FRANKFORT, Ky. – Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law nine pieces of legislation recently passed by the General Assembly, including one to reduce plastic waste going into landfills.
“I am pleased to sign House Bill 397 which provides our Western Kentucky schools, students and educators extra excused days that were missed due to the tornadoes and storms,” Gov. Beshear said. “I am also thankful to sign some more good pieces of legislation that support local governments, drivers on our roadways, our environment, our pharmacists and Kentuckians seeking telehealth care or facing lung cancer.”
The bills, which will become law on their effective dates, are:
House Bill 397 supports the school districts, students and school staff impacted by the December 2021 tornadoes that devastated Western Kentucky. The bill provides up to 15 disaster days to eligible districts impacted by the storms, which allows the districts to be excused for up to 15 student attendance days that were missed due to the storms. Educators and school staff will not have to make up excused days, but rather the days will count towards fulfillment of their contract.
House Bill 33 allows local governments to perform building inspections and review plans for educational buildings.
House Bill 45 intends to reduce the amount of plastic and solid waste disposed in landfills. This bill also opens the door for Kentucky to benefit from economic development opportunities as new technologies develop and allow for the commonwealth to establish a market for taking discarded plastics and breaking them down into raw materials that can be manufactured into other materials.
House Bill 77 repeals and changes the name of the Kentucky Radon Program Advisory Committee to the Kentucky Board of Radon Safety. It also adjusts the number of members on the board, reestablishes the board’s responsibilities, moves the board to the Department of Professional Licensing in the Public Protection Cabinet, changes the name of the Radon Mitigation and Control Fund to the Radon Control Fund and increases the cap on fines to $1,000 per occurrence.
House Bill 188 makes telehealth more accessible to Kentuckians. It bars professional licensure boards from prohibiting the delivery of telehealth services by health service providers credentialed in Kentucky to Kentuckians who are temporarily located outside of the commonwealth. It also bars professional licensure boards from prohibiting the delivery of telehealth services to nonresidents temporarily located in Kentucky by providers credentialed in the person’s state of residence. Health care providers will no longer be required to be physically present in their credentialing state to provide telehealth services to a person who is a resident of the same state.
House Bill 192 allows pre-qualified contractors approved by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet or appointed by a local government body to inspect electrical work before electricity is reconnected for roadway devices, such as traffic signals, flashing beacons and lighting. This accelerates the process and makes roadways safer.
House Bill 195 promotes information sharing between natural gas transmission pipeline owners and developers of properties near pipelines. The bill requires that a developer of a commercial or residential property, working within 660 feet of a natural gas or interstate hazardous liquid pipeline, notify the pipeline operator. The bill also requires operators of pipelines to communicate location information to developers to raise awareness of the locations of those facilities.
House Bill 219 establishes a lung cancer screening program in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Department for Public Health, a lung cancer screening fund and a Lung Cancer Screening Advisory Committee to ultimately increase screenings, reduce the cost of treatment and create better outcomes for Kentuckians facing lung cancer.
House Bill 240 allows pharmacists to remotely access a pharmacy’s dispensing or medication management system and perform order entry, order entry verification or drug regimen review, as well as increases flexibility for staffing in pharmacies within hospitals for volume adjustment during emergency coverage needs such as severe weather or pandemic surges.
Wednesday, the Governor signed 13 pieces of legislation. To learn more, see the full release.
Tuesday, the Governor signed another 13 pieces of legislation. To learn more, see the full release.
Last week, the Governor signed eight pieces of legislation. To learn more, see the full release.
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