republic-os/legislation/us/states/ky/2026rs/hb-657.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to professional licensing background checks."
description: "Create new sections of KRS Chapter 319, 319A, 334A, 335.010 to 335.160, and 335.500 to 335.599, relating to psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, social workers, and professional counselors, to require a national and state background check for applicants seeking an initial license, reinstatement of a license, or authorization to practice in another state in accordance with a compact; provide that the results of a national and state criminal background check shall not be distributed by the board except to any applicant upon request or as evidence in a legal proceeding; provide that the fee charged by the Department of Kentucky State Police shall be an amount no greater than the actual cost of processing the request and conducting the background check; require the boards to review criminal background checks for every Kentucky licensee seeking to practice in another state before the board makes a determination on whether the person is eligible to apply for compact privileges; provide that boards shall not require a criminal background check solely for the purpose of renewing a license; and require boards to promulgate administrative regulations to implement this Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "HB 657"
citation: "Kentucky HB 657 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Background Checks", "Boards And Commissions", "Compacts", "Interstate", "Occupations And Professions", "Police", "State"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["S. Dietz"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-18T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ca79a0a7-3bc5-46d8-9197-43cdac926c06"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/hb657.html"
source_hash: "0a159b132f5e7c537a5360b28e1e8f73feb4464948e5dbbfb9bb8b1134fa1377"
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 657 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to professional licensing background checks.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 319, 319A, 334A, 335.010 to 335.160, and 335.500 to 335.599, relating to psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, social workers, and professional counselors, to require a national and state background check for applicants seeking an initial license, reinstatement of a license, or authorization to practice in another state in accordance with a compact; provide that the results of a national and state criminal background check shall not be distributed by the board except to any applicant upon request or as evidence in a legal proceeding; provide that the fee charged by the Department of Kentucky State Police shall be an amount no greater than the actual cost of processing the request and conducting the background check; require the boards to review criminal background checks for every Kentucky licensee seeking to practice in another state before the board makes a determination on whether the person is eligible to apply for compact privileges; provide that boards shall not require a criminal background check solely for the purpose of renewing a license; and require boards to promulgate administrative regulations to implement this Act.

## 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/hb657/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 6** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0006.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb657/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- Pass — **91–0** (pass) · lower
- PASS HB 657 — **36–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- S. Dietz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25T05:00:00+00:00** to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-04T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Friday, March 06 2026
- **2026-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 91-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-09T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-09T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** to Licensing & Occupations (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 24 2026
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 36-1 `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 6) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ca79a0a7-3bc5-46d8-9197-43cdac926c06`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).