# Kentucky HB 778: AN ACT relating to child welfare. Kentucky HB 778, AN ACT relating to child welfare., is a 2026 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Nick Wilson (Republican); status signed, last action 2026-04-10 (signed by Governor (Acts Ch.68)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB778-2026RS - As of: 2026-11-01 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Kentucky HB 778 - State: Kentucky - Session: 2026 Regular Session - Title: AN ACT relating to child welfare. - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2026-02-27 - Last action: 2026-04-10, signed by Governor (Acts Ch.68) - Sponsor: Nick Wilson (Republican) - Cosponsors: 3 - Subjects: Corrections Impact, Courts, District, Courts, Family, Education, Elementary And Secondary, Local Mandate, State Agencies - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 3 (220 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 37 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - More help for foster youth to 21: benefit, high. Eligible youth can extend or reinstate commitment or custody up to age 21 to get transitional living support. You must ask before you turn 20 years and 6 months. You can extend up to three times before that age without commissioner approval. The cabinet starts transition planning at least six month… - Protections for reporters and child advocates: benefit, high. If you report suspected child abuse or neglect in good faith, you are immune from civil and criminal liability. Knowingly making a false report with malice is a Class A misdemeanor. Children’s advocacy center staff and agents are immune for actions within their job duties, and the Attorney General… - Fewer privilege shields in child abuse cases: benefit, high. Spousal and most professional privileges cannot be used to refuse to report suspected child abuse, neglect, or dependency, or to block evidence in court. Attorney‑client and clergy‑penitent privileges still apply. This helps investigators and courts get key evidence in child abuse cases. - Stronger abuse response and DCBS training: benefit, high. When the cabinet gets a report of abuse or neglect, it promptly investigates or assesses needs, acts, and offers protective services. If the report does not meet criteria, it refers the family to community agencies. After such a report, doctors may take photos, X‑rays, and confirmatory urine drug t… - Keep siblings connected in foster care: benefit, medium. The cabinet shares needed information with relatives or a parent of the child’s sibling to help with placement, treatment, or visits. If siblings are removed and not placed together, the cabinet provides frequent visits or ongoing contact unless it would be unsafe. - Easier licensing for limited-hours programs: benefit, medium. Preschools that run up to 20 hours a week are fully exempt if each child attends 10 hours or less, and are partially exempt if each child attends 15 hours or less (with written notice to the Cabinet and staff background and TB checks). Skill‑based programs for school‑age kids that run outside schoo… - Independent panel reviews child deaths: benefit, medium. The law creates an outside panel to review child deaths and near-deaths from suspected abuse or neglect. The panel meets at least quarterly, can access CHFS systems (TWIST/iTWIST), and must get unredacted case records within 30 days. It posts meeting updates online, publishes an annual report by Fe… - More police training and child ingestion policies: benefit, medium. All Kentucky officers get more required basic training on topics like child abuse and sexual assault. Agencies must staff officers who completed a 40‑hour sexual‑assault course: 11–20 officers need 1 trained officer, 21–50 need 2, and 51+ need 4. Officers must also take domestic violence training e… - Emergency child care during disasters: benefit, medium. The cabinet sets rules to identify emergency child‑care providers during a declared emergency. This helps families find essential child care when normal options are disrupted. - More safety info for child-care parents: benefit, low. Family child‑care homes must display their certificate. They must give parents written info on certification and how to report violations. On request, the cabinet provides the past year’s inspection reports and correction plans, and details on denials, revocations, or suspensions. Parents can ask t… - Stronger safety and transparency in child care: benefit, low. Parents can ask the state for a child‑care center’s license denials, suspensions, or violations. The state provides the last year of inspection reports and plans of correction, and tells parents that five years of reports are available from the center. The state keeps children’s and families’ ident… - Extended support for older foster youth: benefit, low. Youth who were committed to the Cabinet as dependent, neglected, or abused can ask to extend or reinstate commitment from age 18 up to 20 years and 6 months. This helps them join state or federal education programs or set up independent living. - Fee break for military social workers: benefit, low. Renewal fees are waived for certified, licensed, and clinical social workers actually serving in the Armed Forces. The waiver continues for six months after an honorable discharge, separation, or release. After that, the license lapses unless renewed. - Zoning path for family child care: benefit, low. Local governments with land‑use rules must name family child‑care homes in zoning so boards can consider conditional‑use permits in residential areas. During the 2020 or 2021 COVID‑19 emergencies, the cabinet cannot set child‑care capacity or group sizes below what was in place on February 1, 2020. - Family courts can decide neglect cases: benefit, low. Either the juvenile session of District Court or the family division of Circuit Court may decide placements and services in dependency, neglect, or abuse cases. This gives the courts more capacity to act in a child’s best interest. - Faster school safety notices, tighter records: benefit, low. When a child is in certain protective orders or a prosecutor finds probable cause, schools must be told within 24 hours. School officials and security staff receive notices. If a case is successfully diverted, the school is told and any school records of the incident are destroyed. Schools must kee… - Manslaughter charge for fatal fentanyl sales: benefit, low. Selling fentanyl or its derivatives that causes a buyer’s death is first‑degree manslaughter, a Class B felony. This raises accountability for deadly drug sales. - Tougher child-abuse crimes for drug poisonings: benefit, low. Abuse or neglect now includes pain or injury from a child ingesting or inhaling a controlled substance. The protected age is now under 13. Third‑degree abuse becomes a Class D felony if a child under 13 suffers serious injury from ingesting or inhaling a controlled substance. - Tougher penalties for child abuse deaths: benefit, low. The law treats first‑degree criminal abuse or neglect as a violent offense. Neglect now counts, along with abuse, for first‑degree manslaughter when it causes the death of a child age 12 or younger or a physically or mentally helpless person. Terms for “abuse or neglect” are the same across the cri… - Schools get notified of juvenile offenses: benefit, low. When a committed youth is placed in a local school, the Department of Juvenile Justice must give the superintendent and pupil personnel director the child’s offense history. A superintendent may name a school employee to receive notices and must provide the court clerk and court‑designated worker t… - Tighter opioid prescribing and safety training: mixed, medium. Prescriptions for Schedule II drugs to treat acute pain are capped at a three‑day supply unless specific exceptions apply or medical necessity is documented. Practitioners may dispense only a 48‑hour supply of Schedule II or hydrocodone‑containing Schedule III drugs, unless it is a licensed narcoti… - Unsafe child-care centers can lose subsidies: mixed, medium. If a center fails to fix violations or keeps operating after an emergency action, the cabinet must enforce. It can stop child‑care subsidy payments to that center, seek court orders, or suspend or revoke the license. Families using subsidies at that center can lose those payments. - Stricter child-care licensing and inspections: mixed, medium. You must be licensed to run or advertise a child‑care center. Initial and annual renewal fees are required but cannot be more than the cabinet’s administrative cost. The cabinet does unannounced inspections, including for unlicensed centers. Directors and staff who supervise or have direct contact… - Stronger rules for child-care licenses: mixed, medium. The cabinet uses a clear deficiency notice with facts, the rule broken, and a fix-by date. Centers get up to six months to fix problems before a license is refused or revoked, unless there is an immediate threat. Immediate threats must be corrected within five working days. Providers get an informa… - New rules and fees for boarding homes: mixed, medium. Boarding homes must register every year and pay a fee set by the secretary, up to $100. The cabinet or local health department conducts unannounced inspections before initial and annual registration, and staff can enter at any time to inspect or investigate unregistered operations. The cabinet will… - Family child-care homes need certification: mixed, medium. If you care for 4 to 6 unrelated children, you must apply for certification; 3 or fewer may apply by choice. You cannot be certified if you have a prior abuse or neglect finding. You must provide two references, a doctor or APRN health statement, pass a criminal record check, have safety items in p… - Stronger child-welfare oversight and data sharing: mixed, medium. If a child dies or nearly dies from abuse or neglect and the cabinet was involved, the cabinet must do an internal review and send an annual report by September 1. The cabinet may share confidential case data with the external child fatality and near fatality review panel and the Ombudsman. It may… - Tighter oversight of controlled substance prescribers: mixed, medium. Agencies may share reports of suspected bad prescribing or dispensing with each other within three business days. Prosecutors must notify the Attorney General and the licensing board within three business days after a public felony indictment tied to controlled substances. Boards can temporarily li… - Safer foster and kin placements: mixed, low. Before approval, foster, relative, fictive kin, and adoptive applicants—and adult household members—must pass state and FBI fingerprint checks or a conviction‑record check. The Justice and Public Safety Cabinet may charge you an actual‑cost fee for conviction records. At annual reviews, the cabinet… - Caregiver approvals: bans and disability protections: mixed, low. The Cabinet cannot approve a foster, relative, fictive‑kin, or adoptive placement if the applicant, an adult in the home, or a minor in the home is a sex‑offender registrant or a juvenile sex offender. The Cabinet cannot deny a placement only because a prospective caregiver has a disability and mus… - Plan of Safe Care for exposed newborns: mixed, low. Health care providers must notify the state when a baby is suspected to be substance‑exposed at birth. The department assesses safety for the baby and other children, tries to contact caregivers before discharge, and completes a Plan of Safe Care on time. Being labeled substance‑exposed is not, by… - Safer boarding homes and medication rules: mixed, low. People convicted of abuse or neglect under KRS 508.100–508.120, or with a Cabinet‑substantiated abuse report, cannot be registered to run a boarding home. Boarding homes cannot handle, store, or give out residents’ medicines. If a resident asks, the home must provide a lockable compartment for pres… - More child-safety training for health workers: mixed, low. Physician assistants need 100 CE hours with 1.5 hours on pediatric head trauma in the first two years, one hour on dementia once, and one hour on pediatric ingestion every three years. Nurses must take a 1.5‑hour pediatric head‑trauma course once, one hour on pediatric ingestion every three years,… - Training rules for child-care staff: mixed, low. New staff and owner‑providers who give care must finish six hours of orientation within three months. Every year, they must complete at least six hours of child‑development training, including 1.5 hours on abusive head trauma every five years and one hour on pediatric ingestion every three years. T… - Police funding tied to reporting rules: mixed, low. Units of government and police departments must send criminal history data and file required reports to be eligible for Law Enforcement Foundation Program funds. Funding depends on following these statewide reporting rules. - School notice rules for juvenile cases: mixed, low. When a juvenile is adjudicated or a covered petition and disposition occur, the court clerk must notify the public school superintendent and director of pupil personnel, or the private school principal. Sharing of juvenile records is limited to the petition and disposition and only to certain staff… - Tighter oversight of prescribers and licenses: mixed, low. Licensing boards, with the Office of Drug Control Policy, set prescribing and dispensing standards for Schedule II and hydrocodone‑containing Schedule III drugs. Boards must report discipline to the National Practitioner Data Bank and check the Data Bank for each applicant. Boards must permanently… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Nick Wilson (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Daniel Grossberg (Democrat), House - Cosponsor: Samara Heavrin (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Sarah Stalker (Democrat), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2026-03-31 | Senate | 3rd reading, passed | pass | 38 | 0 | | | 2026-03-31 | House | passed | pass | 88 | 0 | | | 2026-03-18 | House | 3rd reading, passed | pass | 94 | 0 | | ## Actions (25) - 2026-04-10: signed by Governor (Acts Ch.68) - 2026-04-01: delivered to Governor - 2026-04-01: enrolled, signed by President of the Senate (House) - 2026-04-01: enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House (House) - 2026-03-31: passed 88-0 (House) - 2026-03-31: House concurred in Committee Substitute (1) (House) - 2026-03-31: posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1) (Senate) - 2026-03-31: to Rules (H) (House) - 2026-03-31: received in House (House) - 2026-03-31: 3rd reading, passed 38-0 with Committee Substitute (1) (Senate) - 2026-03-26: posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Friday, March 27 2026 (Senate) - 2026-03-25: 2nd reading, to Rules as a consent bill (Senate) - 2026-03-24: reported favorably, 1st reading, to Consent Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) (Senate) - 2026-03-20: to Families & Children (S) (Senate) - 2026-03-19: to Committee on Committees (S) (Senate) - 2026-03-19: received in Senate (Senate) - 2026-03-18: 3rd reading, passed 94-0 with Committee Substitute (1) (House) - 2026-03-17: floor amendment (2) filed to Committee Substitute (House) - 2026-03-16: posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 17 2026 (House) - 2026-03-13: floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute (House) - 2026-03-13: 2nd reading, to Rules (House) - 2026-03-12: reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) (House) - 2026-03-04: to Families & Children (H) (House) - 2026-02-27: to Committee on Committees (H) (House) - 2026-02-27: introduced in House (House) ## Bill text - Current, 2026-03-31: [PDF](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/bill.pdf) - Introduced, 2026-02-27: [PDF](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/orig_bill.pdf) ## Related bills - HB 869: AN ACT relating to fiscal matters and declaring an emergency. (signed) - SB 197: AN ACT providing funding and establishing conditions for state government agencies and institutions, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergen… (became law) - SB 133: AN ACT relating to the fiscal reporting of local entities. (signed) - HB 826: AN ACT relating to education. (signed) - HB 727: AN ACT relating to education and declaring an emergency. (signed) - SB 324: AN ACT relating to the entertainment industry. (signed) ## Sources - [Current (PDF)](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/bill.pdf) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/orig_bill.pdf) ## Related - [HB 869: AN ACT relating to fiscal matters and declaring an emergency.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB869-2026RS) - [SB 197: AN ACT providing funding and establishing conditions for state government agenc…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-SB197-2026RS) - [SB 133: AN ACT relating to the fiscal reporting of local entities.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-SB133-2026RS) - [HB 826: AN ACT relating to education.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB826-2026RS) - [HB 727: AN ACT relating to education and declaring an emergency.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB727-2026RS) - [SB 324: AN ACT relating to the entertainment industry.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-SB324-2026RS) - [Kentucky bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/kentucky/bills) - [Kentucky state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/kentucky) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB778-2026RS (as of 2026-11-01).