HB 282 Kentucky House · 2026 Regular Session

AN ACT relating to vehicle lights.

Summary
Amend KRS 189.920 to allow wreckers to be equipped with a flashing, rotating, or oscillating blue light, to be used only when the wrecker is stationary and while removing a vehicle or debris from the highway; prohibit a wrecker from using a blue light when towing a vehicle; this Act may be cited as Troy's Law.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 8, 2026 Last action Mar 3, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Current/Final · 9 edits
MAJOR
This bill updates the requirements for emergency vehicle lighting and sirens across Kentucky, adding new categories of authorized vehicles and clarifying rules for existing ones. It expands eligibility to include Department of Corrections emergency vehicles, county jail vehicles, and coroners' vehicles, while also allowing green lights for wreckers and command posts. The changes aim to standardize equipment for a wider range of public safety and emergency response roles.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of vehicles authorized to use emergency lights and sirens to include Department of Corrections vehicles, county and regional jail vehicles, and coroners' vehicles responding to death reports. It also adds specific allowances for wreckers to use green lights and command posts to use green lights.
ELIGIBILITY

Department of Corrections vehicles used as emergency vehicles are now authorized to use blue flashing lights and sirens.

Publicly owned county and regional jail vehicles used as emergency vehicles may be equipped with blue flashing lights and sirens if authorized by the legislative body.

An elected jailer or chief administrator may equip one personally owned vehicle with blue flashing lights and sirens.

Elected coroners may equip publicly or privately owned vehicles with red and blue lights and a siren solely for responding to reports of human death, subject to specific approval and usage restrictions.

REQUIREMENT

Wreckers are now authorized to use green flashing lights visible from the front or rear, whereas previously they were limited to blue lights only when stationary.

Vehicles used as command posts at incidents may now use green rotating, oscillating, or flashing lights in addition to standard lights and sirens.

School buses are explicitly authorized to use red flashing lights.

County jail vehicles are explicitly prohibited from using sirens, whistles, or bells, even if they have authorized lights.

Coroners' vehicles authorized under this section are restricted to using lights and sirens only while responding to a death report and must not exceed the posted speed limit.

Floor votes · House Mar 2, 2026

How they voted

980
Passed · 7 other
Total votes 105
Mar 2, 2026
D Democratic21
19 Yea 2
90% Yea
R Republican84
79 Yea 5
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Mar 3, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (S)
upper
Mar 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
3rd reading, passed 93-0 with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Feb 24, 2026
Lower · Passed
reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Jan 15, 2026
Committee
to Transportation (H)
lower
Jan 8, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (H)
lower
Jan 8, 2026
Introduced
introduced in House
lower
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.