KY public safety bills to watch: protective orders, mental health, wrongful convictions
A bill to allow Kentucky schools the use of a “wearable panic alert system,” in case of a school shooting. A bill to strengthen punishment for “sextortion.” Another to bar undocumented immigrants who live in Kentucky from claiming residency for in-state tuition at local colleges and universities.
Lawmakers in the Kentucky General Assembly have filed dozens of bills related to public safety and law enforcement.
The bill filing deadlines for the 30-day legislative session passed earlier in February. The General Assembly adjourns March 28.
Here are several we’re tracking:
Criminal penalties for sex offenders, domestic abusers
Senate Bill 73, a proposal with bipartisan support from Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, would create a range of felony sex offenses for online sexual extortion, punishable from a year to life in prison. Those convicted would have to register as a sex offender.
The bill creates stronger penalties for those who had prior sex-related convictions, held a position of trust, threatened to use a weapon or targeted kids.
House Bill 96 from Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood, would expand and clarify offenses that contribute to the need for a court-granted protective order to include “coercive control.”
Under Dietz’s bill, which has bipartisan support, coercive control refers to a “pattern of behavior that is used to cause another to suffer physical, emotional, or psychological harm, and in purpose or effect, unreasonably interferes with a person’s free will and personal liberty.”
This behavior could include “damaging, destroying or threatening to damage or destroy” the protective order petitioner’s property, animals or sentimental items” and using technology to “threaten, humiliate, harass, stalk, intimidate or exert undue influence over, or abuse of, the other person.”
A similar bill, House Bill 38 from Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would enhance penalties for violating a protective or restraining order — a move that bolsters protections for domestic violence survivors.
Tipton’s bill, which has cleared the House, would make a third offense for violating a restraining order within five years a Class D felony. It was previously a Class A misdemeanor — the same as the first two offenses.
Another bill from Dietz, Senate Bill 99, would classify when a staff member at an adult or juvenile correctional or detention facility in Kentucky has sex with a person who is incarcerated as a Class D felony.
Under Dietz’s bill, that felony charge could also be levied against a county or commonwealth’s attorney who has sex with someone they are prosecuting, and an attorney for a criminal defendant who has sex with the individual they’re representing, “unless a prior relationship exists.”
House Bill 42 from Rep. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, would prohibit sex offenders who’ve committed a criminal offense against a minor from participating in Halloween-related activities, including handing out candy, trick-or-treating, participating in any event that involves handing candy out to children and adolescents or where children in costumes are present. Violators would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor on first offense and a Class D felony on subsequent offenses under the bill.
Lower age to conceal carry
House Bill 139 from Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, again proposes lowering the legal age one can own and carry a concealed weapon from 21 to 18.
Maddox, a strong proponent of relaxing Kentucky’s gun laws, filed a similar bill last year — and has each of the other six years she has so far served in elected office.
“We clearly have no problem sending (18-year-old) adult men and women overseas to defend our nation’s interest,” Maddox said last year. “They certainly should have the ability to defend themselves and their families here at home.”
Wrongful conviction compensation
House Bill 206 from Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, creates a cause of action mechanism for a person who has been wrongfully convicted of a felony crime in Kentucky to seek damages.
If a court finds that a person was wrongfully convicted, their record would be expunged and they could receive up to $65,000 for each year of imprisonment, or $75,000 for each year of imprisonment if an individual received a death sentence.
A person a court found to be wrongfully convicted would also be eligible to receive a tuition waiver up to 120 credit hours at any public college or university in Kentucky.
Illegal “aliens” can’t claim KY residence for in-state tuition
House Bill 352 from freshman Rep. TJ Roberts, R-Burlington, would bar immigrants in Kentucky illegally, referred to in the bill as “aliens,” from claiming Kentucky residency for the purpose of paying in-state tuition at a state college or university.
Roberts’ bill would also require the Council on Postsecondary Education to collect “immigration data” on each public college’s and university’s students and report that data to the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. It would also bar those institutions from enforcing a sanctuary policy.
Should Roberts’ bill be passed into law, if a public college or university “negligently enrolls” an undocumented immigrant and that student then commits a crime, the victim or victim’s family may file a civil action against the school for damages.
Mental health support for youth in foster care, juvenile facilities
Senate Bill 111 from Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, would provide greater mental health support services to children and adolescents in state custody. The bill has cleared the Senate, like a similar bill did last year from Carroll, only to die in the House.
This year’s bill initially included a $90 million price tag to build a 16-bed mental health juvenile detention facility for high-acuity, or acutely mentally ill, youth. That aspect of the bill has since been nixed, potentially to be revived during the 2026 legislative session — a budget year.
The current bill includes a range of behavioral health supports, offered by highly-specialized clinicians. Under Carroll’s bill, youths could be placed in a psychiatric or pediatric teaching hospital with reimbursement provided by the federal-state Medicaid program. Hospitals could have adolescents removed if they act violently.
Carroll again highlighted the need for such a facility and enhanced specialized services during a legislative committee hearing earlier this month, following a report released in January by the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman showing that dozens of youth under the care of state social services had regularly slept in state-run office buildings last summer and fall for lack of alternative placement.
Many adolescents are in this situation because of their high-acuity status, and because no other foster or adoption agency will accept them, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander told Carroll in that legislative committee meeting.
School safety, anti-choking devices
House Bill 14 from Rep. Kevin Jackson, R-Bowling Green, would allow Kentucky school districts to implement a “wearable panic alert system” at each school. Its co-sponsors include Aull, who filed a similar measure last session.
The bill defines the device as a “silent security system by which the user manually activates a device that sends a non-audible signal to a local 9-1-1 public safety answering point . . . that indicates a school security emergency that requires immediate response and assistance.” The device would also be “capable of initiating a campus-wide lock down notification.”
House Bill 44 from Rep. Candy Massaroni, R-Bardstown, would allow anti-choking devices in K-12 schools in Kentucky to be used in addition to, not in place of, the Heimlich maneuver, which is still the method recommended by the Food and Drug Administration and the American Red Cross.
The bill defines an anti-choking device as “a portable suction device used to remove an airway obstruction during a choking emergency that has been registered as a Class II medical device with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
The FDA has not formally approved such a device for use and has outright warned against relying on them. First-aid experts warn, and research shows, the devices are not reliably effective and could potentially cause more harm.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
