Amend KRS 446.350 to define terms; outline appropriate relief if a government substantially burdens a person's sincerely held religious belief; apply to laws adopted before or after the effective date; include severability clause; waive sovereign and governmental immunity.
Amend KRS 61.621 to allow a member of a state-administered retirement system who works in a nonhazardous position that could be certified as a hazardous position and who receives a duty-related injury to be eligible for the same minimum retirement benefit provided to members who receive a hazardous disability retirement; amend KRS 61.702 to allow Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) members working in a nonhazardous position that could be certified as a hazardous position who receive a duty-related injury to receive the same health benefit provided to members who receive a hazardous disability retirement; amend KRS 78.5536 to allow County Employees Retirement System (CERS) members working in a nonhazardous position that could be certified as a hazardous position who receive a duty-related injury to receive the same health benefit provided to members who receive a hazardous disability retirement; allow certain persons whose last day of paid employment was on or after January 1, 2022, but prior to the effective date of the Act to apply for benefits; RETROACTIVE.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 141 to establish a refundable income tax credit for certain volunteer firefighters; declare the purpose of the credit; require annual reporting to the Legislative Research Commission to evaluate the impact of the credit; amend KRS 141.0205 to provide the ordering of the credit; amend KRS 131.190 to allow confidential tax return information to be shared with the Legislative Research Commission.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 311A to create the EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund; specify the ambulance services and EMS professionals that are eligible to share in the distribution of the fund; provide that the Board of Emergency Medical Services shall administer the fund and may promulgate administrative regulations to facilitate its administration; authorize reimbursement for an EMS professional's out-of-pocket costs for mental health treatment for a diagnosed post-traumatic stress injury or post-traumatic stress disorder; provide for annual supplements to ambulance providers for each EMS professional it employs; amend KRS 42.190 and 136.392 to include the EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund to the premium surcharge; amend KRS 61.315 to include eligibility for in the line of duty death benefits to specified ambulance service providers.
Amend KRS 64.185 to establish a salary schedule for coroners; require the Department for Local Government to certify the population group within the salary schedule and the years of service for each coroner assuming office; provide for adjustments to compensation based on the consumer price index; allow additional compensation for training courses completed; require all coroners to be considered full-time and prevent any reduction of salary based on hours worked; EFFECTIVE January 4, 2027.
Amend KRS 100.348 to prohibit a local government from adopting or enforcing zoning regulations that treat manufactured homes differently from single-family homes; allow only regulation of certain architectural features of manufactured homes and require that those same standards be applied to single family homes; permit placement of manufactured home with smaller dimensions if a larger manufactured home could not be situated on the lot; remove language regarding legislative purpose of statute; add noncodified statement of the intent of the General Assembly.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from influencing the composition of the student body or scholarship recipients on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from implementing a student housing assignment plan on the basis of religion, race, color, or national origin with designated exceptions; from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the promotion of discriminatory topics, or bias incident investigations; from soliciting statements on an applicant's experience with or views on religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from requiring a course dedicated to discriminatory concepts; or disseminating or profiting from any research, work product, or material that promotes or justifies discriminatory concepts; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from requiring any individual to endorse or condemn a specific ideology or viewpoint; prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin or from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion or discriminatory topics; establish exclusions for legal compliance; require each governing board of a public postsecondary education institution to ensure compliance with specific sections of this Act no later than June 30, 2025; authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel the council or a public postsecondary education institution to comply; create a cause of action to permit a qualified individual to file a civil action against council or a public postsecondary education institution for injunctive relief and limited damages arising from a violation of certain sections of this Act; waive sovereign and governmental immunity for the limited purpose of bringing this claim; prohibit retaliation; require each public postsecondary education institution to submit and publish a certified annual report on governmentally mandated discrimination to the Legislative Research Commission by October 1 each year; provide that a public postsecondary education institution or the council cannot claim a federal, state, judicial, contractual, or accreditation mandate as a defense to a civil action filed under this Act unless the policy, practice, or procedure upon which the complaint is founded is listed and clearly and accurately described in the public institution's annual report filed in accordance with this Act; require each public postsecondary education institution to provide the Personnel Cabinet and State Treasurer the name, job title, duty station, and salary or wages of each employee each month beginning January 1, 2025, and to post its itemized annual budget; amend KRS 164.020 to prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from approving a degree, certificate, or diploma program that includes discriminatory concepts or diversity, equity, and inclusion iniatives; amend KRS 164.011, 164.131, 164.321, and 164.821 to conform; direct the Council on Postsecondary Education to consider certain enumerated conditions when considering the elimination of an existing program; direct each public postsecondary education institution and the Council on Postsecondary Education to discontinue designated programs and follow designated procedures when implementing this Act; provide specific instructions for public postsecondary education institutions and the Council on Postsecondary Education to follow in implementing this Act; direct public postsecondary education institutions and the council to submit a report on implementation of this Act.
Amend KRS 439.3103 to require the Department of Corrections to include in its report certain data on time served by persons released from a correctional institution and on persons released from a correctional institution on parole; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2026.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 344 to define terms; prohibit discrimination against mental health care professionals, mental health care institutions, and ordained ministry for providing protected counseling services; prohibit discrimination against individuals for offering information, training, and referrals for protected counseling services; prohibit discrimination against parents and guardians who consent to their child receiving protected counseling services; prohibit reporting of a mental health care professional or mental health care institution to a hiring or licensing authority solely on the basis that it provides protected counseling services; prohibit a hiring or licensing authority from investigating a mental health care professional or mental health care institution solely on the basis that it provides protected counseling services; establish a civil cause of action for a person injured by a violation; provide that the Act may be cited as the Mental Health Counseling Protection Act; EMERGENCY.
Amend KRS 61.878, relating to open records, to provide that law enforcement records shall be exempt from public inspection if the disclosure of the information could pose an articulable risk of harm to the law enforcement agency or its investigtion by revealing the identity of informants or witnesses not otherwise known.
