This bill is a concurrent resolution that urges Kentucky to help create an interstate agreement for a competitive electric transmission market. It directly affects electric utilities, ratepayers, and state regulators by calling for a regional approach to power grid development. The resolution proposes using competitive bidding for transmission projects, establishing uniform rules for permitting across states, and ensuring costs are fairly shared among all beneficiaries. It aims to modernize the power grid, reduce transmission costs, and prevent bottlenecks while opening the bidding process to interstate projects. The bill directs the Clerk to send the resolution to the Governor and the Public Service Commission for further consideration.
This bill amends Kentucky's sentencing laws to remove the 70-year cap on consecutive indeterminate prison terms for certain offenses. It allows judges to impose consecutive sentences for multiple crimes without a maximum limit, except for specific exceptions like when sentences run concurrently for mixed definite and indeterminate terms. The legislation also mandates consecutive sentencing for defendants convicted of multiple felony sex crimes involving multiple victims and clarifies how sentences are calculated when new crimes are committed while a person is already incarcerated. These changes directly affect judges, prosecutors, and defendants by altering how prison time is calculated for repeat offenders and those committing crimes while already in the justice system.
Amend KRS 317.410 to define "direct supervision" and "shop training program"; create a new section of KRS Chapter 317 to establish a shop training program and establish program requirements; amend KRS 317.420 to exempt individuals who participate in the shop training program from KRS Chapter 317; amend KRS 317.450 to require the Kentucky Board of Barbering to issue an apprentice license to a person who has completed 1,200 hours in a shop training program; require 9 months of participation in a shop training program.
Amend KRS 241.065 to prohibit licensure for a quota retail package premises less than 1 mile from another quota retail package license premises in a county containing a city of the first class; exempt existing quota retail package license premises; allow for loss of exemption for an existing quota retail package license premises under designated circumstances.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 6 to define "fiscal note"; require fiscal notes to be filed with the clerk in the chamber of the General Assembly for each bill or resolution that is filed; establish requirements related to fiscal notes for the director of the Legislative Research Commission; require fiscal notes to contain specific information; amend KRS 6.950, 6.955, 6.960, 6.965, and 6.970 to rename fiscal note to local government mandate statement; amend KRS 13A.190, 13A.230, 13A.250, 13A.280, and 13A.320 to rename fiscal note to fiscal note on state and local government.
Amend KRS 132.4851 to exempt motor vehicles assessed under KRS 132.485 from state property taxes beginning on or after January 1, 2027; amend KRS 132.020 to conform.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 214 to require reporting of alpha-gal syndrome; require laboratory reporting of positive test results to the Department for Public Health within 5 days of confirming the results; require the department to follow up annually on cases and report to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 199 to define terms; require that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall establish and operate a Tutoring and Academic Assistance Grant Program for children in foster care; establish the directives of the program; establish the foster child tutoring and academic assistance trust fund.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 620 to require social service workers to wear body-worn cameras when interacting with children during investigations; require recordings to be stored for at least 5 years and be made available to parents or guardians, their counsel, and the court; establish a civil cause of action against employees of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services who knowingly submit a false statement, withhold exculpatory evidence, or violate a person's constitutional rights; waive qualified immunity; create a new section of KRS Chapter 605 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to submit an annual report to the Legislative Research Commission on the number of children removed from their homes and the average caseload of social service workers; create a new section of KRS Chapter 194A to establish the family preservation fund; amend KRS 600.010 to provide that KRS Chapters 600 to 645 shall be interpreted consistently with federal law and that statutes in conflict with federal law are void to the extent of the conflict; require courts to apply strict scrutiny when reviewing state action that interferes with the fundamental rights of a parent relating to the parent-child relationship; amend KRS 610.070 to require audio and video recording of dependency, neglect, and abuse hearings; amend KRS 620.060 and KRS 620.080 to require clear and convincing evidence of neglect or abuse before removing a child from the home; amend KRS 620.090 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to provide a written explanation to the court in cases where placement is not made with relatives or fictive kin; amend KRS 620.155 to require appeals of removal orders to be heard within 24 hours of the order; amend KRS 625.090 to prohibit termination of parental rights if the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has not made reasonable efforts to reunite the child with the parents, unless reasonable efforts are not required under KRS 610.127; provide that the Act may be cited as the Protection of the Children Act; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2027.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 635, relating to public offenders, to provide that a court that commits a child to the Department of Juvenile Justice shall require the child's caregiver to reimburse the department for the costs of the child's commitment; amend KRS 403.727 and KRS 456.035, relating to protection orders involving minors, to permit a victim advocate to attend an evidentiary hearing to offer advocacy services to an alleged victim; amend KRS 530.064 to provide that a person 18 years of age or older, or a minor who has been transferred to Circuit Court to be proceeded against as a youthful offender, is guilty of unlawful transaction in the first degree for the commission of a felony offense where any person uses or possess a gun in furtherance of a crime; amend KRS 530.065 and 530.070 to provide that unlawful transaction with a minor in the second and third degree may be applied to adult defendants and child defendants transferred to Circuit Court to be proceeded against as a youthful offender; amend KRS 610.030, relating to preliminary intake inquiry procedures and diversions, to provide that upon completing the preliminary intake inquiry for a status offense complaint, the court-designated worker shall refer the complaint to the county attorney for the county attorney to decide how the complaint shall proceed; require the court-designated worker to consult with the county attorney in the development of a diversion agreement; specify the persons the court-designated worker shall make the details of the diversion agreement available to; provide that if a child fails diversion for a status offense complaint, the court-designated worker shall refer the matter to the county attorney; amend KRS 610.070, relating to juvenile case hearings, to provide that if a child has been convicted of, pled guilty to, or has been adjudicated to have committed an offense which would classify the child as a violent offender, the court may order a dispositional or sentencing hearing open to the public; amend KRS 610.110 relating to disposition of juvenile cases, to require the department to notify relevant law enforcement agencies of the disposition of each case for any child committed by the court who is placed in a residential treatment facility by the department or the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; amend KRS 610.340, relating to confidentiality of juvenile records, to require Administrative Office of the Courts to permit a peace officer access to juvenile and family court records necessary for the peace officer to carry out lawful duties; amend KRS 610.345, relating to disclosure of records, to provide that the clerk of the court shall notify certain school personnel when the court issues a protective order where a child is a petitioner or respondent; amend KRS 635.010, relating to public offense complaints, to allow a county attorney to file a petition for a first time misdemeanor; amend KRS 635.020, relating to criteria for determining how a child is to be tried, to provide that a youth 14 years of age or older may be tried as an adult if the court finds probable cause that the child committed an offense which would classify the child as a violent offender, or a capital offense, Class A felony, or Class B felony; provide that a child may be tried as an adult if the court finds probable cause that the youth has previously been adjudicated as a youthful offender and is back in front of a court for allegedly committing a new felony; amend KRS 635.040, relating to effect of adjudication by the juvenile court, to provide that a past adjudication may be considered for any enhanced disposition or sentence for a subsequent offense; amend KRS 635.060, relating to options of the court at the dispositional hearing, to increase the maximum period of sanctions for a violation of supervision from 30 days to 180 days; increase the maximum period of probation for a misdemeanor from 6 months to 12 months; increase the maximum period of probation for a Class D felony from 12 months to up until the age of 18; increase the period a child may be confined in a secure detention facility or detention program from 45 days to 90 days for children 14 and 15 years old, and from 90 days to 180 days for children 16 years of age and older; provide for a minimum commitment period of at least 12 months for a child committed to the department for a felony; repeal KRS 605.035, relating to the creation of the family accountability, intervention, and response teams; and amend various KRS sections to conform.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to define terms; establish a nonpublic school student's eligibility for participation in interscholastic athletics at the public school to which the student would be assigned in the student's district of residence; establish requirements, conditions, and procedures for the nonpublic school student's participation in interscholastic athletics.
Amend KRS 45A.100, relating to small purchases by state governmental bodies, to increase the small purchase annual limit for any state governmental body to $7,500 from $1,000; increase the small purchase construction project annual limit to $50,000 from $10,000; require the Finance and Administration Cabinet to make recommendations on revisions to the maximum small purchase amounts to the General Assembly.
