---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to cold cases."
description: "Create a new section of KRS Chapter 65 to allow law enforcement agencies to contract with retired peace officers to assist with homicide cold cases."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2024RS"
identifier: "HB 551"
citation: "Kentucky HB 551 (2024RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Contracts", "Crimes and Punishments", "Local Government", "Peace Officers and Law Enforcement", "Police", "City and County"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Chester-Burton", "G. Brown Jr.", "J. Blanton", "K. Herron", "L. Willner", "P. Stevenson", "R. Roberts", "S. Stalker"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-02-14T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2024-04-04T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4d51f1a7-00dd-4cd3-a551-4d23c853fe1c"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/24RS/hb551.html"
source_hash: "d94bacebe98593e14f39cabe187401daeb71a85ddb530fc2636cab7a235eb76b"
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 551 (2024RS) — AN ACT relating to cold cases.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 65 to allow law enforcement agencies to contract with retired peace officers to assist with homicide cold cases.

## 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/24RS/hb551/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 63** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/24RS/documents/0063.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/24RS/hb551/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- PASS HB 551 — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. Chester-Burton — primary (person)
- G. Brown Jr. — primary (person)
- J. Blanton — primary (person)
- K. Herron — primary (person)
- L. Willner — primary (person)
- P. Stevenson — primary (person)
- R. Roberts — primary (person)
- S. Stalker — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-14T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2024-02-14T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** to State Government (H) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-14T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-15T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2024-03-15T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 21, 2024
- **2024-03-21T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 98-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-03-22T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2024-03-22T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** to Judiciary (S) `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Judiciary (S)
- **2024-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2024-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** returned to Judiciary (S)
- **2024-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** taken from Judiciary (S)
- **2024-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading `reading-2`
- **2024-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** returned to Judiciary (S)
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, to Rules as a consent bill `committee-passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 28, 2024
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 38-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2024-03-28T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2024-04-04T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 63) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4d51f1a7-00dd-4cd3-a551-4d23c853fe1c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).