Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 194A to create the homelessness prevention fund to be administered by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services for continuum of care funds; specify eligible uses and eligible entities; amend KRS 198A.027 to allow appropriations to be used for homeless initiatives; appropriate $2,000,000 from the budget reserve trust fund to the homelessness prevention fund; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

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.

Maddy summaryHB 350 requires cemetery owners (excluding private family plots) in Kentucky to maintain burial grounds by keeping them free of weeds, debris, and displaced tombstones. It mandates protection against desecration, vandalism, or misuse (like dumping), with exceptions for damage caused by criminal acts. City governments within their limits can enforce these maintenance standards on all public or private cemeteries. Private cemetery owners must build protective structures only if their county has a cemetery board that reimburses related costs.

Maddy summaryHB 353 updates Kentucky's veteran benefits statute (KRS 40.050) to replace gendered terms like "his or her" with gender-neutral language. This change affects how the law describes veterans and their beneficiaries in official records and payments, but it does not alter any benefit amounts, eligibility rules, or payment limits. The bill directly impacts all veterans receiving benefits under this statute and their surviving beneficiaries, ensuring the language aligns with modern inclusive standards. No policy changes to benefits or eligibility are made - only the wording of the law is updated.

Amend KRS 431.066 to limit the use of money bail to certain high-risk defendants and create a preventive detention process for defendants of select risk levels and charge types; create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to establish a preventive detention hearing process and define the limited circumstances in which money bail may be imposed; amend various other sections to conform; repeal KRS 431.021, relating to guaranteed arrest bond certificates.

Repeal and reenact KRS 65.870 to allow local governments to enact ordinances regulating firearms, ammunition, components of firearms and ammunition, and firearms accessories; amend KRS 65.1591 and 237.115 to conform.

Amend KRS 527.010 to define "assault weapon," "bump stock," and "machine gun"; create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to establish the offense of possession of an assault weapon as a Class D felony; provide exceptions; create a new section of KRS Chapter 527 to establish the offense of possession of a machine gun; provide exceptions; create a new section of KRS Chapter 237 to allow a person who lawfully owns an assault weapon before the effective date of the Act to apply to the commissioner of the Department of Kentucky State Police for a certificate of possession; amend KRS 237.104 to conform.

Create a new section of KRS 227.200 to 227.400 to require an owner, seller, or lessor to have functional smoke detectors in all existing single-family and multifamily residential units; require a seller or lessor to verify compliance in an affidavit prior to transfer or tenancy of property; direct that seller or landlord may be subject to a civil penalty for violation; exempt real estate licensees from liability.

The Governor's recommended State/Executive Branch Budget: Detail Part I, Operating Budget; detail Part II, Capital Projects Budget; detail Part III, General Provisions; detail Part IV, State Salary/Compensation, Benefit, and Employment Policy; detail Part V, Funds Transfer; detail Part VI, General Fund Budget Reduction Plan; detail Part VII, General Fund Surplus Expenditure Plan; detail Part VIII, Road Fund Budget Reduction Plan; detail Part IX, Road Fund Surplus Expenditure Plan; detail Part X, Phase I Tobacco Settlement; and detail Part XI, Executive Branch Budget Summary; detail Part XII, Appropriations from the Budget Reserve Trust Fund; APPROPRIATION.