House bill would make it a crime to disrupt activity of Kentucky legislature

A year after protests against a controversial anti-trans bill disrupted the Kentucky House of Representatives, lawmakers are advancing a bill that would criminalize “interference” with a legislative proceeding.

Though protesting is “as American as apple pie,” Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, sponsor of House Bill 626, said some actions “cross the line.”

Blanton’s bill — passed by the full House of Representatives in a 62-31 vote Monday — says interference of a legislative proceeding occurs when a person acts “with the intent to disrupt, impede or prevent the General Assembly from conducting business.”

A first-degree offense is defined as when a person “knowingly engages in, conspires to engage in or facilitates another person engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any legislative building.” The first offense is a Class A misdemeanor, and subsequent offenses are Class D felonies.

It is a second-degree offense to enter or remain inside a legislative chamber or room in an effort to disrupt proceedings, or to “obstruct or impede” the movement of lawmakers and their staff in a legislative building. A first offense would be a Class B misdemeanor, and subsequent offenses are Class A misdemeanors.

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Blanton said the new criminal offenses created by his bill would be a more appropriate charge for responding to the 2023 protests in the House. The Capitol is a public space, and so trespassing doesn’t quite fit, he said.

“We’re not trying to prevent anyone from being able to exercise their First Amendment rights,” he said.

“We’re just saying when you cross that line, to go on to the point where the General Assembly cannot conduct its business, and going back to last year, there were many of you that had your buttons pushed last year that wanted to speak, that had your voices or your constituents’ voices, silenced because we just had to move on take the vote.

“It got so out of control. They were trying to impede our process.”

Last year, Kentucky State Police arrested 20 people in the House of Representatives gallery for loudly chanting in protest of Senate Bill 150, which opponents have called an “extreme” anti-trans measure. All 20 were charged with third-degree criminal trespassing.

SB 150 banned gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation, prevents transgender students from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity and stops school districts from requiring teachers to use a student’s pronouns if they don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed the bill, but the GOP-controlled legislature easily overrode it. The arrests were made as the House took up that veto override.

Of those 20 defendants, one was found guilty at a jury trial and four more have entered a guilty plea. The remaining cases are outstanding. The protester who took their case to trial, Lyndon Diggins was ordered to pay a $1 fine, in addition to $155 in court costs.

Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Daniel Grossberg, D-Louisville, said the outcomes of these resolved cases show that “the laws on the books are already sufficient.”

“I find it a bit troubling that we’re creating this new environment of more laws that are going to criminalize protest, especially when one of the provisions of the First Amendment of the Constitution is the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition government for a redress of grievances,” Grossberg said.

“If we’re going to extend the statutes, we’re going to create a new environment in which people who are part of a group but not themselves obstructing will be arrested and convicted of such offenses.”

Some free speech advocates have their concerns with Blanton’s bill.

Michael Frazier and Rebecca Blankenship, both with the Kentucky Student Rights Coalition, spoke on the bill at the committee last week. While they’re not necessarily against the bill, the pair noted there were ways to make the language more precise and protect the constitutional rights of Kentuckians.

There should be a distinction between someone who is knowingly and unknowingly disturbing the work of the legislature, Blankenship said.

“The rallies in the rotunda can get a little bit rowdy,” she said. “We wouldn’t want a rally shut down that is being unintentionally disruptive, versus something, a protest, that is clearly intended to disrupt the business of the General Assembly.”

Additionally, Frazier has noted that the bill does not define the “disorderly or disruptive” conduct it seeks to punish.

“Left vague, it could possibly cause constitutional issues and especially applied legal challenges,” he wrote on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

Rep. Nima Kulkarni, D-Louisville, asked Blanton in committee how law enforcement will know a person’s intent when enforcing this statute.

“Their first court of action is going to be to go to the area where the disruption may be and they’re going to observe,” Blanton, a retired Kentucky State Police trooper, responded. “If they can identify (the disruptors) they’re going to ask them to leave.

“They’re not just going to go up there and randomly start arresting people. We’ve never seen that happen here, and I don’t believe that these young men out here, and women, in the gray uniform are that antsy. I don’t think they’re wanting to remove people, but they are wanting to make sure that we’re safe here and that we cab do our jobs.”