Senate approves —Logan's Law' to change violent-offender and insanity rules

House Bill 422, commonly referred to in debate as "Logan's Law," cleared the Senate on March 31 after sponsors described it as a set of reforms to parole eligibility, sentencing transparency, and the insanity standard.

Senator from Fyet 12 introduced the measure and framed it around victims' needs and statutory clarity, recounting the 2015 Typton family tragedy and saying the bill "represents the work of passionate individuals ... to protect Kentucky families" and to ensure serious offenders remain incarcerated for appropriate minimum periods. The Senate adopted a technical floor amendment that corrected a statutory cross-reference to KRS chapter 202A and then passed the bill on final passage with a recorded vote of 38-0.

The measure revises the legal test for the insanity defense to focus on whether, because of mental illness or intellectual disability, a defendant lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the nature and quality of their conduct. It also raises minimum parole ineligibility periods for certain offenses and clarifies that mandatory re-entry supervision does not apply to inmates statutorily ineligible for parole.

Why it matters: The bill changes criminal-law definitions that affect sentencing and parole review for serious violent offenders and could alter the operation of parole and re-entry for a small but significant population of inmates.

Next steps: The enrolled bill will be sent for the governor's signature process; judiciary and corrections agencies will apply the new statutory language in sentencing, parole determinations and re-entry planning.