Back in the Saddle
Legislative committees are back in full swing after the little Turnaround break. The budget process is still ongoing, and we are still waiting on budget committee reports to be approved. There’s always next week! Otherwise, committees are holding hearings on bills we already addressed during the first half of the session. So the remainder of the update doesn’t feature any breaking news, but it’s good to keep track of where we are in the legislative process.
The policy call today is cancelled. We have some goings-on around the office today, so I will postpone this week’s call and catch you all next Friday
Background Check Bill Finally Out of Committee
The House Federal and State Affairs committee finally voted on HB 2427 Thursday morning., which establishes national background check requirements for adult care home employees. Last session LeadingAge Kansas opposed the bill due to concerns about fees and extending employment bans to misdemeanor convictions. We reached a compromise with KDADS and the Attorney General’s Office, and changed our testimony to be in support of HB 2427 if the agreed upon amendments were adopted by the committee.
The extensive amendments were adopted by the committee, and the bill has been passed favorably out of committee. It now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Ombudsman Bill Gets Amendment and Another Hearing
Thursday morning, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee heard House Bill 2590, a bill intended to match the Kansas ombudsman statutes to the federal regulatory changes made to the ombudsman program in 2016. (The amended version of this bill passed the House before turnaround, and has now moved over to the senate side for consideration.)
As a reminder, LeadingAge Kansas testified in opposition to the original version of HB 2590 heard in the House Health and Human Services Committee last month. We objected to the because it would have expanded the powers of the ombudsman program far beyond anything contemplated at the federal level. For example, the bill would have allowed a volunteer ombudsman to access any record in the possession of the facility, which would include internal company documents, as long as the volunteer felt it necessary and relevant in their assistance to a resident.
In response to our concerns, the House committee amended the bill to limit the scope of records that may be accessed by an ombudsman (paid and volunteer). In the newly amended bill, the ombudsman is only entitled to administrative records, policies and documents of the facility that the residents have or the general public has access to that are relevant to their assistance of a resident. The amended version of the bill passed the House before turnaround,.
With the House amendments, LeadingAge Kansas changed its position on the bill from opposed to neutral. Read our testimony.
What Else Happened This Week?
HB 2458, the Attorney General’s bill strengthening prosecutions of elder abuse passed the House, and was up for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. We submitted written testimony in support.
SB 421 is a bill that would make it harder for professional licensing bodies to deny licensure due to felony convictions. Some of the provisions of the bill were concerning to us, including a rule that would ban a licensing body from looking at any non-person felony convictions if five years have passed and the person has committed no further crimes. We assisted the Board of Adult Care Home Administrators in drafting testimony to oppose the bill.
Coming Up Next Week
- Budget: The House Social Services Budget is finally scheduled to make its recommendations on the KDADS budget to the House Appropriations (Budget) Committee on Monday. The Senate Subcommittee on Social Services has not yet started its recommendations on the KDADS budget. We are hoping for next week.
- Antipsychotics: The hearing on “informed consent” for antipsychotics (HB 2704) is scheduled for next Thursday in the Children and Seniors Committee. LeadingAge Kansas strongly opposes the bill.
- Dental: The bill creating mid-level dental practitioners passed the Senate before turnaround. The bill has moved over to the House side, and will receive a hearing next week in House Health and Human Services. LeadingAge Kansas will support the bill after amendments made by the Senate.
Bill Tracker
SB 195 and HB 2508 Requires KDHE to suspend (rather than terminate) medicaid eligibility for persons in a state hospital, nursing facility for mental health, or a correctional facility
SB 300 and HB 2507 Prohibits major changes to the Medicaid program without the consent of the legislature, instructs KDHE to withdraw its KanCare 2.0 application to CMS, and instead apply for a one year extension of current KanCare
SB 312 Licensure of dental therapists
HB 2427 Amends background checks in adult care homes to require fingerprinting, increases fees, and adds various new misdemeanor and felonies to the exclusion list
HB 2232 Electronic monitoring in adult care homes
HB 2458 Expands the type of crimes that qualify as mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person
HB 2496 Nurse licensure compact establishing a multi-state license category
HB 2512 Establishes the Kansas telemedicine act
HB 2590 Changes to the long term care ombudsman program
HB 2704 Informed consent requirements for antipsychotic drugs
SCR 1609 Constitutional amendment limiting the authority to close schools to locally elected boards of education
