FRANKFORT — Hundreds rallied in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday for Children’s Advocacy Day, calling on lawmakers to pass youth vaping protections and other policies to improve the quality of life for Kentucky’s kids.?

Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, which organized the rally, said about 80% of KYA’s legislative priorities are on track to become law this session.?

Those priorities include shoring up sexual exploitation laws, keeping nicotine products out of the hands of minors, paving the way for Kentucky to get freestanding birth centers and more.?

“We are so close to making Kentucky the best place in America to be young,” Brooks said on day 22 of the 30-day legislative session. The state currently ranks high in child abuse and neglect and low in health.?

“You see the friction in Washington,” Brooks said. “You hear rumors that nothing gets done in Frankfort. I want to tell you that, at least that second narrative, is absolutely wrong.”?

Zach Crouch, a Taylor County High School student who works with Kentucky Youth Advocates, the organization that organized the rally, said too many in his community are “victim(s) of the tobacco industry.”?

“Our number one problem in Taylor County is vaping,” he said. “It’s gotten to the point where you can see it anywhere, anyhow.”??

He believes a Republican Senate bill to regulate vape retailers “will help” protect children.?

Gov. Andy Beshear called on those gathered to advocate for universal pre-K, which he’s long supported. He also spoke again in support of “better, more competitive salaries” for public school teachers and said, with so many children on state health insurance, “we must protect Medicaid.”?

“There is nothing more important to me than creating a better commonwealth for our kids,” said Beshear.??

Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, R-Greensburg, focused his brief remarks on praising the advocates for their work on the behalf of children.?

“Voices matter. And your voice matters a lot,” he said. “You have the chance to help create a new reality for a young person or a colleague or a friend. Offer to see in them something they don’t see in themselves. See a special talent, see a special gift.”?

Rep. Samara Heavrin, R-Leitchfield, who chairs the House Families and Children Committee, called on the Beshear administration to fund a 2024 law aimed at helping families who are caring for a minor relative — known as kinship caregivers.?

“While the governor gave us some work, I’m going to give him some work too,” she said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re funding kinship care and that we’re helping kids. This isn’t a political thing. This is putting our future first.”?

Lawmakers and the Beshear administration have gone back and forth for months over that law, which was unfunded thanks to what several lawmakers have called a miscommunication from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.?

“I believe that one of the greatest responsibilities that we have as lawmakers,” said Heavrin, “is protecting and uplifting our children.”?