(Jan. 30, 2024) – Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Kellie Warren (R-Leawood), received an update on last session's bill Senate Bill 228. SB 228 requires the Secretary for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to reimburse counties for costs when a person in a county jail awaits examination, evaluation or treatment for competency. The committee heard from Ed Klumpp, legislative liaison, Kansas Sherriff's Association, Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police and Kansas Peace Officers Association. Klumpp highlighted major changes including:

• Medical examinations before entering jail: they continue to train officers in this area. He discussed that medical leadership and law enforcement continue to work to improve best practices for information sharing.
• Reimbursement to cities and counties for holding inmates who are awaiting competency evaluations and treatments was discussed. Klumpp highlighted that $4.3 million was reimbursed since July 1, 2023, and $1.872 million this year. He also emphasized these costs go away if the state fixes the bed-space problems.
• In jail evaluations were highlighted as a process improvement but utilization rates have not been high at this point.
• Klumpp highlighted wait times for evaluations have gone down but wait times for treatment continue to be long. He shared that if there were no new additions to the wait lists as of today, the wait lists for services would be 11-12 months long.
• An example in Wichita jail was shared with a current inmate who has waited more than two years through the evaluation and treatment process.