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Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky bill creates EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund to provide $4,800 annual salary supplements, pension contributions, and mental health reimbursements
Last action · January 14, 2026: to Local Government (H)Sponsors: Mark Hart and 1 other
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What This Bill Proposed
This bill establishes the EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund to provide eligible full-time emergency medical services (EMS) professionals with an annual $4,800 salary supplement, pension contributions, and reimbursement for out-of-pocket mental health treatment costs related to post-traumatic stress. The fund is financed through existing proceeds and general fund appropriations, operating similarly to existing foundation programs for firefighters and law enforcement.
- Kentucky previously established foundation program funds to provide salary supplements and retirement contributions for firefighters (KRS Chapter 95A) and law enforcement officers (KRS Chapter 15). context
- Insurance premium surcharges in Kentucky serve as a dedicated revenue stream to support public safety personnel training and compensation funds. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
EMS professionals
Eligible full-time EMS personnel receive an annual $4,800 salary supplement, pension contributions, out-of-pocket mental health treatment reimbursement, and expanded eligibility for line-of-duty death benefits.
Ambulance services
Ambulance services must meet staffing, wage, and 100-hour annual training requirements to share in fund distributions and must pass on retirement contributions and monthly supplement installments to qualified employees.
Insurers
Domestic, foreign, and alien insurers must collect and remit the insurance premium surcharge that funds the foundation accounts.
Key Facts
- Establishes the EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund in the State Treasury as a trust and agency account financed through general fund appropriations, insurance premium surcharge proceeds, and investment earnings.
- Grants eligible full-time EMS professionals an annual supplement of $4,800, disbursed in 12 monthly installments, plus required employer pension contributions up to the County Employees Retirement System hazardous duty category.
- Reimburses EMS professionals from the fund for out-of-pocket costs for mental health treatment of post-traumatic stress injury or disorder diagnosed by a credentialed professional, regardless of initial physical injury.
- Establishes eligibility criteria for ambulance services, requiring them to operate or contract for basic or advanced life support emergency 911 services, employ at least two full-time EMS professionals, pay at least the minimum federal wage, and enforce a 100-hour annual in-service training program.
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- Establishes eligibility criteria for individual EMS professionals, requiring full-time employment in patient care, a high school diploma or equivalent, required licensure training, and completion of a 100-hour annual in-service training program.
- Requires the board to administer the fund, limiting annual administrative costs to 5 percent of total moneys allocated for fund purposes during any fiscal year.
- Provides that the annual supplement shall be included in hourly wage rates for calculating overtime for unscheduled overtime (divided by 2,080 hours and multiplied by 1.5), but excluded from the hourly rate for scheduled overtime.
- Amends KRS 61.315 to expand line-of-duty death benefits ($80,000 lump-sum payment) to the spouses and surviving children of eligible emergency medical services personnel whose deaths occur on or after November 1, 2015.
- Exempts the estate of eligible emergency medical services personnel and regular members of the U.S. Armed Forces with Kentucky as home of record from all probate fees when death occurs in the line of duty.
- Amends KRS 136.392 to explicitly include the EMS Professionals Foundation Program fund among the designated recipients of insurance premium surcharge proceeds alongside existing firefighter and law enforcement foundation funds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible to receive the $4,800 annual supplement?
How does the bill handle mental health treatment costs for EMS professionals?
Are the salary supplements included in overtime pay calculations?
What line-of-duty death benefits are provided to emergency medical services personnel?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Jan 14, 2026HouseCommitteeto Local Government (H)
- Jan 7, 2026HouseIntroducedintroduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Parity for EMS Professionals with Firefighters and Law Enforcement
The legislation integrates EMS professionals into the established foundation program funding and insurance premium surcharge distribution framework previously reserved primarily for firefighters and law enforcement.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 80)
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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