Legislation expanding utilization of scholarship funds signed into law

At a press conference Wednesday, the Governor signed many bills into law that aim to improve Kentucky’s workforce.

One of those bills allows Kentucky students to utilize financial aid money in new ways.

Senate Bill 54, sponsored by Sen. Jared Carpenter, allows Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) awardees to use their scholarship monies at proprietary schools, provided that the program falls within one of Kentucky’s top-five high-demand workforce sectors (advanced manufacturing, business/IT, construction, healthcare, and transportation). The legislation also applies to agriculture.

“This bill supports students wanting to attend proprietary schools so they can fill much-needed job openings in high-demand fields,” Gov. Beshear said. “I would like to thank Sen. Carpenter for sponsoring this bill.”

“The Kentucky Chamber has advocated for a multifaceted approach to address Kentucky’s workforce shortage. Senate Bill 54 is another piece of legislation to do just that. I want to thank Governor Andy Beshear for signing Senate Bill 54 into law today as well as Sen. Jared Carpenter, Representative James Tipton, and Representative William Lawrence for their tireless work on this bill,” Kentucky Chamber President and CEO Ashli Watts said Wednesday.  

Other legislation signed into law at the press conference included House Bill 200, creating a public-private partnership investment fund for healthcare workforce training; House Bill 320, making it easier to attract more drivers in Kentucky’s trucking industry; Senate Bill 57, which allows military spouses who are licensed cosmetologists in other states to work in Kentucky; and House Bill 32, which provides more opportunities for our school districts to hire school workers and then helps them obtain the High School Equivalency Diploma at no cost to the employee.

Stay tuned on The Bottom Line throughout session.