---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to use of experimental treatments for terminal illnesses. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit eligible patients to use investigational drugs, biological products, or devices for a terminal illness; establish the conditions for use of such experimental treatments; prohibit sanctions of health care providers; clarify the duties of health care insurers regarding experimental treatments; prohibit certain actions by state officials."
description: "AN ACT relating to use of experimental treatments for terminal illnesses. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit eligible patients to use investigational drugs, biological products, or devices for a terminal illness; establish the conditions for use of such experimental treatments; prohibit sanctions of health care providers; clarify the duties of health care insurers regarding experimental treatments; prohibit certain actions by state officials."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2017RS"
identifier: "SB 21"
citation: "Kentucky SB 21 (2017RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 18
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2017-01-03"
last_action: "2017-03-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/452214de-bed3-4de7-9cdb-fb1d00adee7f"
source_url: "http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/17RS/SB21.htm"
source_hash: "1f02821821c98b2664fffd12175707fe1816e228e13647a25a1824bd29953ecc"
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 21 (2017RS) — AN ACT relating to use of experimental treatments for terminal illnesses. Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit eligible patients to use investigational drugs, biological products, or devices for a terminal illness; establish the conditions for use of such experimental treatments; prohibit sanctions of health care providers; clarify the duties of health care insurers regarding experimental treatments; prohibit certain actions by state officials.

## 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/SB21/bill.pdf)
2. **SB 21 (As Introduced)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB21/orig_bill.pdf)
3. **SCS1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/17RS/SB21/SCS1.pdf)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-03** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2017-01-07** To Health & Welfare (S) `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-15** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute `reading-1`
- **2017-02-16** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2017-02-17** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, February 21, 2017
- **2017-02-21** 3rd reading, passed 38-0 with Committee Substitute `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-02-22** Received in House
- **2017-02-27** To Health and Family Services (H) `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-01** Posted in committee
- **2017-03-02** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `reading-1`
- **2017-03-03** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2017-03-06** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 7, 2017
- **2017-03-14** 3rd reading, passed 87-7 `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-03-14** Received in Senate
- **2017-03-14** Enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
- **2017-03-14** Enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
- **2017-03-14** Delivered to Governor
- **2017-03-21** Signed by Governor (Acts, ch. 65) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/452214de-bed3-4de7-9cdb-fb1d00adee7f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).