---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to alternative certification. Amend KRS 161.010 to include definitions for \"provisional certificates,\" \"professional certificates,\" and \"college or university work of graduate grade\"; amend KRS 161.048 to allow a veteran with a bachelor's degree in any area to be issued a provisional teaching certificate if other criteria are met; require a passing score on the GRE or its equivalent for certification of a person in a field other than education to teach in elementary, middle, or secondary programs; provide that after successful completion of the internship program candidates shall receive a professional certificate and be subject to the same renewal requirements as any other teacher with a professional certificate; amend KRS 161.095 to delete language that restricts continuing education related to maintaining a certificate."
description: "AN ACT relating to alternative certification. Amend KRS 161.010 to include definitions for \"provisional certificates,\" \"professional certificates,\" and \"college or university work of graduate grade\"; amend KRS 161.048 to allow a veteran with a bachelor's degree in any area to be issued a provisional teaching certificate if other criteria are met; require a passing score on the GRE or its equivalent for certification of a person in a field other than education to teach in elementary, middle, or secondary programs; provide that after successful completion of the internship program candidates shall receive a professional certificate and be subject to the same renewal requirements as any other teacher with a professional certificate; amend KRS 161.095 to delete language that restricts continuing education related to maintaining a certificate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2017RS"
identifier: "SB 117"
citation: "Kentucky SB 117 (2017RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 20
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2017-02-07"
last_action: "2017-03-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1d142c00-dfa6-422c-8f93-76454accc928"
source_url: "http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/17RS/SB117.htm"
source_hash: "af0344248b63f7764ad7fbe1d71c00bdcc60a8a00eea940a466d629ef0c9572b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky SB 117 (2017RS) — AN ACT relating to alternative certification. Amend KRS 161.010 to include definitions for "provisional certificates," "professional certificates," and "college or university work of graduate grade"; amend KRS 161.048 to allow a veteran with a bachelor's degree in any area to be issued a provisional teaching certificate if other criteria are met; require a passing score on the GRE or its equivalent for certification of a person in a field other than education to teach in elementary, middle, or secondary programs; provide that after successful completion of the internship program candidates shall receive a professional certificate and be subject to the same renewal requirements as any other teacher with a professional certificate; amend KRS 161.095 to delete language that restricts continuing education related to maintaining a certificate.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Most Recent Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB117/bill.pdf)
2. **SB 117 (As Introduced)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB117/orig_bill.pdf)
3. **SFA1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB117/SFA1.pdf)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-07** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2017-02-08** To Education (S) `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-09** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Floor amendment (1) filed `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-02-10** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2017-02-13** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Wednesday, February 15, 2017
- **2017-02-15** 3rd reading, passed 35-0 with floor amendment (1) `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-02-16** Received in House
- **2017-02-21** To Education (H) `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-22** Posted in committee
- **2017-02-24** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Consent Calendar `reading-1`
- **2017-02-27** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2017-02-27** Posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Wedneday, March 1, 2017
- **2017-03-01** Taken from the Consent Orders of the Day, placed in the Regular Orders of the Day
- **2017-03-06** 3rd reading, passed 85-7 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-03-06** Received in Senate
- **2017-03-06** Enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
- **2017-03-06** Enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
- **2017-03-06** Delivered to Governor
- **2017-03-16** Signed by Governor (Acts, ch. 14) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1d142c00-dfa6-422c-8f93-76454accc928`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).