FRANKFORT—The Kentucky House voted 97-0 today to expand the circumstances under which parental rights may be involuntarily terminated.
House Bill 129, sponsored by Rep. Ron Crimm, R-Louisville, would expand legal grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights to include instances where a parent caused, attempted to cause, or was complicit in the death or serious physical injury of a child or that child’s parent, stepparent, de facto custodian or guardian.
Crimm sponsored similar legislation in 2015. That bill, HB 42, passed the House 98-0 but stalled in the Senate late in the 2015 legislative session.
“This is … a bill that the court system wants—a bill that could save a (child’s) life,” said Crimm.
HB 129 now goes to the Senate for consideration.