Fabio
8.1 KiB
type: "Bill" title: "AN ACT relating to the Department of Workers' Claims and declaring an emergency." description: "Create a new section of KRS Chapter 342 to establish the Department of Workers' Claims to be administratively attached to the Office of the Governor; amend KRS 342.122 to provide that the combined budgets of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, Workers' Compensation Nominating Committee, Department of Workplace Standards, and the proportional support for general administration and approved indirect cost allocation to the Education and Labor Cabinet, shall not exceed 75% of the total combined budget submitted by the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission and that the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission, the Department of Workersâ Claims, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Workersâ Compensation Nominating Committee, the Department of Workplace Standards, excluding the Division of Wages and Hours contained within the Department of Workplace Standards, and the Education and Labor Cabinet, shall each submit a budget which shall be combined by the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission and reflected in the enacted budget of the Commonwealth; amend KRS 342.228 to require the commissioner of the Department of Workers' Claims to have specified knowledge and experience in the areas of public administration, administrative law, and workers' compensation by having a minimum of 8 years of legal practice experience in the area of workers' compensation; amend KRS 342.230 to authorize the commissioner to fill all positions in the Department for Workers' Claims with KRS Chapter 18A employees; amend KRS 151B.015 to remove the Department of Workers' Claims from the Education and Labor Cabinet; amend various other sections to conform; provide that all records, equipment, staff, budgets, and unexpended funds associated with the Department of Workers' Claims shall be transferred as part of the reorganization; provide that all administrative regulations, decisions, and actions of the department that have not been repealed or rescinded shall continue in effect after the effective date of the Act, unless and until they are amended, repealed, or rescinded by the department after the effective date of this Act; EMERGENCY." jurisdiction: "us/states/ky" legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly" session: "2026RS" identifier: "SB 343" citation: "Kentucky SB 343 (2026RS)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Effective Dates", "Emergency", "Funds", "Governor", "Labor And Industry", "Reorganization", "State Agencies", "Workers Compensation", "Workforce"] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["P. Wheeler"] version_count: 3 action_count: 21 vote_count: 2 first_action: "2026-03-02T05:00:00+00:00" last_action: "2026-04-09T04:00:00+00:00" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2569a02c-52b6-473d-8792-61e267286d23" source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/sb343.html" source_hash: "0a1845a9fe49238928eb254f23453c25430672892e33d223f0168ff6523efc45" 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 343 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to the Department of Workers' Claims and declaring an emergency.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 342 to establish the Department of Workers' Claims to be administratively attached to the Office of the Governor; amend KRS 342.122 to provide that the combined budgets of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, Workers' Compensation Nominating Committee, Department of Workplace Standards, and the proportional support for general administration and approved indirect cost allocation to the Education and Labor Cabinet, shall not exceed 75% of the total combined budget submitted by the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission and that the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission, the Department of Workersâ Claims, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Workersâ Compensation Nominating Committee, the Department of Workplace Standards, excluding the Division of Wages and Hours contained within the Department of Workplace Standards, and the Education and Labor Cabinet, shall each submit a budget which shall be combined by the Workersâ Compensation Funding Commission and reflected in the enacted budget of the Commonwealth; amend KRS 342.228 to require the commissioner of the Department of Workers' Claims to have specified knowledge and experience in the areas of public administration, administrative law, and workers' compensation by having a minimum of 8 years of legal practice experience in the area of workers' compensation; amend KRS 342.230 to authorize the commissioner to fill all positions in the Department for Workers' Claims with KRS Chapter 18A employees; amend KRS 151B.015 to remove the Department of Workers' Claims from the Education and Labor Cabinet; amend various other sections to conform; provide that all records, equipment, staff, budgets, and unexpended funds associated with the Department of Workers' Claims shall be transferred as part of the reorganization; provide that all administrative regulations, decisions, and actions of the department that have not been repealed or rescinded shall continue in effect after the effective date of the Act, unless and until they are amended, repealed, or rescinded by the department after the effective date of this Act; EMERGENCY.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
- Introduced (filed) — source
- Acts Chapter 61 (committee substitute) — source
- Current/Final (committee substitute) — source
Votes
- PASS SB 343 w/ SFA 1 — 37–0 (pass) · upper
- Pass — 95–0 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
- P. Wheeler — primary (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- 2026-03-02T05:00:00+00:00 introduced in Senate
introduction - 2026-03-02T05:00:00+00:00 to Committee on Committees (S)
referral-committee - 2026-03-04T05:00:00+00:00 to Economic Development, Tourism, & Labor (S)
referral-committee - 2026-03-05T05:00:00+00:00 reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
committee-passage - 2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00 2nd reading, to Rules
reading-2 - 2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00 posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 10 2026
- 2026-03-09T04:00:00+00:00 floor amendment (1) filed
amendment-introduction - 2026-03-10T04:00:00+00:00 3rd reading, passed 37-0 with Floor Amendment (1)
passage, reading-3 - 2026-03-11T04:00:00+00:00 received in House
- 2026-03-11T04:00:00+00:00 to Committee on Committees (H)
referral-committee - 2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00 to Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)
referral-committee - 2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00 reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
committee-passage - 2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00 2nd reading, to Rules
reading-2 - 2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00 posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Wednesday, March 25 2026
- 2026-03-27T04:00:00+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. 61)
became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/2569a02c-52b6-473d-8792-61e267286d23. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).