The General Assembly wrapped up their veto-proof work on Friday, and are now on recess until March 27. If the governor vetoes any bills passed by Friday, the Republican super-majority can easily override his vetoes. So, all the bills passed by Friday are pretty much in the books.
Let’s take a look, then, at the six good and eight bad bills the Republicans have passed so far.
Six Good Bills from KYGA25
- HB 38 – Stronger Penalties for Violating an EPO – We’ve all heard stories of someone getting an emergency protective order against another person, then the other person ignoring the EPO. This bill kicks up the penalties for doing so. It won’t stop some people, but perhaps knowing that your third violation of an EPO within five years is a felony will be a deterrent.
- HB 219 – ER Staff Training on Sexual Assault Response – It’s assumed that emergency staff know how to respond to physical trauma. But what about emotional trauma, especially from sexual abuse or assault? This bill mandates that they receive training on “sexual assault emergency response requirements, protocols, and resources.”
- HB 263 – Student Teacher Stipends – This bill improves the processes for giving stipends to student teachers, including sending the stipend to them directly.
- SB 027 – Parkinson’s Disease Research Registry – One of our contributors, Joanie Prentice, put me onto this bill. She spent many years caring for her husband, who had Parkinson’s, and she said this bill would accelerate research into that disease. Sounds good to me.
- SB 73 – Legal Framework Around Sexual Extortion – Up till now, there was not a clear-cut legal definition of sexual extortion. Now there is: “communicating threats to injure a person's property or reputation, or to distribute intimate images, with the intent to coerce the victim into sexual conduct, producing explicit content, paying money, or performing other actions against their will.” Having laid out the definition, this bill goes on to specify penalties for the crime, as well as giving victims a right to sue.
- SB 100 – New Regs for Tobacco Products – This bill establishes a new licensing division for stores that want to sell tobacco products, including vapes, then gives division personnel the right to inspect those places without a warrant to make sure they are following the law. It also increases penalties for selling to individuals under 21.
Ten Bad Bills from KYGA25
- HB 1 – Income Tax Cut – Apparently, the Republicans in Frankfort think it’s a great idea to eliminate 40% of the state’s income in order to benefit the wealthy. Considering all the places that money could be put to good use makes this a really bad bill.
- HB 4 – Anti-DEI – Also apparently, Repubs don’t like diversity – even though everyone from major corporations to schools and colleges can point to positive benefits from DEI programs. This is a racist bill, and they all know it, but don’t care.
- HB 6 – Limit on Administrative Regulations – The legislature passes laws, and the executive branch figures out how to implement them. The legislature is part time, and the executive branch is full time. And yet, because the governor is a Democrat, the Republicans in Frankfort want to do all they can to flex their muscles and show him who’s boss. This is another one of those bills.
- HB 196 – Fewer Emergency Techs at Mines – Current law says you have to have two persons trained as EMTs at any coal mine. This law drops that number to 1 if the mine is small. But what if that one EMT is the person that’s injured? It’s a small thing, perhaps, but this is another sop to the rapidly-shrinking coal industry.
- HB 398 – Lower Workplace Safety Standards – This bill says that Kentucky cannot have stricter workplace safety standards than the Feds have. There are two problem with this: (1) Some of the federal standards are really low; Kentucky’s are better. (2) Our laws cover some industries that federal law either ignores or doesn’t really address. But hey – what business wants, business gets, right?
- HB 495 – Protect Conversion Therapists – And what would a session be without some attack on the LGBTQ folks? It’s been conclusively proven that not only does “conversion therapy” not work, it is actually harmful to children subjected to it. You might as well call it “conversion torture,” or even “suicide increase therapy.” No matter; the Xian Nationalists in Frankfort had to get this passed in order to overturn Governor Beshear’s executive order banning the practice. But apparently actually protecting the victims of the practice was not even considered.
- HB 695 – Last-Minute Overhaul of Medicaid – At the last minute, the Repubs in Frankfort rolled out and passed an amendment to this bill that is just all the bad they’ve tried for years. As Sen. Keturah Herron notes, this bill will “tie the hands of the Department for Medicaid Services, eliminate expanded access to psychoeducational services, and force Medicaid recipients into a mandatory work requirement, which has historically led to coverage losses.” Another attack on the poor from the party of the elites.
- SB 2 – No Transition Treatments for Inmates – Another win for the anti-LGBTQ caucus. Doesn’t matter if this causes significant harm to the persons in the midst of transition therapy: “They’re just sinners, so why should we care?”
- SB 84 – Judicial Review of State Agency Actions – This is sort of an inside-baseball bill. Basically, it says that if a state agency puts a regulation in place and it gets challenged in court, the judge hearing the case cannot give any deference to the agency’s reasoning for the regulation. It’s another “respect mah authority!” act from the Repubs in the Lege.
- SB 89 – Limit Water Pollution Laws – This bill says that laws and regulations against water pollution don’t apply unless you can put a boat into the body of water under discussion. As multiple experts testified, this bill will cause groundwater to be more polluted, thus poisoning the drinking water of a large portion of the state. Didn’t matter – because the rapidly-shrinking coal industry wanted this.
There you have it – a few of the headline bills that got across the finish line before the veto days recess. I guess we should be thankful that there were a few good ones, and that some of the really bad ones didn’t make it.
Any that you think I missed? Leave a comment below with why you think it should be on the list.
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