Sen. Steve Rawlings

Amend KRS 405.075 to change the definition of "newborn safety device" related to the continuous staffing requirement.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 216B to define "freestanding birthing center"; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to promulgate updated administrative regulations to establish licensure standards for freestanding birthing centers, including requiring accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, compliance with the American Association of Birth Centers' Standards for Birth Centers, and consistent plans for transfer and safe transport to a hospital as needed, and to delineate medical malpractice insurance requirements for centers; exempt a center with no more than four beds from certificate-of-need requirements for establishing and licensing a freestanding birthing center; state intent not to limit or expand liability of a center or health care provider or facility; add requirement for medical malpractice insurance for freestanding birthing centers; prohibit abortions in freestanding birthing centers; amend KRS 216B.015 to include freestanding birthing centers in the definition of "health facility"; amend KRS 216B.020, 196.173, 211.122, 211.647, 211.660, 213.046, 214.155, 214.565, 214.567, 214.569, 216.2920, and 216.2970 to conform; provide that the Act may be cited as the Mary Carol Akers Birth Centers Act.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 532 to define "violent felony" and enhance sentencing for a person convicted of a third violent felony; prohibit probation, parole, or other form of release for a person who commits a crime using a weapon that is stolen, defaced, loaded with restricted ammunition, or otherwise violates state law; amend KRS 610.070 to require a parent, legal guardian, or custodian to be present at court proceedings involving a child in the juvenile justice system; create a new section of KRS Chapter 610 to establish penalty; amend KRS 507.020 to expand offense of murder; amend KRS 507.030 to expand offense of manslaughter in the first degree; amend KRS 507.040 to expand offense of manslaughter in the second degree; amend KRS 218A.1412 to provide increased penalties for certain trafficking offenses; create a new section of KRS Chapter 515 to create a new offense of carjacking; amend KRS 512.020 and 512.030 to lower the threshold for criminal mischief in the first degree to $500; amend KRS 149.410, 506.160, and 525.220 to conform; amend KRS 520.050 to enhance promoting contraband to a Class B felony if the dangerous contraband is fentanyl, carfentanil, or a fentanyl derivative; amend KRS 16.220 to allow purchase of a confiscated firearm by a person who bids under the condition that they not take possession of the firearm, but instead leave it with the Department of Kentucky State Police for destruction; prohibit government agencies from purchasing the firearm; make technical corrections; create new sections of KRS Chapters 511, 198A, and 65 to establish the offense of criminal street camping and provide exceptions; amend KRS 503.080 to conform; amend KRS 202C.050 to reduce requirements to find a person subject to involuntary commitment pursuant to KRS Chapter 202C; amend KRS 186.417 to include felony offenders released from county jails and local correctional facilities among those who may be issued personal identification cards or operator's licenses under certain conditions; amend KRS 431.510 to define terms; prohibit any charitable bail organization from posting bail in excess of $5,000; prohibit any charitable bail organization from posting bail for any offense of domestic violence and abuse or dating violence and abuse, and for any offense under a civil court order or warrant under KRS 222.430 to 222.437; establish that any bond ordered forfeited following a new criminal offense shall be distributed to the victim of the new offense; require publication of records and annual reporting to the General Assembly; create new section of KRS Chapter 507 to create the offense of murder of a first responder and establish penalties; amend KRS 506.010 to conform; amend KRS 532.025 to include the murder of first responders as an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty; amend KRS 532.036 to allow restitution following a conviction for Murder of a first responder; amend KRS 439.320 to provide that members of the Parole Board shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor, that panels of the board shall consist of not less than three and not more than six members, and that all members of the panel must agree on a decision or the matter shall be referred to the full board; amend KRS 439.330 to require that parole be granted upon a two-thirds vote of the full board; amend KRS 433.236 to limit liability for shopkeepers; amend KRS 439.3401 to add a person who has been convicted of or entered a plea of guilty to a Class B felony violation of KRS 520.050 to the definition of "violent offender" and to include carjacking and attempted murder in the list of violent offenses; amend KRS 508.075 and 508.078, relating to terroristic threatening, to include any workplace or any gathering of 3 or more persons; amend KRS 524.040 to include harassing communications as conduct constituting intimidation of a participant in the legal process; amend KRS 439.340 to allow the Parole Board to order participation in a specific violence reduction program as a condition of parole; amend KRS 533.030 to allow a court to require participationin a specific violence reduction program as a condition of probation or conditional discharge; amend KRS 403.763 and 456.180 to enhance a second or subsequent violation of an order of protection within a five-year period to a Class D felony; amend KRS 500.080 to include family members, members of an unmarried couple, and persons in a dating relationship, in application of a particular definition of serious physical injury; amend KRS 514.020 to reduce the time required to establish prima facie evidence of theft by deception of rented or leased property that is not returned to the owner from 10 days to four days; amend KRS 196.031 to require the annual report to also include the percentage of offenders who commit new offenses within two years; amend KRS 520.095 to enhance fleeing or evading police in the first degree to a Class C felony; provide that the defendant shall not be released on probation, shock probation, conditional discharge, or parole until he or she has served at least 50 percent of the sentence imposed; amend KRS 520.100 to enhance fleeing or evading police in the second degree to a Class D felony; amend KRS 532.110 to provide sentences for two or more felony sex crimes shall run consecutively; provide that the defendant shall not be released on probation, shock probation, conditional discharge, or parole until he or she has served at least 50 percent of the sentence imposed; amend KRS 158.155 to require school employees to report certain enumerated crimes to law enforcement; repeal KRS 512.040, which establishes the crime of criminal mischief in the third degree and KRS 158.154, which deals with discipline in schools; EFFECTIVE, in part, August 1, 2025.

Amend KRS 30A.145 to require that each circuit clerk prepare, on the first Tuesday of each month, a list of all persons who were excused from jury duty for not being a United States citizen; create a new section of KRS Chapter 116 to require the Secretary of State, in cooperation with the State Board of Elections, to issue a comprehensive status report regarding voter registration records cleanup and maintenance on or before July 1 each year; establish information to be included in the report; require that the report be issued to the Legislative Research Commission and made available to the public on the Secretary of State's and State Board of Elections' official websites; require that persons only be contacted about their voter registrations by mail; provide that anomalies and discrepancies may be reported via a publicly available web link; amend KRS 116.113 to require that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services provide a lifetime copy of the Kentucky death records to the State Board of Elections on or before February 1 each year; require the State Board of Elections remove from voter registration records the name of a person who has been excused from jury duty for not being a United States citizen; amend KRS 116.0452 to conform.

Amend KRS 15.243 to require that the Attorney General or his or her designee randomly select at least one ballot scanner and one race tabulated on that scanner for a hand-to-eye recount, which fulfills the requirement for a risk-limiting audit; require that the hand-to-eye recount be performed by each county clerk or his or her designee; establish the process for the hand-to-eye recount; amend KRS 117.383 and 117.295 to conform.

Amend KRS 213.141 to establish that a homeless individual as defined in KRS 198A.700 or a homeless individual under the age of 25 does not have to pay a fee to get a copy of his or her birth certificate.

Amend KRS 15A.190 to require the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet to include crimes involving childhood sexual assault or abuse in the JC-3 form; amend KRS 17.500 to include distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor in the definition of "sex crime"; amend KRS 413.249 to remove the statute of limitations for civil actions arising from childhood sexual assault or abuse; require every civil action arising from childhood sexual assault or abuse to be accompanied by a motion to seal the record; amend KRS 439.3401 to include possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor in the definition of "violent offender"; amend KRS 510.060 to enhance the penalty to a Class C felony if the person is in a position of authority or position of special trust and the victim is under 12 years old; amend KRS 510.090 to enhance the penalty to a Class C felony if the person is in a position of authority or position of special trust and the victim is under 12 years old; amend KRS 510.155 to enhance the penalty of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to a Class C felony; enhance the penalty to a Class B felony if the minor or perceived minor is under 12 years old, the offender is a person is in a position of authority or position of special trust, the offender is a registered sex offender, or a person travels into the Commonwealth for the purpose of procuring or promoting the use of a minor; amend KRS 529.100 to enhance the penalty for human trafficking to a Class B felony, unless the victim is a minor, in which case it is a Class A felony; amend KRS 529.110 to enhance the penalty for promoting human trafficking to a Class C felony unless the victim is a minor, in which case it is a Class B felony; amend KRS 531.010 to include computer-generated image, picture, or motion picture in the definition of "matter"; make technical corrections; amend KRS 531.300 to define "child sex doll" and "traffic"; create new sections of KRS 531.310 to 531.370 to prohibit the possession, trafficking, importing, and advancing of a child sex doll; amend KRS 531.340 to enhance the penalty for distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor to a Class C felony if the victim is under 18 years old and a Class B felony if the victim is under 12 years old; amend KRS 532.060 to require a person who has been convicted of a violation of KRS 529.100, 529.110, 531.320, 531.335, or 531.340 to serve five years of postincarceration supervision; amend KRS 532.200 to redefine "violent felony offense" as an offense that would classify a person as a violent offender under KRS 439.3401; make technical corrections.

Create a new section of KRS 75.100 to 75.260 to require a fire protection district, volunteer fire department district, or subdistrict when making a change to fire protection services involving communications, firefighting resources, or water supply that will likely downgrade fire service ratings to host a public hearing and provide notice of the hearing.

Amend KRS 2.091 to name and designate coal as the official rock of Kentucky; amend KRS 2.094 to name and designate chalcedony agate as the official mineral of Kentucky.

Amend KRS 15.315 to add the chief of police of the Owensboro Police Department and the director of the Northern Kentucky Police and Sheriff's Training Center to the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council.