(March 27, 2025) – Today, the House and Senate are expected to reach final agreements on Conference Committee Reports on bills that have passed both chambers. Conference Committee Reports seeing movement include the following:

Health-Related Conference Committee Reports:

• CCR on Senate Bill 126 allows the provider assessment flexibility of going up to 6 percent, allows certain hospitals to participate in the program as determined by the Health Care Access and Improvement Panel, adds the Universal Newborn Screening Program in permanent statute, making transfers to local health departments statutory rather than in budget. The legislation passed the House 123-1 and the Senate 40-0. The legislation now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on House Bill 2039 health care providers; relates to Healthcare Provider Insurance Availability Act; adds maternity center to the definition of health care provider; relates to the Kansas Credentialing Act; amends definitions to provide that certain entities providing physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology are not home health agencies; relates to emergency medical service providers; establishes that the authorized activities of paramedics, advanced emergency medical technicians, emergency medical technicians and emergency medical responders may be authorized upon the order of a health care professional; permits non-emergency ambulance services to offer service for less than 24 hours per day, every day of the year; permits certain emergency medical services in rural counties to operate with one emergency medical services provider; requires entities placing automated external defibrillators for use within the state to register with the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. The conference committee report passed the Senate 40-0 and the House 120-0. The legislation now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on Sub for House Bill 2240 public assistance; requires approval by an act of the legislature prior to any state agency seeking or implementing any public assistance program waiver or other authorization from the federal government that expands eligibility for any public assistance program, increases cost to the state or makes certain changes in services for persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities; authorizes approval of such waivers, other authorizations or changes by the Legislative Coordinating Council when the legislature is not in session. The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 31-9, and the House on a vote of 90-35. The bill now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on House Bill 2249 relates to nursing facility physical environment regulatory requirements for rural emergency hospitals; requires the secretary for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to grant waivers to certain rural emergency hospitals to provide skilled nursing facility care; relates to state hospitals; establishes the South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital. The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 40-0. The House vote is pending; then, the legislation goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on Senate Bill 250  enacts the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act to permit a manufacturer to make an individualized investigative treatment available to a requesting patient. The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 40-0, the House on a vote of 119-3. The legislation now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• The House also saw a motion to concur on Senate Sub for House Bill 2313. The legislation prohibits the use of the artificial intelligence platform DeepSeek and other artificial intelligence platforms controlled by a country of concern on state-owned devices and on any state network and the use of genetic sequencers or operational software used for genetic analysis that is produced in a foreign adversary. The motion passed on a vote of 87-38.

Other items:

• CCR Senate Bill 50 postsecondary education; relates to the financing therefor; establishes uniform interest rate provisions for scholarship programs that include repayment obligations as a condition of receiving a scholarship; authorizes the board to recover the costs of collecting such repayment obligations and to charge fees for the costs of administering scholarship, grant and other financial assistance programs; requires eligible students to enter into agreements with the Kansas Board of Regents instead of a postsecondary educational institution as a condition to receiving a grant under the Adult Learner Grant Act; reduces the number of grants available and audits required under the Low-Income Family Postsecondary Savings Accounts Incentive Program; provides the audit process for certain withdrawals made under such program. The legislation passed on a vote of 122-0 in the House and 40-0 in the Senate. The legislation now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on House Bill 2134 open records and open meetings; relates to the Open Records Act; limits certain charges for furnishing records and employee time required to make records available; exempts records compiled in the process of formally closed investigations with no found violations and records that contain material that is obscene from disclosure; requires county or district attorneys to file reports of violations of the Open Records and Open Meetings Act with the attorney general in October instead of January; relates to the Open Meetings Act; determines the membership calculation of subordinate groups; requires public bodies or agencies that live stream meetings to ensure that the public is able to observe. The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 40-0. The House vote is pending; then, the legislation will go to Governor Laura Kelly.

• CCR on Senate Sub for House Bill 2382 requires school districts to include a human fetal development presentation as part of the curriculum for any course that addresses human growth, human development or human sexuality; authorizes the Kansas Board of Education to establish the rate of compensation for members of the state board. The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 31-9. The House vote is pending; then, the legislation goes to Governor Laura Kelly.

• The House also saw a motion to concur on Senate Sub for House Bill 2228. The legislation requires that a political subdivision hold an open meeting to discuss a contingency fee contract for legal services before approving such a contract and requires the attorney general to approve such contracts. The House voted to pass this legislation, and it now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.
  

The House and Senate are slated to go into the morning hours of Friday, March 28.