Senator Scott Maiden introduced Senate Bill 104 as a package of technical and programmatic updates for the Kentucky Deferred Compensation (KDC) plan. "Senate bill 1 0 4 is legislation concerning Kentucky deferred comp for state employees," Maiden said, and he listed four principal elements: codifying a fiduciary standard, authorizing fiduciary liability insurance purchasing, adding self-correcting mechanisms to maintain federal-law compliance, and authorizing a self-directed brokerage account (SDBA).

Chris Bridal, executive director for Kentucky Deferred Comp, told the committee the plan currently operates under a "prudent man" standard and lacks a codified fiduciary standard. He said KDC already purchases fiduciary liability insurance but faces limits because most available policies are designed for ERISA plans; codifying the standard would clarify expectations for a $4.5 billion plan. On federal compliance, Bridal said frequent federal-law changes in recent years make self-correcting language useful to avoid frequent legislative fixes.

The bill would also permit the board to offer a self-directed brokerage account. Bridal noted SDBA utilization rates are low in comparable ERISA plans (about 2%), but participants who use SDBAs tend to have substantially larger account balances—he cited a figure that such participants had "a 7.5 times larger balance than an average participant." Maiden and Bridal said the Federal Thrift Savings Plan experience and several years of KDC data support studying and offering an SDBA option.

There was no substantive opposition in committee. Members asked clarifying questions and the committee recorded a unanimous favorable report, advancing SB 104 to the Senate floor. Committee discussion and the record showed the bill is intended to align KDC’s governance and product offerings with common practice in other public deferred-compensation plans while reducing legal and operational risk.