The 2019 session of the Kentucky General Assembly came to a close Thursday night in Frankfort, with meaningful pieces of legislation moving on the final day.
Local health departments, colleges and universities, and quasi-governmental agencies such as Sanctuary, Inc. will receive another year of relief before their required contribution to the pension system goes up drastically. Those agencies will have until June 30th of next year to decide if they want to leave the Kentucky Employment Retirement System before they would be required to make their full contribution rate starting in July of 2020.
Many of those agencies would face significant cuts to staffing and services without the relief.
House Bill 11 would ban the use of tobacco, e-cigarettes and vaping devices on public school campuses, in school vehicles and at school activities beginning with the 2020-21 school year. School districts would have up to three years to opt out of the ban should they choose. The individual districts not opting out will also be able to set the penalties for violating the ban.
Passing on the session’s final day, those two bills will need the governor’s signature to become law in the absence of time for legislators to override a veto.
Governor Matt Bevin signed the Senate’s top priority into law earlier this week. Senate Bill 1 will create a state security marshal to conduct onsite visits to ensure schools are compliant with all provisions of new regulations to keep students safe.
The goal of the bill is to improve student safety by boosting safety and prevention training, promoting the assignment of a school resource officer to every school, increasing awareness of suicide prevention efforts, encouraging collaboration with law enforcement and hiring more counselors in school districts.