Category Archives: Health and Social Services

The Committee is directed to study regulations and policy options for child care centers and child care homes, including day care regulation, licensing procedures, and other programs and policies.
Recommend changes to ensure such services and facilities are appropriately regulated and
available to meet the needs of Kansans, including those entering the workforce. Solicit testimony from the Governor’s Early Childhood Transition Task Force and state
agencies involved in the regulation of day care facilities and ongoing reform efforts.
Solicit testimony from parents, day care providers, licensees, businesses, and community members on the availability of day care and regulatory burdens.
Solicit testimony from regulatory agencies in other states that have different child-to-caregiver
ratios and regulatory requirements to identify any safety concerns.

Section 89(u) of 2023 HB 2184, an appropriations bill, directed the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) to make expenditures for the purpose of “reviewing the overall costs of providing services within the intellectual and developmental disability service system and making recommendations to the Legislature for a method to make regular rate adjustments for such services based on inflationary indexes.”

HB 2158, enacted in 2021 and codified at KSA 46-3901, established the Joint Committee on Child Welfare System Oversight (Committee), composed of 13 members, and and charged the Committee to review:

● Data on child maltreatment and
demographic trends impacting the childwelfare system;

● The duties, responsibilities, and
contributions of the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the Department of Corrections, law enforcement, and the Judicial Branch that comprisse and impact the child welfare system…

The Special Committee on Mental Health (Committee) was created by the Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) and granted three meeting days. The LCC directed the Committee to study the following topics:The K-12 Mental Health Intervention Team (MHIT) Program;
● Certified community behavioral health
clinics (CCBHCs);

● 988 and suicide prevention programs;

● Behavioral health workforce; and

● The potential for Wichita to serve as a location for behavioral health excellence as a result of ongoing efforts, including the new South Central Mental Health facility, and the potential for creation of mental health hubs across the state.

In 2023, enacted HB 2184 Sec. 35(d) created the Special Committee on Nursing Facility Reimbursement Rate Methodology (Committee) to take a holistic view of the nursing facility reimbursement rate methodology, including cost center caps and an acuity-based add on.

The Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and KanCare Oversight (Committee) operates pursuant to KSA 2022 Supp. 39-7,159, et seq. The previous Joint Committee on HCBS Oversight was created by the 2008 Legislature in House Sub. for SB 365. In HB 2025, the 2013 Legislature renamed and expanded the scope of the Joint Committee on HCBS Oversight to add the oversight of KanCare (the State’s Medicaid managed care program). The Committee oversees long-term care (LTC) services, including HCBS, which are to be provided through a comprehensive and coordinated system throughout the state. The system, in part, is designed to emphasize a delivery concept of self-direction, individual choice, services in home and community settings, and privacy.