SB34 - AN ACT relating to the promotion of family well-being and making an appropriation therefor.

1 Co-Sponsor

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 205 to require the eligibility periods for all public assistance programs administered by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services be extended to the maximum period of eligibility permitted under federal law; prohibit the Cabinet for Health and Family Services from relying exclusively on automated, artificial-intelligence based, or algorithmic software in the identification of fraud in programs administered by the cabinet; require Cabinet for Health and Family Services personnel to review relevant documentation before denying, discontinuing, or reducing an individual's benefits; amend KRS 205.178 to conform; amend KRS 205.231 to establish a presumption of innocence for public assistance beneficiaries when appealing a decision to disqualify the individual; create a new section of Subtitle 17 of KRS Chapter 304 to require insurers to provide a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals and specify coverage requirements; amend KRS 304.17A-145 to require health benefit plans that provide coverage for dependents to cover maternity care for all covered individuals regardless of age; amend KRS 18A.225, 164.2871, 194A.099, 205.522, 205.6485, and 205.5372 to conform; amend KRS 205.592 to allow Medicaid income limits for certain women and children to be increased under certain circumstances; create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require Medicaid coverage for lactation support services and breastfeeding supplies; amend KRS 205.1783 to require the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training program to offer the same services as are offered to Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program participants; amend KRS 100.982 and 100.984 to permit the operation of family child-care homes in any residential zone without a conditional use permit; amend KRS 199.894 to define terms; create a new section of KRS Chapter 199 to establish the Child Care Assistance Program; create a new section of KRS Chapter 383 to allow court eviction-records to be expunged after three years; require payment of back rent; create a new section of KRS Chapter 164 to establish a tuition and student fee waiver for eligible pregnant women and parents; direct the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Basic Health Program Design Task Force to make recommendations regarding the basic health program eligibility, cost sharing, and reimbursement rates; authorize the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to establish a basic health program; direct the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to prepare and submit federal waiver applications to provide supported housing and supported employment services to certain Medicaid beneficiaries; to waive the single risk pool requirement and establish a state-based reinsurance program; and to permit the cabinet to accept SNAP applications from incarcerated individuals up to six months prior to release; appropriate to the Kentucky Housing Corporation: 2024-2026: $10,000,000 for a rental assistance program for pregnant women and households that include children under the five years of age; appropriate to the Department of Agriculture: 2024-2026 $2,200,000 to establish a school nutrition reimbursement program and to support the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Assistance Program; appropriate to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services: 2024-2025: $284,843,200, 2025-2026: $314,838,400 to expand the Women, Infants, and Children Farmers Market Nutrition Assistance Program to include Jefferson County, establish a Women, Infants, and Children's Program supplemental payment, expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training program offerings; support the Child Care Assistance Program, and fund an additional 280 slots in the Home and Community Based waiver program, an additional 2,100 slots in the Michelle P. waiver program, and an additional 800 slots in the Supports for Community Living waiver program; direct the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to seek federal approval as necessary; direct the Department of Insurance to seek a federal cost defrayment waiver as necessary; provide that the Act may be cited as the Advancing Lives for Pregnancy and Healthy Alternatives Act or the ALPHA Act; APPROPRIATION; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2025.