Government
New restrictions on vape sales in Kentucky win approval with tobacco industry backing
FRANKFORT — A bill to curb underage vaping, which opponents say will hurt small businesses and encourage? a “monopoly,” got in under the wire Thursday night, winning approval in the final hours before lawmakers broke until mid-April.? Changes to House Bill 11 made earlier in the day by the Senate Judiciary Committee — including lessening […]
Momnibus picks up controversial baggage on road through Kentucky Senate
FRANKFORT — The maternal health bill Momnibus took an unexpected turn in the final days of the 2024 legislative session that cost it some allies.? Provisions of a bill that previously provoked a walkout by Democratic women were added with the sponsor’s consent but without debate in the Senate Health Services Committee.? House Bill 10, […]
Kentucky Senate joins House to OK new process to fill US Senate vacancies?
FRANKFORT —?Kentucky senators approved a House bill that would end the governor’s power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. This year’s change comes on the heels of a 2021 law that was sponsored by Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, of Manchester. While speaking on House Bill 622, Stivers called the new legislation “a better way to […]
Kentucky Senate approves two-year state budget 36-1
A nearly unanimous Senate on Wednesday night approved a state budget for the next two years before the document was publicly available on the legislature’s web site. The compromise budget, which by Thursday morning was posted on the legislature’s site, emerged from a House-Senate free conference committee on Tuesday. It increases funding for the basic […]
Senate approves bill aimed at helping schools avoid hiring teachers with a history of abuse
FRANKFORT — A House bill aimed at helping Kentucky schools avoid hiring sexual abusers gained passage in the Senate Wednesday.? Sponsored by House Education Committee Chairman Rep. James Tipton, House Bill 275 would require those seeking employment in schools to disclose if they were the subject of an allegation, investigation or disciplinary action within the […]
Plan for a mental health juvenile detention facility advances in Kentucky legislature
FRANKFORT — A Kentucky House committee unanimously moved forward a bill that would establish a special mental health juvenile detention facility for housing “high acuity” youth, a move the sponsor called “critical.” Sponsored by Sen. Danny Carroll, a West Kentucky Republican, Senate Bill 252 can now go to the full House for consideration, having already […]
Politics swirl around who will oversee Kentucky Fish and Wildlife
FRANKFORT — Thomas Ballinger, an Army veteran and Butler County beekeeper, wanted to make sure veterans have a voice on the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission, so he threw his hat in the ring for one of the nine seats. Anyone who holds a hunting or fishing license is eligible to vote at meetings in […]
Close call for open records law as panel un-adopts mass exemptions for Kentucky elected officials
FRANKFORT — In a rare change of mind, a Senate committee rejected a measure that open government advocates warned would dismantle Kentucky’s open records law.? An attorney for the Kentucky Press Association says the bill still has loopholes that would let government officials hide public records by keeping them on their private electronic devices.? The […]
‘A shame:’ $300 million Horizons Act is ‘dead,’ sponsor says
FRANKFORT — The $300 million child care bill called the Horizons Act is “dead,” its sponsor said Wednesday.? The state budget approved by the Senate failed to allocate all the money the Horizons Act called for — and the final budget that will emerge from a House-Senate conference is also unlikely to do so. The […]
Ethan’s Law passed by Kentucky legislature?
FRANKFORT — Celebrity dog Ethan was in the Kentucky Capitol Tuesday to see senators pass a bill named after him, which would allow a person to be charged with a felony the first time they torture a dog or cat.? House Bill 258 is now nearly law, having passed the Senate 31-5 with one member […]
Sweeping surprise overhaul of horse racing, gambling regulation sails out of Senate
FRANKFORT —?Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer’s late-breaking plan to form a new government corporation to oversee horse racing and charitable gaming is on the move in the Kentucky General Assembly.? With only a handful of days left to pass bills, Senate Bill 299, which began as a “shell” bill, was heard in a joint […]
Kentucky Senate votes to bar employers, schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccine
FRANKFORT — Following a 40-minute debate, the state Senate approved a bill that would prohibit the COVID-19 vaccine from being required for student enrollment, employment or medical treatment in Kentucky.? Senate Bill 295, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, advanced 25-11 with one member abstaining.? The bill protects “individual liberties,” Tichenor said, but met bipartisan […]