New Kentucky Laws

[Dave1965]

A few some of you may be interested in:


Bills approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor will go into effect as state law in 90 days from today’s adjournment, except for those that specify a different effective date or include an emergency clause that makes them effective as soon as they are signed into law.

Legislation approved by the 2015 General Assembly includes measures on the following topics:

Beer distributors. House Bill 168 will prevent beer distributorships from being owned by beer brewing companies. The bill is meant to affirm that beer is not exempt from the state’s three-tier system of regulating – and keeping separate – alcoholic beverage producers, distributors and retailers.

Breeders’ Cup. HB 134 will reinstate a tax break for the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Lexington this year. The legislation will waive the state’s excise tax on live pari-mutuel wagering for the event. The waiver of the pari-mutuel excise tax was reportedly worth about $750,000 the last time the event was at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Charitable gaming. Senate Bill 33 would allow electronic versions of pull-tab Bingo tickets at charitable Bingo halls.

Child abuse. SB 102 will allow a death caused by intentional abuse to be considered first-degree manslaughter.

Child booster seats. House Bill 315 will require booster seats to be used in motor vehicles by children who are less than eight years old and are between 40 and 57 inches in height.

Crowdfunding. HB 76 will help Kentucky entrepreneurs to gain investors through crowdfunding. The bill will allow people to invest up to $10,000 through a crowdfunding platform while helping businesses raise up to $2 million.

Dating violence. HB 8 will expand civil protective orders to cover dating violence victims, as well as victims of sexual abuse and stalking.

Drug abuse. HB 24 will prevent youth from misusing certain cough medicines to get high -- sometimes called “robotripping” – by restricting access to medicines that contain dextromethorphan. The bill will prevent sales of dextromethorphan-based products, such as Robitussin-DM or Nyquil, to minors.

Early childhood development. HB 234 will require early child care and education programs to follow a state quality-based rating system.

Emergency responders. SB 161 will authorize the governor to order that U.S. flags be lowered to half-staff on state buildings if a Kentucky emergency responder dies in the line of duty.

End-of-life care. SB 77 will allow Kentuckians to use a health care directive known as a “medical order for scope of treatment.” These orders spell out patients’ wishes for end-of-life care. Unlike advance directives, the orders are considered to be physician’s orders and are signed by both the patient or patient’s legal surrogate, and the patient’s physician.

Gas tax. HB 299 will prevent the state gasoline tax – which rises and falls with the price of gas – from dropping below 26 cents per gallon when fuel prices are low.

Gambling. SB 28 will make it clear in the law that it’s illegal for so-called Internet cafes to sell Internet access to play computer-based, casino-style games, or sweepstakes, in which customers can win cash prizes.

Heroin. SB 192 will increase prison sentences for heroin traffickers and expand addiction treatment programs. The measure will also allow local-option needle exchange programs, establish a “Good Samaritan” provision to shield from criminal charges those who call for help for an overdose victim, and expand the availability of Naloxone, which can reverse the effects of heroin overdoses.

Hunters. SB 55 will ensure that game meat can be donated to not-for-profit organizations to feed hungry people as long as the meat was properly field dressed and processed and is considered disease-free and unspoiled.

Kentucky Employees Retirement System. HB 62 will make sure the agencies that want to leave the Kentucky Employee Retirement System pay their part of the system’s unfunded liability.

Medical research center. HB 298 will make possible the construction of a state-of-the-art medical research center to target prevalent diseases in Kentucky, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The legislation authorizes the issuance of $132.5 million in bonds to help build the research center at the University of Kentucky. The university will raise an equal amount for the $265 million research building.

Newborn health screening. SB 75 will require newborn health screenings to include checks for Krabbe Disease, an inherited disorder that affects the nervous system.

Retirement systems. HB 47 will add the Legislators' Retirement Plan, the Judicial Retirement Plan, and the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System to the Public Pension Oversight Board's review responsibilities.

Schools. SB 119 will give schools flexibility to deal with the unusually high number of “snow days” caused by a harsh winter. The bill would give school districts until June 5 to complete all 1,062 school instructional hours required by the state. Any remaining hours that cannot be made up could be waived by the state. School days would not be allowed to exceed seven hours or be held on Saturdays. SB 119 also contains provisions that would require school administrators, teachers, office state, teaching assistants, coaches and other employed by a school district to receive training on ways to recognize and prevent on child abuse.

Sexual assault. Senate Joint Resolution 20 would direct the Auditor of Public Accounts to study the number of sexual assault examination kits in the possession of Kentucky police and prosecutors that have not been sent to the state’s forensic lab for testing. The resolution is aimed at helping state officials know the scope of a backlog that needs attention.

Spina bifida. SB 159 would require health care providers to give information about spina bifida and treatment options to parents whose unborn children have been diagnosed with the disorder.

Stroke care. SB 10 would improve care for stroke victims by requiring the state to make sure local emergency services have access to a list of all acute stroke-ready hospitals, comprehensive stroke centers, and primary stroke centers in Kentucky. Emergency medical services directors would be required to create protocols for assessment and treatment of stroke victims.

Telephone deregulation. HB 152 is aimed at modernizing telecommunications and allowing more investment in modern technologies by ending phone companies’ obligations to provide landline phone services to customers in urban and suburban areas if they provide service through another technology, such as mobile or an Internet-based phone service. While rural customers can keep landline phones they already have, newly constructed homes in rural areas won’t be guaranteed landline services.

Veterans. HB 209 would create “Gold Star Sibling” specialty license plates for Kentuckians with siblings who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces. The plates would be based on the Gold Star plates already available to the parents and spouses of those who died while serving in the armed forces.

[Toecutter1978]

I'm glad they are expanding the Gold Star. I try to frequent businesses that have Gold Star parking next to the door.

[Dave1965]

Yes sadly most people have no concept of what the Gold Star meaning is. I usually give them a pass on my normal road rage

[son of liberty]

Yes sadly most people have no concept of what the Gold Star meaning is. I usually give them a pass on my normal road rage

I had to google it, so its reserved parking for families of fallen soldiers? Sounds good to me, so long as its not required by law at private businesses.


The Gas tax sort of pisses me off even though it effects my income. The road department is glad to make the tax a floating tax when the cost of oil is high, but when it drops they want to "Stabilize" it. If they have a record year and gas prices are high, the state is making a bunch of money off of the oil tax, that then becomes the standard , they plan on having that level of tax money to fund the road department for ever. On top of all that , I think that overall , they do a very poor job, we are like 40 years behind in nearly every aspect of our road department.

[Dave1965]

Yes sadly most people have no concept of what the Gold Star meaning is. I usually give them a pass on my normal road rage

I had to google it, so its reserved parking for families of fallen soldiers? Sounds good to me, so long as its not required by law at private businesses.


The Gas tax sort of pisses me off even though it effects my income. The road department is glad to make the tax a floating tax when the cost of oil is high, but when it drops they want to "Stabilize" it. If they have a record year and gas prices are high, the state is making a bunch of money off of the oil tax, that then becomes the standard , they plan on having that level of tax money to fund the road department for ever. On top of all that , I think that overall , they do a very poor job, we are like 40 years behind in nearly every aspect of our road department.

Gold Star families have been around a long time (at least since WW2 that I know of), mothers of lost servicemembers at time of war denoted this loss by wearing of a gold star lapel pin issued by the war department (DOD). Different states have different benefits for families. NY gives 500 a year to the parents, Massachusetts gives $2000 a year apparently. Some other states have tax exemptions (NY) etc. and so on.

and on the other point, I know even more on this.... the Road Dept..I guess you mean the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC).... Doesnt make crap off the taxes. All the monies taken in are used in the maintenance of the infrastructure to the state of Kentucky road system and I guess keeps you and your contractor boss in work. It keeps the public moving througout the road system of Kentucky to jobs, entertainment, etc..

The state can't even maintain its roads and bridges now and when the gas tax drops, it makes it even tougher. The budget prediction is set by the Governors Budget team forecasters at the LRC (I have known two of their economists personally for 10 years) and they have no crystal ball to know when the gas prices are going to go down, just like there is no crystal ball to know when the Recessions are going to happen. Its all based on historical data and trends. That is how they predict the budget every year so when something like the gas price drops over a dollar in one year, it really screws with any prediction.

The reason our "road department" is behind is because:
A) politicians have too much power-they dictate a lot of things and the governor wields considerable power and the legislature is bought by too many special interests...
B) Asphalt companies have too much power (and pay the politicians) to just use asphalt...and asphalt has some uses but the way its put down and the weakest mix possible is used, then the pavement won't last. When I came to this state, a pavement used to last around 8 to 10 years depending on all the factors. Now the state is lucky to get it to last for 5-7. Yeah it has something to do with increased traffic but even on lighter traffic road, it sucks. I live on a county road that has been redone three times in the last 16 years I have been here... . We have some crappy companies that need to be stricken from the approved list for crappy work but see item A above. Here is an idea, make the companies warranty their work....like in Europe. I bet they won't go for that too well. It has been tried here (northern Ky) but not so great results I don't think.

C)The state pays shit to the engineers and staff it has working at the Transportation Cabinet--as soon as they get offered a better job as a consultant, they jump to go there. The state needs to work on the competitive pay. Some of the smartest people I know that could have helped this system tremendously have been taken out by retiring to greener fields. And guess who pays the consultants all those high dollars to do the work that the Cabinet no longer has people able to do...The Cabinet under a consulting contract. So they pay consultants big money and their own people...squat ..who could have done the same work. Thats just short-sided on the State Govt. side (not the Trans. Cabinet who has NO control over it).
--AND NO I DON'T WORK FOR THE TRANSPORTATION CABINET--
D) and the state generally pays only 20% of the money on big projects, like the louisville bridges and interstate projects, etc. The other 80% comes from the federal highway trust fund which gets its funding thru federal gasoline tax that is then prorated back to each state it came from. And the trust fund is slowly going broke because of increased need and decreasing income. So the congress has shored it up with billions of dollars over the last few years but needs to find a fix. They just turned down funding like 450 billion by closing some type of business loophole (probably affecting too many of their donors).

I could go on but thats in general.....

[jackalo626]

All I know is the roads suck and I pay more and more taxes every year but see less of its value it seems. I bend a rim in one of these potholes and you'll hear about it on the news when am entire road comes up missing............

[Dave1965]

Thats because you can't try and maintain in 5 to 10 year cycles what it took 50 years to complete (interstate system) or 100 years to build out (bridges and county roads)

[jackalo626]

Thats because you can't try and maintain in 5 to 10 year cycles what it took 50 years to complete (interstate system) or 100 years to build out (bridges and county roads)

I am not saying their method works.....it doesn't. I'm just saying that there are other states that I travel through that have way better roads and lower tax rates/on par tax rates so it isn't unreasonable to want to drive down the road without dodging sinkholes.

[jackalo626]

My dad worked for the KY state hwy dept his entire life so I am no stranger to the politics and the blue collar side as well.

[Whootsinator]

A number of these will affect me. Thanks for Posting this.

[son of liberty]

Damn Dave, your pretty much spot on.......kinda impressive.

Our company is run by former state Engineers for the most part, all poached from the cabinet.

Mix quality has gone to shit, the last 10 years have seen warm mix and recycled asphalt all approved by the state. The state sets the standards for mix design and well as near every aspect of installation we just give a price based on there requirements. Im not against other methods, heck I will put down concrete with the same enthusiasm I do the black stuff, and the state is doing more and more concrete in problematic areas , off ramps, intersections, but the cost is much higher upfront.


More then anything I think my government hate is coming out , it really would not matter what kind of logic or argument they put forth to raise tax , I would be dead set against it.


disenfranchised ,malcontent , tax protesting , scofflaw

[Dave1965]

Recycled asphalt is crap in this state. The mix designs are watered down because if they aren't, the contractors bitch and moan and play their croanies into doing whatever they want. Contractors like Mtn Enterprises in the SE part of the state have that area sewn up, well actually certain contractors have their "territory", which to me is akin to a monopoly. All the contractors generally respect the other territories til one of them gets pissed off, needs work, or wants to cause trouble. Then they get payback. Its an endless cycle but unfortunately because of the crappy mixes (lobbied for by the industry because that is how they make more money) the public in KY loses. Other states are political, I lived in Mississippi for 7 years and it was bad but its really bad here as far as politicians and the contractors.

Been in the project construction business for the last 27 years. Thought I got out of the engineering part of it a few years ago and now get drug back into as a favor.

[Toecutter1978]

Could it also be that Europe roads are made thicker than roads here in the US? Start with a stronger foundation and the rest will be stronger.

[Dave1965]

Could it also be that Europe roads are made thicker than roads here in the US? Start with a stronger foundation and the rest will be stronger.

That's because Germany started a huge autobahn (interstate-type) program started back in the 20's and 30's really and Hitler did a lot to push it. Their roads are designed to last. Ours are trying to optimize the money versus everything else. In Kentucky for example, the politicians prefer to say they paved 1000 miles of roadway in their speeches and campaigns rather than say we did 500 miles correctly and to last.

Also helped in pre-ww2 that Hitler had lots of labor and then subsequently had lots of prisoners to do work. Then in post-war years they were rebuilding and so I am sure other countries helped with a lot of money and assistance to get them all back working again.

Plus they put a lot of emphasis on quality building.
Not to mention Germany is a lot smaller than the USA.

Eisenhower gets a lot of credit (Eisenhower Interstate System) for coming back from WW2 and eventually pushing the development of a network of a defense access highway system(our current interstate) as he saw the huge benefit to everyone involved of the autobahn during and after the war.

[ChickenLady]

Thanks for posting these! I'm most interested in the "end of life" one and will be interested to see how that pans out.

[RecoilSensitive]

Gas tax also applies to me. Part of it goes into a fund to clean up old gas stations that leaked. We do these cleanups and they are not cheap.

[ssracer]

Ideal like I just watched an after school special