---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to the Department of Kentucky State Police."
description: "Amend KRS 16.060 to require the commissioner of the Department of Kentucky State Police to authorize officers of the department to engage in certain types of law enforcement-related off-duty employment; require the commissioner to establish policies and procedures for off-duty employment; amend KRS 16.070 to require the commissioner of the Department of Kentucky State Police to establish policies and procedures related to the use of uniforms, equipment, and facilities for off-duty employment; amend KRS 44.045 to allow officers of the Department of Kentucky State Police to use motor vehicles with regular license plates for off-duty employment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "SB 278"
citation: "Kentucky SB 278 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Motor Vehicles", "Police", "State", "State Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["A. Mays Bledsoe", "A. Reed", "B. Storm", "C. Richardson", "J. Higdon", "M. Deneen", "M. Nunn", "M. Wise", "R. Stivers", "R. Webb", "S. Funke Frommeyer", "S. West"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 20
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-26T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-09T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/41ba582c-2285-4a9f-a9e1-c15b3ec51a6f"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/sb278.html"
source_hash: "f21418f6f98573576132c856e106c9f462302b9fc18e0cd0111e855e7f8b1e7f"
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 278 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to the Department of Kentucky State Police.

Amend KRS 16.060 to require the commissioner of the Department of Kentucky State Police to authorize officers of the department to engage in certain types of law enforcement-related off-duty employment; require the commissioner to establish policies and procedures for off-duty employment; amend KRS 16.070 to require the commissioner of the Department of Kentucky State Police to establish policies and procedures related to the use of uniforms, equipment, and facilities for off-duty employment; amend KRS 44.045 to allow officers of the Department of Kentucky State Police to use motor vehicles with regular license plates for off-duty employment.

## 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/26RS/sb278/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 60** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0060.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/sb278/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- Pass — **95–0** (pass) · upper
- PASS SB 278 — **29–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- A. Mays Bledsoe — primary (person)
- A. Reed — primary (person)
- B. Storm — primary (person)
- C. Richardson — primary (person)
- J. Higdon — primary (person)
- M. Deneen — primary (person)
- M. Nunn — primary (person)
- M. Wise — primary (person)
- R. Stivers — primary (person)
- R. Webb — primary (person)
- S. Funke Frommeyer — primary (person)
- S. West — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-26T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-26T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-09T04:00:00+00:00** to Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-12T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Monday, March 16 2026
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 29-6 `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** to Veterans, Military Affairs, & Public Protection (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 26 2026
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 95-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-04-08T04:00:00+00:00** filed without Governor's signature with the Secretary of State
- **2026-04-09T04:00:00+00:00** became law without Governor's Signature (Acts Ch. 60) `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/41ba582c-2285-4a9f-a9e1-c15b3ec51a6f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).