SB 72 Kentucky Senate · 2026 Regular Session

AN ACT relating to the recruitment and retention of health care professionals and declaring an emergency.

Summary
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 344 to ensure federal law relating to emergency medical treatment and the collection of evidence is not overridden; define terms; prohibit discrimination against health care professionals who decline to perform procedures that violate their conscience; grant health care professionals the right not to participate in services that violate their conscience; exempt health care professionals from liability for exercising these rights; prohibit hiring or licensing authorities from reprimanding health care professionals; require hiring or licensing authorities to provide complaints it has received to health care professionals; establish a civil cause of action for persons injured by violations; provide that the Act may be cited as the Health Care Heroes Recruitment and Retention Act; EMERGENCY.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Feb 17, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Current/Final · 1 edit
MINOR
The document underwent a technical update from an internal working draft to the official final version of Senate Bill 72. The changes involve replacing internal tracking codes and page headers with the bill's official number (SB 72) and finalizing the document title, indicating the bill has moved from introduction to its final form.
TECHNICAL

Replaced internal bill tracking numbers (BR 1588) with the official Senate Bill number (SB 72) and updated the document header to reflect the final version.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 13, 2026

How they voted

336
Passed · 5 other
Total votes 44
Feb 13, 2026
D Democratic6
5 Nay 1
83% Nay
R Republican38
33 Yea 1 Nay 4
86% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (H)
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Upper · Passed
3rd reading, passed 28-5
upper
Feb 11, 2026
Upper · Passed
reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
upper
Feb 6, 2026
Committee
to Health Services (S)
upper
Jan 12, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (S)
upper
Jan 12, 2026
Introduced
introduced in Senate
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.