Bill Tracker

KFTC's legislative issues during the

2021 Kentucky General Assembly

The 2021 Kentucky General Assembly is now concluded. The bills listed below are among the ones KFTC prioritized, within the limits of our organizational capacity and a Republican supermajority opposed to KFTC's vision in most important ways.

To read a bill or get additional information, click on the bill number in the Summary column. If you’d like to let your legislators know what you think of any of these bills or how they voted, contact them through the Legislative Message Line at 800-372-7181 (open all year) or by email.

Check out the bill trackers and legislative priorities of our allies: ACLU-Kentucky; Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky; Kentucky Voices for Health; Forward Kentucky and the Kentucky Conservation Committee.

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KFTC's Priority Legislation
KFTC Supports Voting Rights House Bill 232 Bill Sponsor(s): Reps. Jason Nemes, Pamela Stevenson, William Lawrence and others	Summary House Bill 232 was a proposed constitutional amendment that would have, if approved by voters, automatically restored voting rights to almost all people who have a felony in their past upon completion of their prison sentence, probation or parole. It would restore other civil rights after a five-year waiting period.	Additional Information HB 232 is similar to legislation passed by a House committee last year that received no further consideration when the pandemic curtailed the 2020 session. It had bipartisan sponsorship and support. HB 232 was not assigned to a committee and legislative leaders denied the bill a hearing or a vote.
KFTC Supports Breonna's Law House Bill 21 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Attica Scott & other Democrats	Summary House Bill 21, or Breonna's Law, would have expanded Louisville's recent ban on no-knock search warrants statewide and made sure judges determine whether violent entry to serve a warrant is necessary. HB 21 would have required all law enforcement to wear – and activate – body cameras when carrying out search warrants. It also would have required officers to undergo alcohol and drug testing following any shooting or otherwise deadly incident while on duty.	Additional Information HB 21 was introduced in the House on January 5, and after much delay assigned to the Judiciary Committee. The committee however passed over HB 21 and instead approved Senate Bill 4, a weaker bill that addresses the issuance and execution of police warrants but does not ban no-knock warrants. SB 4, which had passed the Senate 33-0 on February 25, was amended and approved by the House, 92-5, on March 30. The Senate concurred, 34-0, with House amendments. SB 4 was signed into law by the governor on April 9. See how legislators voted on SB 4.
KFTC Supports Death Penalty Limit / Abolition House Bill 148 Senate Bill 60 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Chad McCoy, Sen, Stephen Meredith and other Republicans and Democrats	Summary House Bill 148 would have prevented the execution of any person with a diagnosis of serious mental illness. Senate Bill 60 would have eliminated the death penalty and replaced it with a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.	Additional Information HB 148 was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on February 24. It passed the full House, 75-16, on March 1. See how House members voted. HB 148 was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, 6-4-1, on March 4 (see how committee members voted). HB 148 was been blocked from getting a vote by the full Senate by Sen. Damon Thayer (@damon_thayer) and died in the Senate Rules Committee SB 60 was not assigned to a committee.
KFTC Supports Healthy Democracy: Redistricting House Bill 23 Bill Sponsor(s): Reps. Buddy Wheatley, Kelly Flood & Attica Scott	Summary House Bill 23 would have created an Advisory Redistricting Commission to draft redistricting plans for legislative and congressional districts. The commission would include members of the public, and its recommendations would need final approval by the legislature. Redistricting is done every 10 years based on new census data, and likely will be done next in the 2022 legislative session, so the need is for a committee to be in place and work this year.	Additional Information The majority party often has used redistricting to shape districts in ways that weaken the votes of minority populations, pit sitting legislators against each other and skew the district to favor their party’s candidates. The goal of this legislation was to remove that partisanship from the process. The Kentucky League of Women Voters has been particularly active in developing HB 23. HB 23 was not assigned to a committee and ignored by legislative leaders.
KFTC Supports Healthy Democracy: Voting Hours House Bill 51 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Buddy Wheatley & others	Summary House Bill 51 would have extended voting hours to 7 p.m.	Additional Information Kentucky has one of the earliest poll closing times in the nation at 6 p.m. This would have added one hour in the evening. HB 51 was not assigned to a committee and ignored by legislative leaders.
KFTC Supports Healthy Democracy: Expanded Absentee Voting House Bill 72 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Rachel Roberts & others	Summary House Bill 72 would have allowed "convenience of the voter" as a reason for requesting and casting an absentee ballot. Kentucky currently has a narrow list of reasons allowed for casting an absentee ballot.	Additional Information "No excuse" absentee voting absentee (also referred to as mail-in voting) was widely used in the 2020 elections, but done so only under emergency orders for voters concerned about voting safely. HB 72 would have made this a part of Kentucky law. HB 72 was not assigned to a committee. No excuse absentee (mail-in) voting was specifically excluded from the voting bill that did pass (see entry below for HB 574).
KFTC Supports Healthy Democracy: Expanded voter registration House Bill 182 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Josie Raymond	Summary House Bill 182 would have allowed same day voter registration, and make a driver's license applications (including renewals) simultaneously a voter registration (unless declined).	Additional Information A person not previously registered could do so at the precinct of their residence on the day of an election, provided they met all qualifications to be a voter (age, residency, etc.). A person registered through their driver's license application or renewal would be required to decline if they did not meet all qualification. HB 182 was not assigned to a committee or given a hearing or vote.
KFTC Supports Redistricting Bill Sponsor(s): Reps. Buddy Wheatley, Attica Scott, Lisa Willner	Summary House Concurrent Resolution 61 encouraged the Kentucky General Assembly to take steps to allow public input and hold public hearings during the redistricting process.	Additional Information HCR 61 was not assigned to a committee and was ignored by legislative leaders.
KFTC Supports Ban Conversion Therapy House Bill 19 Senate Bill 30 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Lisa Willner / Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr with bipartisan cosponsors	Summary House Bill 19 and Senate Bill 30 would have prohibited mental health professionals from engaging in sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts ("conversion therapy"), and prohibited the use of public funds for such efforts.	Additional Information Both bills had bipartisan sponsorship. Despite this, neither bill was assigned to a committee and received no consideration during the session.
KFTC Supports Maternal Health Bill House Bill 27 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Attica Scott and others	Summary House Bill 27, the Maternal Health Bill, would have required health facilities to provide each patient with written information regarding the patient's rights and implement an evidence-based implicit bias program for all health providers involved in the perinatal care of patients within those facilities; it also required the Department for Public Health to track data on maternal death and severe morbidity. HB 27 was part of a"Kentucky Maternal and Infant Health Project" package of 21 bills from the Democratic Women's Caucus that affirm a pro-family, pro-infant, pro-maternal health strategy. These bills also would work to close racial maternal and infant health gap. See: "Kentucky needs a birth plan to connect pregnant women to proper care."	Additional Information HB 27 and most of the other maternal health-related bills were not assigned to committees and were ignored by legislative leaders. However, House Bill 212 did move. It requires a child and maternal fatality annual demographic analysis by race, income and geography. HB 212 was approved unanimously by the House Health & Family Services Committee on February 4 and then, after a delay, by the full House, 92-3, on March 3. It received approval by the Senate, 36-0, on March 16, and was signed into law by Gov. Beshear on March 25.
KFTC Supports Re-entering Kentuckians House Bill 497 Bill Sponsor(s): Rep. Kimberly Moser	Summary House Bill 497 provides returning Kentuckians, their families and communities a healthy and successful pathway forward post-incarceration. See sign-on letter from more than 60 organizations supporting HB 497.	Additional Information HB 497 was passed by the House, 95-0, on March 5. In the Senate it was amended and approved by the Judiciary Committee on March 15 and the full Senate on March 16, 35-0. The House concurred with Senate changes, 91-0, on March 29. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Beshear on April 5.
KFTC Supports Civil rights protection House Bill 132 Bill Sponsor(s): Nima Kulkarni, Jason Nemes	Summary House Bill 132, titled the "Uniform Public Expression Protection Act," would have established procedures for dismissing lawsuits designed to silence and intimidate the defendant(s) from engaging in constitutionally protected activities, such as free speech, the right to petition and the right to association.	Additional Information HB 132 was not assigned to a committee and denied a hearing or vote by legislative leaders.

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