James Tipton R

Amend the 2024-2026 State/Executive Branch biennial budget to stipulate that no unbudgeted Federal Funds can be allotted or expended without the express authority of the General Assembly and that no unanticipated, unappropriated Federal Funds received after January 1, 2025, can be expended without the express authority of the General Assembly; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 216 to define terms; require staff-to-resident ratios in long-term care facilities as a condition of licensure or relicensure; establish minimum staffing requirements; prohibit long-term care facilities from admitting new residents if the facility fails to comply with the minimum staffing requirements, beginning on the second day of noncompliance and continuing until six days after …

Amend KRS 160.290 to provide that an interlocal cooperative board is an extension school district and all statutes and administrative regulations that apply to school districts extend to interlocal cooperative boards; amend KRS 156.070 to provide that the Kentucky Board of Education has the management and control of interlocal cooperative boards and that the board shall manage interlocal cooperative boards …

Amend KRS 161.605, relating to the Teachers' Retirement System, to remove language requiring superintendents to make every reasonable effort to hire qualified applicants for teaching and nonteaching positions, increase the percentage of retired members that an employer can employ full-time from three percent to 10 percent, increase the number of retired members that a local school district may employ under …

Amend KRS 164.360, 164.230, and 164.830 to require the boards of each state university and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System to approve a performance and productivity evaluation process for presidents and all faculty members by January 1, 2026; require faculty evaluations to be completed at least once every four years; permit removal of certain employees for failure to …

Amend KRS 160.346 to require the Kentucky Department of Education to annually identify schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI); require the audit of a CSI school to include an assessment and recommendation regarding the principal's capacity to lead the turnaround effort; remove the required use of a turnaround vendor by a CSI school; require the department to establish professional …

Amend KRS 139.495 to exempt purchases and sales of tangible personal property, digital property, or services made by qualifying resident nonprofit educational, charitable, or religious institutions from state sales and use taxes.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to prohibit a public school district or public charter school from entering into a nondisclosure agreement relating to misconduct involving a minor or student; amend KRS 160.380 to define "abusive conduct"; require school district applicants to disclose being the subject of any investigations or disciplinary actions in the previous 12 months relating …

Direct the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Real Estate Modernization Task Force to conduct a review of the real property laws of the Commonwealth; establish task force membership; require the task force to meet at least monthly during the 2026 Interim; require the task force to submit its findings and recommendations to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, …

Amend KRS 160.020 to modify the minimum enrollment requirements for independent school districts to continue to operate; establish criteria for the Kentucky Board of Education to consider in an appeal of that requirement; amend KRS 160.041 to provide a merger process for any contiguous school districts; require the Kentucky Board of Education to determine the terms of merger for an …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 151B to require no less than 85% of general fund appropriations to the Office of Adult Education to be used for programs fulfilling the adult education mission and goals of the office; amend KRS 151B.403 to require a qualifying test to obtain a High School Equivalency Diploma to offer a written or paper …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 367 to define terms; allow a residential customer of a supplier of liquified petroleum gas or propane to have an alternative, temporary supplier fill the customer's tank whenever the regular supplier has failed to fill an order and a qualifying emergency exists that threatens the health of the customer or will cause damage …

Amend KRS 161.520 to remove the requirement for dependent children over the age of 18 to have their mental or physical condition approved by a majority of a medical review committee to receive survivor benefits; amend KRS 161.605 to raise the minimum amount a retired reemployed member may earn per day from $170 to $200, remove the provision for returning …

Amend KRS 158.070 to permit a local board of education to amend its school calendar by adding time to the school day to reach the required 1,062 hours of instructional time; for the 2025-2026 school year, allow local school districts to make up days missed by adding instructional time to student attendance days; notwithstand the requirement for the student instructional …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 532 to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole for inmates presently sentenced to death; amend KRS 532.030, relating to authorized dispositions for felony offenses, to remove the death penalty; amend KRS 533.010, relating to probation, to prohibit probation for a person sentenced to life without parole or …

Amend KRS 164.515 to make the amount of tuition waived for the spouse or child of designated permanently disabled veterans a last-dollar scholarship that shall not exceed the cost of tuition and mandatory fees less any state or federal grants; amend KRS 164.2841 to make the amount tuition waived for the survivor of police officer, firefighter, or volunteer firefighter killed …

Amend KRS 164.096 to require each public postsecondary education institution to provide the Council on Postsecondary Education its annual operating budget by August 1 of each fiscal year; require each institution to provide the council a quarterly budget-to-actual report within thirty (30) days following the end of each fiscal quarter; require each institution to provide financial information relevant to the …

Appropriate $96 million from the Kentucky Permanent Pension Fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority to fund 1-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 (KERS) and the State Police Retirement System (SPRS); allow the Board …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 532 to provide that any person who has been convicted of, pled guilty to, or entered an Alford plea to a sex crime in which the victim was under the age of 12 shall undergo medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment; provide that treatment shall begin no later than 1 month before the person is released …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; establish a proactive postsecondary admissions program to be managed by the Council on Postsecondary Education; require each public postsecondary education institution in Kentucky to establish the minimum academic qualification for prospective admission to the institution and implement the common online application approved by the council by July 1, 2027; …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define terms; require the Kentucky Department of Education to establish an approved list of reading curriculum and interventions that do not use a three-cueing system; prohibit school districts from using any curriculum or program that employs a three-cueing system; prohibit the use of a three-cueing system in teacher professional development; require …

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to prohibit a public school district or public charter school from entering into a nondisclosure agreement relating to misconduct involving a minor or student; amend KRS 160.380 to define "abusive conduct"; require school district applicants to disclose being the subject of any disciplinary actions in the previous 12 months relating to abusive …

Amend KRS 139.495 to define "educational or charitable institution" and "religious institution"; exempt purchases and sales of tangible personal property, digital property, or services made by qualifying religious institutions from state sales and use taxes; make technical changes.

Propose to amend Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky to increase the homestead exemption to $100,000; require the homestead exemption amount to be indexed every year; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection; apply to property assessments beginning on or after January 1, 2027.

Amend KRS 61.702, relating to the Kentucky Employees Retirement System and the State Police Retirement System, to increase the nonhazardous and hazardous duty under age 65 retiree health subsidy to $40 and $50 per month for each year of service, respectively, for those members who meet the "career threshold" who began participating in the system on or after July 1, …

Amend KRS 230.817 to redirect a portion of the amount deposited in the sports wagering administration fund from the permanent pension fund to the Kentucky lottery trust account.

Amend KRS 164.092 to change the membership of the postsecondary education working group of the Council on Postsecondary Education; require the working group to convene on a calendar year basis rather than a fiscal year basis; EMERGENCY.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 160 to establish a process for the creation of new independent school districts from a persistently underperforming school district; define terms; establish the process for a local legislative body where a persistently underperforming school district is located to place the question of creating new independent districts and local boards of education on the ballot; …