---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to local school districts."
description: "Amend KRS 159.035 to require a local school district's attendance policy to include provisions for a student's mental or behavioral health status."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2022RS"
identifier: "HB 44"
citation: "Kentucky HB 44 (2022RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children and Minors", "Education", "Elementary and Secondary", "Mental Health"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. McCool", "B. Wesley", "B. Wheatley", "C. Massey", "C. Miller", "J. Gooch Jr.", "J. Jenkins", "J. Miller", "K. Fleming", "L. Willner", "N. Kulkarni", "P. Minter", "P. Stevenson", "R. Palumbo", "R. Roberts", "S. Sheldon", "T. Bojanowski"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 41
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-08-04T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2022-04-20T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/40b915c1-fc95-4bd1-a31f-f3e8682560ac"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/22RS/hb44.html"
source_hash: "23162cf9c3fb38d852cc1ae08505063679de7cc381e36ba92b7feb0a4416f949"
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 HB 44 (2022RS) — AN ACT relating to local school districts.

Amend KRS 159.035 to require a local school district's attendance policy to include provisions for a student's mental or behavioral health status.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/22RS/hb44/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 228** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/22RS/documents/0228.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/22RS/hb44/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- Final Passage — **pass** (pass) · lower
- PASS HB 44 w/ scs1 — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **pass** (pass) · lower
- FINAL PASSAGE HB 44 w/ fccr — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. McCool — primary (person)
- B. Wesley — primary (person)
- B. Wheatley — primary (person)
- C. Massey — primary (person)
- C. Miller — primary (person)
- J. Gooch Jr. — primary (person)
- J. Jenkins — primary (person)
- J. Miller — primary (person)
- K. Fleming — primary (person)
- L. Willner — primary (person)
- N. Kulkarni — primary (person)
- P. Minter — primary (person)
- P. Stevenson — primary (person)
- R. Palumbo — primary (person)
- R. Roberts — primary (person)
- S. Sheldon — primary (person)
- T. Bojanowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-08-04T04:00:00+00:00** Prefiled by the sponsor(s).
- **2022-01-04T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2022-01-04T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-08T05:00:00+00:00** to Education (H) `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-11T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-12T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2022-01-13T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, January 18, 2022
- **2022-01-18T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 94-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-01-18T05:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2022-01-18T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-20T05:00:00+00:00** to Education (S) `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2022-03-29T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Wednesday, March 30, 2022
- **2022-03-30T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 33-3 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-03-30T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2022-03-30T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Rules
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** House refused to concur in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (S) `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for receding from Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Senate refused to recede from Committee Substitute (1)
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report (1) filed in House and Senate
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Conference Committee report adopted in House and Senate
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate
- **2022-04-13T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report (1) filed in House and Senate
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration of Free Conference Committee Report (1)
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in Senate
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** passed 30-3 `passage`
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for consideration of Free Conference Committee Report
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** Free Conference Committee report adopted in House
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** passed 95-0 `passage`
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2022-04-14T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2022-04-20T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 228) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/40b915c1-fc95-4bd1-a31f-f3e8682560ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).