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A bill that would impose a 25-foot buffer zone around “first responders,” including federal immigration agents, is nearing final passage in the GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature.
Senate Bill 104 would criminalize harassing or impeding local law enforcement, medics and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Senate Bill 104
The Kentucky House of Representatives approved the measure by a 79-16 vote on Wednesday with most of the minority of Democrats opposing the measure. Democrats raised concerns that the First Amendment rights of protestors and journalists would be infringed.
Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington, unsuccessfully tried to add an amendment to protect people “photographing, recording, filming, or observing a first responder” as long as the first responder isn’t being obstructed.
The Kentucky Senate would have to concur with a change to the bill made on the House floor before it is sent to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for his consideration. The House added an unrelated provision that expands eligibility of a wellness program for rescue squad members.
Rep. Wade Williams, R-Madisonville, the former chief of police for the Hopkins County seat, who presented the bill, told lawmakers that police officers, firefighters and medics must respond to situations that are “chaotic, dangerous and unpredictable.”
“In those moments, their focus should be on protecting life and restoring order,” Williams said. “A firefighter pulling equipment through a crowd, a paramedic trying to save someone’s life, or an officer managing a dangerous situation, should not have to fight through unnecessary interference.”
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Matt Nunn, R-Sadieville, told reporters last month its provisions would also cover ICE agents. He had described the bill as a “Halo Act,” the name for a bill in Congress backed by the National Police Association that would create a 25-foot buffer zone around federal immigration officers where people could be arrested and charged after being given a warning.
SB 104 would criminalize harassing, impeding or threatening “with physical harm” first responders going about their duties if that first responder had given a verbal warning and the person enters and remains within a 25-foot zone around the first responder. The first few offenses would be misdemeanors, while the fourth offense would be a Class D felony.
The bill defines harassment as intentionally engaging “in a course of conduct directed at a first responder which causes or is intended to cause substantial emotional distress in the first responder and serves no legitimate purpose.”
In speaking on his proposed amendment, Moore, the Lexington Democrat, referenced an ongoing federal court case in which a judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing ICE agents from retaliating against demonstrators. He said while he supported first responders and law enforcement, he was worried that subjective standards in the law would invite abuse.
“I do think that we are being naive and optimistic if we don’t think that there’s potential for federal actions, those outside our state, to come here and cause some of the chaos that we saw in other states,” Moore said in explaining his vote against the bill.
Williams said Moore’s amendment to the bill wasn’t needed.
“We talk out of one side of our hand how we support law enforcement and then we go on a rant about how law enforcement shouldn’t be doing their job,” Williams said in response to Moore.
This article appears in March 1-24, 2026.