# Kentucky HB 90: AN ACT relating to maternal health and declaring an emergency. Kentucky HB 90, AN ACT relating to maternal health and declaring an emergency., is a 2025 Regular Session House bill sponsored by Jason Nemes (Republican); status became law, last action 2025-03-28 (delivered to Secretary of State (Acts Ch. 121)); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB90-2025RS - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Kentucky HB 90 - State: Kentucky - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: AN ACT relating to maternal health and declaring an emergency. - Status: became law - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-01-07 - Last action: 2025-03-28, delivered to Secretary of State (Acts Ch. 121) - Sponsor: Jason Nemes (Republican) - Cosponsors: 9 - Subjects: Health and Medical Services, Hospitals and Nursing Homes, Licensing, Nurses, Physicians and Practitioners, Reproductive Issues, Administrative Regulations and Proceedings, Short Titles and Popular Names - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 4 (219 yes, 36 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 13 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Restraint protections for pregnant inmates: benefit, medium. Pregnant inmates generally must be handcuffed in front unless greater restraint is needed. People known to be pregnant generally cannot be restrained during labor, transport for delivery, or postpartum recovery. This includes travel to a freestanding birthing center. Exceptions require reasonable g… - Birth center consent and transfer protections: benefit, medium. Birth centers must get each client's written informed consent explaining care risks, benefits, eligibility, and staff credentials. It must also explain complaint rights, access to regulations, liability insurance, emergency transfers, and how providers work together. Centers must have written trans… - New safety standards for birth centers: benefit, medium. Kentucky includes freestanding birthing centers in its health facility rules, including centers owned or run by hospitals. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services must adopt licensing rules by December 1, 2025. Rules must require birth center accreditation, address malpractice insurance, and gen… - Birth records and paternity help expand: benefit, low. Birth certificates must be filed within five working days; facility leaders or their representatives handle births in health facilities. Midwives are expressly included among those supplying medical information and certifying births. Outside facilities, the health care provider attending at or imme… - Comfort-focused care referrals for grieving families: benefit, low. Covered hospitals, birth centers, and attending doctors or midwives must offer or refer families for perinatal palliative care. This applies when prenatal diagnoses suggest possible death or uncertain or minimal long-term survival, or newborns have potentially life-limiting illnesses. Support cover… - Newborn hearing checks and faster follow-up: benefit, low. Facilities offering obstetric or midwifery services must screen every infant's hearing using a state-approved method to keep their licenses. Possible hearing loss must be reported within 24 hours to parents, providers, the state office, and any scheduled audiology center. Reports showing no possibl… - Online mental health information for families: benefit, low. The Cabinet must post its written information about mental health disorders during pregnancy and after birth on its website. Families, birth centers, and hospitals offering labor and delivery services can access it. - Required newborn tests and parent notices: benefit, low. Health facilities caring for infants 28 days old or younger must arrange required inherited-disorder tests and critical heart defect screening. Facilities or newborn-care providers must explain required screening to parents or guardians and arrange appropriate follow-up. Heart screening is required… - Virus education and testing for newborns: benefit, low. Providers offering obstetric or prenatal care must give pregnant women and women who may become pregnant information about congenital cytomegalovirus. They can provide the information directly or link to the state's educational website. Providers must test infants by 21 days after birth if they fai… - Fewer approval barriers for birth centers: benefit, low. The law lists freestanding birthing centers as exempt from certificate-of-need approval, a state review required for some health services. It also expressly exempts establishing and licensing centers with four beds or fewer. These exemptions do not remove birth center licensing duties. Birthing ser… - Abortion restrictions and felony penalties: cost, high. The law ties its statewide abortion prohibition to a Supreme Court reversal of Roe restoring state authority, or a constitutional amendment. Once triggered, it applies immediately to the extent permitted and makes knowing conduct specifically intended to end unborn life a Class D felony. The pregna… - Limits on liability after birth transfers: cost, medium. After a birth center transfer, a receiving provider or facility is generally liable only for its own negligent care. This rule applies to injury or death claims arising from care at the transferring center. A receiving provider that owns, runs, or provides care at that center can also be liable for… - Pregnancy treatment exceptions and consent duties: mixed, medium. Physicians using reasonable medical judgment may treat listed miscarriages, ectopic or abnormally implanted pregnancies, molar pregnancies, and remove a dead child. Other permitted care covers fetal life or health, life-threatening infection or bleeding, and protection against maternal death or per… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Jason Nemes (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Beverly Chester-Burton (Democrat), House - Cosponsor: Candy Massaroni (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Kim Banta (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Ken Fleming (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Kim Holloway (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Mark Hart (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Matt Lockett (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Marianne Proctor (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Nancy Tate (Republican), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-03-27 | House | passed | pass | 77 | 20 | | | 2025-03-27 | Senate | passed | pass | 31 | 7 | | | 2025-03-13 | Senate | 3rd reading, passed | pass | 29 | 0 | 5 | | 2025-03-06 | House | 3rd reading, passed | pass | 82 | 9 | | ## Actions (50) - 2025-03-28: delivered to Secretary of State (Acts Ch. 121) - 2025-03-28: enrolled, signed by President of the Senate (House) - 2025-03-28: enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House (House) - 2025-03-28: received in House (House) - 2025-03-27: passed 31-7 (Senate) - 2025-03-27: veto overridden (Senate) - 2025-03-27: posted for passage for consideration of Governor's veto - 2025-03-27: to Rules (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-27: received in Senate (Senate) - 2025-03-27: passed 77-20 (House) - 2025-03-27: veto overridden (House) - 2025-03-27: posted for consideration of Governor's veto - 2025-03-27: taken from Rules (House) - 2025-03-27: to Rules (H) (House) - 2025-03-27: received in House (House) - 2025-03-25: Vetoed - 2025-03-13: delivered to Governor - 2025-03-13: enrolled, signed by President of the Senate (Senate) - 2025-03-13: enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House (Senate) - 2025-03-13: passed 74-17 (Senate) - 2025-03-13: House concurred in Senate Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) (Senate) - 2025-03-13: posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) (Senate) - 2025-03-13: taken from Rules (H) (House) - 2025-03-13: to Rules (H) (House) - 2025-03-13: received in House (House) - 2025-03-13: 3rd reading, passed 29-0-5 with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) (Senate) - 2025-03-13: posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 13, 2025 (Senate) - 2025-03-13: reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) (Senate) - 2025-03-07: returned to Licensing & Occupations (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-07: 2nd reading (Senate) - 2025-03-07: taken from Licensing & Occupations (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-07: to Licensing & Occupations (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-06: returned to Committee on Committees (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-06: 1st reading (Senate) - 2025-03-06: taken from Committee on Committees (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-06: to Committee on Committees (S) (Senate) - 2025-03-06: received in Senate (Senate) - 2025-03-06: 3rd reading, passed 82-9 (House) - 2025-03-06: placed in the Orders of the Day (House) - 2025-03-06: taken from Rules (House) - 2025-03-05: reported favorably, to Rules (House) - 2025-03-04: returned to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) (House) - 2025-03-04: 2nd reading (House) - 2025-03-04: taken from Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) (House) - 2025-02-28: returned to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) (House) - 2025-02-28: 1st reading (House) - 2025-02-28: taken from Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) (House) - 2025-02-04: to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) (House) - 2025-01-07: to Committee on Committees (H) (House) - 2025-01-07: introduced in House (House) ## Bill text - Current, 2025-03-27: [PDF](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb90/bill.pdf) - Introduced, 2025-03-06: [PDF](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb90/orig_bill.pdf) ## Related bills - HB 501: AN ACT relating to pharmaceutical drugs. (became law) - HB 664: AN ACT relating to the operation of a motor vehicle and declaring an emergency. (signed) - HB 606: AN ACT relating to economic development. (signed) - HB 421: AN ACT relating to colorectal cancer screenings. (signed) - HB 555: AN ACT relating to local government financial practices. (signed) - HB 493: AN ACT relating to the towing and storage of motor vehicles. (signed) ## Sources - [Current (PDF)](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb90/bill.pdf) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/hb90/orig_bill.pdf) ## Related - [HB 501: AN ACT relating to pharmaceutical drugs.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB501-2025RS) - [HB 664: AN ACT relating to the operation of a motor vehicle and declaring an emergency.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB664-2025RS) - [HB 606: AN ACT relating to economic development.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB606-2025RS) - [HB 421: AN ACT relating to colorectal cancer screenings.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB421-2025RS) - [HB 555: AN ACT relating to local government financial practices.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB555-2025RS) - [HB 493: AN ACT relating to the towing and storage of motor vehicles.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/KY-HB493-2025RS) - [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-HB90-2025RS (as of 2026-10-17).