Commemorate the 78th Southern Legislative Conference of The Council of State Governments Southern Office.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 2 to designate January 15 to April 4 of each year as Black History Season; require the Governor to proclaim Black History Season and to encourage Kentuckians to acknowledge its significance.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to establish an automatic expungement process for specific eligible misdemeanor and felony convictions; allow the Commonwealth's and county attorney to object and halt the automatic expungement of certain offenses; amend KRS 431.074 to require the Administrative Office of the Courts to establish a searchable portal to allow a person to determine if his or her conviction has been expunged; amend KRS 27A.300 to provide that the centralized criminal history record information system administered pursuant to KRS 27A.310 to 27A.440 is the official record of criminal proceedings; create new section of KRS Chapter 411 to create a cause of action against criminal history providers who do not comply with an expungement order; provide that the Act may be cited as the Clean State Act.

Amend KRS 189.292 to define " operating a motor vehicle," "stand-alone electronic device," and "use"; prohibit the use of a personal communication device or stand-alone electronic device while operating a motor vehicle; exempt school bus operators who are instead subject to KRS 281A.205; set forth exceptions; amend KRS 189.294 to provide that persons under 18 years shall not use a personal communication device or stand-alone electronic device in any manner while driving; amend KRS 189.990 to set forth penalties for the violation of KRS 189.292 and 189.294; create a new section of KRS Chapter 281A to apply these provisions to commercial motor vehicle drivers; amend KRS 189.2327 to conform; provide that the Act may be cited as the Phone-Down Kentucky Act.

Amend KRS 117.065 to require voting places to have safe and healthy conditions, including functional indoor bathrooms, heat, and air conditioning.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to prohibit a school district from entering into an agreement with providers of digital instruction services that allows the provider to collect, share, or use data not directly related to the function of the service; amend KRS 158.060 to establish limits to student screen time during the instructional day, regardless of instructional model.

Amend KRS 337.010 to change the definition of "employee" and to add the definition of "worker with a disability"; amend KRS 337.275 to require all employers to pay all employees, including workers with a disability, a minimum wage and increase the state minimum wage over the next three years to no less than 100 percent of the municipality, county, or state minimum wage or the prevailing wage as defined in 29 C.F.R. sec. 1.2; amend KRS 337.295 to remove learners, apprentices, workers with a disability, sheltered workshop employees, and students from regulations issued by the commissioner for the Department of Workplace Standards; amend KRS 205.5605 to exclude referrals to sheltered workshop employment from the definition of "covered services and supports" as of July 1, 2027; amend KRS 154.22-040 to conform; establish that the Act may be cited as the Employees with Disabilities Equal Pay Act.

Creates a new section of KRS Chapter 65 to define terms, to create a forbearance period of three years for a utility acquiring a public water or wastewater system with existing violations, to require the acquiring utility to correct past violations during the forbearance period, to defer fines and penalties during the forbearance period, to prioritize funding from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA) for projects where the acquiring utility is making improvements to the acquired system, to allow for a waiver of accrued fines and penalties if all deficiencies have been corrected and the public water or wastewater system has been sold to the acquiring utility or if the utility adopts a management and operations agreement handled by a well-operated utility, to require the acquiring utility to make records available to ensure compliance after the expiration of the forbearance period, to allow the Energy and Environment Cabinet and the Public Service Commission to waive fines and penalties, collect fines and penalties, or grant a discretionary extension of the forbearance period not to exceed six months, and to prohibit an acquired water or wastewater system to which a forbearance period applied from being eligible for any additional forbearance periods; creates new sections of KRS Chapter 224A to define terms, to establish the Kentucky Water and Wastewater Assistance for Troubled or Economically Restrained Systems Program under the KIA to provide for a funding application and evaluation process for eligible public water and wastewater systems to seek funds from the General Assembly, to require the KIA to make applications available under the program, verify eligibility of proposed recipients, award funding as directed by the General Assembly, enforce compliance with funding conditions, and report quarterly to the General Assembly on the status of all funding awarded under the program, to allow the KIA board to contract or consult with third-party consultants, state agencies, or special purpose governmental entities in discharging its duties, to require that finalized funding applications be made available to the public, to allow eligible public water and wastewater systems to submit applications for regional projects, to provide for forfeiture and repayment of awarded funds, to require that the KIA board evaluate applications according to specified criteria and submit an annual report to the Legislative Research Commission containing the evaluations and scores of the proposed funding recipients and proposals for the structure of the funding to be awarded, to establish the Kentucky water and wastewater assistance for troubled or economically restrained systems fund, to provide that all moneys in the fund shall be allocated by the General Assembly for eligible projects, to provide that funding may be awarded in the form of grants, loans, no-interest loans, or forgivable loans, to require that interest rates for loans be set in the same manner as the interest rates for loans from the federally assisted wastewater and water supply resolving funds, except that the interest rates shall be one-half percent lower and shall not be below zero percent, to allow the authority to use up to one-half percent of the moneys deposited into the fund for administrative costs, to establish the emergency Kentucky water and wastewater assistance for troubled or economically restrained systems fund, to provide that moneys from the fund be dedicated for capital and non-capital expenses relating solely to restoring or avoiding imminent interruption of utility service provided by a public water or wastewater system after a statewide or local emergency has been declared, to allow the authority to require that a corrective action plan be submitted with a funding application, and to require that interest rates for loans be set in the same manner as the interest rates for loans from the federally assisted wastewater and water supply resolving funds; and amends KRS 224A.316 to require that the KIA prioritize funding for a utility acquiring a public water or wastewater system for the correction of deficiencies in the system identified in state and federal violations during the forbearance period; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

Create a new section of KRS 278.010 to 278.450 to require the Public Service Commission to issue final orders within six months of the filing of an application by a utility; amend KRS 278.110 to require final reports of investigations or special inquiries to be filed within the public record for the case for which it was prepared; require the contracted person to be subject to written information requests and cross-examination in any public hearing for the case in which the report was prepared.

Amend KRS 286.3-380 to include gender-neutral language.

Adjourn the Senate in recognition and celebration of Minnie Adkins' 90th birthday.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 247 to define terms, prohibit a nonresident alien, foreign business, foreign agent, trustee, or fiduciary associated with the government of any proscribed country referenced in 22 C.F.R. sec. 126.1 from the purchase, lease, or acquisition of agricultural land in Kentucky or participation in programs administered by the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Development Board, and Kentucky Agricultural Finance Corporation; allow an existing foreign-owned business to purchase adjacent agricultural land to expand the operations of the business; exempt foreign ownership or leasing of up to 350 acres for research purposes; establish the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board to review applications for appeal for those on the prohibited countries list wishing to purchase, lease, or acquire agricultural land, set forth requirements of the board to approve or deny an application for appeal, establish a process for an application for appeal, authorize the board to promulgate administrative regulations; allow an applicant who is denied an appeal to purchase agricultural land to appeal the final decision in Circuit Court; require a county clerk to record an affidavit on any deed that conveys agricultural land and report the affidavit recordings monthly to the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board, require the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board to report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States each month; set forth requirements to divest land that has been purchased, leased, or denied without approval of the Kentucky Foreign Investment Review Board, and direct the distribution of sale proceeds.

Amend KRS 75.160 to include gender-neutral language.

Amend KRS 186.230 and 186.120 to conform to gender-neutral language.

Amend KRS 416.550 to require that before a condemnor exercises the right of eminent domain with regard to private property, the condemnor shall engage in good faith negotiations with the property owner, seek written consent from the property owner to make an audio or video recording of the good faith negotiations and to submit the recording to the Attorney General, refrain from making any materially false or misleading statements, and not enter into any legally binding agreement with the property owner until a survey of the property has been completed at the expense of the condemnor; provide that the recording of negotiations are subject to public inspection under the Kentucky Open Records Act; amend KRS 416.570 to require a condemnor to include with the verified petition, that it must file with the Circuit Court of jurisdiction, an affirmation that the condemnor has complied with the requirements of this Act.