‘Sextortion’ becomes a felony with Beshear’s signature as some hot-button bills await his action

The 2025 Fairness Rally assembled in the Capitol rotunda on March 11 to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Beshear told the crowd he would veto a bill aimed at reversing his executive order restricting conversion therapy. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

Bills aimed at protecting Kentuckians from discrimination and sexual extortion have been signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear.

Beshear had signed the pair of bills as of Tuesday evening, but is taking his time on some high-profile legislation having to do with health and social services. 

Lawmakers broke on March 14 for a 10-day veto period and will return March 27-28, when the Republican supermajority can easily override the Democratic governor’s vetoes.

Health and social services bills Beshear has signed into law include: 

• Protections for Kentuckians who have disabilities. Under Senate Bill 26, Kentuckians won’t lose parental rights or adoption petitions solely based on disability. The Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health pushed for this bill. 
• “Sextortion” a felony. Senate Bill 73 will make sexual extortion a felony. Sexual extortion is when a perpetrator obtains a sexually explicit photo and threatens to release it if the victim doesn’t meet their demands, which could be monetary, sexual or other kinds of blackmail. Report sexual extortion to the FBI at 1-800-335-5324 or call the Human Trafficking help hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

Some high-profile social services bills await Beshear’s pen. Those include: 

• Abortion ban “clarification.” Beshear said Wednesday he expects to decide whether to sign or veto House Bill 90 next week. The bill adds some new language to the state’s near-total abortion ban, specifying when doctors can end complex pregnancies. It would also pave the way for freestanding birth centers in Kentucky. Dozens of doctors have signed onto a Planned Parenthood letter asking Beshear to veto the bill because of the abortion language, which they say is more restrictive than the current law. 
• No more hormones for transgender inmates. Senate Bill 2 prohibits the use of public dollars to pay for a “cosmetic service or elective procedure,” including hormone replacement, for Kentucky prison inmates. If a health care provider documents that ending a treatment would harm an inmate, the bill allows use of the drug or hormone to be “systematically reduced and eliminated.” It’s unclear where Beshear stands on it. He’s previously said he thinks inmates do not have the right to “any and all medical surgeries paid for entirely by tax dollars.”
• Vaping regulation. Senate Bill 100 seeks to license retailers who sell nicotine products and fine those who illegally sell to minors. It’s aimed at punishing “bad actors” and curbing Kentucky’s high rates of smoking among youth. 
• Conversion-therapy practitioners shielded. Beshear has promised to veto House Bill 495, which would undo his executive order limiting the use of conversion therapy, a discredited practice that seeks to alter a young person’s sexual orientation. A late amendment added to HB 495 would also prohibit the use of Medicaid dollars to cover gender-affirming medical care for transgender Kentuckians. Because the bill has an emergency clause it would take effect immediately. 
• Medicaid “community engagement” requirement. House Bill 695 would keep the Beshear administration from making changes to the Medicaid program without the General Assembly’s approval. A late change to the measure also requires the administration to seek a waiver to require able-bodied adults to show they are working or otherwise productively engaged to remain enrolled in Medicaid. A  21-member Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Board would be created to look for ways to rein in the cost of a program that covers almost 1 in 3 Kentuckians. 
• Increased penalty for protective order violations. House Bill 38 would make it a Class D felony to violate a protective order on the third instance. It’s currently a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by a year-long sentence. The felony could increase punishment to five years. 

Lawmakers can still pass bills in the last two days of the 2025 session, but they won’t be veto-proof. Several social services bills failed to pass before the veto period, including: 

• A bill to make water fluoridation optional in Kentucky. House Bill 16 had 32 sponsors in the House. It passed the House but fizzled in the Senate, where it did not receive a committee hearing. 
• A bipartisan bill to make coercive control a qualifier to get a protective order in Kentucky passed a House committee, but made it no further. It still needs a favorable House vote, Senate committee passage and Senate passage.

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