Adult-use cannabis to tiny homes: NKY lawmakers’ bills run the gamut

Bills to legalize adult-use recreational cannabis, improve health care access, and make it easier for Kentuckians to settle into tiny homes are among more than two dozen bills filed by Northern Kentucky lawmakers in the first three days of the 2024 General Assembly. 

Only a few of those bills have been assigned to a committee so far. Among them: a proposed constitutional amendment to move statewide elections (namely the governor’s race)  to presidential election years starting in 2032. The proposal in Senate Bill 10 was referred to the State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday. Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) is the bill sponsor. 

With hundreds of bills historically cycling through the legislature during a typical 60-day session in Frankfort, more committee assignments are likely forthcoming. 

Below is a short list of bills filed (so far) by NKY state lawmakers that are ones to watch from now till session ends on or before April 15. 

Adult-use cannabis

Still waiting for committee referral is a bill (House Bill 90) that would legalize and set up a regulatory framework to grow and sell non-medical “adult-use cannabis” – or adult recreational cannabis – in the commonwealth. House Minority Whip Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) filed the bill on Wednesday. 

Should HB 90 become law, it would be the second time in as many years that Kentucky has expanded access to some form of cannabis under Kentucky law. Medical cannabis will become legal in Kentucky starting Jan. 1, 2025, under SB 47, signed by Gov. Andy Beshear last year. 

Adult-use recreational cannabis retail sales under HB 90 would require a license and be limited to persons aged 21 and older. Those sales would be allowed starting in July 2026. 

Currently, 24 states and Washington, DC, have passed laws legalizing regulated non-medical adult-use cannabis, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ohio legalized adult-use recreational cannabis in the Nov. 2023 general election. The first dispensary is expected to open in the Buckeye State sometime this fall. 

Tiny homes and more

Also filed Wednesday is a bill requiring local governments to make way for nontraditional types of housing, including tiny homes and backyard homes (also called accessory dwelling units), by easing minimum square footage and aesthetic requirements. The bill is HB 102 sponsored by Rep. Steven Doan (R-Erlanger). It has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Doan is the immediate past president of the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky, Inc. He told LINK nky in October that he intended to file the legislation – dubbed the Housing Opportunities Made Easier Act or HOME Act – to make homeownership more affordable in today’s high-cost real estate market. 

“The price to build a new home is so high that it’s almost impossible to construct affordable housing, and I would call that something in the $165,000 to $175,000 range. That’s probably something a family could afford or a young couple could afford. The HOME Act would allow state guidance and allow people to build smaller homes under the law,” he said. “We can change regulation and burdens on home builders to reduce costs for more affordable housing.”

Health care access

An NKY lawmaker is behind another bill filed this week that would shore up health insurance coverage for breast care in Kentucky. 

House Health Services Chair Kimberly Moser (R-Taylor Mill) filed HB 115 on Wednesday. Should it become law, the bill would expand required coverage under basic health plans to breast examinations beyond basic screening mammograms. It would also prohibit higher deductibles or copayments (cost-sharing) for diagnostic breast exams and supplemental breast exams covered under existing policies or plans.

A 2019 report from the Susan G. Komen Foundation revealed that diagnostic mammograms across multiple states cost an average of $349 in 2018. Women are less likely to schedule follow-up breast exams that carry high out-of-pocket costs, according to a study published by the journal Radiology last year. 

Kentucky merit scholarships

Legislation that would allow scores from a college entrance exam partnered largely with private or faith-based colleges to factor into Kentucky merit scholarship awards was also filed this week. The bill is HB 46. It was filed by Rep. Steve Rawlings (R-Burlington) on Tuesday. 

HB 46 would add scores from the Maryland-based Classic Learning Test to the definition of ACT (the American College Test entrance exam) score when factoring state merit-based college and technical scholarships or Kentucky educational excellence scholarships. The legislation is geared toward homeschool graduates or “noncertified school” graduates.

Currently, those graduates compete for the scholarships based on their highest ACT score, according to the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The proposal would allow an “equivalent” score (determined by the authority) on the Classic Learning Test to serve as an ACT score.

The Classic Learning Test website describes the text as a “college entrance exam for 11th and 12th graders” that is “accepted at hundreds of colleges across the US.” The website says the test is “not religiously or politically affiliated” although it clarifies, “CLT Partner Colleges (which it tallies at around 250) tend to be private, liberal arts, or faith-based colleges which share our mission.”  

Several Kentucky faith-based colleges, including Boyce College in Louisville, Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky Mountain Bible College in Jackson, Georgetown College in Georgetown, and Thomas More University in Crestview Hills are among the test’s partners, according to the company website. 

What else was filed this week? 

Lands-rights legislation (House Bill 106) sponsored by Rep. Savannah Maddox (R-Dry Ridge), child protection legislation (House Bill 82) sponsored by Rep. Kim Banta (R-Fort Mitchell), and SB 61 sponsored by Sen. John Schickel (R-Union) were also filed the past few days. 

Schickel’s bill, filed Thursday, would do away with no-excuse early in-person voting in Kentucky. 

Additional bills are expected to be filed in the coming days. Lawmakers in both chambers have until late February to introduce bills for consideration this session.