Kentucky Senate presses pause on scaled-back gender transition bill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Senate paused a scaled-back version of a controversial bill addressing transgender medical procedures late Wednesday, leaving the General Assembly with just one day to pass veto-proof legislation.

Five amendments to House Bill 470 were filed late Tuesday on the Senate floor, including one from Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, that guts many of the provisions of a measure that passed the House last week.

HB 470 cleared the Senate Families and Children Committee on Tuesday morning on a 6-3 vote, with chair Carroll and two other Republicans voting for it while raising concerns about the measure’s contents. Among a raft of other things, the bill puts doctors and other health care providers at risk of losing their license or face legal action if they prescribe puberty-blocking drugs or perform other services meant to help someone under 18 change genders.

Carroll’s proposal guts roughly 30 pages of the bill sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy. It would ban anyone in Kentucky from performing surgery for gender dysphoria for a child under 18, as well as other medical treatment without a parent or guardian’s consent.

Any nonsurgical treatment for those under 18 would require a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or the incongruence between biological sex and gender identity, and must be performed by a licensed doctor working with a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

Carroll’s amendment also would limit those treatments to reversible puberty-blocking and -delaying drugs. The prescription of cross-sex hormones, such as testosterone or estrogen, wouldn’t be permitted in amounts exceeding what "would normally occur naturally in a healthy person of the same age."

Treatments also would have to meet "evidence-based medical standards of care for the treatment of children with gender dysphoria" and include mental health services that don’t promote gender transition.

Carroll’s version keeps parts of HB 470 that govern what can be taught in Kentucky public schools, such as barring schools from offering curricula on human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases to students below 6th grade; and giving — regardless of grade level — "any instruction or presentation that has a goal or purpose of students studying or exploring gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation."

After discussion, Carroll's amendment was adopted. But other amendments on the Senate floor, which sought to restore some of the legal liability language included in HB 470, failed.

Series of events: Floor amendment from Carroll adopted. Firefighters show up. Then, a motion is made to lay bill on the table. Both motions barely pass. SB 470 is not voted on tonight
— Conroy Delouche (@ConroyDelouche) March 16, 2023

Following the adoption of Carroll's amendment, a motion was made to lay the bill on the table. Ultimately, that motion was approved and the bill was not put up for a vote and the Senate adjourned. Lawmakers will discuss the bill again on Thursday.

Wednesday marked day 27 of the 30-day legislative session. Any revised bill then would return to the House for action there.

Bills must be passed by 11:59 p.m. Thursday to give Republican supermajorities the ability to override any potential veto from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear when lawmakers reconvene March 29.