Kentucky Bills

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 11, 2026

HB 556: AN ACT relating to family care leave.

Amend KRS 337.010 to define "committed relationship," "family care leave," "family member," "health care provider," "same employer," and "serious health condition"; create a new section of KRS Chapter 337 to prohibit employers from refusing to grant a qualified employee family care leave; entitle an employee to family care leave for the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child or to take care of a family member and establish parameters; amend KRS 337.990 to establish penalties for violations by any person.

Topics ✓ Labor & Employment

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 11, 2026

HB 560: AN ACT relating to funding school districts that have a high percentage of tax-exempt property.

Amend KRS 45.021 to require the Finance and Administration Cabinet to contract with each local board of education of a district that has 65% or more in tax-exempt real property and that does not receive financial relief from other sources for the tax revenue lost from the tax-exempt property, to provide for recoupment to the board of at least 25% of the local board of education's lost tax revenue from the tax-exempt properties.

Topics ✓ Budget & Taxes ✓ Education

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 11, 2026

HB 559: AN ACT relating to data privacy, portability, and interoperability.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 367 to establish consumer rights relating to social media and artificial intelligence data; define terms; require social media companies and model operators to implement data interoperability interfaces; establish requirements for data sharing between social media services and artificial intelligence systems; grant rulemaking authority to the Attorney General, along with the Consumers' Advisory Council, and enforcement authority to the Office of the Attorney General; provide for civil penalties: provide that the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Digital Choice Act.

Topics ✓ Technology

in committee · Kentucky · Senate Feb 11, 2026

SJR 90: A JOINT RESOLUTION designating the Melvin Ferrell Memorial Highway in Pike County.

SJR 90 is a commemorative resolution designating a specific 4.8-mile segment of KY-194 in Pike County (from mile markers 67.3 to 72.1) as the "Melvin Ferrell Memorial Highway." It requires the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to erect appropriate signage within 30 days of the resolution's effective date. The bill directly affects the highway corridor in Pike County and honors Melvin Ferrell, a longtime local miner and deputy sheriff. This is a procedural resolution with no policy changes beyond the highway naming.

in committee · Kentucky · Senate Feb 11, 2026

SB 188: AN ACT relating to railroad safety.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 174 to establish a state rail safety inspection program; establish the Railroad Transportation Advisory Board; establish the board's membership and duties.

Topics ✓ Transportation

in committee · Kentucky · Senate Feb 11, 2026

SB 184: AN ACT relating to education reporting.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to require the Kentucky Board of Education to establish a statewide system of oversight and compliance monitoring for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; specify the required components of the system; amend KRS 156.070 to require the Kentucky Board of Education to establish a system for reporting allegations of misconduct by employees of any agency designated for the management of interscholastic athletics and the requirements of the system.

in committee · Kentucky · Senate Feb 11, 2026

SCR 96: A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION reestablishing the Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task Force to study preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, risk assessment, infrastructure resilience, and planning for natural disasters that impact the Commonwealth.

Direct the Legislative Research Commission to reestablish the Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task Force to study disaster mitigation, infrastructure resilience, and planning for natural disasters that impact the Commonwealth; require the task force to submit recommendations to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, 2026.

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 11, 2026

HB 557: AN ACT relating to correctional services.

Amend KRS 441.005 to define "restricted custody center" and make technical changes; create new sections of KRS Chapter 441 to require the Department of Corrections to promulgate administrative regulations providing the minimum standards for holdover facilities; require the Department of Corrections to contract with a fiscal court of a county or local or regional correctional authority to provide correctional services to state prisoners; allow prisoners being held for a nonviolent or nonsexual misdemeanor conviction to be housed in a restricted custody center; require jailers to get permission from the Department of Corrections before transferring a Class C or Class D felon to another jail unless required by statute or an emergency exists; establish the regional jail authority construction fund, and establish requirements for the Department of Corrections to submit a list of regional jail construction projects to the Legislative Research Commission; establish the regional jail conversion fund and establish requirements for receiving grant funds; amend KRS 431.215 to require the Commonwealth to pay a county a fee per day based on the county's actual costs to house prisoners for the time the prisoner was held before a conviction if the sentence the prisoner receives in whole or in part includes the amount of time served prior to judgment; amend KRS 441.025 to allow counties to contract with the Department of Corrections to house state prisoners and operate holdover facilities; amend KRS 441.045 to require the Commonwealth to pay counties for the costs of providing health services to prisoners the county is responsible for; amend KRS 441.420 to require the Department of Corrections to pay for architectural plans and engineering services associated with any tentatively approved construction of a local correctional facility; amend KRS 441.430 to allow a regional jail authority to receive tentative approval for new regional jail construction; amend KRS 441.520 to specify the rate that a jail that receives a transferred inmate can charge the originating jail; amend KRS 441.810 to require that the jailer of each county within a regional jail authority be a member of the board; amend various sections to conform.

Topics ✓ Criminal Justice

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 10, 2026

HB 548: AN ACT relating to informed consent for medical examinations.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 216 to define terms; prohibit a health care provider from performing a pelvic, rectal, or prostate examination without the informed consent of the patient or the person authorized to make health care decisions for the patient; provide for certain exceptions including a court order; require violators to be subject to discipline by the appropriate professional licensing board or accrediting agency.

Topics ✓ Healthcare

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 10, 2026

HB 543: AN ACT relating to the use of experimental treatments for life-threatening or severely debilitating illness.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit a manufacturer operating within an eligible facility to make available to an eligible patient an individualized investigational drug, biological product, or device; permit the manufacturer to provide the individualized investigational drug, biological product, or device or require the patient to cover the costs; provide that if a patient dies while being treated his or her heirs are not liable for costs; provide that health care provider licensing boards may not take actions against licensees for their recommendations relating to an individualized investigational drug, biological product, or device; provide that official attempts shall not be made to block an eligible patient's access to an individualized investigational drug, biological product, or device; prohibit private actions against a manufacturer of an individualized investigational drug, biological product, or device that has exercised reasonable care in accordance with this section; preclude any conclusion that health insurance coverage is required or that hospitals are required to provide new or additional services.

Topics ✓ Healthcare

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 10, 2026

HB 544: AN ACT relating to data centers.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 278 to define terms; prohibit a retail electric supplier from providing service to a data center customer that has a total aggregated customer contract capacity of greater than 100 megawatts unless the Public Service Commission has approved a tariff or contract for the service that includes certain minimum requirements; exempt a data center customer that has an electric service agreement for more than 100 megawatts of existing load prior to the effective date of the Act; prohibit the commission from approving a tariff unless all capital and operating costs for new infrastructure to serve the data center are assigned to the data center customer and that the costs for shared benefits for the new facilities are allocated proportionally and will not have any greater adverse impact on other customer classes than if the data center had not connected to the system; provide that the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Ratepayer Protection Act.

in committee · Kentucky · House Feb 10, 2026

HB 550: AN ACT relating to reproductive health services.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to define terms; provide rights related to access to contraception; create private right of action; create a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to require health benefit plans to provide coverage for contraception; amend KRS 304.17A-099 to exclude contraception from cost defrayal requirements; require health benefit plans to provide coverage for long-acting reversible contraception administered during a postpartum hospital stay; amend KRS 164.2871, 205.522, 205.6485, and 18A.225 to require self-insured employer group health plans provided by the governing board of a state postsecondary institution to its employees, Medicaid, the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program, and the state employee health plan to comply with the new section on contraceptive coverage; amend KRS 446.350 to provide that nothing in the new section on contraceptive coverage shall be construed to violate section; create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver to offer family planning services to certain low-income individuals; require the cabinet to report annually; create a new section of KRS Chapter 315 to allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptives; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to seek federal approval if they determine that such approval is necessary; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes as required under KRS 205.5372(1); include provisions for cost defrayal requirements; direct that provisions apply to health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027.

Topics ✓ Healthcare

Bill results