2019 April Volume 32, No. 1 Nearly 200 bills approved in General Assembly’s 2019 session by Jim Hannah national origin or disability. Senate Bill 9, LRC Public Information known as the fetal heartbeat bill, will prohibit abortion in Kentucky once a heartbeat is FRANKFORT – The General Assembly’s detected in an unborn child. (As of the time 2019 session came to a close shortly before this publication was printed, a federal judge midnight on March 28, capping off a session in Louisville had issued temporary restraining in which lawmakers gave bipartisan support orders blocking enforcement of SB 9 and HB to a school safety bill that is widely considered 5 after lawsuits were filed challenging the many lawmakers’ highest-priority bill of the measures.) Senate Bill 50 will require health year. providers to report prescriptions written for The School Safety and Resiliency Act, or RU-486 or any drug intended to end pregnancy. Senate Bill 1, was among nearly 200 bills that House Bill 148 will outlaw abortion in Kentucky were approved by the time the 30-day session in most cases should the landmark Roe v. Wade ended. ruling be reversed. SB 1 was the product of a specially formed committee that traveled the state last year to Budget. House Bill 268 authorizes $25 discuss school safety and collect feedback. million in bonds for economic development The measure will create a state security and $50 million in bonds for state parks to be marshal to conduct onsite visits to ensure spent on emergency repairs on everything from schools were compliant with all provisions Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, center, is rec- leaky roofs to backed-up sewers. It would also of the omnibus bill. The goal of SB 1 is to ognized on the floor of the Senate for her work on House provide $290,000 for Kentucky State University improve student safety by boosting safety and Bill 11. Sponsored by Moser, the bill — now law — will curb to match federal money available to land-grant prevention training, promoting the assignment use of vaping devices, e-cigarettes and tobacco on public universities. of a school resource officer to every school, school property. increasing awareness of suicide prevention Concealed carry. Senate Bill 150 will make efforts, encouraging collaboration with law delayed effective date provisions, will go into Kentucky the 16th state to allow concealed enforcement and hiring more counselors in effect on June 27. firearms to be carried without a concealed carry school districts. Legislative leaders said funding A partial list of bills that the General permit. The measure will allow Kentuckians age the provisions of the bill are expected to be Assembly approved this session includes 21 and older who are legally eligible to possess a a priority when lawmakers put together the measures on the following topics: firearm to carry a concealed weapon without a state’s two-year budget next year. license in the same location as people with valid Legislation passed by the 2019 General Abortion. House Bill 5 will make it a state-issued licenses. Permitless carry will not Assembly, except for general appropriation felony to perform an abortion due to a decision be allowed where prohibited by federal law or measures and those containing emergency or based on the unborn child’s gender, race, color, Continued on page 2 THE KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1 home care have visitation rights with their siblings. The measure will do this by requiring the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, in , 2019 Session the case of siblings removed from their home from page 1 and not jointly placed, to provide for frequent visitation or other ongoing interaction between otherwise prohibited. the siblings. Drunken driving. Senate Bill 85 will Free speech. House Bill 254, dubbed expand the use of ignition interlock devices the campus free speech bill, will require the (IID), Breathalyzer-type devices connected state’s public universities to affirm they favor to the ignition systems of vehicles of people a free marketplace of ideas where speech is convicted of driving under the influence (DUI). not suppressed because it’s deemed “offensive, The measure will do this by allowing and unwise, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, incentivizing IIDs for all people charged with traditional or radical.” SB 254 will also expand a DUI and shift administration of the program areas commonly known as “free speech zones” from the courts to the Transportation Cabinet. on many campuses to any accessible, open, SB 85 will also move Kentucky toward a more outdoor venue. compliance-based model, in which offenders would have to complete a 120-day period of Government contracts. House Bill 135 sober driving before exiting the court-mandated will prohibit public agencies from requiring that program. their contractors on public works projects have agreements with labor organizations. Elections. House Bill 114 will require candidates for state offices and most local Hemp. House Bill 197 will expand the offices to officially declare their candidacies legal definition of hemp to include the seeds Senate Bill 57 sponsor Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, via “statement-of-candidacy” forms no later of industrial hemp, derivatives, extracts, than the last Tuesday in January preceding the presents the measure on the Senate floor. Now law, SB 57 cannabinoids and isomers, among other will expand the number of Kentuckians eligible for low-level general election. The current deadline is April 1. components. That is the same definition found felony expungement. Amendments to the measure will also remove in the new U.S. Farm Bill, signed into law late the Secretary of State as a voting member of last year, which removed hemp from the federal the State Board of Elections and will make it Controlled Substances Act. a misdemeanor if an election official willfully misuses the state’s voter registration roster. Kinship care. House Bill 2, dubbed Senate Bill 4 will require mandatory electronic the kinship care bill, will create a caregiver filing of all candidates’ campaign finance reports assistance program for relatives and “fictive by the May 2020 primaries. kin” – usually close family friends – of abused, neglected or dependent children. The measure Felony expungement. Senate Bill 57 will will do this by offering different options to expand the number of Kentuckians eligible to the caregivers based on the level of care they have low-level felonies expunged from their provide. HB 2 is designed to address a growth criminal records. It will do this by expanding in out-of-home placement of Kentucky children discretionary expungement to all Class D amid the state’s current opioid crisis. felonies with some exceptions for crimes such as stealing in office, abusing children and sex Lobbying. Senate Bill 6 will require abuse. It includes a five-year waiting period to disclosure of executive agency lobbyist apply for expungement, a $250 application fee compensation. The measure will also prohibit and provisions for prosecutors to object and compensation contingent on awarding of a judges to reject the applications. government contract. It will provide oversight, in part, by requiring executive branch lobbyists Foster children. House Bill 158, dubbed to register and list their clients. That’s already the “foster child bill of rights,” grants 16 rights required of legislative lobbyists. for children in out-of-home placement in Kentucky, including rights to “adequate food, Midwives. Senate Bill 84 will recognize, clothing and shelter,” “a safe, secure, and stable certify and regulate home-birth midwives in family,” and “freedom from physical, sexual, Kentucky. The measure would create a council Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies, presents House Bill 2 be- fore a committee. Known as the kinship care bill, HB 2 will or emotional injury or exploitation.” The to advise the state Board of Nursing on the legislation will also reduce the time for a parent create a new caregiver assistance program for abused, creation of regulations regarding qualifications, neglected or dependent children. The bill was sponsored or guardian to consent to voluntarily placing standards for training, competency, any a child for adoption from 20 days to 72 hours. by Fugate and House Speaker Pro Tempore David Meade, R-Stanford. Senate Bill 31 will ensure children in out-of- Continued on page 63 2 2019 Interim LEGISLATIVE RECORD 2019 General Senate Assembly Julie Raque Adams (36) Jimmy Higdon (14) Dan “Malano” Seum (38) 213 S Lyndon Lane 344 N Spalding 1107 Holly Ave Louisville, KY 40222 Lebanon, KY 40033 Fairdale, KY 40118 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (Home) 270-692-6945 (Home) 502-749-2859 Ralph Alvarado (28) Paul Hornback (20) Brandon Smith (30) 3250 McClure Road 6102 Cropper Rd 124 Craig Street Winchester, KY 40391 Shelbyville, KY 40065 Hazard, KY 41702 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 Tom Buford (22) Stan Humphries (1) (Home) 606-436-4526 409 W Maple St 763 Sinking Fork Rd (Home FAX) 606-436-4526 Nicholasville, KY 40356 Cadiz, KY 42211 Robert Stivers II (25) (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 207 Main St (LRC FAX) 502-564-2466 (Home) 270-522-0195 Manchester, KY 40962 (Home) 859-885-0606 Alice Forgy Kerr (12) (LRC) 502-564-8100 (Home FAX) 859-885-0606 3274 Gondola Dr (Home) 606-598-8575 Jared Carpenter (34) Lexington, KY 40513 (Work) 606-598-2322 PO Box 100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (Work FAX) 606-598-2357 Berea, KY 40403 (Home) 859-223-3274 Damon Thayer (17) (LRC) 502-564-8100 Christian McDaniel (23) 702 Capital Ave. Danny Carroll (2) PO Box 15231 Annex Room 242 220 Cimarron Way Latonia, KY 41015 Frankfort, KY 40601 Paducah, KY 42001 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 (LRC) 502-564-8100 Morgan McGarvey (19) (Home) 270-703-8025 2250 Winston Ave Reginald Thomas (13) Julian M.