Amend KRS 161.102 to require the Education Professional Standards Board to issue substitute teacher certificates based on education attained; specify the type of employment each certificate allows.

Rep. Jim Gooch
Sponsored bills
Amend KRS 158.162 to require local boards of education to maintain a portable automated external defibrillator in a public, readily accessible, well-marked location in all school buildings, including elementary school buildings, and at school-sanctioned athletic practices and competitions; require annual report on compliance with portable automated external defibrillator requirements to be submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 532 to define "violent felony" and enhance sentencing for a person convicted of a third violent felony; prohibit probation, parole, or other form of release for a person who commits a crime using a weapon that is stolen, defaced, loaded with restricted ammunition, or otherwise violates state law; amend KRS 610.070 to require a parent, legal guardian, or custodian to be present at court proceedings involving a child in the juvenile justice system; create a new section of KRS Chapter 610 to establish penalty; amend KRS 507.020 to expand offense of murder; amend KRS 507.030 to expand offense of manslaughter in the first degree; amend KRS 507.040 to expand offense of manslaughter in the second degree; amend KRS 218A.1412 to provide increased penalties for certain trafficking offenses; create a new section of KRS Chapter 515 to create a new offense of carjacking; amend KRS 512.020 and 512.030 to lower the threshold for criminal mischief in the first degree to $500; amend KRS 149.410, 506.160, and 525.220 to conform; amend KRS 520.050 to enhance promoting contraband to a Class B felony if the dangerous contraband is fentanyl, carfentanil, or a fentanyl derivative; amend KRS 16.220 to allow purchase of a confiscated firearm by a person who bids under the condition that they not take possession of the firearm, but instead leave it with the Department of Kentucky State Police for destruction; prohibit government agencies from purchasing the firearm; make technical corrections; create new sections of KRS Chapters 511, 198A, and 65 to establish the offense of criminal street camping and provide exceptions; amend KRS 503.080 to conform; amend KRS 202C.050 to reduce requirements to find a person subject to involuntary commitment pursuant to KRS Chapter 202C; amend KRS 186.417 to include felony offenders released from county jails and local correctional facilities among those who may be issued personal identification cards or operator's licenses under certain conditions; amend KRS 431.510 to define terms; prohibit any charitable bail organization from posting bail in excess of $5,000; prohibit any charitable bail organization from posting bail for any offense of domestic violence and abuse or dating violence and abuse, and for any offense under a civil court order or warrant under KRS 222.430 to 222.437; establish that any bond ordered forfeited following a new criminal offense shall be distributed to the victim of the new offense; require publication of records and annual reporting to the General Assembly; create new section of KRS Chapter 507 to create the offense of murder of a first responder and establish penalties; amend KRS 506.010 to conform; amend KRS 532.025 to include the murder of first responders as an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty; amend KRS 532.036 to allow restitution following a conviction for Murder of a first responder; amend KRS 439.320 to provide that members of the Parole Board shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor, that panels of the board shall consist of not less than three and not more than six members, and that all members of the panel must agree on a decision or the matter shall be referred to the full board; amend KRS 439.330 to require that parole be granted upon a two-thirds vote of the full board; amend KRS 433.236 to limit liability for shopkeepers; amend KRS 439.3401 to add a person who has been convicted of or entered a plea of guilty to a Class B felony violation of KRS 520.050 to the definition of "violent offender" and to include carjacking and attempted murder in the list of violent offenses; amend KRS 508.075 and 508.078, relating to terroristic threatening, to include any workplace or any gathering of 3 or more persons; amend KRS 524.040 to include harassing communications as conduct constituting intimidation of a participant in the legal process; amend KRS 439.340 to allow the Parole Board to order participation in a specific violence reduction program as a condition of parole; amend KRS 533.030 to allow a court to require participationin a specific violence reduction program as a condition of probation or conditional discharge; amend KRS 403.763 and 456.180 to enhance a second or subsequent violation of an order of protection within a five-year period to a Class D felony; amend KRS 500.080 to include family members, members of an unmarried couple, and persons in a dating relationship, in application of a particular definition of serious physical injury; amend KRS 514.020 to reduce the time required to establish prima facie evidence of theft by deception of rented or leased property that is not returned to the owner from 10 days to four days; amend KRS 196.031 to require the annual report to also include the percentage of offenders who commit new offenses within two years; amend KRS 520.095 to enhance fleeing or evading police in the first degree to a Class C felony; provide that the defendant shall not be released on probation, shock probation, conditional discharge, or parole until he or she has served at least 50 percent of the sentence imposed; amend KRS 520.100 to enhance fleeing or evading police in the second degree to a Class D felony; amend KRS 532.110 to provide sentences for two or more felony sex crimes shall run consecutively; provide that the defendant shall not be released on probation, shock probation, conditional discharge, or parole until he or she has served at least 50 percent of the sentence imposed; amend KRS 158.155 to require school employees to report certain enumerated crimes to law enforcement; repeal KRS 512.040, which establishes the crime of criminal mischief in the third degree and KRS 158.154, which deals with discipline in schools; EFFECTIVE, in part, August 1, 2025.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 77 to define "environmental audit" and to provide that a person or facility subject to the requirements of KRS Chapter 77 that performs an environmental audit according to the requirements of KRS 224.1-040 shall be entitled to all of the benefits, privileges, and protections afforded by that section; amend KRS 224.1-040 to allow facilities regulated by air pollution control districts established under KRS Chapter 77 to avail themselves of the same environmental audit process available to facilities regulated by the Energy and Environment Cabinet under KRS Chapter 224; allow owners or operators of facilities regulated by air pollution control boards under KRS Chapter 77 to make voluntary disclosures as a result of the findings of an environmental audit; create an environmental audit privilege to protect the confidentiality of communications relating to voluntary internal environmental audits of facilities regulated under KRS Chapter 77; prohibit an air pollution control district from seeking civil penalties against a facility for a violation of KRS Chapter 77 or the rules, orders, or administrative regulations promulgated thereunder if certain conditions are met.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 100 to define "retail filling station" and "electric vehicle charging station"; prohibit local governments from using the zoning process or adopting any measure that prohibits or restricts the ability of a retail filling station from locating in areas in which similar businesses may locate, discriminates against the use or location of a retail filling station, or treats retail filling stations differently than electric vehicle charging stations; allow restrictions on retail filling stations provided they are similar to those for other businesses, do not prohibit their operation, and are not in conflict with state or federal law.
Amend KRS 159.075 to allow the use of military orders as proof of residency for enrollment or course registration in a school and prohibit in-person enrollment or course registration when prevented due to official military duties.
Amend KRS 620.040 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to determine the military status of any parent or guardian subject to an investigation and to notify a Department of Defense family advocacy program of an investigation involving a member of the United States Armed Forces.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 40 to establish the Kentucky Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Suicide Prevention Program.
Amend KRS 40.315 to expand interment eligibility in Kentucky state veterans' cemeteries to include eligible National Guard and Reserve service members and their families.
Declare that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is a sanctuary state from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's overreaching regulatory actions on fossil fuel-fired power plants; provide that air quality standards for permits for fossil fuel-fired power plants are not subject to federal regulation; provide that the Energy and Environment Cabinet holds sole jurisdiction for environmental regulation; prohibit state agencies from collecting fines or penalties for any violations of federal requirements as they apply to fossil fuel-fired power plants.