LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
April 14, 2025
Easter’s message of grace, renewal, and service
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” — 1 Peter 1:3
Each spring, Easter arrives with the warmth of longer days, the fresh bloom of flowers, and the beautiful songs of birds returning. It is a season of renewal, new beginnings, and the return of hope after winter melts away. As a Christian, I see Easter as the keystone of our faith that anchors our enduring and unshakable belief. Without the resurrection, the structure of belief would crumble. Yet because He lives, our faith stands strong, offering the promise of eternal life.
This season is a powerful reminder, for all of us, that even after the darkest times, the light of God’s love is always there waiting for us. Easter is a time of grace, renewal, and service. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a miracle from the past, it is living proof that redemption is always possible, no matter how difficult our circumstances may seem. This truth shapes not only our personal faith, but also how we serve our family, our community, and the Commonwealth. Just as Christ gave of Himself for others, let us carry that same spirit of renewal and grace into our every day lives. This season, we are reminded to live a life of purpose and service, to reach out and uplift one another, to serve our neighbors and communities, and above all else, to love each other.
Here in Kentucky, we are blessed to live in an oasis of tight-knit communities filled with resilience, generosity, and faith. This Easter, we find ourselves in the wake of several recent storms that have brought devastating damage to almost every corner of our state. However, through these challenging times, we have had the opportunity to see the embodiment God’s word working in communities across the Commonwealth. I’ve seen neighbors come together to help one another after these tragedies, strangers becoming friends in times of need, and folks showing unwavering strength in the face of so much uncertainty. Kentuckians have continued to exemplify the spirit of service that makes our Commonwealth strong. This Easter, as we reflect on all that our state has endured, let’s keep working toward a brighter future for Kentuckians and living through God’s word.
Let this holy season serve as a reminder for all of us to continue caring for one another, especially in times of disaster. Whether it is helping those affected recover from devastating storms, supporting families in your community though tough economic times, or simply showing kindness to your neighbors- we all can play a small role. Each one of us was created in the image of God, worthy of dignity, grace, and love.
I pray that this Easter, especially, we remember that hope is never lost, and that new beginnings are always possible. Just as the resurrection of Jesus brought new life to the world, we too can renew our commitment to doing our part in making our communities better, stronger, and more united. We can do this by standing up for our values, protecting our families, and ensuring that Kentucky remains a state where kindness, faith, and hard work is at the center of everything we do.
As your representative, I am committed to serving the people of Kentucky with honesty, integrity, and faith in the future of our great state. I believe that by working together, we can uphold the principles that make our communities thrive—faith, family, and freedom. Whether it is through strengthening our schools, supporting small businesses, or ensuring the safety of our neighborhoods, we must always strive to build a better Kentucky for future generations.
This Easter, may we celebrate Christ’s victory over death, the joy that comes with knowing the tomb is empty, and that life, in all its beauty, begins anew even after disaster. Because he lives, we can face whatever lies ahead, together.
May God bless you and your family this Easter season, and may He continue to bless the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
As always, I can be reached anytime through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via email at [email protected] and keep track through the Kentucky legislature’s website at legislature.ky.gov.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
April 1, 2025
Lawmakers override Governor’s vetoes to conclude the 2025 Regular Session
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky gives the General Assembly the authority to create new laws. In a nod towards checks and balances, it grants the governor the power to veto or reject legislation he or she finds deficient or opposes. However, the legislative branch has the power to override the governor’s veto with a constitutional majority, thereby sending the legislation to the secretary of state for his or her recording into law.
During the veto break, the Governor issued 29 vetoes. These include entire bills and resolutions, as well as line items of appropriations legislation. These measures were important pieces that will strengthen Kentucky, including legislation providing more oversight of state government and creating policies to improve how we address early education.
The checks and balances between our branches of government established in our constitution are essential to our system of government. The veto allows the General Assembly to reconsider legislation one final time to ensure we are creating a law that will benefit the people of Kentucky. It also allows the General Assembly to reaffirm our support for key government reforms and legislative measures that the governor disagrees with. The General Assembly must make laws that strengthen our economy, improve our education system, and modernize our government to protect Kentuckians from government overreach and inefficient and ineffective government policies.
Here are a few summaries of key pieces of legislation that had the Governor’s veto overridden during the final days of the 2025 Regular Session:
Addressing Improper Sales Tax Collection – HB 2 provides Kentuckians improperly charged sales and use taxes on bullion transactions, such as gold and silver, an avenue to seek refunds and additional compensation for the illegal and undue burden.
Ending Discrimination in Public Colleges and Universities – HB 4 prohibits wasteful and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices on the campuses of Kentucky’s public universities.
Limiting Government Overreach by Unelected Bureaucrats – HB 6 establishes limitations on the authority of unelected bureaucrats to promulgate administrative regulations.
Enhancing Accountability in Criminal Justice Institutions – HB 136 requires the annual report made to the legislature by the Department of Corrections to include additional data on persons released from a correctional institution, including time served, gang affiliation, drug test results, educational attainment, and recidivism.
Promoting Early Intervention to Ensure Long-term Academic Success – HB 240 utilizes a universal screener to assess student progress in kindergarten and first grade alongside grade-level assessments. Schools may retain kindergarten students who do not make adequate educational progress, but first-grade students must be held back if they do not make adequate progress or are unprepared for the second grade.
Improving local water and wastewater systems – HJR 30 authorizes the release of funds for the Kentucky Water or Wastewater Assistance for Troubled or Economically Restrained Systems Fund. These funds were appropriated during the 2024 Regular Session to support local governments in improving their water and wastewater infrastructure.
Approving county road projects – HJR 46 sets the priority county road projects, including them in the funding for the six-year road plan. This funding was appropriated during the 2024 Regular Session, and this resolution releases these funds for county and city roads needing improvement.
In the final hours of the session, House and Senate leadership received a letter from the Governor claiming that he will not implement a dozen or so laws passed this session. He claims they will cost too much, but many are actually cost-savings measures aimed at ending government overreach or requiring programs to work more effectively. His stance is not only disappointing, but unlawful and politically motivated. I am hopeful that the issue will be resolved without going through expensive and unnecessary legal challenges. However, as a duly-elected lawmaker, I stand by the legislature’s authority to enact the policies that govern our Commonwealth.
As always, I can be reached anytime through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via email at [email protected] and keep track through the Kentucky legislature’s website at legislature.ky.gov.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
March 24, 2025
Placing priority in kindergarten readiness
Kindergarten readiness refers to a child’s ability to communicate their needs and wants, develop social and emotional skills, build language and literacy abilities, gain general knowledge, and establish an approach to learning. Schools measure readiness through standardized tests, assessments, screeners, and teacher observations. In recent years, it has become a major focus as school districts and states work to improve student outcomes and adapt education to meet evolving family and societal needs.
Research over the past decade shows that children who enter kindergarten prepared tend to perform better on standardized tests, maintain higher grade point averages, and achieve greater academic success throughout their education. Those who start school without foundational skills often struggle to keep up, putting them at a distinct disadvantage.
In previous years, more than 50% of Kentucky’s students entered kindergarten ready. Today, that number has dropped to between 40% and 48%, leaving more than half of students behind from the start. To address this, the General Assembly passed HB 240, which strengthens early education by encouraging schools to hold back unprepared kindergarteners and first graders who lack the foundational literacy, math, and language skills needed to advance. This measure utilizes the universal screener from the Read to Succeed Act (SB 9, 2022) to assess student progress in kindergarten and first grade. Kindergarten students may be held back, but first-grade students must be held back if they do not make adequate progress. The ultimate goal is to intervene early when the biggest differences can be made.
Declining Test Scores and Readiness Rates
Kentucky’s standardized test scores have declined since peaking in 2015. According to the latest results:
- 3rd Grade: 47% of students are proficient in reading; 43% in math.
- 8th Grade: 41% are proficient in reading; 42% in math.
- High School: 46% of 10th graders are proficient in reading; 36% in math. Only 6% of 11th graders meet science proficiency standards.
As test scores decline, so does the kindergarten readiness rate. The correlation between unprepared kindergarteners and later academic struggles reinforces research linking early education to long-term success. Without a strong foundation, students face greater challenges in achieving academic proficiency.
Addressing the Readiness Gap
During the 2024 Regular Session, the General Assembly created the Adaptive Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program through HB 695 to provide families with educational resources to prepare their children for school. HB 240 builds on that effort, ensuring students receive the support they need once they enter the school system.
Over the past 30 years, kindergarten has shifted from a play-based environment to an academic foundation. By 2010, students were expected to spell, write sentences, solve basic math equations, and understand probability. Teachers now anticipate that students will enter school knowing their ABCs, how to use a pencil, and how to read at grade level by the end of kindergarten. What was once first-grade material is now the standard for kindergarten.
As expectations evolve, we must ensure students are equipped to meet them. Measures like HB 240 are crucial to helping children develop the skills needed for lifelong learning. Education empowers students to become the best versions of themselves and access the countless opportunities available to them. Addressing kindergarten readiness is not just an educational priority—it is an investment in the future success of our children.
As always, I can be reached anytime through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via email at [email protected] and keep track through the Kentucky legislature’s website at legislature.ky.gov.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
March 10, 2025
Eliminating unnecessary barriers to postsecondary education
The United States of America was founded on the core principles of equality, opportunity, and impartiality. To our founders all men were created equal, all men were afforded an opportunity to succeed, and the laws of our nation were to be impartial to all who entered the constitution’s jurisdiction.
For centuries these foundational principles inspired Americans from every religion, color, and creed to realize the founder’s vision of a free and equal nation. Over the course of our nation’s history, we have fought to make a path towards that vision, with each step bringing us closer. By the 1960s the federal government passed several measures to ensure that all Americans were subject to the same rights under the law including the 19th amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. One of the most impactful protections, the Civil Rights Act, was passed in 1964 and outlawed discrimination on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
During this period of change, the United States adopted a policy of affirmative action for government contracts, hiring, and college admissions to provide preferential treatment to under-represented populations. In Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard (2023) the Supreme Court ruled policies promoting race-based admissions unconstitutional and discriminatory. In March of 2024, Kentucky’s Attorney General issued an opinion stating that higher education diversity, equity, and inclusion practices violate the constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Universities have offices and offer services for protected classes and statuses such as veteran’s services center, disability services, and Title IX and Title VI, offices that ensure university compliance with federal civil rights law. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and mandates on college campus are administrative programs and policies that discriminate against staff and students based on race, religion, color, and national identity and subvert constitutional protections. These programs are often administered by university DEI offices by DEI officers and administrative staff.
A few examples of DEI initiatives and mandates are:
DEI Trainings: DEI trainings require employees or students to focus on issues of culture, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. They often discuss systematic biases or power dynamics in society to drive systematic change within the university to address historical discrimination.
Discriminatory Scholarships and Funding: Universities with DEI initiatives offer DEI related scholarships that exclude certain populations of students or require students to offer support of DEI initiatives during the application process.
Diversity Statement: A diversity statement is a document or agreement that must be signed or agreed to as a condition of employment that certifies an individual’s commitment to an organization’s diversity goals.
Recruitment and Hiring Quotas: Hiring quotas are human resource practices where organizations require their hiring or recruitment practices to benefit a specified population or group based on their race, religion, color, or creed.
DEI Offices or Commissions: A DEI Office or Commission is a department within a university that guides the institution’s DEI initiatives.
DEI is not founded in equality; it is founded in discrimination. House Bill 4, which passed the House this week, would prohibit the spending of any money on DEI initiatives and require Kentucky’s public universities to close DEI offices and eliminate all DEI officer positions by June 30, 2025. Additionally, HB 4 would:
- Prohibit universities from requiring students or staff to attend a DEI training session or complete an academic course dedicated to the promotion of differential treatment or benefits conferred to individuals on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin.
- Ensure that no one would be required to endorse or condemn a specific political or social viewpoint to be eligible for hiring, contract renewal, tenure, promotion, admission, or graduation.
- Require universities and the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) to make annual certifications of their compliance with the provisions of HB 4.
- Authorize the Attorney General to go to court to require compliance and the Auditor to conduct a periodic compliance audit.
- Direct CPE to implement an annual survey/rubric on campus intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity.
DEI must be ended at our state colleges and universities to promote equal opportunity for all and to return our campuses to a free market of free expression. Every student should have the right to feel welcomed and equal on college campuses, and university administrations should not discriminate against students based on their race, religion, national origin, or any individual immutable characteristic. Kentucky needs HB 4 to align our state with our nation’s constitution and to ensure that postsecondary institutions hold academic achievement up as their mission to better the commonwealth.
Join State Senator Steve Rawlings and myself on March 20 at Florence Baptist Church on 642 Mount Zion Road, Florence from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. We will be giving an update on the 2025 Regular Session and discussing important issues impacting our community. We hope to see you there!
As always, I can be reached anytime through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via email at [email protected] and keep track through the Kentucky legislature’s website at legislature.ky.gov.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2025
The importance of reining in administrative overreach
Kentucky’s constitution is abundantly clear that the authority to make laws for the Commonwealth is vested in the state legislature. It was important to its writers that the duly-elected members of the Kentucky House and Senate make the state’s laws, determine the duties and services of the government, provide for their execution, and levy taxes and appropriate funds. The legislature is elected to set public policy for the state, and we are held accountable for our actions by voters at each and every election.
However, over the years and through the administrations of multiple governors, countless policies have been implemented by unelected individuals who work for state agencies and programs. These policies are referred to as administrative regulations and often hold the power of law but lack the democratic safeguards of transparency, debate, and public input that are built into the legislative process. Lawmakers elected by the people, not government employees, should be responsible for making laws because they are elected by the people and directly accountable to their constituents. When unelected agencies impose regulations with the force of law, they bypass the checks and balances that prevent overreach and unintended consequences.
Kentucky taxpayers bear the financial burden of costly administrative regulations that are implemented without sufficient legislative oversight. This session, House Bill 6 (HB 6) and Senate Bill 23 (SB 23) represent critical efforts to rein in the unchecked power of administrative agencies, ensuring that regulatory decisions are made with accountability and transparency. They are both aimed at protecting Kentuckians from excessive costs and unnecessary burdens, while promoting economic growth and restoring the constitutional balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. SB 23 passed into law earlier this session and HB 6, dubbed the Kentucky Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, cleared the House on February 28.
The problem with unchecked administrative regulations: Administrative regulations are necessary for implementing laws. However, they can often lead to unintended consequences when agencies are allowed to create rules without proper scrutiny. In many cases, these regulations impose overly burdensome requirements on individuals and heavy costs on taxpayers and businesses, while discouraging investment. Without clear checks and balances, administrative agencies have the power to establish costly mandates that do not undergo the same process as traditional legislation. Essentially, they are able to make laws without lawmaking.
HB 6 and SB 23 directly address this issue by requiring increased oversight of administrative regulations. These bills ensure that new regulations undergo thorough review to determine their economic impact, necessity, and alignment with legislative intent. By doing so, they prevent agencies from enacting rules that result in excessive costs without legislative accountability.
Protecting Kentucky taxpayers: One of the most pressing reasons to support HB 6 and SB 23 is the financial impact that unchecked regulations have on Kentuckians. Many regulations increase the cost of goods and services, drive up operational expenses for small businesses, and lead to higher prices for consumers. When agencies implement costly mandates without legislative approval, taxpayers ultimately foot the bill.
For example, regulatory overreach in areas such as energy, healthcare, and business licensing can lead to increased costs that burden working families. These unnecessary expenses place an additional strain on the economy, making it harder for businesses to thrive and for residents to afford essential services. By implementing stronger legislative oversight, HB 6 and SB 23 ensure that new regulations are justified, fiscally responsible, and truly serve the public interest.
Restoring legislative authority: Administrative agencies have expanded their authority beyond their original purpose, enacting regulations that function as laws. Elected officials understand the needs of their communities and can weigh the economic and social impact of new policies before enacting them. Government employees, on the other hand, may create rules based on narrow expertise or, in some instances, political agendas rather than broad public interest. HB 6 and SB 23 reaffirm the role of the Kentucky General Assembly in lawmaking by requiring agencies to seek legislative approval for regulations that impose significant economic burdens. This shift restores the constitutional principle of separation of powers, ensuring that the creation of laws remains within the purview of the elected legislative body rather than being delegated to administrative agencies.
All three branches of our government have clear and distinct duties and authority. The people of Kentucky expect us to work together, but also to hold each other accountable as we strive to serve them. Both HB 6 and SB 23 are important to ensuring that happens.
As always, I can be reached anytime through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via email at [email protected] and keep track through the Kentucky legislature’s website at legislature.ky.gov.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Representative Marianne Proctor
February 26, 2025
House passes HB 392
Frankfort, Kentucky – The Kentucky House of Representatives passed House Bill 392, sponsored by Rep. Marianne Proctor of Boone. HB 392 ensures that patients in state run mental health facilities can get necessary medical care if the facility can’t provide it.
“While the department is obligated by statute to provide certain medical services for individuals within its care, statute is vague about the department’s authorization to pay for such services, making vendors hesitant to commit to financial agreements due to delays in reimbursements,” said Proctor. “Unfortunately, this has reduced patients’ access to providers willing to provide services to patients of the department.”
House Bill 392 addresses an ongoing problem the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (BHDID) faces when seeking outside medical care for individuals within its facilities’ care. This bill ensures that patients who are in state mental health facilities, who need non-elective medical care, can receive it in a community-based setting. HB 392 simply streamlines the payment system and creates efficiency in the Cabinet. This measure would centralize these expenses through the Cabinet’s discretionary funds.
“House Bill 392 simply streamlines the payment system and cuts through red tape in the Cabinet for Health and family Services, enforcing efficiency in an area that desperately needs it,” added Proctor. “The state already pays for these services, this measure simply centralizes the expense through the cabinet’s discretionary funds.”
House Bill 392 will now move to the Senate for consideration. To follow this bill, or other legislative measures filed by Rep. Proctor, please visit legislature.ky.gov.