Kentucky lawmaker says proposal to remove first cousins from incest law was 'inadvertent change'

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A Kentucky state representative is backtracking after a bill he filed would have removed first cousins from the list of familial relationships outlawed by the commonwealth’s incest laws.

Kentucky state Rep. Nick Wilson said he planned to refile his legislation Wednesday with the list fully intact. The proposal would add language to the state’s existing laws barring sexual intercourse between family members to include “sexual contact” – deviant acts that may not fall under the definition of intercourse.

Wilson’s legislation, House Bill 269, was initially filed Tuesday.

But the initial proposal struck “first cousin” from a list of individuals who would be considered a family member, including parents, siblings, grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, ancestors, and descendants.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Wilson said an "inadvertent change" during the drafting process caused "first cousins" to be stricken from the document he filed. The bill would be refiled with "first cousins" put back into it, he said.

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"The fact that I was able to file a bill, catch the mistake, withdraw the bill and refile within a 24 hour period shows we have a good system," he said.

Wilson has been in the House since last year. The 33-year-old from Whitley County graduated from the University of Kentucky and gained fame by winning the “Survivor: David vs. Goliath” season in 2018.

Wilson is a primary sponsor on three other bills that have been filed – House Bill 182, which would expand the definition of a “violent offender”; House Bill 270, which would outlaw traveling to Kentucky to engage in rape or sodomy; and House Bill 271, which would allow written reports about child dependency, neglect or abuse.

HB 269 is aimed at combatting "a problem of familial and cyclical abuse that transcends generations of Kentuckians," he said, and it deserves to be heard despite its rocky start.

"I understand that I made a mistake, but I sincerely hope my mistake doesn't hurt the chances of the corrected version of the bill," Wilson wrote. "It is a good bill, and I hope it will get a second chance."

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.