KENTUCKY — April is Parkinson's Awareness Month, a time to come together to raise awareness and advance research toward a cure for Parkinson's disease.

During this year’s 2025 legislative session in Frankfort, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 27 out of the General Assembly. It was later signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky. It now requires the state to collect critical data to support research and improve treatment for Parkinson's disease and related conditions.

According to recent data, every six minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – nearly 90,000 new cases each year – and a projected 1.2 million people will live with the condition by 2030.

State Sen. Brandon Storm, R-London, joined "In Focus Kentucky" to discuss his legislation that now is law establishing the Kentucky Parkinson’s Disease Research Registry, an initiative with goals of advancing research, improving treatment and informing policy decisions for those affected by the disease.

"Over the summer, I began working on this project with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, as well as the Parkinson in Motion entity that's here in London," Storm said. "I have a good friend of mine that I've known for years, Jane, and she runs 'Parkinson's in Motion.' She brought this to my attention, and then we started collaborating with Michael J. Fox Foundation and just got into the good work that we can do here in Kentucky, if we get behind this measure."

"That really just drove me to try to get this thing filed and update all my colleagues about the good work and everything we can do to try to change people's lives and have positive outcomes for individuals affected by this debilitating condition. [I'm] very excited that all my colleagues got behind it."

You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.