{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-65.159","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 65.159","heading":"Incentive programs for emergency services personnel achieving health and","body":"fitness goals.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Emergency services personnel\" means any nonelected persons employed by\nor volunteering for a:\n1. Fire department operating under  KRS Chapter 67 or 95 or under the\nauthority of an urban -county government, consolidated local\ngovernment, charter-county government, or unified local government;\n2. Police department operating under KRS Chapter 67 or 95 or under the\nauthority of an urban -county government, consolidated local\ngovernment, charter-county government, or unified local government; or\n3. Sheriff's department; and\n(b) \"Local government\" means a city, county, urban -county government, charter\ncounty government, consolidated local go vernment, or unified local\ngovernment.\n(2) Any local government or group of local governments may elect, through the\nadoption of an ordinance, or identical ordinances in the case of a group of local\ngovernments, to establish an incentive program for emergency services personnel to\nbe rewarded for their leadership in achieving health and fitness goals that can be a\nmodel for others in the community.\n(3) The ordinance or ordinances shall specify what measures shall be part of the\nincentive program, which may include the following health and fitness indicators:\n(a) Fasting blood lipid levels that include total cholesterol, low density\nlipoproteins, high density lipoproteins, and triglycerides;\n(b) Fasting glucose levels;\n(c) Systolic and diastolic blood pressur e levels, the measurement of which is\nencouraged to be recorded when the participant is in a more-relaxed state;\n(d) Fitness levels, including activities such as distances walked, push -ups, sit-ups,\npull-ups, and, in lieu of pull-ups for females, timed hangs;\n(e) Body fat percentages;\n(f) Body mass index; and\n(g) Any other measure of fitness or health as determined by the local government,\nsuch as a reduction in the use of tobacco products or sodium.\nThe ordinance or ordinances may provide considerations for differences in age and\ngender of the emergency services personnel. Local governments are encouraged, at\na minimum, to include in their program the measures indicated in paragraphs (a) to\n(c) of this subsection.\n(4) (a) Local governments may reward participants who make the most positive gains\nin the health and fitness indicators measured by the local government.\n(b) The ordinance or ordinances shall clearly set out what health and fitness\nstandards will be rewarded within the selected measures.\n(5) The ordinance or ordinances may include a step -based system of awards, in the\ninstance if a certain standard is met consistently or consecutively for an established\nduration of time, the reward is to be incrementally increased.\n(6) The ordinance or ordinances, in addition to or in lieu of rewarding individual\nemergency services personnel performance, may reward performance to a particular\ndepartment or any combination of departments either in the local gove rnment or\namong different local governments.\n(7) The reward may be monetary in nature, or any other consideration or reward not\notherwise prohibited by state or federal law.\n(8) A local government may, by ordinance, elect to repeal the program.\n(9) Any mon etary reward provided under this section shall not be included in the\ncalculation for a retirement allowance for any emergency services personnel\nparticipating in the County Employees Retirement System set out in KRS 78.510 to\n78.852.\n(10) A local governme nt shall follow any applicable state and federal laws in the\ngathering of any health and fitness data from participants in the program, including\nthe Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104 -\n191.\n(11) Local governments are encouraged to acquire health and fitness baseline data for the\nparticipants by using previously collected health and fitness data or by collecting\nhealth and fitness data on the participants at the beginning of the program or when\nthey begin participating in the program.\n(12) Each local government adopting an ordinance pursuant to this section shall send a\ncopy of its ordinance, and any amendments thereto, to the Kentucky Department for\nLocal Government. The ordinance or amendment may be sent electronica lly or by\nany other method deemed suitable by the local government. The ordinances and\namendments shall be deemed public records pursuant to KRS 61.870 to 61.884.\n(13) A local government may accept money by grant, gift, donation, bequest, legislative\nappropriation, or other conveyance to be used for the sole purpose of this section\nand shall be placed in a separate account apart from all other funds of the local\ngovernment.\n(14) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any local government fro m\nenacting or establishing alternative incentives or from participating in other\nincentive programs for the rewarding of health or fitness levels or goals.\n(15) Participation in the program shall be voluntary on the part of emergency services\npersonnel. The failure of any emergency services personnel to meet a standard set\nout in this program, or to participate in the program, shall not be used as a measure\nof his or her job-related performance.","path":["KRS Chapter 65"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45406","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:49:20Z","sha256":"2c3be3e62dff4f4d2b31573288392a9b57c65c2012a3b0ec7dc55edef4705fe2","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-65.158","next":"us-ky/krs-65.1591"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}