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2024 Public Policy

State Public Policy Priorities: 
 

TAKE ACTION TODAY:


Call 1-800-372-7181 and ask to leave a message for your SENATOR (the operator will ask for your address to help identify your Representative). Your message:
 
 
  • House Bill 777 (Rep. Shawn McPherson - R, Scottsville)
    Nonprofits with state grants/contracts are in crisis with late payments and agreements. House Bill 777 requires payments be made within 30 days and if not, clearly entitles nonprofits to receive 1% interest penalties. House Bill 777 also requires the Finance & Administration Cabinet to develop a dispute resolution process that would permit nonprofits who've had to access lines of credit, equity lines, loans, etc. to cover late government payments to recoup interest costs.  You can see a one-page summary from KNN here.
     
  • House Bill 299 (Rep. Tackett Laferty - D, Martin)
    This legislation would create a database of available local and state government funding opportunities on the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website.
     
  • House Bill 442 (Rep. James Tipton - R, Taylorsville)
    Exempts nonprofits from collecting and remitting sales tax – providing a clean fix to sales tax issues for charitable nonprofits once and for all. 
     
  • House Bill 723 (Rep. Jason Petrie - R, Elkton)
    The GRANT program was established through House Bill 9 in 2023 to provide a state grant program that would provide nonprofits, cities, and counties with an opportunity to apply for state funds to use for the match requirement of federal grants. A $450 milllion appropriation for the GRANT program is being proposed in this session of the General Assembly. House Bill 732 limits nonprofits access to only 20% of the available match funds. KNN supports removing or increasing this percentage cap so that more of this critical match funding remains available to charitable nonprofits applying for federal grants to strengthen and serve Kentucky communities. 
     
  • Senate Bill 70 (Senator Phillip Wheeler - R, Pikeville)
    KNN opposes Senate Bill 70 because we believe the legislation is unnecessary and the risk of unintended consequences for charities (including costly litigation) outweigh any potential benefits. The legislation implies that there is an issue with charitable nonprofits honoring donor intent, when there is no evidence of such, by creating a new statute authorizing private restricted gift enforcement through the court system instead of working with the KY Office of the Attorney General. The IRS requires that nonprofits honor donor intent. The Association of Fundraising Professional Code of Ethics requires that nonprofits honor donor intent. In fact, nonprofits work hard to help donors invest in our missions in the ways that make them feel good and in the programs they want to support - donor restrictions are often a great way to do that. KNN does not believe SB 70 does anything but create confusion and causes the public to assume there is a problem where there isn’t. The sector is under-resourced and misunderstood by so many and bills like SB 70 only make the work of nonprofits more difficult and distract them from their missions. 

 

Kentucky General Assembly Resources:

 

2024 Public Policy & Legislative Priorities 

 
State Payment Practices Fueling Workforce Shoratage and Threatening Services for Kentuckians - click to learn more.

 

*Public-private partnerships for the public good: Promote and support executive action and/or legislation that strengthens communities through a strong nonprofit sector and workforce, including addressing systemic problems with nonprofit-government contracting and grants at the federal, state, and local levels. 

  • Advocate for the General Assembly to establish a budgetary policy that requires the commonwealth to sufficiently fund their partnerships with the nonprofits the state has chosen to contract with for the provision of statutorily required services, as well intervention and prevention services – ensuring that effective, quality, uninterrupted services exist for the residents of the commonwealth and that nonprofits can maximize the full impact of taxpayer dollars.
  • Advocate for spending decisions that promote fiscal stability and growth in the Commonwealth, while also ensuring the work of nonprofits to serve Kentuckians and meet community needs is sustained and protected.
  • Advocate for rate increases and/or increased funding for nonprofits contracting with government to provide legally required services on behalf of the Commonwealth starting July 1, 2024.

 

 


 

 

*Tax policy that empowers community solutions through nonprofits:

  • Support expanded, enhanced and new tax and other incentives for individuals and businesses, including a universal non-itemizer charitable giving tax deduction, at the federal and state level to encourage individuals to give generously to the work of charitable nonprofits. Actively oppose floors, caps or limits on existing incentives that would harm the sector’s ability to leverage philanthropic support.

​[Click to check out our 2022 request of the KY General Assembly.]​

  • Oppose the imposition of taxes, fees, or payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) on tax-exempt nonprofits, as well as oppose requirements to collect and remit sales and use taxes from individuals receiving services from charitable nonprofits.
  • Support policies that maintain and, where appropriate, expand nonprofit exemptions from paying or collecting and remitting state and local property, sales, and use taxes. 

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*Nonprofit advocacy rights and civic engagement: 

  • Preserve the integrity of charitable nonprofits by supporting the tax-law ban on electioneering and partisan political activities and oppose restrictions on the advocacy rights of charitable nonprofits.
  • Oppose legislation, policies, and practices the prevent individuals from voting and exercising their civic responsibilities.​


​*Nonprofit independence and ensuring public trust: Support reasonable and non-burdensome regulations and policies that allow nonprofits to earn and maintain public trust through appropriate transparency. Oppose policies or legislation that impose increased costs, burdens, barriers, limitations, or liabilities on nonprofits – negatively impacting their ability to effectively accomplish their core mission.

  • Oppose policies and legislation that do not ensure that personal information about individual donors to 501(c)3 charitable nonprofits remains protected from public disclosure, while also ensuring that government agencies that regulate 501(c)3 charitable nonprofits and other exempt organizations have access to the information they need to protect the public and the integrity of the nonprofit sector by providing oversight of nonprofits.

 

Federal Public Policy - Take Action: Share these resouces with Kentucky's Federal Delegation and ask for their support of these critical public policy priorities:

 

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