Rep. Sarah Stalker

Propose to amend Section 25 of the Constitution of Kentucky to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances, including as punishment for a crime; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.

Amend KRS 387.530, relating to determination of disability and appointment of a guardian or conservator, to create additional requirements for petition; amend KRS 387.580 to add specific findings to be made at a hearing; amend KRS 387.600 to make recognition of the respondent's power of attorney discretionary; amend KRS 387.620 to create additional requirements for petition; clarify procedure for an informal request; require jury trials to modify an order; specify that an order may include visitation arrangements and limitation of the ward's ability to enter into a contract; amend KRS 387.640 and 387.660 to specify duties of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services if that cabinet is a guardian or limited guardian; provide that the Act may be cited as the Conservatorship Advocacy to Remove Exploitation (C.A.R.E.) Act.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 337 requiring employers to give employees a good-faith schedule of hours to be worked, to have a voluntary standby list of employees who wish to work additional hours, to post weekly schedules at least seven days in advance, and to provide certain rest periods for employees from being scheduled; allow employees to identify time limitations for scheduling work hours; require compensation for employer changes to the schedule; set forth unlawful practices; amend KRS 337.990 to establish a penalty for violations.

Amend KRS 141.019 to establish an exclusion for amounts contributed to a Kentucky Saves account for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, but before January 1, 2029; create a new section of KRS Chapter 141 to establish the parameters for the Kentucky Saves exclusion and Kentucky Saves tax credit; require the Department of Revenue to report annually on the exclusion and tax credit; amend KRS 141.0205 to provide ordering of the tax credit; and amend KRS 131.190 to allow the Department of Revenue to report on the exclusion and tax credit.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 237 to require an owner or custodian of a firearm to store the firearm in a safe storage depository or to render the firearm incapable of being fired using a gun-locking device; require an owner or other person lawfully in possession of a firearm or any person who sells ammunition to report the loss or theft of the firearm or ammunition to a law enforcement agency.

Appropriate $95 million from the budget reserve trust fund in fiscal year 2023-2024 to fund one-time supplemental payments on July 1, 2024, to recipients of a retirement allowance from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) and the State Police Retirement System (SPRS); specify that the one-time supplemental payment shall be equal to the monthly payment received by the recipient in the month of June 2024; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 278 to create winter and summer temperature standards for disconnection of service by retail electric and gas utilities; allow resumption of disconnection only after a 72-hour period during which the temperature standard is exceeded; establish a certificate of need for persons who are at risk if utility service is disconnected that can be provided by a physician, physician assistant, community-based service organization, or faith-based service organization; prohibit disconnection of service on holidays and weekends and before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. on weekdays; allow for reconnection of service for partial payment with a payment plan; require waiver of termination fees, reconnection fees, and late fees for customers having obtained a certificate of need; require utility to make reasonable effort towards reestablishing service for a customer terminated after having obtained a certificate of need but no more than 24 hours after repayment is commenced; require separate, written notice 14 days prior to a disconnection to residential household; require that notice be distinguishable from the regular billing notices; establish font size and typeset for material to be printed on the notice; require a hardship reconnection order for persons at risk who have had service terminated by the utility after meeting specific repayment requirements; require the Public Service Commission to issue an order setting forth any applicable rules and procedures.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services and any managed care organization with whom the department contracts for the delivery of Medicaid services to provide coverage for certified professional midwifery services that are provided by a licensed certified professional midwife; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to seek federal approval if such approval is deemed necessary.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; 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; APPROPRIATION.

Create a new section of KRS 16.505 to 16.652 to change the retirement benefits for members participating in the State Police Retirement System (SPRS) or in a hazardous position in either the Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) or County Employees Retirement System (CERS) who are hired after January 1, 2014, but before January 1, 2025, so that, in lieu of continued participation in the hybrid cash balance plan (Tier 3 benefits), these members receive the benefits provided to members in a hazardous position who began participating immediately prior to January 1, 2014 (Tier 2 benefits); for those eligible hazardous employees, create a presumption that service credit in a hazardous position earned after January 1, 2014, is service credit earned immediately prior to January 1, 2014; for eligible hazardous members transitioning to Tier 2, require that accumulated contributions in the hybrid cash balance plan remain in the member’s account, but any employer credit be transferred to the retirement allowance account; allow a member in a hazardous position subject to a change from Tier 3 to Tier 2 benefits to make a one-time election to opt out of the change of benefits within 30 days; establish exclusions; amend KRS 16.576, 16.577, 16.578, 16.582, 61.546, 51.552, 61.597, 61.615, 78.5512, 78.5514, 78.5524, 78.5528, and 78.616 to grant to members in a hazardous position who begin participating after January 1, 2025, or whose participation is presumed under Section 1 to begin immediately prior to January 1, 2014, the same benefits provided to members whose participation began immediately prior to January 1, 2014 (Tier 2 benefits), including death and disability benefits, benefit factors and service credit that includes service credit for unused sick leave, and eligibility for early retirement and service purchases; make technical corrections; amend KRS 16.583 and 78.5516 to limit the hybrid cash balance plan (Tier 3 benefits) only to members participating in SPRS or in hazardous positions in KERS or CERS who make an election to opt out of Tier 2 benefits under Section or who make an election, prior to the effective date of the Act, under KRS 61.5955; amend KRS 61.5955 to provide that only a member in a nonhazardous position who began participating in KERS or CERS as a Tier 2 member may elect to receive Tier 3 benefits in the hybrid cash balance plan in lieu of Tier 2 benefits; amend KRS 16.505, 61.510, and 78.510 to amend definitions of various terms to conform and make technical changes; amend KRS 16.560, 61.575, and 78.640 to allow interest credited on the accounts of members participating in SPRS or in a hazardous position in KERS or CERS to be adjusted to conform; amend KRS 61.592 and 78.5520 to exempt only hazardous members who opt out of receiving Tier 2 benefits from eligibility for an employer payment to convert nonhazardous service to hazardous service; amend KRS 61.680 to require that a member who is eligible under Section 1 and who has nonhazardous service credit as a Tier 3 member of either KERS or CERS to have his or her nonhazardous and hazardous service consolidated to determine eligibility and benefits; amend KRS 78.545 to add Section 1 as one of the provisions that shall be administered for the CERS in the same manner as for the KERS.