The Catholic Conference of Kentucky is endorsing several bills and watching others in the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly.
The conference, which represents Kentucky’s four bishops on matters of public policy, is encouraging Catholics to contact state lawmakers in support of House Bill 291 and its companion, Senate Bill 118. The criminal justice measures relate to the sentencing of parents with minor children.
“Kentucky ranks second in the nation in the percentage of children with an incarcerated parent,” said an action alert from the conference. “Sometimes, a parent may be a risk, and separation is necessary, but often it is not, and it leads to negative outcomes for the children involved. It also puts a significant strain on our foster care system.”
Calling on Catholics to express their support to legislators, Jason Hall, executive director of the conference, said House Bill 291 and its companion bill in the Senate are “very pro-family.”
“Keeping families together is something we value very highly,” said Hall. “When you have a person who is a primary caregiver of a child and that person is incarcerated, if they don’t have another family member who can take them, that child ends up in the foster care system and that can be traumatic. You see negative outcomes for those children.”
The proposed legislation asks courts to consider a defendant’s status as a primary caregiver to a child when weighing the sentence and requires them to consider an alternative to incarceration.
Defendants found guilty of violent crimes or crimes involving children would not be eligible for this consideration. In addition, an alternative sentence would not be considered if another statute prohibits it.
“It’s trying to do right by Kentucky’s kids,” said Hall. “Our view is the criminal justice system exists to keep people safe. Incarcerating a parent and putting a child into the foster care system in a lot of cases does not lead to improved public safety down the road; it does harm to Kentucky’s children.”
The House Bill has been approved in committee and now awaits action by the full House. Hall urged Catholics to contact both their Senators and Representatives to express their support for the measure.
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky also endorses the following bills:
Senate Bill 60 — This bill, related to religious freedom in Kentucky, seeks to amend a Kentucky statute that states: “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s freedom of religion.”
The bill gives a person recourse, “to sue the government when their religious freedom is being burdened,” said Hall. “We’ve endorsed that.”
House Bill 206 – This criminal justice bill addresses wrongful convictions.
“It’s a way to compensate someone who was incarcerated and later exonerated,” said Hall. “You have to show evidence of your innocence, so it limits it some, but it does happen. We endorse that.”
House Bill 414 — This measure expands access to perinatal palliative care, requiring hospitals to provide or refer patients dealing with pregnancy loss to palliative care services. It also requires insurance coverage of these services.
“It’s support for women and families who have a loss of pregnancy. It provides all the palliative layers of support that you would need,” said Hall. “It’s about supporting families who are going through a traumatic loss.”
House Bill 136 — This is another bill related to criminal justice. It requires the Department of Corrections to report certain data related to those who have been incarcerated.
“It’s amazing how often we don’t have the data about who is incarcerated, how long and what the outcomes are,” said Hall. “This would give us, over time, better eyes on the situation.”
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky is also watching various other bills.
The general assembly is considering several immigration enforcement bills, and the CCK hopes lawmakers strike a balance when it comes to immigration enforcement, said Hall.
“The political debate often settles into two extremes. Sanctuary cities are on the one hand, where local law enforcement wouldn’t cooperate with immigration enforcement. And on the other hand, you have the idea that all law enforcement should be enforcing immigration laws.”
In the latter scenario, immigrants may be afraid to turn to the police to report crime, Hall noted.
“It’s really important that we strike a balance in the middle,” he said.
Charitable gaming is another issue the CCK is tracking this session.
During last year’s session, the assembly passed a last-minute bill that created a new corporation and board to regulate sports gaming and charitable gaming in Kentucky. It is governed primarily by representatives of the horse-racing industry. Charitable gaming interests have just two representatives.
“On any question where charitable gaming and horse racing don’t align, charitable gaming will be outvoted every time,” said Hall in an interview after the measure passed in 2024.
During this session, Hall said an effort is underway to “put some pro-charitable gaming safeguards” in place.
“There are a lot of good charitable assets generated through charitable gaming,” said Hall, noting that Catholic parishes and schools benefit from charitable gaming.To contact your lawmakers, call the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181. Or email your lawmakers at legislature.ky.gov/Pages/contactus.aspx.
