ZeroV 2026 Legislative Updates: March 3

March 03, 2026

Last week, the House passed the budget bill, HB 500. This week, we’ll see the bill-filing deadlines for both the House and Senate. So far, we’ve reviewed over 1,000 pieces of legislation. Since our last legislative update, we have added three bills to our bill tracker and provided testimony in front of the House Standing Committee on Families and Children. Read on for the details.

New Bills

Identical bills HB 773 and SB 259 would create a domestic violence (DV) offender registry. While proposed as a preventive tool, there are also potential unintended consequences that could decrease safety, cause harm, and/or negatively impact survivors. You can learn more about offender registries and their impact on survivor safety by visiting the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) website.

SB 290, also referred to as the Automatic Expungement Act, creates categories of eligible misdemeanor and class D felony convictions that would be eligible for automatic expungement after five years. Most domestic violence crimes would not be eligible for automatic expungement and would require the offender to file an application. Felonies would still require a hearing and judicial review, if requested by the prosecutor or the victim.

You can see all the bills we're monitoring this session, along with brief descriptions of how they affect survivors, in ZeroV’s Bill Tracker. We will update our bill tracker weekly as new bills of interest are filed and relevant amendments are proposed. 

House Standing Committee on Families and Children

Last week, members of ZeroV's Policy Team and Legislative Committee attended the House Standing Committee on Families and Children in support of proposed legislation aimed to improve the safety and well-being of survivors and their children.
  • Rep. Stephanie Dietz testified on two critical bills that advocate for the lives and safety of victims, survivors, and children.
    • ZeroV-supported legislation proposed by Rep. Dietz includes HB 598, which aims to expand access to Guardians Ad Litem (GALs) for minors involved in protective order cases, and ZeroV Policy Lead Olivia Spradlin joined Rep Dietz for her testimony on HB 611, which aims to improve critical domestic violence data across Kentucky.
  • Additionally, ZeroV Chief Legal Officer Meg Savage and ZeroV Legislative Committee Chair Darlene Thomas joined Rep. Jason Nemes to testify in support of legislation that protects children when there has been violence in the home, and the parents are in the process of separating.
    • HB 418 installs guardrails for the courts to ensure that the safety and welfare of children are the top consideration in all custody orders.

ZeroV thanks committee Chairwoman Heavrin, the sponsors and cosponsors of the bills, and the full Families and Children committee for supporting survivors and their children through these bills!

About ZeroV’s Policy Advocacy 

The well-being of survivors is our top policy priority.  

Throughout the legislative session, ZeroV will advocate for adequate funding for domestic violence services. We will also advocate for policies that support the safety, healing, and well-being of survivors, enabling them to thrive. As a service to our community, we will provide weekly updates throughout the 2026 Legislative Session on the status of proposed legislation impacting survivors of domestic violence.

Thank you for staying informed and getting involved!