KY legislative leaders could order police to arrest protesters under advancing House bill
Still upset about noisy House gallery protests in 2023, state lawmakers on Wednesday sent a bill to the House floor that would give Kentucky’s legislative leaders the power to order police to arrest protesters whom they believe are disrupting the business of the General Assembly.
The House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 399 on Wednesday.
A similar bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, would give the House speaker, Senate president, committee chairmen and House and Senate sergeants-at-arms the authority to order the arrests of anyone they believe is guilty of a new criminal offense, “interference with a legislative proceeding.”
Kentucky State Police officers guard the Capitol and Capitol Annex in Frankfort when lawmakers are present.
First-degree interference with a legislative proceeding would be a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Further offenses would be a Class D felony, which carries up to five years in prison.
The first-degree charge is defined as someone who “knowingly engages in, conspires to engage in or facilitates another person engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any legislative building; and the conduct disrupts, impedes, or prevents the General Assembly from conducting business.”
Second-degree interference would be a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail. Further offenses would be a Class A misdemeanor.
The second-degree charge is defined as someone who “enters into or remains inside, conspires to enter into or remain inside, or facilitates another person entering into or remaining inside a chamber or gallery of the General Assembly, or another room inside a legislative building that is set aside or designated for the use of the members of the General Assembly; or obstructs or impedes, conspires to obstruct or impede, or facilitates another person obstructing or impeding a legislator, legislative officer, or legislative staff member’s ingress, egress, or movement within a legislative building.”
Blanton told the committee he was disturbed in 2023 as people in the House gallery loudly protested lawmakers for passing Senate Bill 150, a controversial bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Twenty of the protesters were arrested and charged with the misdemeanor of third-degree criminal trespassing.
“There’s nothing wrong with protesting, attempting to make your voice heard. It’s as American as baseball and apple pie,” Blanton said.
“But we can also cross that line,” Blanton said.
“What I observed that day in the gallery was ... that day if you were on the floor, if you recall, the decorum got so bad, out of control, that literally we had to stop the process, call for a vote and vote. Some of you may have been wanting to speak that day and you didn’t get the chance to because of the interruptions,” he said.
The committee voted 13-to-4 to approve Blanton’s bill.
Some lawmakers who voted “no” objected to what they saw as the bill’s possible infringement on the First Amendment rights of Kentuckians to gather and speak their minds at the Capitol.
“I have grave concerns for the right of the people to assemble. Everything we do is based on that,” said Rep. Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville. “The moment that we start taking people’s rights away because we were inconvenienced is problematic.”
Rep. TJ Roberts, R-Burlington, also expressed concerns about constitutional protections as described in the bill. He also took issue with language in the bill saying that police “shall” arrest people when directed to do so by legislative leaders.
“That could ultimately lead to a requirement that they make an arrest even though they have a federal duty to make their own independent determination of probable cause,” Roberts said.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM.
