FRANKFORT — A legislative committee has found deficient a proposed regulation for implementing a law to help kinship care families that has been stuck in limbo for two years. The legislature approved and Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in 2024. It would provide financial relief to grandp arents and others who are raising children who otherwise would be in state care by making it easier for the family members to qualify for foster care payments. The measure was not funded at the time of passage.  During Monday’s Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee, lawmakers rejected the Beshear administration’s proposed regulation for implementing the law. All Republicans on the committee voted to reject the regulation. Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, voted against the motion to find the regulation deficient. Minority Whip Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, submitted a pass vote because, she said, “as a new member of the committee, I don’t have quite all the history.”  ‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it. When a regulation is found deficient, the administration can withdraw it, amend it or let it become effective despite the deficiency.  Beth Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), said the cabinet “is currently reviewing the finding and determining next steps.”  “Our proposed regulation supports the intent of the legislation and is consistent with the law, while continuing to prioritize the safety and well-being of all children. However, implementing expanded payments for caregivers would require a legislative appropriation, as courts have previously affirmed,” Fisher said, pointing to Beshear’s budget request for $14.6 million each year of the two-year budget to fund kinship care. The Beshear administration has cited the state Constitution and two court cases, including a 2005 state Supreme Court decision, that it says precludes the executive branch from spending money the legislature has not appropriated. “All tenets of Senate Bill 151 that do not require funding have been fully implemented,” Fisher said. House Bill 500, the state budget proposal, currently states that there is “sufficient funding” in the roughly $2 billion per year appropriation for the cabinet’s community based services to “carry out the provisions” of SB 151. Since SB151’s passage, the Beshear administration and the legislature have debated where the money to implement the law will come from. The current estimate of implementation is around $15 million.  The cabinet has said it wants  to implement the law but lacks the ability to do so without specific funding. The legislature has asked the cabinet to pursue federal funding and/or find extra funding in its base budget. The auditor’s office, which sued the Beshear administration over the issue, has pointed to funds potentially available for implementation.  While the two branches of government debate the issue, kinship care families in Kentucky cannot get the financial benefits promised to them in SB151 in the form of foster care payments. The law also allows children who are being removed from homes to request their preferred familial caregivers, if they are able.  The debate over funding continues  In the disputed  regulation the cabinet says the  new rules can be carried out “to the extent the General Assembly appropriates state general funds necessary for the cabinet to implement the services.”  Norma Hatfield, president of the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky who is raising two grandchildren, testified against the regulation before it was found deficient.  “I can’t believe I’m here, and it’s two years later, and I’m going to ask you not to pass this reg as it is,” she said. As the regulation is written, Hatfield said, she believes Kentucky would essentially be waiving its access to federal funding.  “By approaching this with the human intent of the law and a family, humane-centered point of view, we can be good stewards of the commonwealth, and we can help kinship families that we were supposed to help,” she said.  The cabinet’s general counsel, Wesley Duke, told the committee that the federal funds CHFS inquired about previously “are not available” and offered to “continue to beat that drum” with federal sources.  “There’s never been any objection to the premise of this law,” Duke said. “We hope there’s money in the final budget that comes out of this session to do this.”  Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, who sponsored SB151, called the language conditioning implementation of the regulation on a General Assembly appropriation “atypical.” She said it “hooks every member of the General Assembly in the eye.”  “I’m frustrated that a bill that passed out with zero ‘no’ votes — that we’ve taken this path. Because, you know who loses out, it’s the kids,” Raque Adams said. “The Kentucky kids are the ones losing out. I just want to express to the committee how frustrated I am (with) the political football that this has become, which is absolutely unnecessary to be taking this path.”  Directing her attention to Lesa Dennis, the commissioner for the Department of Community Based Services, Raque Adams said,  “Commissioner Dennis, I can’t believe that two years later, you’re now coming before this committee with these regs. I mean, where have you been? That’s your job.”  Lesa Dennis, the commissioner for the Department of Community Based Services, left, and the cabinet’s general counsel, Wesley Duke, right, on March 9, 2026 (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd) GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The post Two years later, kinship care families in Kentucky are still waiting for promised relief  appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less