All Roll Calls
Yes: 312 • No: 254
KansasHB 20272025–2026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET
Reorganizing subsections of the public assistance statute.
Sponsored By: Committee on Welfare Reform
Became Law
senate committee on public health and welfarehouse committee on welfare reform
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
15 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 9 costs, 5 mixed.
Child support lapses block care subsidies
Kansas checks child support cooperation when parents apply for child care help and after 12 months of continuous eligibility. Checks also occur at later renewals or eligibility reviews. Noncooperation bars subsidies for three months after a first penalty, six months after a second, and one year after a third. A fourth penalty bars subsidies for 10 years. After the first three penalties, parents must cooperate before eligibility returns.
Drug felonies restrict cash and groceries
Covered drug felonies involve making, growing, distributing, possessing, or using controlled substances or their analogs. For cash aid, convictions dated on or after July 1, 2013, bring five-year bans for first convictions and lifetime bans thereafter. The five years start on the conviction date. Food assistance bans cover offenses occurring on or after July 1, 2015. After a first food-assistance conviction, eligibility can return through approved treatment participation, a passed drug test, and agreement to requested testing; later convictions lack this exception.
Stricter work rules for grocery benefits
Nonexempt food assistance members must register for work, attend assigned training, accept suitable jobs, and not quit jobs of at least 30 hours weekly. Violations block aid until compliance, followed by three months for a first penalty, six months for a second, and one year thereafter. Able-bodied adults ages 18–49 without dependents face a separate three-month limit within 36 months unless working 20 hours weekly or doing approved work activities. Kansas cannot seek or use federal waivers of that time limit. Kansas must assign covered people to employment and training, including qualifying adults ages 50–59 without dependents and people working fewer than 30 hours weekly.
Work penalties cut cash and groceries
Adults applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) generally must complete at least one work-assessment module, including after earlier disqualifications. Exceptions include a valid job offer, work of at least 20 hours weekly, Job Corps, and assessments within 12 months; otherwise-ineligible adults are exempt. Work-program penalties bar TANF for three months, six months, one year, then 10 years for fourth or later penalties. The first three penalties also require full cooperation before benefits resume. The same penalty periods apply to food assistance, but only for the person who failed to cooperate.
Drug tests can block cash aid
Subject to federal law, Kansas orders drug screening for cash aid when it reasonably suspects unlawful controlled-substance use. A positive test requires approved substance-abuse treatment and job-skills training before eligibility; a second ends aid for 12 months or until both programs finish, whichever is later. A third positive test ends assistance. An approved payee can receive aid for a minor child; payees also face screening on reasonable suspicion and replacement after positive tests. People pay for requested extra tests but receive reimbursement when the extra test is negative.
Fraud can end families' cash aid
Fraud findings or qualifying theft convictions in TANF or child care bring lifetime TANF bans for responsible adults and other household adults. Refusing to cooperate with a fraud investigation blocks TANF and child care subsidies until Kansas determines cooperation has resumed. A household found responsible for fraud or qualifying theft must name a state-approved payee for children's TANF or food assistance. This keeps children's assistance managed through a payee, while household adults cannot access the TANF benefit.
Families' support payments shift to Kansas
Applying for or receiving child care subsidies or food assistance transfers past, current, and future support rights to Kansas. This covers support rights for the applicant and family members receiving aid, and requires cooperation with support enforcement. Support rights also transfer when a child enters state custody or the state pays for the child's care. The state can sign and handle support-payment documents while these assignments remain in effect.
Job exits and missed reports threaten aid
People lose public assistance eligibility for voluntarily quitting work or being fired for gross misconduct defined by state rules. Fugitive status tied to a felony charge, felony conviction, or probation or parole violation also bars eligibility. These provisions do not specify how long those bans last. Recipients who miss required monthly reports face a state-set penalty, with no amount or form specified here.
Support duties affect cash and groceries
Mothers seeking or receiving TANF must name the child's father and give his current address if known. The state may set hardship exceptions. TANF recipients who fail child support cooperation requirements face a state-set penalty; this provision gives no amount or duration. Food assistance recipients who fail to cooperate without good cause lose eligibility until they are found to be cooperating.
Tighter grocery aid eligibility for families
Kansas cannot adopt the federal broad-based eligibility option that expands access to food assistance. Eligibility is limited to citizens and noncitizens with qualifying status under federal agriculture rules. A noncitizen who cannot or will not provide qualifying documents is excluded from the household count. That person's full gross income and resources, except exempt amounts, still count for the remaining members and can lower or end aid.
Work rules limit parents' child care
Adults included in a non-TANF child care subsidy case generally must work at least 20 hours weekly. Exceptions cover documented health conditions, qualifying recent TANF closures, some minor parents attending school, and food assistance employment and training. Other exceptions cover Early Head Start child care partnerships and care for children placed outside their homes in state custody. A partner's income counts when the couple lives together.
College child care help has limits
Child care help is available while earning a degree or certificate for a career with an average or better job outlook. A lower outlook requires state approval or a verified job offer available after graduation. Students must work at least 15 paid hours weekly, and help is capped at 24 lifetime months per adult, not necessarily consecutive. In two-parent households, only one parent at a time can receive this help for school or training. The other parent must qualify for child care help another way.
One vehicle stays protected from limits
One vehicle owned by an assistance applicant does not count toward resource limits, regardless of value. Equity in additional vehicles, boats, personal watercraft, recreational vehicles, and listed off-road vehicles generally counts. The state may exempt another vehicle used mainly to earn income by the applicant, spouse, or live-in partner.
Optional benefit card photos serve voters
Kansas must add a recipient's photo to a benefits card when the recipient agrees. A parent or legal guardian may use their own photo for a minor or incapacitated recipient. A benefits card bearing the recipient's photo is valid public-assistance identification for voting.
More fraud checks for benefit recipients
Kansas shares lottery winners' Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers monthly for prizes exceeding $5,000. The benefits agency uses them only to check TANF, food assistance, and child care eligibility; winners' identities cannot be publicly disclosed. After a fourth replacement-card request within 12 months, recipients must receive notice that their accounts are being monitored. Further requests after that notice go to the fraud investigation unit. The agency must maintain enough investigators for timely investigations, but no staffing number or specific funding amount is set.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Committee on Welfare Reform
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 31 Nay: 8
Yes: 31 • No: 8
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 88 Nay: 35
Yes: 88 • No: 35
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 37 Nay: 84
Yes: 37 • No: 84
Senate vote • 3/12/2025
Final Action - Passed
Yes: 31 • No: 8
House vote • 2/11/2025
Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Rep. Suzanne Wikle was rejected
Yes: 37 • No: 84
House vote • 2/11/2025
Emergency Final Action - Passed as amended
Yes: 88 • No: 35
Actions Timeline
Will become law without Governor's signature
4/10/2025HouseEnrolled and presented to Governor on Friday, March 21, 2025
3/21/2025HouseFinal Action - Passed; Yea 31, Nay 8, Absent 1
3/12/2025SenateCommittee of the Whole - Be passed
3/11/2025SenateCommittee Report recommending bill be passed by Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare
3/4/2025SenateHearing: Thursday, February 27, 2025, 8:30 AM — Room 142-S
2/27/2025SenateReferred to Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare
2/14/2025SenateEngrossed on Thursday, February 13, 2025
2/13/2025HouseReceived and Introduced
2/13/2025SenateCommittee of the Whole - Committee Report be adopted
2/11/2025HouseCommittee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Rep. Ford Carr
2/11/2025HouseRep. Nick Hoheisel raised a question of germaneness. The amendment was ruled not germane
2/11/2025HouseCommittee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Rep. Suzanne Wikle
2/11/2025HouseCommittee of the Whole - Amendment by Rep. Suzanne Wikle was rejected; Yea 37, Nay 84, Absent 4
2/11/2025HouseCommittee of the Whole - Be passed as amended
2/11/2025HouseMotion to advance to Emergency Final Action adopted
2/11/2025HouseEmergency Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea 88, Nay 35, Absent 2
2/11/2025HouseCommittee Report recommending bill be passed as amended by House Committee on Welfare Reform
1/27/2025HouseIntroduced
1/16/2025HouseReferred to House Committee on Welfare Reform
1/16/2025HouseAllowed to become law without signature; 2025 Kansas session laws, chapter 26
Governor
Bill Text
As Amended by House Committee on Welfare Reform
As Introduced
Enrolled
Related Bills
SB 430, Adding mitragynine to schedule I of the uniform controlled substances act and reconciling multiple amendments to certain statutes in the Kansas criminal code.
SB 82, Providing tax credits for expenditures for lockable gun and ammunition storage and the retail sale of higher ethanol blends of fuel, discontinuing the tax credit for qualified alternative-fueled motor vehicle property or fueling station expenditures, repealing the agritourism liability insurance, assistive technology contributions, declared disaster capital investment, owners promoting employment across Kansas and swine facility improvement tax credits and expanding the eligibility for applicable expenses under the child day care services assistance tax credit.
SB 300, Providing for the apportionment of business income by manufacturers of alcoholic liquor depending on whether the taxpayer is a qualifying Kansas investor or a general manufacturer and removing obsolete reference to global intangible low-taxed income provided for under the federal internal revenue code in determining Kansas adjusted gross income.
HB 2029, Reconciling multiple amendments to certain statutes.
HB 2018, Senate Substitute for HB 2018 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Creating the crime of interference with the conduct of a religious assembly, providing criminal penalties therefor and providing for a civil cause of action for damages.
HB 2036, Providing a Kansas income tax subtraction modification for certain amounts received as compensation for members of the armed forces.