A dozen new laws to know in Kentucky

Kentucky lawmakers successfully passed more than 200 bills and 10 resolutions that carry the force of law this year.

Roughly a quarter of those had an emergency clause attached — that means they went into effect right away. The vast majority of the rest are set to go into effect Monday, 90 days after the General Assembly adjourned for the year.

Here’s a rundown on some of the most important measures now in effect or going into effect early next year:

• HB5 : Safer Kentucky Act

One of the most heavily discussed pieces of legislation this year, nearly the entirety of the Safer Kentucky Act goes into effect Monday. That includes a controversial ban on street camping , which opponents say criminalizes public homelessness. It also institutes a three strikes law on violent felony offenders, creates a carjacking statute, significantly limits charitable bail funds, and much more .

Here’s how officials in Lexington and Louisville say they intend to implement the legislation.

• HB7 : Autonomous Vehicles

The bill to allow autonomous vehicles in Kentucky was one of the closest votes in the legislature this year. It creates a framework for driverless cars on public highways. There is one major stricture — vehicles weighing over 62,000 pounds have to carry a human driver while in operation until July 31, 2026.

• HB11 : Anti-vaping (This bill takes effect January 1, 2025)

In an attempt to reel in underage vaping and ensure the safety of existing vape products, House Bill 11 prohibits wholesalers from selling vape products that don’t have Food and Drug Administration authorization or a “safe harbor” certification . It also requires the creation of a “tobacco noncompliance database” to identify retailers that don’t comply with the act.

Some sellers have fiercely opposed the bill, saying it benefits big vape companies like Juul while hurting small businesses, some of which offer vape products with lower nicotine levels.

• HB136 : Environmental audits

The bill allows Louisville companies to avoid civil penalties if they voluntarily reported pollution or other infractions, and made the necessary corrections. It’s a system similar to state law that already applies to other counties.
Some ethics experts criticized Republican sponsor Rep. Jared Bauman for the legislation, which could benefit his employer, Lubrizol Corp., a chemical company with a factory in west Louisville.

• HB220 : Biosimilar prescriptions swaps

This new law allows insurance companies to require customers to try “biosimilar biological products,” a.k.a. generic versions of branded prescription drugs before allowing the customer to get coverage for the branded version. Branded medications are generally more expensive than their generic counterparts.

• HB258 : Animal torture

Referred to as “Ethan’s Law,” House Bill 258 makes intentionally torturing a dog or cat a Class D felony. Named for a beloved rescue dog who survived severe abuse, Ethan’s Law would make a first offense a felony and further clarifies the definition of animal torture to include purposefully restraining a pet, causing extreme pain or death. Some examples include pitching an animal into a dumpster or sealing it in a plastic bag.

• HB278 : Child protection and Age verification

This law enacts harsher penalties for human trafficking and for people who abuse their position of authority or trust for several sex crimes. It also requires a person convicted of distributing material containing sexual performance by a minor to serve at least 85% of their sentence.

The bill also created age verification requirements for pornography websites , requiring they either use high-tech software or verify government IDs before allowing anyone access to the site. These requirements have already caused adult entertainment website Pornhub to block access for Kentuckians last week, just before the bill went into effect.

• HB551 : Cold cases

This new law allows law enforcement agencies to contract with retired officers and detectives to assist with homicide cold cases. Louisville Democratic sponsor Rep. Keturah Herron said she hoped it would put a dent in the large number of unsolved murder cases, especially in Louisville.

• SB16 : Recording food and livestock operations

Senate Bill 16 would block drones from surveilling food manufacturing or animal feeding operations without the owner’s consent. It also bans the distribution of such images or materials. Critics say the bill is an “ag-gag” law designed to silence watchdogs from reporting on industrial agricultural operations.

• SB20 : Youth gun crimes

Under this law, teenagers who are at least 15 years old who commit a class A, B or C felony using a gun will be automatically sent to adult circuit court. A child convicted as an adult receives the same penalties as an adult offender, except they’d be housed with other juveniles until their 18th birthday. The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found that it is likely to largely affect Black youth in Louisville.

• SB74 : Momnibus 2.0

Most of the elements of the so-called “Momnibus” bill go into effect Monday. Alongside establishing review teams to analyze data on child and maternal deaths, it also aims to expand health care access for pregnant people.

It creates the Kentucky Lifeline for Moms to help health care providers find services for pregnant and postpartum women struggling with mental illness. It also expands the Health Access and Nurturing Development Services program — often called simply “HANDS” — to include virtual services. It also requires Medicaid to cover things like breastfeeding equipment, in-home programs and telehealth services for maternity care.

Not all elements of the bill will go into effect immediately — many of the changes to insurance and special enrollment periods for pregnant women won’t change until the beginning of 2025.

• SB215 : California emission standards

In line with some other Kentucky laws that forbid state agencies from enforcing standards stricter than federal minimums, this law forbids any Kentucky agency from enforcing emissions standards for new vehicles that are identical to California’s.
Under the Clean Air Act, California is allowed to adopt its own emissions standards on motor vehicles, which other states may choose to adopt as well.

Correction: An original version of this story misstated the effective date of legislation that would remove certain vape products from Kentucky stores. House Bill 11 will go into effect on January 1, 2025.

State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.