Rep. Steve Bratcher

Amend KRS 314.042 to create the provisional advanced practice registered nurse applicant license; amend KRS 314.121 to require APRNs and registered nurses experienced in long-term care on the Board of Nursing; amend KRS 314.131 to allow the exective director of the Board of Nursing to hire officers and other personnel with the approval of the board; and repeal KRS 314.193, which creates the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Council.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 247 to define terms, prohibit a nonresident alien, foreign business, foreign agent, trustee, or fiduciary associated with the government of any proscribed country referenced in 22 C.F.R. sec. 126.1 from the purchase, lease, or acquisition of agricultural land in Kentucky or participation in programs administered by the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Development Board, and Kentucky Agricultural Finance Corporation; allow an existing foreign-owned business to purchase adjacent agricultural land to expand the operations of the business; exempt foreign ownership or leasing of up to 350 acres for research purposes; establish the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board to review applications for appeal for those on the prohibited countries list wishing to purchase, lease, or acquire agricultural land, set forth requirements of the board to approve or deny an application for appeal, establish a process for an application for appeal, authorize the board to promulgate administrative regulations; allow an applicant who is denied an appeal to purchase agricultural land to appeal the final decision in Circuit Court; require a county clerk to record an affidavit on any deed that conveys agricultural land and report the affidavit recordings monthly to the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board, require the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board to report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States each month; set forth requirements to divest land that has been purchased, leased, or denied without approval of the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board, and direct the distribution of sale proceeds.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 216B to define "freestanding birthing center"; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to promulgate updated administrative regulations to establish licensure standards for freestanding birthing centers, including requiring accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, compliance with the American Association of Birth Centers' Standards for Birth Centers, and consistent plans for transfer and safe transport to a hospital as needed, and to delineate medical malpractice insurance requirements for centers; exempt a center with no more than four beds from certificate-of-need requirements for establishing and licensing a freestanding birthing center; state intent not to limit or expand liability of a center or health care provider or facility; add requirement for medical malpractice insurance for freestanding birthing centers; prohibit abortions in freestanding birthing centers; amend KRS 216B.015 to include freestanding birthing centers in the definition of "health facility"; amend KRS 216B.020, 196.173, 211.122, 211.647, 211.660, 213.046, 214.155, 214.565, 214.567, 214.569, 216.2920, and 216.2970 to conform; provide that the Act may be cited as the Mary Carol Akers Birth Centers Act.

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 various sections of KRS Chapter 186 to establish a regulatory framework for the operation of fully autonomous vehicles on public highways; define terms; establish requirements for autonomous vehicles and automated driving systems; require submission of a law enforcement interaction plan with the Transportation Cabinet and the Kentucky State Police and identify required elements of the plan; establish requirements for proof of insurance or self-insurance in the amount of $1 million for death or bodily injury and property damage for personal and commercial fully autonomous vehicles; require titling and registration of fully autonomous vehicles; establish the Transportation Cabinet as the sole agency responsible for administering statutes and regulations regarding fully autonomous vehicles; limit the regulatory authority of local governments in regard to the operation of fully autonomous vehicles; amend KRS 186.410 to establish that when an automated driving system is installed and engaged on a motor vehicle, the owner of a fully autonomous vehicle shall be considered operator of the vehicle for the purpose of assessing compliance with traffic or motor vehicle laws, and that the automated driving system is considered to be the licensed to operate the vehicle; create a new section of KRS Chapter 189 to exempt fully autonomous vehicles designed to be operated exclusively by an automated driving system from any vehicle equipment requirements of KRS 189.020 to KRS 189.205 that relate to vehicle operation by a human driver; amend KRS 189.635 to establish responsibility for the filing of accident reports and notification of law enforcement after accidents involving fully autonomous vehicles; amend KRS 281.010 to define terms relating to the operation of fully autonomous vehicles as motor carriers; amend KRS 281.630 to establish that any administrative regulations promulgated by the department that apply only to a human driver shall not apply to a fully autonomous vehicle; amend KRS 281.764 to require only the lead vehicle in a truck platoon to have a human driver behind the wheel of their vehicle; amend KRS 281.655 to establish minimum insurance requirements fully autonomous vehicles operating under a certificate issued under KRS Chapter 281 in the amount of $1 million for death or bodily injury and property.

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.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; establish the Kentucky Rural Veterinary Medicine Student Loan Repayment Program for an eligible livestock practitioner who engages in veterinary medicine in an underserved rural area or veterinary shortage area for five consecutive years; authorize the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to promulgate administrative regulations; set forth program eligibility requirements; authorize the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to award loan repayment benefits to applicants selected by the Veterinary Student Loan Repayment Selection Committee; establish compliance requirements; create the rural veterinary care trust fund; establish purposes of the fund; APPROPRIATION.

Amend KRS 15.243 to require that the Attorney General or his or her designee randomly select at least one ballot scanner and one race tabulated on that scanner for a hand-to-eye recount, which fulfills the requirement for a risk-limiting audit; require that the hand-to-eye recount be performed by each county clerk or his or her designee; establish the process for the hand-to-eye recount; amend KRS 117.383 and 117.295 to conform.

Amend KRS 12.245 to include military orders documenting a military assignment transfer to Kentucky as valid proof of military service; ensure occupational licensing compacts in Kentucky take precedence for a United States military service member, Reserves or National Guard member, veteran, or their spouse.

Amend KRS 222.500 to define terms related to recovery residences; amend KRS 222.502 to permit a recovery residence that provides on-site clinical services or access to on-site clinical services to continue to operate without certification from a certifying organization until December 31, 2024; amend KRS 222.504 to authorize the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and local governments to impose civil fines on uncertified recovery residences; amend KRS 222.506 to establish the conditions under which a recovery residence may provide on-site clinical services or access to on-site clinical services.