Kentucky HB 148 is a House bill number that has been reused across several sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, each time for unrelated legislation. The most consequential version is the 2019 Human Life Protection Act, a trigger law that banned nearly all abortion in Kentucky the moment the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The same bill number has since been used for a 2023 mental health benefits law that was enacted, a 2024 menstrual products bill that died in committee, a 2025 filing that was withdrawn, and a 2026 religious holiday sick leave bill for school employees.
The 2019 Human Life Protection Act
The 2019 HB 148, titled the Human Life Protection Act, prohibits knowingly administering any substance or performing any procedure with the specific intent of terminating an “unborn human being,” defined as a member of the species homo sapiens from fertilization to full gestation. A violation is a Class D felony.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Bill Text, 2019 Regular Session
The statute contains a narrow medical exception. A licensed physician may perform a procedure deemed necessary in reasonable medical judgment to prevent the death of a pregnant woman or the serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ. It also exempts medical treatment that results in accidental or unintentional harm to the fetus, along with contraceptives administered before a pregnancy is detectable through conventional testing. The pregnant woman herself cannot be criminally convicted or penalized under the law.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Bill Text, 2019 Regular Session
How the Trigger Worked
HB 148 passed the Kentucky House 69–20 on February 15, 2019, and the Senate 32–5 on March 14, 2019. Governor Matt Bevin signed the bill on March 26, 2019, and it was recorded as Kentucky Acts Chapter 152.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2019 Regular Session By its own terms, the prohibition did not take effect on signing. It would activate “upon, and to the extent permitted by,” a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade or a constitutional amendment restoring state authority to ban abortion.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Bill Text, 2019 Regular Session
That trigger fired on June 24, 2022, when the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Kentucky’s ban took effect immediately, and performing an abortion outside the statute’s medical exception became a felony.3FactCheck.org. Satirical Amendment Cited in False Claims About Kentucky Abortion Law
The Court Challenge That Followed
On June 27, 2022, three days after Dobbs, abortion providers represented by the ACLU of Kentucky and Planned Parenthood sued in Jefferson Circuit Court, challenging HB 148’s trigger ban and a separate six-week ban. The case, EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P.S.C., et al. v. Daniel Cameron, et al. (Case No. 22-CI-003225), argued that the bans violated rights to privacy, bodily autonomy, and self-determination under Sections 1 and 2 of the Kentucky Constitution.4ACLU. EMW Women’s Surgical Center v. Daniel Cameron
Judge Mitch Perry granted a restraining order on June 30, 2022, and a temporary injunction on July 22, 2022, briefly restoring abortion services. On August 1, 2022, a single Kentucky Court of Appeals judge dissolved the injunction at the request of then-Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and services stopped again. The Kentucky Supreme Court declined an emergency request to reinstate the injunction and heard oral arguments in November 2022.5ACLU of Kentucky. Kentucky Abortion Care
On February 16, 2023, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled without deciding whether the bans violated the state constitution. It held that the providers were not the proper parties to assert their patients’ constitutional rights and remanded the case, noting that its ruling left open the door for individual Kentuckians seeking abortion to bring their own claims.4ACLU. EMW Women’s Surgical Center v. Daniel Cameron The plaintiffs then agreed to dismiss the case, and the Jefferson Circuit Court dismissed it without prejudice on June 27, 2023.6ACLU. Kentucky Providers File New Lawsuit Challenging Abortion Bans in State Court The trigger ban remains in force.
The 2023 Mental Health Treatment Benefits Law
In the 2023 Regular Session, HB 148 addressed a completely different subject. The bill allowed patients to assign their insurance benefits in writing to qualified Kentucky-based facilities or healthcare providers offering both substance abuse and mental health services. It amended several sections of KRS Chapter 304 and required compliance from the state employee health plan and state postsecondary education institutions.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2023 Regular Session
The bill passed the House 97–0 and the Senate 34–0. Governor Andy Beshear signed it on March 24, 2023, and it became Acts Chapter 86.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2023 Regular Session
The 2024 Menstrual Products Bill
The 2024 HB 148 would have required Kentucky public schools and public charter schools serving grades six through twelve to provide at least one type of age-appropriate menstrual discharge collection device at no cost to students. The products would have been stocked in at least half of the female, handicap, unisex, or family bathrooms in each school building, and local school boards would have had to adopt distribution policies and safe-use guidelines.8Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Original Bill Text, 2024 Regular Session
Introduced on January 4, 2024, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Committees and stayed there. It received no hearing and no floor vote.9Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2024 Regular Session
The 2025 Filing
HB 148 was filed again in the 2025 Regular Session by Representatives A. Tackett Laferty, G. Brown Jr., and A. Camuel, and withdrawn on February 18, 2025. The bill’s subject is not reflected in the public legislative record.10Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2025 Regular Session
The 2026 Religious Holiday Sick Leave Bill
The 2026 HB 148, introduced on January 7, 2026, by Representative Daniel Grossberg of Louisville, would amend KRS 161.155 to let school district employees use their existing sick leave to observe religious holidays that are not already on the official school calendar. An employee would need to give advance notice and provide a personal statement verifying the observance.11Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2026 Regular Session
Under current KRS 161.155, school district employees receive at least ten days of annual sick leave, but the authorized uses are limited to personal illness, illness of an immediate family member, mourning a family member, emergency leave, and parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child. Religious observance is not on that list.12Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. KRS 161.155 HB 148 would add it, so an employee observing a holiday such as Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Fitr, or Diwali could draw from accrued sick leave instead of taking unpaid time.
The bill was referred to the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on January 14, 2026, and has not received a hearing or vote.11Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. HB 148 Record, 2026 Regular Session A substantively identical provision has moved further as part of Senate Bill 124, introduced by Senator Matt Nunn. At Senator Jimmy Higdon’s encouragement, language allowing teachers to use sick leave for religious holidays not on the school calendar was added to SB 124, duplicating HB 148’s core proposal. SB 124 passed the Senate Education Committee on February 19, 2026, and the full Senate 35–0 on February 23, 2026. After receiving multiple floor amendments in the House, SB 124 was taken from the Orders of the Day on April 15, 2026, and recommitted to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, where it remained as of mid-2026.13Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. SB 124 Record, 2026 Regular Session