Student phone bans, charges for protesters among new Kentucky laws taking effect

Kentucky’s Legislature didn’t take up a state budget during this year’s short, 30-day session that ended March 28, but the Republican-controlled House and Senate still advanced the party’s priorities.

Lawmakers passed more than 140 bills and filed hundreds more during their time in Frankfort. They run the gamut from defunding diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Kentucky’s colleges and universities, to a ban on students using smartphones at school and legislation to make “sextortion” a new crime.

Under Kentucky’s Constitution, new laws take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns. Exceptions include bills that have special effective dates, general appropriation measures and those with emergency clauses, which make them effective immediately, according to the Legislation Research Commission.

Here’s a look at a few of the many new laws soon going into effect:

•Diversity, equity and inclusion: House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Decker, prevents Kentucky colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. It includes offices, policies and practices “designed or implemented to promote or provide preferential treatment or benefits to individuals on the basis of religion, sex, color, or national origin.” The legislation overcame a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear and pushback from Democrats. The University of Kentucky dissolved its Office of Institutional Diversity last year under pressure from lawmakers and Northern Kentucky University followed suit. More recently, ahead of H.B. 4 going into effect, UK canceled graduation events for Black and LGBTQ students and pulled out of Lexington’s Pride Month event.

•Limits on teacher-student communications: Senate Bill 181 requires teachers to communicate with students using traceable technology. Emails and texts are prohibited. Several incidents involving inappropriate sexual communications between school staff and students have led to criminal charges in recent years. A 2022 Herald-Leader investigation found of the 194 teachers who lost their licenses in some way over the previous five years, 61% were related to sexual misconduct. In sponsoring the bill, Sen. Lindsey Tichenor said its goal is to outline clear guidelines for electronic communications between school staff, volunteers and students to protect student safety.

•Restricting protests in Kentucky’s Capitol: House Bill 399 creates a new criminal offense: “interference with a legislative proceeding.” The bill came in response to protests against Senate Bill 150 in 2023. That bill outlawed most gender-affirming care for young people in Kentucky, and it drew loud protests that erupted in the capitol’s gallery. Protesters were removed and restrained with zip ties. The protest bill, sponsored by Rep. John Blanton, was passed largely on party lines, though some Republicans did join Democrats in voting against it. First-degree interference is defined as knowingly engaging, conspiring or facilitating “disorderly or disruptive conduct in any legislative building” that “disrupts, impedes, or prevents the General Assembly from conducting business.” A first offense is punishable by up to a year in jail, while a third offense carries up to five years in prison and is treated as a felony.

•Criminal and civil penalties for “sextortion”: Sexual extortion is the extortion of money or sexual favors from someone by threatening to reveal evidence of their sexual activity. It doesn’t require preexisting sexual images of the victim, as artificial intelligence can generate them. Scammers often target children and teenagers, including one recent Glasgow teen who took his own life after he was targeted. Senate Bill 73, sponsored by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, creates a range of felony offenses for sexual extortion. There are stiffer penalties for people who target children, and those who are convicted of sexual extortion in Kentucky must register as sex offenders. Other parts of the law make it easier to sue perpetrators and require schools to educate students about it.

•A ban on student phone use during the school day: From California to Florida, school mobile phone bans are sweeping the country as states try to grapple with their negative effects on students’ attention and mental health. Now, Kentucky has joined the pack with House Bill 208. The bill requires school boards to, at a minimum, adopt policies that prohibit student phone use during the school day with a few limited exceptions. It was sponsored by Rep. Josh Bray.

•Moments of silence to start the school day: In another change students are likely to notice when schools start back, Senate Bill 19 requires schools to create “moments of silence” at the start of each school day, lasting up to two minutes. Students are invited to pray, meditate or otherwise remain silent, but they cannot distract other students. Critics have raised First Amendment concerns of mandating religious activities in public schools and note students are already free to pray during the school day if they wish. Senate Bill 19 sponsor Sen. Rick Girdler has said the bill has no religious connotations.

•Manufactured homes must be treated equally under zoning laws: House Bill 160 bars local governments from adopting and enforcing zoning laws that treat manufactured homes differently than single-family homes. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Susan Witten as one way to address Kentucky’s housing shortage. Some localities have experimented with similar ordinances to solve local housing shortages, and Kentucky as a whole needs more than 200,000 housing units. That number is expected to balloon to almost 300,000 units in the next few years.

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