Queer Kentucky’s #KYGA25 Bill Tracker

We get it: It can be incredibly difficult, downright tiring and often straight-up boring to follow all of the different bills moving through Frankfort during Kentucky’s legislative session. 

That’s why we’re launching the Queer Kentucky #KYGA25 Bill Tracker. As new bills get filed and legislation moves through Frankfort, we’ll comb through everything and put quick blurbs about the bills you need to know about here. 

We’ll update this page regularly throughout the legislative session, so go ahead and bookmark it now. 

Kentucky’s legislature meets from Jan. 7 to Jan. 10, and then from Feb. 4 through March. Lawmakers had until the end of February to file new legislation. 

Have a bill you’re interested in or think we should be following? Email civics reporter Olivia Krauth at [email protected]. 

 

This story was last updated on March 14 at 11:44 p.m. Eastern.

Heading to Beshear

House Bill 495: Prohibit bans on conversion therapy, bans gender-affirming care for transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid

• Sponsor: Rep. David Hale (R-Wellington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Undo Beshear’s executive order banning conversion therapy in Kentucky and prohibit similar bans until 2028. A last-minute substitute version of the bill also seeks to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid, with no age restriction.
  • Initially, it would’ve prohibited restrictions on mental health care providers based on the types of services they offer, aka would prohibit future bans on conversion therapy. 
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the House and the Senate, now off to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk.

Senate Bill 2: Prohibit funding for gender-affirming care for transgender inmates

• Sponsor: Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson (R-Bowling Green)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: SB 2 would prohibit funding gender-affirming hormone treatment and surgeries for transgender inmates. Surgeries were already not happening, but 67 inmates — around 0.05% of all inmates — are receiving gender-affirming hormone treatment.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the Senate and the House, now off to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk.

House Bill 4: Anti-DEI in higher ed

• Sponsor: Rep. Jennifer Decker (R-Waddy)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: A wide-ranging bill to restrict, if not completely eliminate, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on public college and university campuses. Among the things impacted: Scholarships targeted at marginalized communities, DEI offices and funding for trainings, housing or student services for marginalized communities. Among the things not impacted: Academic research and course offerings, faculty and student freedom of speech, services focused on sexual orientation and/or gender identity (discrimination based on biological sex would be outlawed, though).
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the House and the Senate, now off to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk.

Bills that are still alive

Senate Bill 132: Health care professionals’ conscience

• Sponsor: Sen. Donald Douglas (R-Nicholasville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Health care professionals could not be discriminated against for refusing certain treatments or procedures that violate their conscience.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the Senate and a House committee, now waiting for a full House vote.

House Bill 392: Dividing inmates based on sex assigned at birth

• Sponsor: Rep. Marianne Proctor (R-Union)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: This bill focuses on mental health facilities, but a last-second amendment by Senate leadership would require inmates to be sent to facilities tied to their assigned sex at birth.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the House and the Senate, now back to the House for concurrence.

Bills that are dead

Senate Bill 60: Protecting “religious liberty”

• Sponsor: Sen. Steve Rawlings (R-Burlington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: SB 60 says the government could not “substantially burden” someone’s freedom of religion, including but not limited to forcing someone to serve LGBTQ+ people.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Passed out of the Senate Feb. 26, now waiting for a committee vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill 116: Male and female only 

• Sponsor: Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R-Smithfield)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: SB 116 would establish a “Kentucky Women’s Bill of Rights,” which would allow public entities to distinguish between male and female based on biological sex and require several such entities that keep vital statistics to only use male or female.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

Senate Bill 165: Anti-DEI in K-12 schools

• Sponsor: Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R-Smithfield)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: SB 165 is similar to another anti-diversity, equity and inclusion bill on this list (HB 4), but this bill focuses on K-12 schools and includes a line forbidding any policy “promoting gender nonconformity or disparaging heterosexuality and heteronormativity.”
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

House Bill 5: Prohibit gender-affirming health care for transgender inmates

• Sponsor: Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 5 is similar to SB 2 in that it would largely prohibit gender-affirming health care for transgender inmates. It would also require separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms for males and females.
• Here’s a link to the full bill. 
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. 

House Bill 154: Blocking funding for gender-affirming care

• Sponsor: Rep. Josh Calloway (R-Irvington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Several publicly funded health insurance plans — including Medicaid — would be prohibited from funding any type of gender-affirming care, from surgeries to mental health supports. Health care providers who break the law could lose their license.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Health Services Committee. 

House Bill 163: Bathrooms in schools

• Sponsor: Rep. Matt Lockett (R-Nicholasville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Would require at least 95% of restrooms at a school to be designated for a specific biological sex, therefore limiting how many gender-neutral options could be available to LGBTQ+ students.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee. 

House Bill 723: Male or female only

• Sponsor: Rep. Ryan Dotson (R-Winchester)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Would “officially recognize that a person has only one gender, male or female.”
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Health Services Committee. 

House Bill 64: Undo ban on conversion therapy

• Sponsor: Rep. Josh Calloway (R-Irvington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Three House Republicans want to immediately undo Gov. Andy Beshear’s September executive order banning conversion therapy in Kentucky.
• Here’s a link to the full bill. 
• Where is the bill: Added to HB 495 and passed out of the House.

House Bill 177: More on “religious liberty” 

• Sponsor: Rep. TJ Roberts (R-Burlington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: This is basically the same bill as SB 60.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. SB 60, though, has a chance of passing

Senate Bill 94: Ban conversion therapy

• Sponsor: Sen. Karen Berg (D-Louisville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Would ban conversion therapy in Kentucky.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the Senate Health Services Committee.

Senate Bill 102: Statewide fairness ordinance

• Sponsor: Sen. Gerald Neal (D-Louisville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Would enact a statewide fairness ordinance in Kentucky.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 235: Another statewide fairness ordinance

• Sponsor: Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (D-Louisville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: This is basically the same bill as SB 102.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. 

House Bill 270: Require single-user bathrooms in schools

• Sponsor: Rep. Adrielle Camuel (D-Lexington)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: Would require new or renovated schools to have at least one single-user bathroom.
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee. 

House Bill 426: Ban conversion therapy

• Sponsor: Rep. Lisa Willner (D-Louisville)
• Quickly, what’s going on here?: HB 426 would ban conversion therapy in Kentucky, and is also labeled as emergency legislation, so it would go into effect immediately after being signed into law. 
• Here’s a link to the full bill.
• Where is the bill: Assigned to the House Health Services Committee.