Time is quickly slipping away in the 2026 legislative session, but there is still time for the Kentucky General Assembly to pass important legislation to positively impact Kentucky families.  

One policy that could have a huge impact on maternal health and child development for Kentucky families is paid family leave. In December 2024, Governor Beshear passed an executive order that would allow executive branch employees to have paid family medical leave for six weeks after the birth or adoption of a child or for a significant medical leave. 

This was a huge step forward for Kentucky, which had no policies like this in place previously. However, only one branch of state employees can access the benefit and they may only use it once every ten years. Most medical experts, like Mayo Clinic, suggest the healthiest interval between pregnancies is between 18 months and five years of age, so while it is a step forward, this new policy didn’t completely meet the needs of Kentucky families.

One of the first bills filed in the 2026 legislative session was Senate Bill 14, filed by Senator Matthew Deneen to support families with access to paid leave after the birth of a child. SB 14 would allow state employees in all three branches of government to benefit from paid maternity leave. Also, the mother would be eligible for leave with each new birth. 

Accessibility to leave from work after a birth gives the mother time to heal and reduces her chance of medical complications. The leave also allows the newborn and mother to bond during this time period, which is essential for the baby to develop healthy and attached relationships. Although FMLA does allow employees to take leave after the birth of a child, in many instances the employee is not being paid during that time period, so the mother may have to significantly reduce her leave in order to resume her paycheck. If she does take the full unpaid leave, that can cause a great deal of stress due to limited financial resources, and young infants are easily able to detect that increased stress level and experience increased stress themselves. 

If Kentucky implements an improved paid family leave policy that better supports state employees, it could:

  1. Encourage more employees to retain their jobs after leave since they received the time off from work needed.
  2. Recruit more talent for state jobs since this type of benefits package is more competitive with private sector employers.
  3. See reduced health insurance costs due to the preventative measure of letting mothers completely heal before returning to work.  

Along with Senator Deneen’s Senate Bill 14, there are also a couple of other bills impacting families’ access to paid leave:

  • Representative Chad Aull filed House Bill 556 on family care leave
  • Representative Lindsey Burke filed House Bill 699 on paid leave for state employees

If you are interested in seeing paid family leave in Kentucky for all state employees, reach out to your local legislative officials and ask them to support these bills. Track the progress of Senate Bill 14 and other Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priority bills on KYA’s Bill Tracker.