Kentucky 2024 Regular Session

Kentucky House Bill HB149 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version

                            UNOFFICIAL COPY  	24 RS BR 1377 
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AN ACT relating to the National Guard. 1 
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2 
SECTION 1.   A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 38 IS CREATED TO 3 
READ AS FOLLOWS: 4 
(1) As used in this section: 5 
(a) "Active duty combat" means performing the following services in the active 6 
federal military of the United States: 7 
1. Participation in an armed conflict; 8 
2. Performance of a hazardous service relating to an armed conflict in a 9 
foreign state; or 10 
3. Performance of a duty through an instrumentality of war; and 11 
(b) "Official declaration of war" means a declaration of war by the United 12 
States Congress pursuant to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United 13 
States Constitution. 14 
(2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Kentucky National Guard and 15 
any member of the Kentucky National Guard shall not be released from the state 16 
into active duty combat unless the federal government has satisfied any 17 
outstanding balance to the Kentucky National Guard, and the United States 18 
Congress has: 19 
(a) Passed an official declaration of war; or 20 
(b) Taken official action pursuant to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15 of the 21 
United States Constitution to explicitly call forth the Kentucky National 22 
Guard and any member of the Guard for enumerated purposes to expressly 23 
execute the laws of the Commonwealth, repel invasion, or suppress 24 
insurrections. 25 
(3) Nothing in this section limits or prohibits the Governor from consenting to the 26 
deployment of any Kentucky National Guard member as set forth in Title 32 of 27  UNOFFICIAL COPY  	24 RS BR 1377 
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the United States Code for defense in support of civil authority missions within 1 
the United States or its territories. 2 
Section 2.   This Act may be cited as the Defend the Guard Act. 3