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Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky House Bill 89 Overhauls Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Licensure
Last action · January 14, 2026: to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (H)Sponsor: Amy Neighbors
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What This Bill Proposed
Kentucky House Bill 89 amends state statutes governing medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals, expanding the Kentucky Board of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy from nine to eleven members and setting new credentialing and licensing mandates. The bill requires background checks for applicants, establishes civil penalties for unlicensed practice, and updates requirements for obstetric ultrasounds performed prior to an abortion.
Medical imaging technologists, radiographers, radiation therapists, and other radiation-utilizing professionals face new board composition standards, mandatory fingerprint-based criminal background checks, and specific licensing deadlines—such as the requirement for MRI technologists and diagnostic medical sonographers to obtain national credentials by January 1, 2028. Employers who hire unlicensed individuals face civil penalties that double those assessed against individuals.
- The Kentucky Board of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy regulates professionals who use ionizing or nonionizing radiation for medical imaging and therapy in the Commonwealth. context
- House Bill 89 was introduced in the 2026 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly and assigned to the House Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations committee. 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.
Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Professionals
Technologists, radiographers, therapists, and sonographers must meet updated licensing, background check, and credentialing rules to practice.
Employers of Radiation Professionals
Healthcare facilities and employers are prohibited from hiring unlicensed individuals and face double civil penalties for employing uncredentialed staff.
Kentucky Board of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy
The board gains expanded membership, explicit enforcement and penalty-assessing authorities, and administrative regulation duties.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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 Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations (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.
Expansion of Board Oversight and Mandated Credentialing Deadlines
The legislation expands board representation to include specialized sonography and MRI technologists and establishes a hard deadline of January 1, 2028, for mandatory national credentials in those fields.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy30Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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