republic-os/legislation/us/states/ky/2026rs/hb-642.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System."
description: "Amend KRS 161.520 to remove the requirement for dependent children over the age of 18 to have their mental or physical condition approved by a majority of a medical review committee to receive survivor benefits; amend KRS 161.605 to raise the minimum amount a retired reemployed member may earn per day from $170 to $200, remove the provision for returning to work 1 month earlier if the member forfeits 1 month of their retirement benefit, reinstate the pension waiver program and prohibit members returning to work under its provisions from returning to work as administrators, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.608 to clarify that the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) will acknowledge a member's earliest participation date in another state administered retirement system to determine benefit tier; amend KRS 161.620 to allow a member who is a parent to apply for and manage payments to a disabled child without necessity of a court order or other legal authority; amend KRS 161.635 and 161.636 to allow TRS to offer index fund investment options to university and nonuniversity members, to annuitize the investment return on the supplemental benefit applied to the index funds not to exceed 6.1% if there is no COLA in a given year or 4.6% if there is a COLA in the given year, allow TRS to promulgate administrative regulations to establish procedures for disbursements from the supplemental benefit component, and establish that neither the TRS board or staff shall be liable for any losses or claims due to a member's election of an index fund and state that members have the sole responsibility for their investment decisions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "HB 642"
citation: "Kentucky HB 642 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Actuarial Analysis", "Education", "Elementary And Secondary", "Education", "Higher", "Public Officers And Employees", "Retirement And Pensions", "Teachers", "Universities And Colleges"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["B. Chester-Burton", "J. Tipton"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-13T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-07T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b0222eb9-0385-4448-890a-33adc02ae97f"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/hb642.html"
source_hash: "c895d4d8380234e03bbd6ee3509d0749d54762c020848b8a5564f51067439d98"
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 642 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System.

Amend KRS 161.520 to remove the requirement for dependent children over the age of 18 to have their mental or physical condition approved by a majority of a medical review committee to receive survivor benefits; amend KRS 161.605 to raise the minimum amount a retired reemployed member may earn per day from $170 to $200, remove the provision for returning to work 1 month earlier if the member forfeits 1 month of their retirement benefit, reinstate the pension waiver program and prohibit members returning to work under its provisions from returning to work as administrators, and make technical changes; amend KRS 161.608 to clarify that the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) will acknowledge a member's earliest participation date in another state administered retirement system to determine benefit tier; amend KRS 161.620 to allow a member who is a parent to apply for and manage payments to a disabled child without necessity of a court order or other legal authority; amend KRS 161.635 and 161.636 to allow TRS to offer index fund investment options to university and nonuniversity members, to annuitize the investment return on the supplemental benefit applied to the index funds not to exceed 6.1% if there is no COLA in a given year or 4.6% if there is a COLA in the given year, allow TRS to promulgate administrative regulations to establish procedures for disbursements from the supplemental benefit component, and establish that neither the TRS board or staff shall be liable for any losses or claims due to a member's election of an index fund and state that members have the sole responsibility for their investment decisions.

## 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/hb642/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 34** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0034.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb642/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- CONSENT PASSAGE OF HB 642 — **37–1** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- B. Chester-Burton — primary (person)
- J. Tipton — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-13T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-02-13T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-23T05:00:00+00:00** to State Government (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-12T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 17 2026
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 96-0 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** to State & Local Government (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Consent Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) and Committee Amendment (1-title) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules as a consent bill `reading-2`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Friday, March 27 2026
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** committee substitute (1) withdrawn
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** committee amendment (1) withdrawn
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** passed 37-1 `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-04-07T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 34) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b0222eb9-0385-4448-890a-33adc02ae97f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).