Kentucky’s stalking laws were written before we knew social media would become such a common form of communication, and prosecutors and law enforcement have been limited by laws that hadn’t kept pace with how stalking occurs today. HB 521 fixes that gap.
The bill repeals Kentucky’s old first- and second-degree stalking statutes and replaces them with a single, updated stalking offense that modernizes key definitions of “social media platform” and “course of conduct,” so the law covers the ways people actually stalk each other today, not just the ways they did decades ago. Stalking is a Class D felony under the new law, rising to a Class C felony when aggravating circumstances are present, among them a deadly weapon, a violation of an existing protective order, a prior similar conviction, or conduct that puts the victim in fear of sexual contact, physical injury, or death. The bill also strengthens workplace protections, allowing an employer to bar someone who has engaged in threatening behavior from the property, with repeat violations treated as more serious misdemeanors. Every restraining order, interpersonal protective order, and domestic violence order already in place stays valid and unaffected.
None of this touches ordinary disagreement, protest, or unwanted but lawful contact. It targets a defined pattern of conduct that puts a real person in real fear, the same conduct the old law was written to reach, just updated for how that conduct actually happens now.
Sponsored by Rep. Steven Rudy, the bill passed the House 96-0, the Senate 38-0, and received final House concurrence 91-0.