Recognize Friday, March 8, 2024, as International Women's Day and honor the extraordinary women of the House of Representatives, both past and present.

Adjourn in honor and loving memory of Beatrice Newsom.

Amends KRS 160.160 to authorize a school district to issue general obligation bonds in accordance with KRS Chapter 66, to authorize the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to intercept debt service payments when due for a general obligation bond issue, to make conforming amendments, to add language to suspend the requirement for prior approval for a local board to commence the funding, financing, design, construction, renovation, or modification of district facilities until June 30, 2027, to require a local board to continue to submit BG-1 Project Application forms, to ensure that KDE shall continue to have authority to intercede on bond payments until June 30, 2027, to provide for an expedited process for approval of district facility plans and the acquisition and disposal of property, to require that KDE provide assistance to districts upon request concerning facilities and properties procedures, to ensure current applications are governed by these sections, to includes extracurricular facilities as facilities covered by the Act, and to declare that nothing in specified sections waives prior approval of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds or other federal funds for which federal law requires state authorization; and creates a new section of KRS Chapter 162 to allow school districts to issue general obligation bonds.

Amends KRS 156.095 to require schools to provide suicide prevention awareness twice a year and an opportunity for any student who missed the suicide prevention awareness lesson to receive the lesson at a later time, and to make conforming changes; amends KRS 156.501 to remove existing cost-sharing provisions for the registered nurse required to be employed by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE); creates a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms, to establish a framework for employment of Kentucky guardians in schools, to specify qualifications of a guardian, to specify that a local board of education is immune from civil or criminal liability in all claims arising out of any action of a guardian, and to specify that guardians shall have the immunities of police officers; creates a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to require KDE to gather and compile data, coordinate training, and monitor the numbers and types of mental health professionals in schools; creates a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to create the School Mapping Data Program administered by the Center for School Safety and to outline requirements of school mapping data; amends KRS 158.441 to specify required certifications in the definition of “school resource officer” (SRO); amends 158.4414 to allow school districts to hire a guardian until a certified SRO is available as required, to allow a district with an SRO to hire guardians to provide additional school safety and security measures, and to require that the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council update and maintain SRO training; amends KRS 158.4416 to define terms, to specify that at least 60 percent of a school counselor’s time be spent providing direct services, to make conforming changes, to require the trauma-informed team to compile their activities to be used in the creation of the comprehensive school improvement plan and to submit the information to KDE, and to require KDE to annually summarize and submit the information to the state board and the Legislative Research Commission; amends KRS 158.442 to require that the Center for School Safety implement a system to certify guardians to school districts, to authorize the center to employ an individual to provide oversight of the guardian program if funds are available, and to authorize the center to administer and oversee the school mapping program; amends KRS 158.443 to conform; amends KRS 158.4451 to require that the Office of Homeland Security maintain and update the anonymous reporting tool, to require that each school district make available an anonymous reporting tool, and to provide for an alternative anonymous reporting tool; amends KRS 158.162 to allow secondary locking mechanisms in schools, and to require that school councils or principals include school mapping data, if available, in their emergency plans; amends KRS 158.4412 to require that the local school district’s safety coordinator maintain a current copy of school mapping data; and amends KRS 61.637 and 78.5540 to conform.

Amends KRS 147A.154 and 147A.158 to sunset the existing Government Resources Accelerating Needed Transformation (GRANT) Program as established in the Department for Local Government and to transfer the moneys in the existing fund to the Cabinet for Economic Development to be used in the GRANT Program of 2024; creates subchapter 14 within KRS Chapter 154 to establish the GRANT Program of 2024 under the cabinet, to define terms, to establish the duties of the cabinet in the implementation of the program subject to the approval of the GRANT commission, to establish a sunset provision of December 31, 2026, to establish requirements for grant applications, to establish project evaluation and scoring requirements, to create a fund for the program, to establish program reporting requirements, to establish the GRANT commission, and to establish membership and meeting provisions; and amends KRS 12.020 to conform; EMERGENCY.

Amend KRS 18A.050 to require a member of the Personnel Board to vacate his or her position or have the board terminate his or her position if he or she separates from the classified service; amend KRS 18A.110 to allow the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations to implement scholarship programs, internship programs, education programs, educational assistance programs for employees, and interview preferences for applicants who complete an executive branch internship program; allow the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet to promulgate administrative regulations for the classified service governing layoffs, furloughs, and reduction of hours to include, but not be limited to reemployment of laid-off employees; amend KRS 18A.115 to permit members and employees of boards and commissions exempt from the classified service to employ staff subject to the provisions of KRS 18A.005 to 18A.200; exempt juvenile facility managers from the classified service; amend KRS 18A.125 to require all agencies and employees for which the Personnel Cabinet administers payroll to comply with the secretary's payroll administration; prohibit an executive branch agency for which the cabinet administers payroll from authorizing work performance outside of the Commonwealth without approval from the secretary; allow an agency to request the secretary deduct certain items from an employee's final paycheck so long as the deduction is expressly authorized in writing and does not reduce the employee's pay below the federal minimum wage; amend KRS 18A.005, 18A.035, 18A.0751, 18A.095, 18A.100, 18A.113, 18A.355, 132.370, and 163.032 to confom and make technical corrections.

Amend KRS 6.190 relating to members of the General Assembly, KRS 44.060, relating to state officials, and KRS 45.101, relating to state employees, to establish that the mileage reimbursement rate shall be equivalent to the business standard mileage rate for businesses determined annually by the Internal Revenue Service.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 526 to establish a framework for law enforcement wiretaps compliant with federal Title III requirements (18 U.S.C. sec. 2510 et. seq.); repeal and reenact, amend, and repeal various KRS sections to conform; repeal KRS 526.060, which establishes the crime of divulging illegally obtained information; repeal KRS 526.070, which establishes exceptions to the crime of eavesdropping.

Creates a new section of KRS Chapter 157 to make legislative findings and declarations, to establish definitions, to establish the Adaptive Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Project, to establish the duration and terms of the pilot project, to require that the Kentucky Department of Education implement the pilot project through selection of a service provider, to establish the qualifications and duties of the service provider, to require that the department submit a report by December 1, 2025, to the Legislative Research Commission that evaluates the pilot project, to provide the required components of the report, to authorize the department to implement the section to the extent that federal funds are available, and to authorize the Kentucky Board of Education to select an entity that has already entered into a contract to provide substantially similar services to be selected as the provider for the pilot project.

Amend KRS 344.010 to provide definitions of "protective hairstyle" and "race" that include traits historically associated with race; amend KRS 344.020 to provide that nothing in the chapter shall be construed to prohibit reasonable workplace policies; amend KRS 158.148 to provide that school disciplinary codes shall prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, but shall not be interpreted to restrict the adoption of reasonable school safety policies; make technical corrections; provide that the Act may be cited as the C.R.O.W.N. Act.

Establish the Health Care Disparities Task Force; establish task force membership; require task force to submit findings and recommendations to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, 2024.

Create new section of KRS Chapter 164 to require all postsecondary institutions to contract with an auditor and conduct an annual audit; set deadlines for finalization of the audit and submission of audit report and requirements if deadlines are not met; set rules for the Auditor of Public Accounts and Council on Postsecondary Education to place institution under a fiscal watch; require a fiscal recovery plan for institutions on fiscal watch; sets financial terms for contracts with auditors and reduction in fees for auditor's unreasonable delay; require reference to these requirements in audit contracts between postsecondary institutions and auditors.

Create a new section of Subtitle17A of KRS Chapter 304 to require insurers and any exchange to provide a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals; specify requirements for coverage; require group plan insurers to provide notice of special enrollment rights; amend KRS 304.17A-145 to require health benefit plans that provide coverage for dependents to provide coverage for maternity care; amend KRS 304.17A-220 and 194A.099 to conform with the special enrollment requirement; amend KRS 18A.225 and 164.2871 to require the state employee health plan and self-insured state postsecondary education institution group health plans to comply with the special enrollment and maternity coverage requirements; create a new section of KRS Chapter 194A to define terms and provide for the payment of coverage premiums to eligible individuals; amend KRS 205.522 to require Medicaid coverage for maternity services; amend KRS 205.592 to allow the Medicaid income limit for certain women and children to be increased under certain circumstances; amend KRS 205.6485 to require Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program to provide maternity coverage; amend KRS 164.2847 to provide for a waiver of tuition and mandatory fees for a child conceived and born as a result of sexual assault; amend KRS 164.2849 to declare the interests of the Commonwealth in protecting the unborn and supporting a child conceived and born as a result of sexual assault within established parameters; amend KRS 199.011 to define a child conceived and delivered as a result of sexual assault; amend KRS 199.473 to waive certain fees related to adoption proceedings; amend KRS 199.502 to include a conviction for specified criminal acts for an adoption without consent of the biological living parents; create a new section of KRS Chapter 199 to establish entitlement to nonrecurring adoption expenses under specified circumstances; amend KRS 199.894 to define terms; create a new section of KRS 199.892 to 199.8996 to establish the Child Care Assistance Program and establish eligibility requirements; create a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to direct the Cabinet to provide informational material on benefits available to a victim of sexual assault and a child conceived as a result of the sexual assault; amend KRS 216B.400 to establish requirements for receipt of specified benefits related to sexual assault that results in pregnancy; create a new section of KRS Chapter 49 to establish benefits available to a child born as a result of sexual assault; amend KRS 49.310 to conform; amend KRS 625.090 to add a conviction or guilty plea to any degree of rape, sexual abuse, or sexual misconduct as a basis to terminate parental rights; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver if potential cost defrayment or loss of federal funds is identified; provide that the Act may be cited as the Love Them Both Act; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2025.

Amend KRS 24A.320 to insert gender-neutral language.

Recognize April 28, 2024, as Workers Memorial Day.