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As Amended by Senate Committee
Session of 2026
SENATE BILL No. 327
By Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based
Services and KanCare Oversight
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AN ACT concerning legislative oversight; relating to the Robert G. (Bob)
Bethell joint committee on home and community based services and
KanCare oversight; eliminating the requirement that the committee's
January and April meetings be held during the regular legislative
session; amending K.S.A. 39-7,160 and repealing the existing section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 39-7,160 is hereby amended to read as follows: 39-
7,160. (a) There is hereby established the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell joint
committee on home and community based services and KanCare
oversight. The joint committee shall review the number of individuals who
are transferred from state or private institutions and long-term care
facilities to the home and community based services and the associated
cost savings and other outcomes of the money-follows-the-person
program. The joint committee shall review the funding targets
recommended by the interim report submitted for the 2007 legislature by
the joint committee on legislative budget and use them such funding
targets as guidelines for future funding planning and policy making. The
joint committee shall have oversight of savings resulting from the transfer
of individuals from state or private institutions to home and community
based services. As used in K.S.A. 39-7,159 through 39-7,162, and
amendments thereto, "savings" means the difference between the average
cost of providing services for individuals in an institutional setting and the
cost of providing services in a home and community based setting. The
joint committee shall study and determine the effectiveness of the program
and cost-analysis of the state institutions or long-term care facilities based
on the success of the transfer of individuals to home and community based
services. The joint committee shall consider the issues of whether
sufficient funding is provided for enhancement of wages and benefits of
direct individual care workers and their staff training and whether adequate
progress is being made to transfer individuals from the institutions and to
move them from the waiver waiting lists to receive home and community
based services. The joint committee shall review and ensure that any
proceeds resulting from the successful transfer be applied to the system of
provision of services for long-term care and home and community based
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services. The joint committee shall monitor and study the implementation
and operations of the home and community based service programs, the
children's health insurance program, the program for the all-inclusive care
of the elderly and the state medicaid programs , including, but not limited
to, access to and quality of services provided and any financial information
and budgetary issues. Any state agency shall provide data and information
on KanCare programs, including, but not limited to, pay payment for
performance measures, quality measures and enrollment and disenrollment
in specific plans, KanCare provider network data and appeals and
grievances made to the KanCare ombudsman, to the joint committee, as
requested.
(b) The joint committee shall consist of 11 members of the legislature
appointed as follows: (1) Two members of the house committee on health
and human services appointed by the speaker of the house of
representatives; (2) one member of the house committee on health and
human services appointed by the minority leader of the house of
representatives; (3) two members of the senate committee on public health
and welfare appointed by the president of the senate; (4) one member of
the senate committee on public health and welfare appointed by the
minority leader of the senate; (5) two members of the house of
representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives,
one of whom shall be a member of the house committee on appropriations;
(6) one member of the house of representatives appointed by the minority
leader of the house of representatives; and (7) two members of the senate
appointed by the president of the senate, one of whom shall be a member
of the senate committee on ways and means.
(c) Members shall be appointed for terms coinciding with the
legislative terms for which such members are elected or appointed. All
members appointed to fill vacancies in the membership of the joint
committee and all members appointed to succeed members appointed to
membership on the joint committee shall be appointed in the manner
provided for the original appointment of the member succeeded.
(d) The members originally appointed as members of the joint
committee shall meet upon the call of the member appointed by the
speaker of the house of representatives, who shall be the first chairperson,
within 30 days of the effective date of this act. The vice-chairperson vice
chairperson of the joint committee shall be appointed by the president of
the senate. Chairperson and vice-chairperson vice chairperson shall
alternate annually between the members appointed by the speaker of the
house of representatives and the president of the senate. The ranking
minority member shall be from the same chamber as the chairperson. On
and after the effective date of this act, The joint committee shall meet at
least once in January and once in April when the legislature is in regular
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session and at least once for each quarter with two consecutive days of
meetings during each of the third and fourth calendar quarters, on the call
of the chairperson, but not to exceed six meetings in a calendar year,
except additional meetings may be held on call of the chairperson when
urgent circumstances exist which that require such meetings. Six members
of the joint committee shall constitute a quorum.
(e) (1) At the beginning of each regular session of the legislature, the
committee shall submit to the president of the senate, the speaker of the
house of representatives, the house committee on health and human
services and the senate committee on public health and welfare a written
report on numbers of individuals transferred from the state or private
institutions to the home and community based services, including the
average daily census in the state institutions and long-term care facilities,
savings resulting from the transfer certified by the secretary for aging and
disability services in a quarterly report filed in accordance with K.S.A. 39-
7,162, and amendments thereto, and the current balance in the home and
community based services savings fund of the Kansas department for
aging and disability services.
(2) Such report submitted under this subsection shall also include, but
not be limited to, the following information on the KanCare program:
(A) Quality of care and health outcomes of individuals receiving state
medicaid services under the KanCare program, as compared to the
provision of state medicaid services prior to January 1, 2013;
(B) integration and coordination of health care procedures for
individuals receiving state medicaid services under the KanCare program;
(C) availability of information to the public about the provision of
state medicaid services under the KanCare program, including, but not
limited to, accessibility to health services, expenditures for health services,
extent of consumer satisfaction with health services provided and
grievance procedures, including quantitative case data and summaries of
case resolution by the KanCare ombudsman;
(D) provisions for community outreach and efforts to promote the
public understanding of the KanCare program;
(E) comparison of the actual medicaid costs expended in providing
state medicaid services under the KanCare program after January 1, 2013,
to the actual costs expended under the provision of state medicaid services
prior to January 1, 2013, including the manner in which such cost
expenditures are calculated;
(F) comparison of the estimated costs expended in a managed care
system of providing state medicaid services under the KanCare program
after January 1, 2013, to the actual costs expended under the KanCare
program of providing state medicaid services after January 1, 2013;
(G) comparison of caseload information for individuals receiving
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state medicaid services prior to January 1, 2013, to the caseload
information for individuals receiving state medicaid services under the
KanCare program after January 1, 2013; and
(H) all written testimony provided to the joint committee regarding
the impact of the provision of state medicaid services under the KanCare
program upon residents of adult care homes.
(3) The joint committee shall consider the external quality review
reports and quality assessment and performance improvement program
plans of each managed care organization providing state medicaid services
under the KanCare program in the development of the report submitted
under this subsection.
(4) The report submitted under this subsection shall be published on
the official website of the legislative research department.
(f) Members of the committee shall have access to any medical
assistance report and caseload data generated by the Kansas department of
health and environment division of health care finance. Members of the
committee shall have access to any report submitted by the Kansas
department of health and environment division of health care finance to
the centers for medicare and medicaid services of the United States
department of health and human services.
(g) Members of the committee shall be paid compensation, travel
expenses and subsistence expenses or allowance as provided in K.S.A. 75-
3212, and amendments thereto, for attendance at any meeting of the joint
committee or any subcommittee meeting authorized by the committee.
(h) In accordance with K.S.A. 46-1204, and amendments thereto, the
legislative coordinating council may provide for such professional services
as may be requested by the joint committee.
(i) The joint committee may make recommendations and introduce
legislation as it deems necessary in performing its functions.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 39-7,160 is hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book Kansas register.
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