Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to define terms; establish an annual Medicaid state plan and Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program state plan legislative review process; EMERGENCY.

KY SB173 2026

Medicaid Legislative Oversight

Amend KRS 65.013 to define terms; expand the prohibition on using tax dollars to advocate for or against a public question on the ballot to prohibit using any resources, and to explicitly apply prohibition to school districts, regional educational cooperatives, and recalls on a ballot; establish a criminal penalty and a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person found guilty of violating the prohibition; create a cause of action for a citizen aggrieved by a violation of the prohibition; establish a statute of limitations to commence suit and the appropriate venue; provide when the suit accrues; specify damages recoverable per violation; allow for class action; include a prohibition against holding a position of public trust or profit for 10 years for a person held civilly liable; amend KRS 48.025 and 132.017 to conform.

KY SB59 2026

Tax Money Election Advocacy Ban Election Integrity

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 39G to define "center," "executive director," "foreign enterprise," and "resident of the Commonwealth"; prohibit a resident of the Commonwealth from engaging in a transaction with a foreign enterprise if the transaction would result in foreign control of intellectual property, infrastructure, technology, or assets critical to the economic security of the Commonwealth, obstruction of counter-intelligence efforts, or would compromise the economic security of the Commonwealth; require the Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center to review and investigate a transaction between a foreign enterprise and a resident of the Commonwealth; require the center to notify the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security once it has determined that a transaction would compromise the economic security of the Commonwealth; require the center to refer the matter to the appropriate federal authorities if a transaction would compromise the security of the United States; allow the center to contact other state and local agencies and access state and local databases if necessary in pursuit of a review or an investigation; require the center to assess whether the transaction between a foreign enterprise and a resident of the Commonwealth would pose a threat to the security of the Commonwealth, the level of threat the transaction would pose, whether that threat has been mitigated, whether the transaction is with or on behalf of a foreign government, and whether a foreign entity may obtain control of critical infrastructure, technology, or assets critical to the economic security of the Commonwealth; require the center to refer the matter to the Attorney General and notify the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security if it determines that the transaction would pose as a threat to the Commonwealth and the threat cannot be mitigated; require the center to meet with the co-chairs of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee at least twice a year to discuss any findings in its review or investigations that would compromise the economic security of the Commonwealth; allow either co-chair of the Legislative Investigations and Oversight Committee to compel additional meetings; require the co-chairs of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee to have required security clearance before meeting with the center; prohibit the center from meeting with the co-chairs if neither have obtained the required security clearance; exempt the meeting between the center and the co-chairs of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee from the Kentucky Open Meetings Act and exempt any records produced in the meeting from the Kentucky Open Records Act; require center to submit an annual report to the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee; exempt certain data from the report from the Kentucky Open Records Act; exempt certain data from the report from the Kentucky Open Meetings Act; direct that the first report to the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee be issued by July 1, 2027.

KY HB283 2026

Adversarial Foreign Transactions in the Commonwealth

Amend KRS 61.870 to change the definition of "resident of the Commonwealth"; amend KRS 61.872 to allow the official custodian of public records to require government-issued photo identification that includes an address from an applicant requesting to inspect records as proof that they are a resident of the Commonwealth; allow the agency to require a different form of identification or proof if the applicant does not possess photo identification; amend KRS 61.876 to conform.

KY HB567 2026

Require government-issued photo ID to access public records 

Amend KRS 529.110 to enhance the penalty for promoting human trafficking to a Class B felony unless the victim is a minor, in which case it is a Class A felony.

KY HB320 2026

Human Trafficking Enhanced Penalties 

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 237 to define "provisional license" and "standard license"; authorize the Department of Kentucky State Police (KSP) to issue provisional licenses to carry concealed firearms and other deadly weapons to persons who are 18 to 20 years of age; require KSP to provide notice of expiration of provisional licenses and an application to switch from a provisional license to a standard license; allow the provisional license holder to apply by paper to his or her sheriff or online to KSP for a standard license; allow KSP to promulgate administrative regulations to administer provisional and standard license issuance.

KY HB312 2026

AN ACT relating to concealed firearms and deadly weapons.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 164 to define terms; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from influencing the composition of the student body or scholarship recipients on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from implementing a student housing assignment plan on the basis of religion, race, color, or national origin with designated exceptions; from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the promotion of discriminatory topics, or bias incident investigations; from soliciting statements on an applicant's experience with or views on religion, race, sex, color, or national origin; from requiring a course dedicated to discriminatory concepts; or disseminating or profiting from any research, work product, or material that promotes or justifies discriminatory concepts; prohibit a public postsecondary education institution from requiring any individual to endorse or condemn a specific ideology or viewpoint; prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual's religion, race, sex, color, or national origin or from expending any resources on diversity, equity, and inclusion or discriminatory topics; establish exclusions for legal compliance; require each governing board of a public postsecondary education institution to ensure compliance with specific sections of this Act no later than June 30, 2025; authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for a writ of mandamus to compel the council or a public postsecondary education institution to comply; create a cause of action to permit a qualified individual to file a civil action against council or a public postsecondary education institution for injunctive relief and limited damages arising from a violation of certain sections of this Act; waive sovereign and governmental immunity for the limited purpose of bringing this claim; prohibit retaliation; require each public postsecondary education institution to submit and publish a certified annual report on governmentally mandated discrimination to the Legislative Research Commission by October 1 each year; provide that a public postsecondary education institution or the council cannot claim a federal, state, judicial, contractual, or accreditation mandate as a defense to a civil action filed under this Act unless the policy, practice, or procedure upon which the complaint is founded is listed and clearly and accurately described in the public institution's annual report filed in accordance with this Act; require each public postsecondary education institution to provide the Personnel Cabinet and State Treasurer the name, job title, duty station, and salary or wages of each employee each month beginning January 1, 2025, and to post its itemized annual budget; amend KRS 164.020 to prohibit the Council on Postsecondary Education from approving a degree, certificate, or diploma program that includes discriminatory concepts or diversity, equity, and inclusion iniatives; amend KRS 164.011, 164.131, 164.321, and 164.821 to conform; direct the Council on Postsecondary Education to consider certain enumerated conditions when considering the elimination of an existing program; direct each public postsecondary education institution and the Council on Postsecondary Education to discontinue designated programs and follow designated procedures when implementing this Act; provide specific instructions for public postsecondary education institutions and the Council on Postsecondary Education to follow in implementing this Act; direct public postsecondary education institutions and the council to submit a report on implementation of this Act.

KY HB4 2025

DEI Ban at Public Universities

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 344 to define terms; prohibit discrimination against mental health care professionals, mental health care institutions, and ordained ministry for providing protected counseling services; prohibit discrimination against individuals for offering information, training, and referrals for protected counseling services; prohibit discrimination against parents and guardians who consent to their child receiving protected counseling services; prohibit reporting of a mental health care professional or mental health care institution to a hiring or licensing authority solely on the basis that it provides protected counseling services; prohibit a hiring or licensing authority from investigating a mental health care professional or mental health care institution solely on the basis that it provides protected counseling services; establish a civil cause of action for a person injured by a violation; provide that the Act may be cited as the Mental Health Counseling Protection Act; EMERGENCY.

KY HB495 2025

Conversion Therapy Protection / Medicaid Trans Care Ban

Create new section of KRS Chapter 197 to define terms; prohibit hormone treatment or elective surgery for gender reassignment.

KY SB2 2025

Transgender Inmate Care Ban

Direct the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to return to permanent display on the New State Capitol grounds the granite Ten Commandments monument given to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

KY HJR15 2025

Restore Ten Commandments Monument 

Amend KRS 141.020 to reduce the individual income tax rate from 4% to 3.5% for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

Joshua Watkins

Kentucky | District 42

31.82

Lifetime Key Issues Score

Learn More About Joshua Watkins

American Culture

50.00%

Big Tech & Free Speech

N/A

Border Security

N/A

Election Integrity

00.00%

Educational Freedom

00.00%

Second Amendment

00.00%

Health & Medical Freedom

16.67%

Taxes and Spending

100.00%

Votes

Vote Key

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Bill	TPAction Position	Watkinsposition	Comments	Year
KY SB173 2026	Y	N	Medicaid Legislative Oversight	2026
KY SB59 2026	Y	N	Tax Money Election Advocacy Ban Election Integrity	2026
KY HB283 2026	Y	Y	Adversarial Foreign Transactions in the Commonwealth	2026
KY HB567 2026	Y	N	Require government-issued photo ID to access public records	2026
KY HB320 2026	Y	Y	Human Trafficking Enhanced Penalties	2026
KY HB312 2026	Y	N	AN ACT relating to concealed firearms and deadly weapons.	2026
KY HB4 2025	Y	N	DEI Ban at Public Universities	2025
KY HB495 2025	Y	N	Conversion Therapy Protection / Medicaid Trans Care Ban	2025
KY SB2 2025	Y	NV	Transgender Inmate Care Ban	2025
KY HJR15 2025	Y	N	Restore Ten Commandments Monument	2025
KY HB1 2025	Y	Y	Income Tax Cut to 3.5%	2025

RioSlum Studio

31.82

Lifetime Key Issues Score

Learn More About Joshua Watkins

American Culture

50.00%

Big Tech & Free Speech

N/A

Border Security

N/A

Election Integrity

00.00%

Educational Freedom

00.00%

Second Amendment

00.00%

Health & Medical Freedom

16.67%

Taxes and Spending

100.00%

Votes

Vote Key

DONATE