain psychological injuries experienced by educators.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to support systems for English language learners in common schools.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; establish the English learner enhanced support program under the Department of Education to help bring English learners with little or no formal education to grade-level proficiency within three years; require the department to set standards for program, contract with a provider meeting certain standards and with record of success with qualified English learners, identify eligible districts or schools, offer the program to as many students as funds permit, and report to the Legislative Research Commission regarding progress of program; permit KDE to promulgate administrative regulations to administer the program.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to service credit for the Teachers' Retirement System and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 161.500 to allow members of the Teachers' Retirement System to recover up to 10 unpaid days that were missed to observe religious holidays; include the recovered days in count of days worked for service credit; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to children and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 158.1415 to remove provisions related to parental rights and courses, curriculums, or programs on human sexuality, provide for a process for parents to opt out of their child receiving instruction on the subject of human sexuality; amend KRS 158.191 to remove provisions requiring a school obtain parental consent prior to providing health services or mental health services to students; remove language concerning policies to encourage or facilitate conversations between parents and students; remove language limiting Kentucky Board of Education or Department of Education policies regarding student confidential information and the use of pronouns; require a local school district to use pronouns for students that the student requests; amend KRS 158.189 to remove findings and requirements that a local board of education adopt a policy on privacy and the use of student facilities; require a school to provide an accommodation to a students who asserts to school officials that their gender is different from their biological sex that includes the use of facilities designated for the gender of which the students identify; permit alternate accommodations upon the student's request; repeal KRS 311.372, which prohibits treatments to a minor for purposes of attempting to alter the appearance or perception of the minor's sex; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to reading and language arts instruction.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; require the Kentucky Department of Education to establish an approved list of reading curriculum that does not use a three-cueing system; prohibit school districts from using any curriculum that employs a three-cueing system; prohibit the use of a three-cueing system in teacher professional development; require the Educational Professional Standards Board to promulgate administrative regulations establishing curriculum for each approved educator preparation program; amend KRS 164.306 to specify that educator preparation programs shall use evidence-based reading instruction and intervention programs and shall not provide instruction on a three-cueing system; amend KRS 161.028 to require the board to include in the standards set for teacher preparation programs that the programs shall use evidence-based reading instruction and intervention programs and shall not provide instruction on a three-cueing system.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program.

Amend KRS 164.787 to define "adjusted gross income" and limit eligibility for the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program to a workforce student with an adjusted gross income of less than 250% of the median household income in Kentucky.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to full-day kindergarten.

Amend KRS 158.060 to remove language that allows for half-day kindergarten programs; amend KRS 157.320 and 157.360 to remove references to kindergarten full-time equivalent pupils in average daily attendance for program base funding purposes; amend KRS 158.030 to conform; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the governance of the Kentucky School for the Deaf.

Amend KRS 167.017 to set timelines for appointment of a search committee for the superintendent of the Kentucky School for the Deaf and appointment of the superintendent; require prioritization of candidates that will be locally available and commit to full-time duties as superintendent; preclude Department of Education employees or Board of Education members from being appointed as superintendent within one year of employment or membership.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to public charter schools.

Amend KRS 18A.225, 78.510, 156.095, 157.063 158.038, 158.189, 158.196, 158.305, 158.4416, 158.4433, 158.8402, 158.843, 160.152, 160.153, 161.164, 161.220, and 218B.045 to remove references to public charter schools; repeal KRS 160.1590, 160.1591, 160.15911, 160.1592, 160.1593, 160.1594, 160.1595, 160.1596, 160.1597, 160.1598, 160.1599, and 161.141 relating to public charter schools.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education funding integrity.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to define "foreign source"; preclude common schools from receiving funds from the Chinese government, Chinese Communist Party, or agents thereof; require reporting of foreign source funding in common schools; create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to define "foreign source"; preclude public postsecondary education institutions schools from receiving funds from the Chinese government, Chinese Communist Party, or agents thereof; require reporting of foreign source funding in public postsecondary education institutions.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to elementary literacy and making an appropriation therefor.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 171 to establish the Kids Love to Read Program; specify the program is for children in kindergarten through grade five; require books to be sent to children's homes; require the Department for Libraries and Archives to promulgate administrative regulations necessary to administer the program; appropriate $500,000 in fiscal year 2025-2026 to support the program; APPROPRIATION.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to Kentucky educational excellence scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.7881 to extend the expiration of KEES eligibility from five to eight years from high school graduation; amend KRS 164.7884 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to wages.

Amend KRS 337.010 to increase the applicable threshold of employees of retail stores and service industries from $95,000 to $500,000 average annual gross volume of sales for the employer; amend KRS 337.275 to incrementally raise minimum wage of hourly and tipped employees and require adherence to any future federal increase in excess of the new state wage rates; include anti-preemption language permitting local governments to establish minimum wage ordinances in excess of the state minimum wage.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to a deduction for union dues.

Amend KRS 141.019, relating to income tax, to define terms; allow a deduction from gross income for union dues and professional membership dues paid for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, but before January 1, 2030; amend KRS 131.190 to allow the Department of Revenue to report on the exclusion; make technical changes.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to educational cooperatives.

Amend KRS 160.290 to provide that an interlocal cooperative board is an extension school district and all statutes and administrative regulations that apply to school districts extend to interlocal cooperative boards; amend KRS 156.070 to provide that the Kentucky Board of Education has the management and control of interlocal cooperative boards and that the board shall manage interlocal cooperative boards in the same manner and method as the board manages school districts; amend KRS 156.010 to provide that the commissioner of education is responsible for monitoring the management of interlocal cooperative boards; amend KRS 156.200 to provide that the commissioner of education shall receive and examine all KBE reports of interlocal cooperative boards and see that all financial and educational accounts are accurately and neatly kept; amend KRS 158.785 to include inefficiencies in the governance and administration of interlocal cooperative boards in the commissioner’s report on recommendations on the designation of school districts as “state assisted” or “state managed”; amend KRS 156.255 to define "interlocal cooperative board"; amend KRS 156.265 to extend school district audit requirements to include interlocal cooperative boards; amend KRS 156.275 to conform; amend KRS 156.285 to authorize the accountant to access the financial records of interlocal cooperative boards; amend KRS 156.295 to apply the misdemeanor penalty to preventing or obstructing an audit of an interlocal cooperative board to any interlocal cooperative school board officer or employee.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to student health and safety.

Amend KRS 158.162 to define "critical incident," require investigations in emergency plans for critical incidents, and state the goals of the investigations; amend KRS 158.4410 to task the state school security marshal with investigating serious physical injury or death incidents that occur on school property, at school-sanctioned events, or during interscholastic athletic events; create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to outline the parameters of the investigation, require referral of potential criminal charges, and require necessary administrative regulations; amend KRS 72.025 to require the coroner conduct an autopsy in deaths occuring on public or nonpublic school property or during a school-sanctioned event.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/25/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky Program, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency.

Appropriate $26,000,000 in General Fund in fiscal year 2024-2025 to the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) budget unit from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund Account; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to school cooperation with patriotic organizations.

Creates a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define "organization" as a federally recognized patriotic civic service organization that consists of or serves youths; permit an organization to request and require superintendents to provide an opportunity to provide information to students on school property during a school day.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT providing funding and establishing conditions for state government agencies and institutions, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency."

Amend KRS 45.812 to require an agency, corporation, or school district that is authorized to issue a general obligation bond by an appropriation of the General Assembly, or by or on behalf of any Kentucky school district, to report the costs associated with the issuance of the bond to the Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee and the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue. SCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 173, sec. 1 and the State/Executive Branch biennial budget to revise and provide funding for various programs and projects and establish conditions for state government agencies, institutions, and programs receiving funding; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/2/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 159)

AN ACT relating to moral instruction.

Amend KRS 158.200 to detail process by which local boards of education may permit pupils to attend moral instruction; permit individuals or groups offering moral instruction to submit a request to a board and set requirements to be included in request; require superintendents to submit individuals providing transportation or moral instruction for criminal history and CA/N background checks; provide that students attending moral instruction are counted in average daily attendance for SEEK funding; repeal KRS 158.210, 158.220, 158.230, 158.240, 158.250, and 158.260.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to children.

Create new section of KRS Chapter 635 to establish penalties for children who violate KRS 508.075, 508.078, or 508.080; amend KRS 159.170 to prohibit transfer of a student to an at-home private school while certain proceedings are pending.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/6/2025 - floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute

AN ACT relating to local school board student representatives.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to require each local school board to include at least one student representative; require each local school board to adopt a school board student representative policy; set minimum requirements for the school board student representative policy.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to leave from employment.

Amend KRS 337.415 to define terms "crime," "immediate family," and "victim"; prohibit employers from discharging or retaliating against an employee who is a crime victim when the employee takes leave to attend proceedings associated with the prosecution of a crime; require an employee to give an employer reasonable notice to take leave when practicable; provide guidelines for use of paid leave; require the employer to maintain confidentiality of records and communication with employee crime victim; create a private right of action for improper discharge, discrimination, retaliation, and failing to maintain confidentiality; amend KRS 337.990 to establish penalties for violations by an employer.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.---

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to the Teachers' Retirement System.

Amend KRS 161.220 to add certain employees of WeLeadCS to the definition of "member"; allow Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) to promulgate administrative regulations to facilitate payment and collection for purchased service credit, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.230 to allow TRS to establish a title holding company for certain investments; amend KRS 161.250 to specify the deadline for a written appeal of a TRS decision is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.430 to allow agreements for commingled investments or real property to be made in or governed by laws outside of the Commonwealth; amend KRS 161.470 to cease interest accrual on the retirement account of members convicted of a felony related to employment after the date of conviction; amend KRS 161.585 to allow a member appealing denial of disability and the member's legal counsel to have access to all written material submitted by the medical review committee to TRS and make technical changes; amend 161.600 to specify the deadline for changes to a member's retirement application is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.624 to add filing and other deadlines for information the member or beneficiary is responsible for obtaining; amend KRS 161.630 to specify the deadline for electing a new optional plan of payment or for a change of beneficiary shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.635 to make a technical change; amend KRS 161.636 to make a technical change; amend KRS 161.661 to clarify the deadline for filing an application for disability benefits is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process, that failure to provide income and employment verification documentation or submission of false or fraudulent documentation will result in suspension or disqualification from disability benefits, to allow a member and the member's counsel to be entitled to all written recommendations and reports submitted by the medical review committee, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.680 to allow determination of errors resulting in over or underpayment to be determined by the TRS board or staff; repeal KRS 161.553, relating to the funding of past statutory benefits, and amend KRS 56.8605, 58.868, and 161.550 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to immunization policy.

Create a new of section KRS Chapter 164 to allow a student, staff, or faculty member to opt out of a postsecondary school's immunization policy for specified reasons; create a new section of KRS Chapter 214 to prohibit a public entity from creating standardized documentation with the purpose of certifying vaccination status; create a new section of KRS Chapter 336 to require written notice of vaccination exemptions for a sincerely held religious belief or medical contraindication; establish which health care providers can support a medical exemption; require notice of federal mandates and exemptions; establish civil cause of action for violations; amend KRS 214.015 to prohibit the Department for Public Health from releasing personally identifiable information from immunization reports to another public agency or third party; amend KRS 214.034 to prohibit public and private primary and secondary schools and preschool programs from promulgating a new immunization policy and mandating compliance during a school year that has already commenced; and amend KRS 214.036 to allow objection to immunization on the basis of conscientiously held beliefs.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Health Services (H)

AN ACT relating to a sales and use tax holiday.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 139 to establish a three-day sales and use tax holiday during the first weekend in August each year to exempt clothing, which includes diapers, school supplies, school art supplies, computers, school computer supplies, and menstrual discharge collection devices; EMERGENCY; EFFECTIVE May 1, 2025.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/13/2025 - floor amendment (1) filed

AN ACT relating to education and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 158.192 to change the definition of "harmful to minors" and define terms; deem material, performances, events, or programs that are obscene, harmful to minors, or contain obscene imagery representing minors as educationally unsuitable and not age appropriate; require principals to remove student access to materials, programs, or events deemed educationally unsuitable or not age appropriate; modify complaint and appeals timelines; require that principal or local board of education report that a material, program, or event was educationally unsuitable and age appropriate to the educational materials review committee; provide that willful violation be a basis for employee disciplinary action; require local boards of education to adopt policies to prevent educationally unsuitable and not age appropriate material from being introduced into the school library or made accessible on school property; require the Kentucky Department of Education to provide a model policy for excluding matter that is educationally unsuitable and not age appropriate from school libraries; require the Kentucky Board of Education to establish an educational materials review committee to evaluate decisions made locally and provide recommendations to the Kentucky Board of Education on the usage of reported materials, programs, and events; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to teachers.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; establish the future Kentucky teacher scholarship; define eligibility for the program; direct the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to administer the program; provide monetary awards for student loan repayment for eligible students who complete qualified teaching service; establish the future Kentucky teacher scholarship fund.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Postsecondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to student attendance days and declaring an emergency.

Establish a waiver process and eligibility requirements for school districts to be granted credit for student attendance days missed during September 2024 due to dangers posed by criminal activity; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/7/2025 - received in Senate

AN ACT relating to Teachers’ Retirement System benefit funding.

Create a new section of KRS 161.220 to 161.716, relating to the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), to require that once the TRS retiree health fund has an actuarial funding level of at least 100%, then the employer funding for retiree health shall be used to pay down the unfunded liability of the TRS pension fund; require that if the actuarial funding level of the TRS retiree health fund falls below 95%, then the employer funding shall be restored to the retiree health fund until the retiree health fund is 100% funded; amend KRS 161.540, 161.550, and 161.675 to provide that the TRS board of trustees shall not recommend changes to the General Assembly to reduce employee or employer funding for retiree health or reduce board adopted charges under the shared responsibility provisions for health benefits for retirees under the age of 65 until the pension and retiree health funds are each 100% funded; amend KRS 161.420 to conform. SFA (1) Retain original provisions, except to specify that the Teachers' Retirement System shall not recommend changes to the employee or employer contributions to the retiree health fund until the pension and retiree health funds are fully funded.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/28/2025 - delivered to Secretary of State; (Acts Ch. 126)

AN ACT relating to the Medicaid program and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 205.5372 to prohibit the Department for Medicaid Services from making any change to the Medicaid program without authorization from the General Assembly to do so; amend KRS 205.460 and 205.520 to conform; amend KRS 205.5371 to authorize the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to submit a community engagement waiver for able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries without dependents; create a new section of KRS chapter 205 to establish the Kentucky Medicaid rebate sequestration fund as a restricted fund within the Finance and Administration Cabinet, require all money received by the Department for Medicaid Services as rebates from pharmaceutical drug manufacturers to be deposited into the Kentucky Medicaid rebate sequestration fund; amend KRS 205.240 to conform; amend KRS 205.525 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to submit a copy of any waiver renewal application to the Legislative Research Commission concurrent with submission of the application to a federal agency; repeal, reenact, and amend KRS 205.6328 to establish reporting requirements for the Department for Medicaid Services and Medicaid managed care organizations; create a new sections of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services to retain beneficiaries' data for at least 7 years after the beneficiary is disenrolled from the Medicaid program; require the Department for Medicaid Services and managed care organizations to cover up to 100 units of psychoeducational services per Medicaid beneficiary per year; create a new section of KRS chapter 194A to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to notify the Legislative Research Commission of any anticipated barriers to implementing Medicaid-related legislation; direct the Department for Medicaid Services to reinstate all prior authorization requirements for behavioral health services that were in place on January 1, 2020; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to procure new Medicaid managed care contracts with an effective date of no later than January 1, 2027; direct Medicaid managed care organizations to collaborate on the development of a behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment services scorecard; require behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment services scorecard to be accessible by the public on each managed care organization's website no later than December 31, 2025; EMERGENCY. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except delete requirement for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to obtain authorization from the General Assembly prior to making changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates and provisions designating funds deposited into the Kentucky Medicaid pharmaceutical rebate fund as unappropriated; and establish that the requirement for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to obtain authorization from the General Assembly prior to making changes to the Medicaid program shall not apply to directed or supplemental Medicaid payment programs approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services prior to the effective date of this Act or to the Medicaid preferred drug list established by the Department for Medicaid Services; direct the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to submit a waiver application to establish a community engagement program for certain Medicaid beneficiaries within 90 days after the effective date of this Act; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to provide a copy of the community engagement waiver application to the Legislative Research Commission and to update the Legislative Research Commission on the status of the application at least quarterly; establish that moneys in the Kentucky Medicaid pharmaceutical rebate fund at the close of state fiscal years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 shall not lapse and shall carry forward; include KRS 142.361 in the list of providers taxes and assessments to be reported to the Legislative Research Commissions; increase the number of units of psychoeducational services that the Department for Medicaid Services and managed care organizations are required to cover and provide reimbursement for from 100 to 400; increase the number of units of psychoeducational services allowed per day from one to four; establish that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services is authorized to make any change to eligibility, coverage, or benefits in the Medicaid program provided for in 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 173, sec. 1(186) and 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 175, Part I, G., 3., b.; make technical corrections; EMERGENCY. SCS (2) Retain original provisions, except delete Medicaid coverage limitations for psychoeducational services; establish that changes to the Medicaid program necessitated by requirements imposed by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or related to payment programs for university hospitals shall be exempt from the requirement that the change be authorized by the General Assembly; amend KRS 205.5371 to establish that the community engagement program shall be a mandatory waiver program; locate the Kentucky Medicaid pharmaceutical rebate fund in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services instead of the Finance and Administration Cabinet; establish that moneys in the Kentucky Medicaid pharmaceutical rebate fund shall be expended in accordance with federal law; create new sections of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services to monitor utilization rates and expenditures for behavioral health and substance use disorder services and to report to the Legislative Research Commission on any service for which the utilization rate or expenditures increase by more than 10 percent over the previous calendar year; establish that any managed care organization that failed during state fiscal year 2025-2026 to comply with 2024 Ky Acts ch. 175, Part I, G., 3., a., (2) and b., (7) be ineligible for a new Medicaid managed care contract; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to develop a behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment services scorecard to be used by all contracted Medicaid managed care organizations; create various new sections of KRS Chapter 7A to establish the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Board, the board's membership, and duties.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/27/2025 - delivered to Secretary of State; (Acts Ch. 110)

AN ACT relating to health education.

Repeal and reenact KRS 158.1415 to require each school district to provide healthy relationship education instruction to all public school students; establish minimum requirements for the instruction; establish minimum requirements for the healthy relationship curricula and instructional materials; prohibit a school or school district from restricting the ability of an instructor to answer a question related to the instruction; require that a school make the healthy relationship curricula and instructional materials available upon the request of a parent or guardian and establish a procedure for a parent or guardian to opt a student out of the instruction; require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations necessary to implement, administer, and enforce this section; require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations requiring that each school district submit a report on healthy relationship instruction in the district biennially; require the Kentucky Department of Education to maintain a list of recommended healthy relationship curricula and instructional materials; permit a parent or guardian to file an enforcement action in Circuit Court; provide that the Act may be cited as the Education for Healthy Youth Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to communications with elected officials.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 61 prohibiting public entities from requiring, compelling, or incentivizing program participants to communicate with elected officials with a specific political message.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

AN ACT relating to school counselors and making an appropriation therefor.

Appropriate necessary funds to the SEEK Program budget unit to provide financial assistance to local school districts for employment of school counselors; APPROPRIATION.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to gender.

Create a new section to KRS Chapter 2 to officially recognize that a person has only one gender, male or female.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Health Services (H)

AN ACT relating to interscholastic extracurricular activities.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to authorize participation in a public school interscholastic extracurricular activity by an at-home private school student; establish criteria for participation; require a parent, guardian, or teacher of an at-home private school student participating in a public school interscholastic activity to verify the student's academic progress; declare a public school student who does not make academic progress at a public school and withdraws and enters an at-home private school program ineligible for participation in an interscholastic activity for the remainder of the school year; provide that the Act may be cited as the Play Fair Kentucky Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school resource officers.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to exempt from state and local excise, sales, and use taxes food, food ingredients, prescription drugs, residential utilities, and on-farm utilities; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT establishing the School Supplies for Kentucky Teachers program.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 157 to define terms; establish the School Supplies for Kentucky Teachers Program to provide eligible classroom teachers with financial and technical support in purchasing school supplies; authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to adopt policies and promulgate administrative regulations necessary to administer the program; require the Kentucky Department of Education to enter into contracts for an online commerce platform and to identify online school supplies vendors for the program; provide that the Act may be cited as the School Supplies for Kentucky Teachers Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to eliminating nontraditional instruction.

Amend KRS 158.070 to remove the authorization for nontraditional instruction.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to salaries for school administrators.

Amend KRS 160.350 to require, beginning July 1, 2025, any new or renewal contract of a superintendent shall include a provision to review and adjust the total salary paid and benefits provided at the end of every two contract years; limit the total salary and benefits of a school district superintendent to three times the median Rank I salary on the school district's salary schedule if no less than 50 percent of students in the district are proficient or above, and to two times the median if less than 50 percent are proficient or above; provide that no limit to the superintendent salary applies if 75 percent or more students are proficient or above; create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to require, beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, the limitation of salary paid to administrator positions using criteria similar to that established for the superintendent; amend KRS 157.350 to provide that in order to be eligible to receive support education excellence in Kentucky funds a school district must compensate all administrators in accordance with the provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of this Act and ensure that the annual aggregate administrator salaries for the district do not exceed ten percent of the total district budget; amend KRS 156.070 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to limits on government spending and taxation.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to create spending limits and restrictions on imposing new taxes, tax rate increases, fees, or extension of expiring taxes.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)

AN ACT relating to school mapping.

Amend KRS 158.442, 39G.010, and 158.4443 to require that administration of the School Mapping Data Program be the responsibility of the Office of Homeland Security instead of the Center for School Safety.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection (H)

AN ACT relating to school personnel.

Amend KRS 161.155 to require school districts to provide a teacher or other employee leave with no loss of income or benefits for 60 school days following an assault against the teacher or employee that results in a physical injury; specify the terms of the leave; require the school district to pay for mental health services of the teacher or employee's choosing during the leave period; amend KRS 158.150 to require a local board of education to adopt a policy requiring expulsion when a student physically assaults or batters school personnel; provide that the policy may permit case-by-case modifications with the consent of the victim; permit the safety of school personnel to be a factor in issuing suspensions and expulsions of primary school students; amend KRS 158.155 to require school employees to report threats or plans of violence towards school personnel; include battery and abuse resulting in injury as acts to be reported; remove the requirement that a physical injury be serious to be reported; remove penalties; amend KRS 158.990 to provide penalties for intentional violations of KRS 158.155.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to virtual programs and declaring an emergency.

Define "virtual program", place an enrollment cap on virtual programs for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year and the entirety of the 2025-2026 school year; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to school buildings.

Amend KRS 162.055 to allow school property to be utilized for teacher and employee housing; create a new section of KRS Chapter 162 to permit school boards or school district finance corporations to use land currently owned or newly leased to provide affordable housing options for teachers and school employees.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to student health.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to authorize a superintendent or principal to request assistance from a local health department to implement a health curriculum, comply with statutory program requirements, or provide additional health programming for students; provide example programs a local health department may offer; require instruction and programming provided in partnership with a local health department be subject to the curricular requirements of KRS 160.345.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/11/2025 - (H) recommitted to committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT amending the 2024-2026 State/Executive Branch biennial budget, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency.

Amend the 2024-2026 State/Executive Branch biennial budget to stipulate that no unbudgeted Federal Funds can be allotted or expended without the express authority of the General Assembly and that no unanticipated, unappropriated Federal Funds received after January 1, 2025, can be expended without the express authority of the General Assembly; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Appropriations & Revenue (H)

AN ACT relating to lawsuits affecting the Commonwealth.

Amend KRS 12.210 to allow the Governor to participate in litigation to defend or vindicate only those matters particular to his or her office; require all other litigation matters affecting the Commonwealth to be under the purview of the Attorney General.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force.

Establish the Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force; establish duties and membership; direct the task force to study optimal governance models for the Kentucky School for the Deaf, including by a possible independent board of education.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

A JOINT RESOLUTION authorizing the release of funds.

Authorize the Office of State Budget Director to release certain awards from the School Facility Assistance Fund. HCS (1) Retain the original provisions, except amend the amounts for Bardstown Independent and Harrison County schools; APPROPRIATION. SCS (1) Retain the original provisions, except amend the amounts that the Office of State Budget Director is authorized to release for certain school districts.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 155)

A JOINT RESOLUTION relating to contingent appropriations.

Declare that the General Assembly does not authorize the contingent appropriation moneys to establish an Innovations in Early Childhood Education Delivery Grant Program.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/13/2025 - (S) Returned to Committee Senate Appropriations & Revenue (S)

A JOINT RESOLUTION directing a report on the transfer processes in interscholastic athletics.

Direct the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to submit a report to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, 2025, concerning student-athlete transfers and eligibility and making recommendations to improve the process.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/7/2025 - received in Senate

A JOINT RESOLUTION limiting the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to participate in litigation only pertaining to interest particular to his or her office.

Limit the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to participate in litigation only pertaining to the interests of his or her office; declare that only the Attorney General may bring or participate in litigation in federal court on behalf of the Commonwealth; authorize the Attorney General to enforce this Resolution.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House State Government (H)

A RESOLUTION encouraging Kentucky schools to acquire anti-choking devices.

Encourage Kentucky schools to acquire anti-choking devices.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Primary and Secondary Education (H)

AN ACT relating to public schools.

Amend KRS 160.346 to include identification as a state intervention school when a school enters comprehensive support and improvement status and does not make annual improvement for two years or does not exit the status after three years; create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to define "state intervention school"; require the identification of state intervention schools with the 2027-2028 school year; establish the procedures for identification; require the commissioner of education to take management of the state intervention school and develop an intervention plan to the Kentucky Board of Education for approval; establish the authorities of the commissioner of education over the state intervention school; establish the criteria for a school to exit status as an state intervention school; create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to establish a procedure for a local board of education to submit a waiver request to the Kentucky Board of Education to waive a statute or administrative regulation; set the terms and limitations of a waivers; authorize the identification of schools of innovation and establish parameters for the status; establish procedures for the renewal of approved waivers; provide the conditions and procedure for rescinding waivers by the state board; authorize the promulgation of administrative regulations to adopt necessary forms and procedures to process waiver requests; amend various sections to conform; repeal KRS 156.108 and 160.107; provide that the Act may be cited as the School Improvement and Innovation Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/28/2025 - (S) Returned to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky Program.

Amend KRS 157.320 to include costs paid on behalf of districts in the definition of "Support Education Excellence in Kentucky"; define "distributable cost" and "on-behalf cost"; amend KRS 157.330 to include appropriations of on-behalf costs in the fund to support education excellence in Kentucky; amend KRS 157.360 to provide for the calculation of total cost of the program to support education excellence in Kentucky to include on-behalf costs and distributable costs; provide for the calcuation; provide for the determination of on-behalf costs; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2026. SCS (1) Delete original provisions; amend KRS 157.320 to define "fringe benefit costs"; amend KRS 157.330 to include expenditures paid by the state in the fund to support education excellence in Kentucky; amend 157.360 to include fringe benefit costs in the factors to adjust each district's base funding level and prohibit those funds from being distributed to the districts; create a new section of KRS 157.310 to 157.440 to require all reports published or distributed by the Kentucky Department of Education related to the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky program disbursements to districts include specific information about factors; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/28/2025 - (H) Posted for Passage in Regular Orders of the Day; HCS 1, HFA 1

AN ACT relating to teacher benefit provisions and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 161.155 to require school districts to establish a policy by July 1, 2030, to provide up to 30 days maternity leave to each teacher and employer who gives birth; require school districts to pay the actuarial costs of sick leave to the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) for future sick leave accruals in excess of 12 days each year; provide that the state will pay the actuarial costs for sick leave accrued as of June 30, 2025, plus up to 12 days accrued each year after June 30, 2025; provide that actuarial costs for sick leave for associations and agencies listed under KRS 161.220(4)(d) and (f) will be paid by the employer rather than the state; require each school district to annually report sick leave balances to TRS beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and specify contents of the report; amend KRS 161.400 to require TRS to annually report in the annual actuarial valuation the total liabilities and costs of the sick leave program created by KRS 161.155 and the annual leave program created by KRS 161.540(1)(f); amend KRS 161.643 to include new sick leave reporting requirements in the annual statutory reporting requirements for TRS employers; provide that the Auditor of Public Accounts shall perform a special audit of the sick leave program to ensure sick leave balances and costs are being reported correctly for the TRS, to determine if any entities are being provided retirement coverage in the system through participating employers listed in statute, and to require the system to pay the costs of the audit; EMERGENCY. SFA (1) Retain original provisions; require the Auditor of Public Accounts to audit the annual leave program. SFA (2) Amend to provide that maternity leave provisions in the bill will not limit a school district from providing additional paid maternity or parental leave; EMERGENCY HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except provide that the state will pay the actuarial costs for sick leave accrued as of June 30, 2025, plus up to 13 days accrued each year after June 30, 2025; amend KRS 161.220 to add certain employees of WeLeadCS to the definition of "member"; allow the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) to promulgate administrative regulations to facilitate payment and collection for purchased service credit, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.230 to allow TRS to establish a title holding company for certain investments; amend KRS 161.250 to specify the deadline for a written appeal of a TRS decision is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.400 to require the TRS's consulting actuary to provide a breakdown of actuarial liabilities by each participating employer in the annual actuarial valuation; amend KRS 161.430 to allow agreements for commingled investments or real property to be made in or governed by laws outside of the Commonwealth; amend KRS 161.470 to cease interest accrual on the retirement account of members convicted of a felony related to employment after the date of conviction; amend KRS 161.585 to allow a member appealing denial of disability and the member's legal counsel to have access to all written material submitted by the medical review committee to TRS and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.600 to specify the deadline for changes to a member's retirement application is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.624 to add filing and other deadlines for information the member or beneficiary is responsible for obtaining; amend KRS 161.630 to specify the deadline for electing a new optional plan of payment or for a change of beneficiary shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process; amend KRS 161.643 to include new sick leave reporting requirements in the annual statutory reporting requirements for TRS employers; amend KRS 161.636 to make a technical change; amend KRS 161.661 to clarify the deadline for filing an application for disability benefits is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court or appeal process, that failure to provide income and employment verification documentation or submission of false or fraudulent documentation will result in suspension or disqualification from disability benefits, to allow a member and the member's counsel to be entitled to all written recommendations and reports submitted by the medical review committee, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.680 to allow determination of errors resulting in over or underpayment to be determined by the TRS board or staff; amend KRS 56.8605, 58.868, and 161.550 to conform; repeal KRS 161.553, relating to the funding of past statutory benefits.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/31/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 138)

AN ACT relating to retiree health provisions of the County Employees Retirement System.

Amend KRS 78.5536, relating to the County Employees Retirement System, to increase the nonhazardous and hazardous duty under age 65 retiree health subsidy to $40 and $50 per month for each year of service, respectively, for those members who meet the "career threshold" who began participating in the system on or after July 1, 2003, and who are eligible for a fixed-dollar retiree health subsidy not tied to the premium; extend the employee contribution used to fund retiree health benefits to include members who began participating in the system on or after July 1, 2003, and increase the current hazardous employee contribution rate to 2% of pay for those eligible for the fixed-dollar retiree health subsidy; make technical amendments regarding the retiree health premium reimbursement program to conform to current policy; provide that the amendments to the employee contributions shall be effective July 1, 2026; for calculation of the retiree health subsidy increase, provide that the change shall apply to service earned prior to the effective date of this Act by eligible members, including retirees, and shall prospectively be adjusted annually by the 1.5% increase currently provided in statute; provide that subsidies payable to impacted retirees shall begin on or after January 1, 2026, to coincide with the next health plan year; direct the Public Pension Oversight Board to continue to review the retiree health fund actuarial data and evaluate potential legislative options to address any future continued improvements in the funds; RETROACTIVE.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/19/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 37)

AN ACT relating to wages.

Amend KRS 337.010 to increase the applicable threshold of employees of retail stores and service industries from $95,000 to $500,000 average annual gross volume of sales for the employer; amend KRS 337.275 to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour; include anti-preemption language permitting local governments to establish minimum wage ordinances in excess of the state minimum wage.

  CURRENT STATUS

1/9/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Appropriations & Revenue (S)

AN ACT relating to permitted uses of time during the school day.

Amend KRS 158.175 to require moments of silence or reflection at the start of each school day and establish guidelines. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend KRS 158.200 to detail the process by which local boards of education are authorized to permit pupils to attend moral instruction; require individuals or groups seeking to provide moral instruction to submit a request to a board and establish requirements to be included in request; require superintendents to submit individuals providing transportation or moral instruction for criminal history and clear CA/N background checks; establish that students attending moral instruction are counted in average daily attendance for SEEK funding; repeal KRS 158.210, 158.220, 158.230, 158.240, 158.250, and 158.260.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/27/2025 - delivered to Secretary of State; (Acts Ch. 111)

AN ACT relating to bus safety.

Amend KRS 156.153 to define "danger zone"; direct the Department of Education to consider requiring the installation of school bus sensors and interior cameras on new school buses purchased on or after July 1, 2026; direct the department to promulgate administrative regulations; require the department to submit a report on the availability and effectiveness of school bus sensors to the Legislative Research Commission by June 30, 2026; amend KRS 156.990, 160.380, and 189.540 to conform; amend KRS 281.635 to encourage cities to install safety sensors in city buses; provide that part of the Act may be cited as Ally's Law.

  CURRENT STATUS

1/9/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Transportation (S)

AN ACT relating to school bus safety.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; allow the use of camera monitoring systems on school buses operated by a school district, and allow the enforcement of a civil penalty for stop arm camera violations recorded by a camera monitoring system; set the amount of the civil penalty; provide that the revenue generated from a civil penalty shall be retained by the school district; allow a law enforcement agency to charge a fee of $25 from every civil penalty enforced by the law enforcement agency; require specific notice for a stop arm camera violation; establish defenses to a violation; establish procedures for a contest to a violation; allow for suspension of motor vehicle registration for failure to timely pay a penalty; require a school district or law enforcement agency to notify the Transportation Cabinet of the need to release a motor vehicle registration suspension within one business day of payment; amend KRS 189.990 to increase the maximum fines for failing to stop for a school or church bus that is receiving or discharging passengers; amend KRS 189.370 to require traffic in the opposite direction of a school or church bus to stop for the bus on a highway that is not divided by an elevated barrier or unpaved median. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except remove the definition of "owner" and delete provisions that allowed a law enforcement agency to charge a fee of $25 from every penalty enforced by the law enforcement agency from a stop arm camera violation; amend KRS 189.990 to increase the maximum fines for failing to stop for a school or church bus that is receiving or discharging passengers and direct the first $300 of each penalty to the school district where the offense occurred for the specific purpose of purchasing, installing, and maintaining camera monitoring systems on school buses; amend KRS 186.763 to prohibit school districts from operating fully autonomous vehicles for transporting students; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2026. HCS (1) Delete all provisions; create new sections of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; allow the use of camera monitoring systems on school buses operated by a school district and allow the enforcement of a civil penalty for stop arm camera violations recorded by a camera monitoring system; establish the amount of the civil penalty; require that the revenue generated from a civil penalty be retained by the school district; allow a law enforcement agency to charge a fee of $25 from every civil penalty enforced by the law enforcement agency; require specific notice for a stop arm camera violation; establish defenses to a violation; establish procedures for a contest to a violation; allow for suspension of motor vehicle registration for failure to timely pay a penalty; require a school district or law enforcement agency to notify the Transportation Cabinet of the need to release a motor vehicle registration suspension within one business day of payment; amend KRS 189.990 to increase the maximum fines for failing to stop for a school or church bus that is receiving or discharging passengers; amend KRS 189.370 to require traffic in the opposite direction of a school or church bus to stop for the bus on a highway that is not divided by an elevated barrier or unpaved median. HFA (2) Retain original provisions; require that the Transportation Cabinet send a notice via certified mail with restricted delivery of a suspension of motor vehicle registration for non-payment of a civil penalty for a stop arm camera violation.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/28/2025 - (S) PLACED IN THE ORDERS OF THE DAY; for Concurrences or Nonconcurrence in HCS 1, HFA 2

AN ACT relating to Kentucky educational excellence scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.7879 to increase the Kentucky educational excellence scholarship base amount for each eligible grade point average; increase the supplemental award amounts; require a supplemental award for eligible Cambridge Advanced International scores; amend KRS 164.7882 to increase the award amount for an eligible student enrolled in a comprehensive transition and postsecondary program; amend KRS 164.7874, 164.7881, 164.7884, and 164.7885 to conform; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2025.

  CURRENT STATUS

1/9/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to school meals at low-income schools.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; establish the Kentucky Proud School Match Program fund; establish the Kentucky Proud School Match Program; direct the Department of Education to reimburse an eligible school district $0.33 for every meal reimbursed by the community eligibility provision at the paid rate; require a school district that receives a reimbursement to develop and implement a Kentucky Proud school plan to identify and purchase available Kentucky-grown agricultural products and to optimize food usage; direct the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations necessary to carry out this section; provide that the section shall be null and void if the community eligibility provision is terminated by the United States Department of Agriculture; provide that the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Proud School Match Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

1/9/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Appropriations & Revenue (S)

AN ACT relating to workplace harassment.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 338 to define "political matters" and "religious matters"; require an employer to post notice of employees' rights; provide an employer shall not subject or threaten to subject any employee to discipline or discharge for refusal to attend employer-sponsored meetings to communicate employer's opinion concerning religious or political matters or listen to speech or view communications of which the primary purpose of which is to communicate the employer's religious or political matters; permit an employee to bring a civil action to enforce the provisions of this Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

1/9/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Judiciary (S)

AN ACT relating to restoring religious liberty.

Amend KRS 446.350 to define terms; outline appropriate relief if the statute is violated; apply to laws adopted before or after the effective date; include severability clause; waive sovereign and governmental immunity. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except remove claims for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and compensatory damages; establish that exclusively for purposes of this Act, sovereign and governmental immunity are waived.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/7/2025 - (H) Referred to Committee House Judiciary (H)

AN ACT relating to local school boards.

Amend KRS 160.180 to remove the definition of "relative"; remove prohibition for local school board eligibility for individuals directly or indirectly interested in sales for which school funds are expended; prohibit employees of the board from being eligible for local school board membership; remove prohibition that a local school board candidate have no relative employed by the district; provide that board members may be removed from office after election for becoming an employee of the board, failure to abstain from board votes in which they have an interest, or for violation of the board's code of ethics; amend KRS 160.290 to require each local school board to create a board code of ethics; provide that a code of ethics cannot prohibit relatives of board members from being employed by the school district.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/4/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT proposing to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to property exempt from taxation.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to exempt for homeowners who are 65 years of age or older any increase in the valuation of their permanent residence and contiguous real property that is assessed after the later of the year the homeowner turned 65 or the year the homeowner purchased the property; require the exemption to be in addition to the exemption provided in Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky and notwithstanding Sections 171, 172, and 174 of the Constitution of Kentucky; apply the exemption to increases in valuation that occur after the date the amendment is ratified by the voters; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/21/2025 - received in House

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 158.645 to change the required learning capacities of Kentucky public school students; amend KRS 158.6451 to provide that schools shall expect a high level of academic achievement and shall develop students' ability to think critically and independently; amend KRS 156.010 to include career and technical education; amend KRS 160.345 to remove the reporting requirement relating to physical activity of students; amend KRS 157.065 to remove the reporting requirement relating to participation in breakfast programs; amend KRS 424.250 to reflect that school boards are tax levying authorities and do not file budgets with the county clerk; require district budgets to be published in the same manner as school financial reports; repeal KRS 157.061 and 158.856. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except amend KRS 424.250 to remove new language and restore existing language relating to budget advertisements for school districts; require each district to publish a copy of the budget to the district's website. SFA (1) Amend KRS 158.4414 to change effective date of Kentucky guardian program in school districts to the 2026-2027 school year. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; restore the reporting requirement relating to physical activity of students in KRS 160.345.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/25/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 86)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 161.028 to allow for a designee of the chief academic officer of an independent not-for-profit college or university to serve as a member of the Education Professional Standards Board. SCS (1) Amend KRS 161.028 to allow the head of an educator preparation program of an independent, nonprofit college or university to serve as a member of the Education Professional Standards Board. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; amend KRS 164.295 to establish performance criteria for a comprehensive university to submit a proposal for a new doctoral program; establish criteria for the Council on Postsecondary Education to consider when reviewing a proposal for a new doctoral program submitted by a comprehensive university; require that the comprehensive university be responsible for the specialized resources necessary to evaluate a proposal for a new doctoral program submitted by a comprehensive university; require that the proposed program be included in the council's budget request for the next biennial budget; require the council to review the proposal and issue a recommendation to the General Assembly on the proposal; require the council to review any new program approved at least once every five years; require that a new doctoral program would not require this process to be followed if the program would not require additional general fund appropriations; include instructions for how programs studied under 24 RS SJR 170 should be handled; include that the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky doctoral degree program approval process should be consistent. HFA (1) Retain original provisions; provide additional performance criteria for a comprehensive university to submit a proposal for a new doctoral program based on regional performance.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/19/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 33)

AN ACT relating to KEES scholarships for students attending noncertified schools.

Amend KRS 164.7874 to include an equivalent score on the Classic Learning Test as a KEES supplemental amount; define "eligible noncertified school graduate"; amend definitions of "KEES award," "KEES award maximum," and " KEES base amount" for an eligible noncertified school graduate; amend KRS 164.7879 to establish an equivalent grade point average for eligible noncertified school graduates based on the graduate's ACT score; amend KRS 164.7881 and 164.7884 to conform. SCS (1) Retain original provisions, except remove an equivalent score on the Classic Learning Test from the definition of "ACT score".

  CURRENT STATUS

2/26/2025 - received in House

AN ACT relating to children.

Amend KRS 158.1415 to remove provisions related to parental rights and courses, curriculums, or programs on human sexuality; provide for a process for parents to opt out of their child receiving instruction on the subject of human sexuality; amend KRS 158.191 to remove language limiting Kentucky Board of Education or Department of Education policies regarding student confidential information and the use of pronouns; require a local school district to use pronouns for students upon a request from a parent along with a note from a medical provider diagnosing the child with gender dysphoria; remove language concerning parental consent for well-being questionnaires or assessments or a health screening; amend KRS 158.189 to make findings about children and young adults desiring individual privacy; require a school to provide an accommodation to any student who requests an area of individual privacy in restrooms, locker rooms, and shower rooms, regardless of biological sex or gender identity; require school officials to provide an accommodation for individual privacy for children whose gender is different from his or her biological sex and who have a note from a medical provider diagnosing the child with gender dysphoria; permit alternate accommodations upon the parent's request; amend KRS 311.372 to prohibit surgical or medical treatment of a child under the age of 18 years for gender dysphoria, and any nonsurgical medical treatment without the consent of the child's parent or legal guardian; require that the provision of nonsurgical medical treatment to a child under the age of 18 years apply only to a child with a medical diagnosis from a mental health care provider and by a trained and experienced health care provider in collaboration with a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist using only appropriate nonsurgical medical treatments approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for adolescents and that meet evidence-based medical standards.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/6/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to civil rights.

Amend KRS 344.010 to define terms; amend KRS 344.020, relating to the purpose of the Kentucky's civil rights chapter, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.025, 344.040, 344.050, 344.060, 344.070, and 344.080, relating to prohibited discrimination in various labor and employment practices, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.100 and 344.110 to conform; amend KRS 344.120 and 344.140, relating to prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.170, 344.180, 344.190, 344.300, and 344.310, relating to the state and local human rights commissions, to include prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the scope of their powers and duties; amend KRS 344.360, 344.370, 344.380, and 344.680, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain housing, real estate, and other financial transactions, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.367, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain insurance sales, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; amend KRS 344.400, relating to prohibited discrimination in certain credit transactions, to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; make various technical amendments; amend KRS 18A.095 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/6/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Judiciary (S)

AN ACT relating to state holidays and declaring an emergency.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 2 to designate June 19 through July 4 as "Civic Season" in the Commonwealth; amend KRS 2.110 to add the nineteenth day of June as a state holiday commemorating Juneteenth National Freedom Day; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/7/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate State & Local Government (S)

AN ACT relating to sex-based classifications.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 61 to define "boy," "equal," "female," "girl," "male," "man," "sex," and "woman"; prohibit any state or local law, regulation, ordinance, or policy from treating males or females unfairly from similiarly situated members of the opposite sex, but permit separation of the sexes if in the interest of maintaining safety, privacy, and fairness; provide a non-exhaustive list of examples of areas in which public entities may distinguish between the sexes; require any public school, public school district, state agency, department, local government, special district or any political subdivision of those entities that collects vital statistics to identify each person as either male or female; provide that the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Women's Bill of Rights.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/11/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.070 to require child dependency, neglect, and abuse information to be included in any interscholastic athletics participation consent form; require any training for interscholastic athletics administrators and coaches to include information about mandatory reporting duties for child dependency, neglect, and abuse. HCS (1) Retain original language; prohibit pupils in grade seven and eight from participating in high school varsity lacrosse for boys and coed teams; amend KRS 158.195 to require each public school with students in grades six through 12 to display a printed abstract of certain child labor laws, including limited and prohibited occupations and work hour restrictions for minors; require the information to be posted on the school's website.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/24/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 73)

AN ACT relating to school governance.

Amend KRS 160.350 to require a majority vote instead of a four-fifths vote of board members to remove the superintendent; delete requirements for approval from the commissioner of education to remove a superintendent; amend KRS 160.180 to remove the relative employee eligibility requirement for candidates for the local board of education; require a local board member obtain at least one hour of open records and open meetings training per term; amend KRS 160.160 to establish a one-year term for chair and vice chair of the local board of education; require superintendents to submit reports on closed personnel investigations to the local board of education for the purposes of policy oversight and evaluation of the superintendent's performance; amend KRS 160.210 to establish new numbers for membership of a local board of education based on district enrollment; require the Kentucky Board of Education to determine the required number of members every 10 years; provide for the election of additional members and for the reduction of membership; require local boards of education to report new electoral divisions to the Kentucky Board of Education and the Legislative Research Commission; amend KRS 160.200 and 116.200 to conform; require the Kentucky Board to make initial determinations of board size by December 31, 2025 and local boards to conduct required division changes; require superintendents to submit reports on previous investigations closed during the superintendent's contract to the local board of education within 30 days of the effective date of this Act.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/13/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to English language learners.

Amend KRS 157.360 to require that English language learners receive an additional factor of 0.24 in a school districts average daily attendance for the program to support education excellence in Kentucky, beginning with the 2026-2027 school year; amend KRS 160.1596 to conform.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/14/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to employment.

Amend KRS 336.130 to delete references restricting rights of public employees to organize, associate collectively, or strike; amend KRS 336.180 to redefine "labor organization" and delete definitions of "candidate," "committee," "contributing organization," "contribution," "election," "electioneering communications," "employer," "fundraiser," "independent expenditure," "political activities," "public employee," "slate of candidates," and "testimonial affair"; amend KRS 336.990 to conform; amend KRS 67A.6904 to allow urban-county governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 67C.406 to allow consolidated local governments to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 70.262, 78.470, and 78.480 to remove exceptions; amend KRS 345.050 to allow public employers to make an agreement with a labor organization to require membership in the organization as a condition of employment; amend KRS 336.1341 and 336.135 to conform; repeal KRS 65.016, 336.132, and 336.134.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/18/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate State & Local Government (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to education and declaring an emergency.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; prohibit a school district, public school, or cooperative board from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; prohibit the Kentucky Department of Education, a school district, a public school, or a cooperative board from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion; prohibit the department, a school district, a public school, or a cooperative board from soliciting statements on an applicant's experience with or views on religion, race, sex, color, or national origin, from providing differential treatment or benefits to an individual based on the individual's participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion training, and from disseminating or profiting from any research, work product, or material that promotes or justifies discriminatory concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion; establish exclusions; authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel the department, a school district, a public school or a cooperative board to comply; create a cause of action to permit a qualified individual to file a civil action against a the department, a school district, a cooperative board, or a public school for injunctive relief arising from a violation of this Act; permit recovery of monetary damages for a willful and intentional violation; waive sovereign, governmental, and qualified immunity; prohibit retaliation; require each public school district and cooperative board to provide the State Treasurer the name, job title, duty station, and compensation information of each employee of the school district or cooperative board each month for publication; amend KRS 161.030 to require certain certification applicants to complete an approved professional development program on Kentucky education law; amend KRS 158.4416 and 158.4414 to conform; require school districts and cooperative boards to follow designated procedures when implementing this Act including termination or transfer of certain employees; require the Kentucky Department of Education to eliminate the Division of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and follow designated procedures when implementing this Act including termination or transfer of certain employees; EFFECTIVE, in part, February 1, 2026; EMERGENCY.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/18/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to protection of children.

Amend KRS 620.130 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Judiciary (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Amend KRS 156.690 to insert gender-neutral language.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to children.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to define terms; direct each local board of education to designate on or more programs or applications as a traceable communication system that shall be the exclusive means for school district employees and volunteers to communicate electronically with students; provide that a parent may submit written consent for a designated school district employee or volunteer to communicate electronically with a student outside of the traceable communication system; exclude communications between a parent that is a school district employee or volunteer and his or her own children; establish a mandatory duty to report violations for school employees and volunteers; require principals, superintendents, and the commissioner of education to notify parents of allegations of unauthorized electronic communication involving their children; require principals, superintendents, and the commissioner of education to report alleged violations to the Educational Professional Standards Board (EPSB); require principals, superintendents, the commissioner of education, and EPSB to investigate designated allegations of unauthorized electronic communication; establish the methods of disciplinary action for a violation; amend KRS 161.120 to provide that the identity of complainants alleging unauthorized electronic communication, sexual contact, or other sexual misconduct that are dismissed and minors invovled in the complaint to remain confidential; provide that EPSB will have 120 days to conduct the initial review of complaints alleging unauthorized electronic communication, sexual contact, or other sexual misconduct. SFA (1) Retain original provisions and require each principal to provide parents written or electronic notification within the first ten (10) days of the school year of each electronic school notification and communication program designated within the traceable communication system. HCS (1) Retain original provisions, except define "family member"; require an investigation if a report alleges a school or district volunteer participated in unauthorized electronic communication; exclude family members from the requirement for consent by a parent for electronic communication; amend KRS 158.1415 to exclude age-appropriate child sexual abuse instruction from the prohibition of human sexuality instruction for students in the fifth grade or lower; amend KRS 620.040 to establish a timeline to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to physically locate a child who has been reported to be at risk of harm or an immediate safety concern; amend KRS 605.120 to require that the report by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services that tracks and analyzes data on relative and fictive kin caregiver placement be done annually and posted to the cabinet website for public access.

  CURRENT STATUS

4/1/2025 - SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; (Acts Ch. 149)

AN ACT relating to public health.

Amend KRS 212.190 to make a technical correction.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/19/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Health Services (S)

AN ACT relating to workers' compensation.

Amend KRS 342.0011, relating to workers' compensation, to expand the definition of " injury" to include a diagnosis of class 2 or greater post-traumatic stress disorder from a death or threatened death by direct exposure or witnessing a death, threat of death, or its immediate aftermath; define "medical professional"; amend KRS 342.020 to allow an administrative law judge to rely upon objective medical opinions or data when determining medical benefits; require a carrier or a third-party administrator to provide the guidelines relied upon to deny medical treatment and provide the guidelines to the employee and medical provider; provide that the requirement for the medical provider to submit a statement for services within 45 days after treatment does not apply until after the injured worker and the medical provider have received notification from the employer, insurer, or medical payment obligor that the claim has been determined to be compensable, or there has been an initial determination of compensability by an administrative law judge; require the notice of compensability to advise the injured worker and the medical provider of necessary information regarding the process by which and the location where statements for services shall be sent; entitle a prevailing employee in a medical fee dispute to attorney's fees and permit the employee to submit a bill of costs to be considered by the administrative law judge; amend KRS 342.033 to expand "physician" to include all "medical professionals"; amend KRS 342.035 to prohibit a medical provider from seeking payment when a statement for services was submitted more than 45 days after the treatment date; amend KRS 342.125 to allow an administrative law judge to reopen and review any award or order for post-award request for vocational rehabilitation; add entitlement to rehabilitation to reasons a claim may be reopened more than four years after the original award date; amend KRS 342.276 to require the commissioner to promulgate regulations requiring parties to demonstrate attempts have been made to reach a settlement; amend KRS 342.281 to provide that after an order on reconsideration has been rendered, subsequent petitions for reconsideration shall not toll the time to appeal unless the petition for reconsideration is filed to correct a patent error in the order; amend KRS 342.310 to provide that if an administrative law judge determines a medical dispute was filed frivolously or for the purpose of harassment by an employer, its third-party administrator, or the responsible insurer, attorney's fees may be assessed and the administrative law judge may fine the employer no less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000 to be paid to the employee; amend KRS 342.315 to add the University of Pikeville to the medical schools that the commissioner shall contract with to evaluate workers; delete "physicians" and insert "medical professionals" who are qualified as "B" readers in cases involving coal workers' pneumoconiosis and occupational hearing loss; add audiologists to the medical professionals who may perform hearing loss evaluations; amend KRS 342.316 to delete "physician" and insert "medical professional" as being required provide at least one written medical report in filing occupational disease claims; delete "physician" and insert "medical professional" as to interpret X-rays; delete "physicians" and insert "medical professional" as qualified as "B" readers in cases involving coal workers' pneumoconiosis; amend KRS 342.320 to delete "physicians" and insert "medical professionals" fees which are subject to approval of an administrative law judge; require the commissioner to promulgate administrative regulations establishing a schedule of fees that may be charged by court reporters for services rendered; amend KRS 342.730 to prohibit temporary total and permanent total disability from being offset by unemployment insurance benefits; amend KRS 342.794 to delete "physicians who are licensed in the Commonwealth" and insert "medical professionals" in the definitions of "B" reader list; delete "physician" and insert "medical professionals" in the '"B' reader" and "Board-certified pulmonary specialist"; amend KRS 342.122 to require the special fund assessment rate to be sufficient to finance the administration, operation, and expenditures when the claim liabilities are fully funded or prefunded; amend KRS 342.610 to include when a legal or illegal intoxicating substance is knowingly introduced into the employee's body, liability for compensation shall not apply to the injury, occupational disease, or death to the employee, if the intoxicating substance is determined to be the proximate cause of the employee's injury, occupational disease, or death.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Judiciary (S)

AN ACT relating to campaign finance.

Amend KRS 121.015, relating to campaign finance, to define terms; create new sections of KRS Chapter 121 to establish reporting and record retention requirements for political issues committees and persons making independent expenditures; prohibit political issues committees from knowingly and willfully soliciting or accepting contributions from prohibited sources; establish certification requirements for treasurers of political issues committees and donors making contributions and independent expenditures; define activity that creates a presumption of a violation; prohibit foreign nationals from making a donation, contribution, or expenditure, soliciting another person to make a donation, contribution, or expenditure, or participating in another person's decision to influence a ballot measure; establish a cause of action for accepting or soliciting contributions from prohibited sources and failing to certify, report, or retain records; establish a right of privacy in donations to tax-exempt organizations; establish a penalty for a state or local governmental entity, court, or officer of the court that violates the right of privacy; amend KRS 121.190 to require a "paid for by" disclosure for advertisements advocating or opposing a ballot measure.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate State & Local Government (S)

AN ACT relating to education.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to establish a procedure for a local board of education to submit a waiver request to the Kentucky Board of Education to waive a statute or administrative regulation; set the terms and limitations of a waivers; authorize the identification of schools of innovation and establish parameters for the status; establish procedures for the renewal of approved waivers; provide the conditions and procedure for rescinding waivers by the state board; authorize the promulgation of administrative regulations to adopt necessary forms and procedures to process waiver requests; amend various sections to conform; repeal KRS 156.108 and 160.107; provide that the Act may be cited as the School Innovation Act. HCS (1) Retain original provisions; create a new section of KRS 156.395 to 156.476 to direct KDE to create an instructional materials depository and outline requirements; define terms; establish the State Quality Curriculum Task Force; set membership and responsibilities of task force and instructional materials reviewers; require school districts to adopt and use high quality instructional materials and programs from the state-approved list; permit chief state school officer to purchase instructional materials for distribution to public school students; require the Education Professional Standards Board to require teacher preparation programs to align curriculum with state's academic standards; make conforming amendments and repeals; EFFECTIVE, in part, July 1, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/27/2025 - delivered to Secretary of State; (Acts Ch. 113)

AN ACT relating to compulsory attendance.

Amend KRS 159.030 to create an exemption for compulsory attendance in school for a child who is at least 16 years old and has obtained a High School Equivalency Diploma.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/27/2025 - floor amendment (1) filed

AN ACT relating to the governance of the Kentucky School for the Deaf.

Amend KRS 167.017 to set timelines for appointment of a search committee for the superintendent of the Kentucky School for the Deaf and appointment of the superintendent; require prioritization of candidates that will be locally available and commit to full-time duties as superintendent; preclude Department of Education employees or Board of Education members from being appointed as superintendent within one year of employment or membership.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to interscholastic athletics.

Amend 160.445 to require the Kentucky Board of Education or an agency designated to manage interscholastic athletics to include psychological concerns in the student athlete in sports safety courses for coaches.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Education (S)

AN ACT relating to autonomous vehicles.

Amend KRS 186.763 to extend the requirement for a human driver on a fully autonomous commercial vehicle in excess of 62,000 pounds from July 31, 2026 to July 31, 2031; prohibit school districts from using fully autonomous vehicles as school buses or to transport students; amend KRS 186.779 to allow units of local government to impose conditions on autonomous vehicle operation within their jurisdictions; amend KRS 186.766 and 281.655 to increase all insurance minimum requirement amounts from $1 million to $5 million for both personal and commercial vehicles.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/18/2025 - Introduced

AN ACT relating to scholarships.

Amend KRS 164.769 to remove repayment obligations from the teacher scholarship program; amend scholorship terms; provide that the scholarship amount shall not exceed the highest in-state tuition rate for a teacher preparation program at a Kentucky public university; amend KRS 164.786 to add eligibility for high school freshmen and sophomores to the dual credit scholarship program; require an approved dual credit course to be in the statewide general education core; permit up to 20 dual credit courses in a teacher and learning career pathway; provide that scholarships shall be awarded in order of application date; revise scholarship to allow two career and technical dual credit courses in each academic year of high school and two general education dual credit courses in the grades 11 and 12; amend KRS 164.787 to conform; repeal KRS 164.771, relating to the Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness Pilot Program, effective June 30, 2026; provide that funds appropriated to the Teacher Recruitment Student Loan Forgiveness Pilot Program shall be disbursed through the teacher scholarship program on and after June 30, 2026; EFFECTIVE, in part, June 30, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

2/20/2025 - (S) Referred to Committee Senate Appropriations & Revenue (S)

AN ACT relating to virtual education.

Prohibit the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Board of Education, and the Kentucky Department of Education from establishing or implementing, or requiring a school district to implement, any cap, limitation, or restriction on enrollment for a virtual program; prohibit the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education from reducing or withholding any funds due to a school district from the fund to Support Education Excellence in Kentucky based on the district's operation of a virtual program; sunset prohibitions on June 30, 2026.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/5/2025 - (S) Passed Over and retained in the Orders of the Day

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force.

Establish the Kentucky School for the Deaf Governance Task Force; establish duties and membership; direct the task force to study optimal governance models for the Kentucky School for the Deaf, including by a possible independent board of education.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/12/2025 - (S) SECOND READING, to Rules

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Efficient and Effective Districts Task Force.

Direct the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Efficient and Effective Districts Task Force; outline task force duties; require the task force to submit any recommendations and changes the task force may adopt by December 1, 2025; establish membership; require the task force to meet once per month; require the Legislative Research Commission to provide needed staff.

  CURRENT STATUS

3/12/2025 - (S) SECOND READING, to Rules