By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Kentucky House of Representative member Steve Riley has cosponsored numerous bills in the 2026 legislative session.
The Legislative Research Commission stated that the 2026 Regular Session began on Jan. 6 and will end on April 15, including the veto period that lasts from April 2-13.
After 16 days Riley, who represents Barren County in Frankfort, has put his name on 12 House Bills filed in the capitol. These bills cover a multitude of topics, from bills regarding boating under the influence, and education assessment and accountability systems to bills dealing with public safety and railroad crossings.
Riley has not filed a bill where he was the primary sponsor so far in the session, according to the Legislative Research Commission.
Pertinent items in each bill are listed below:
House Bill 101 — makes technical changes to Kentucky Revised Statute 139.495 and exempts purchases and sales of tangible personal property, digital property, or services made by qualifying religious institutions from state sales and use taxes.
House Bill 168 — adds additional penalties for boating while under the influence, including taking a safe-boating course.
House Bill 188 — expands third-degree assault charges to include causing or attempting to cause physical injury to a healthcare provider in a jail, penitentiary, or local or state correctional or detention facility. It also adds jailers, deputy jailers, and correctional officers employed by a local detention center, local correctional facility, or regional jail to the list of public safety employees eligible to participate in a peer support counseling program.
House Bill 189 — prohibits a person from remaining on any portion of a state-maintained right-of-way that is not designated for pedestrian use with certain exceptions, and allow local governments to enact ordinances to authorize limited exceptions to the prohibition.
House Bill 246 — requires animal control officers to receive training on recognizing child abuse. This bill can be called Kyan’s Law in honor of a 10-year-old child killed in 2021 by his mother. Animal control officers were at the home 24 times in the 18 months leading up to his death, according to outside reporting.
House Bill 257 — HB 257 deals with the Kentucky Department of Education’s assessment that appear in district’s annual school report cards. Aside from updating terminology, and removing “status” and “change” metrics, the bill “permit[s] local school districts to develop and implement a local accountability system.”
House Bill 311 — requires each railroad company to destroy or remove obstructive vegetation at intersections with public roads or highways, directs the Transportation Cabinet or local government to remove obstructive vegetation if the railroad company fails to do so after receiving written notice from the cabinet or local government and establishes procedures for reimbursement by the railroad company for the vegetation removal.
House Bill 332 — requires the Transportation Cabinet to expand driver licensing services by setting up a system between the Transportation Cabinet and a local official or local governmental entity in each county to issue operator’s licenses and personal identification cards, requires the Transportation Cabinet to identify a local official or local governmental entity in each county that will participate in the system by July 1, 2027. Effective July 1, 2027.
House Bill 389 — requires the department to annually update the dyslexia toolkit, requires the toolkit to include guidance on dysgraphia and strategies and other resources to be used for students displaying dyslexia and dysgraphia, requires universal screeners and diagnostic tools be approved by the department of education, requires each district to use evidence-based instructional strategies to provide intervention services and requires postsecondary institutions offering teacher preparation programs include instruction on the application and implementation of a multitiered system of supports by the 2027-2028 school year.
House Bill 406 — Appropriate $96 million from the Kentucky Permanent Pension Fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority to fund a one-time supplemental payments on July 1, 2026, to recipients of a retirement allowance who have been retired for at least 12 months from the Kentucky Employees Retirement System and the State Police Retirement System.
House Bill 422 — perhaps better known as Logan’s Law, this bill provides that a violent offender who has received a life sentence shall not be released on probation or parole until he or she has served at least 30 years and amend Kentucky Revised Statute 439.3406 to prohibit a person who has been convicted of a Class B felony or a person who is a violent offender who has been unanimously denied discretionary parole from qualifying for mandatory reentry supervisions. The bill’s informal name honors Logan Tipton, who was killed in his sleep in 2015. Ronald Exantus was charged and acquitted of the murder, but found guilty on assault charges. He was released on mandatory re-entry supervision and arrest eight days later in Florida.
House Bill 447 — requires coverage for emergency ground ambulance services, establish minimum allowable reimbursement for out-of-network emergency ground ambulance services, establish requirements for reimbursement of out-of-network ground ambulance providers. Effective Jan. 1, 2027.
Kentucky House members have until March 4 to file new bills in the House of representatives.
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