Editor’s Note: This report includes information that was relevant as of the evening of Monday, March 17. For the most up-to-date information, you may need to check online at www.legislature.ky.gov.
After weeks of discussion, debate, filing, amending and voting, those bills,, which made the cut from this year’s legislative session have hit the desk of Gov. Andy Beshear. Some have already been signed into law, but most still await their ultimate fate as we are now down to just days from the General Assembly concluding its official business on March 28.
Senate Bill 89
SB 89 has been at the center of a heated debate over the state’s regulation of water pollution. Proposed by primary sponsor Scott Madon (R – 29th District) and supported by a host of fellow republican senators, the bill aims to amend the Kentucky Revised Statutes to change the definition of “water” or “waters of the Commonwealth.” It also proposes to amend KRS to define “long-term treatment,” and make other clarifications.
Those standing in opposition to the proposed legislation have voiced concern that the changes being suggested could lead to a lack of regulatory measures that will, in turn, make groundwater supplies more susceptible to pollution. The Kentucky Conservation Committee recently took to social media to encourage citizens to speak out against the measure, urging them to contact Gov. Beshear’s office and request that he veto the bill.
SB 89 passed the Senate on Feb. 14 with a vote of 30-5. It was received in the House of Representatives four days later and was with the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy through March 7. It was passed by the House, 69-26, on March 12 with a committee substitute that asked for an additional revision to the definition of “waters” or “waters of the Commonwealth,” and also a revision of the definition of “wellhead protection area.”
Senate Bill 100
SB 100, sponsored by Republican Senator Jimmy Higdon (14th District), seeks to create new sections of the Kentucky Revised Statutes in order to “create the Division of Tobacco, Nicotine, and Vapor Product Licensing within the Department of Beverage Control,” and “give the department investigators the authority to inspect any premise where alternative nicotine products, tobacco products, or vapor products are sold without obtaining a search warrant.”
The measure also proposes a requirement for retailers that sell alternative nicotine products, tobacco products, or vapor products to obtain a tobacco, nicotine, and vapor products license that will be issued by the department, and it establishes penalties for retailers that sell alternative nicotine products, tobacco products, or vapor products without a license. Also established are the conditions under which a license may be revoked.
The bill outlines that 100 percent of the licensing and application fees will go to fund the department, and that half of all fines collected will be put toward funding a youth program that “educates the youth on the dangers of vaping and tobacco use.”
SB 89 also calls for a “noncompliance database and reporting system” to be established. It passed the Senate of Feb. 26 with a committee substitute and a pair of floor amendments, receiving a vote of 33-3. It picked up one more committee substitute in the House before passing with an 82-11 vote on March 12.
House Bill 15
The appropriately titled HB 15 seeks to “allow persons who are at least 15 years of age to apply for a motor vehicle instruction permit,” and establishes that “an instruction permit is valid for four years.”
This bill, which has grabbed many headlines in recent weeks, passed through the House with a vote of 86-13 on Feb. 13. It then received overwhelming support in the Senate, passing with a 36-1 vote on March 11. While in the Senate, a committee substitute was added, and later concurred upon by the House, that amends KRS to “require that the holder of an intermediate license attain the age of 17 before applying for an operator’s license.”
House Bill 241
Co-sponsored by 82nd District Rep. Nick Wilson, HB 241 is a bill relating to school district calendars that would provide districts with five disaster relief student attendance days. It initially passed the House on Feb. 21 with a vote of 82-7, and passed through the Senate on March 6, 23-14. After some back-and-forth regarding some provisions outlined in a Senate Committee Substitute, the bill finally received a definitive stamp of approval on March 13 and landed on the governor’s desk one day later.
House Bill 132
Rep. Wilson’s bill relating to home and hospital instruction seeks to waive a five-day waiting period in order to allow a student that has been admitted to an inpatient facility to receive home and hospital services beginning on the first day. Passed unanimously by the House on Feb. 19, it also received unanimous support in the Senate, passing with no opposition on March 12. All that is required now is the governor’s signature.
