‘Safer Kentucky’ and abortion exceptions: Legislature sees notable bills filed in Week 2

FRANKFORT – Kentucky legislators came to a fork in the road in Week 2 of the 2024 session. And in the words of the great Yogi Berra, they took it.

Several notable bills were filed, while committees took early action on other pieces of legislation that were put forward in the General Assembly’s first week. There’s plenty of time before the session ends in April, but we have an early look at some key priorities legislators brought with them to Frankfort for the 60-day session.

Here’s a quick breakdown of highlights, news and notes from the session’s first full five-day week, with the House and Senate set to gavel back in Tuesday afternoon.

A busy week for new legislation

Several high-profile bills hit the floor for the first time.

Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, announced Tuesday morning he would file a bill adding exceptions to Kentucky’s near total abortion ban for circumstances including rape, incest, the mother’s health (current law only allows abortions in cases where the mother’s life is at risk) and if the fetus is not expected to survive birth.

Yates, who filed Senate Bill 99 later that day, was joined by advocate Hadley Duvall and Gov. Andy Beshear, who urged legislators to take action. Duvall is a sexual abuse survivor who appeared in a Beshear campaign ad last fall calling for exceptions to the law.

That afternoon, the “Safer Kentucky Act” was filed by Rep. Jared Bauman, R-Louisville, and a group of other Jefferson County Republicans. House Bill 5 would take several steps at improving public safety, including increased penalties for people convicted of three violent felonies, establishing a carjacking statute, new restrictions on charitable bail organizations and a crackdown on street camping.

Co-sponsor Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, said the legislation is about “getting people who are going to continue to commit crimes” off the streets. And Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, who said Wednesday he appreciates the General Assembly’s efforts to improve public safety but did not offer much insight as to whether he supports all items in HB 5, was in Frankfort a day later to discuss it and other issues with legislators.

It’s certain to attract plenty of attention. Several groups who oppose it plan to speak out at a press conference Tuesday morning in Frankfort.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 10, which would let voters decide whether to push Kentucky elections for statewide offices back a year to fall in line with presidential races, advanced through committee to the Senate floor. The measure is sponsored by Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, who argued it would increase voter participation and save Kentucky money.

Stephen Voss, a professor of political science at the University of Kentucky, said it’s “no surprise” Republicans want to alter the state’s election schedule because GOP candidates tend to do well in national elections. 

Around the Capitol

• The Senate approved its first bill of the 2024 General Assembly on Tuesday — Senate Bill 5, which would eliminate the state’s hunting and fishing license requirements for people who own the land on which they are hunting. Current law requires a permit for hunting and fishing on private properties consisting of five or fewer acres.
• A wave of legislators announced before the session that they don’t plan to seek reelection, including Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, along with two lawmakers who will instead seek seats on Louisville’s Metro Council in Democratic Rep. Josie Raymond and Republican Rep. Kevin Bratcher. But Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, isn’t going anywhere — he told reporters Tuesday he plans to remain in Frankfort for at least five more years.
• A Senate resolution put forward in the first week of the General Assembly by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, would have called on the chamber to recognize many of those arrested after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol “have been wrongfully detained for exercising their constitutional rights” and have not been afforded due process. But it’s unlikely to advance — Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, has told reporters he has no plans to bring it up in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.
• House members took most of Friday’s time in session to honor Rep. Brandon Reed, R-Hodgenville, who’s leaving the legislature to work under new Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell. Reed had been in office since 2017. House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, will set a date for a special election to fill his seat.

Looking ahead

The budget bill is still hanging over the session like an anvil, but expect action on it soon.

Osborne told Kentucky Educational Television on Monday that the bill was likely within the next week or two (you can be excused for having missed that broadcast — Stivers joked Tuesday morning that it was tough competing with the College Football Playoff title game for viewers that night).

The budget is the biggest priority of the legislature this year. Gov. Andy Beshear released his budget proposal last month, though the General Assembly will pass the bill that eventually lands on his desk.

That bill isn’t on the docket yet, though. On Tuesday, the Senate is set to discuss Senate Bill 17 (which includes tweaks to Kentucky’s death certificate process) and Senate Bill 24 (which would limit the number of Medicaid organizations contracted by the state to three or fewer). The House, meanwhile, will discuss House Bill 88, which would prevent groups that are not banks from presenting themselves as such in ads to homeowners.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in honor of the civil rights icon, and the General Assembly will not be in session. Legislators will gavel back in for a four-day week in Frankfort at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Reach Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@courier-journal.com. Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.