Updated: In the last days of the Legislative Meeting of 2025, House Bill 398 The House saw the final passage on Thursday after agreeing to the Senate changes and voted 70-20 to send the bill to the governor.
The move, which is organized by Repert Walker Thomas, approved the Senate vote on Thursday, 28-9, with the committee’s replacement.
The bill maintains health and safety measures at the workplace, while Kentucky’s professional health and safety regulations have been increased in the Commonwealth of Commonwealth by aligning with the federal rules described by the Professional Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
Kentucky is one of the 22 states in which it has its own state administration for professional safety and health programs, known as the “state plan”. The program operates alongside the federal OSHA regulations and often enforces more rigorous rules than the federal government seats. With the passage of House Bill 398, Kentucky joins 30 states, including Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri, who comply with federal regulations and do not patch state specific rules.
The legislature worked with it in 2021 House Bill 475 Limitting federal OSHA standards rules. The House Bill 398 builds the burden on small businesses and businesses operating in several states while maintaining workers’ protection.
The provisions of this bill include:
- Kentucky needs to follow the OSHA rules and not be more strict than federal rules.
- The state ensures that the results of a complaint and a specific discrimination complaints are not a specific, saplus, finalizing the results of the federal requirements within the timeframe.
- Protects the current rights of employers, including the right to stop the court in court and to stop legal fees.
- The state allows when safety and health do not directly or quickly, such as losing the deadline for paperwork.
The bill does not restore Kentucky’s professional health and safety program and retains a state office for professional security and health, which means that state employees will continue to enforce professional safety and health rules.
