All Roll Calls
Yes: 544 • No: 86
KansasHB 20452025–2026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET
Reducing certain license fees and training requirements for child care staff, creating a process for day care facility licensees to apply for temporary waiver of certain statutory requirements, authorizing the secretary of health and environment to develop and operate pilot programs to increase child care availability or capacity, transferring certain child care programs to the Kansas office of early childhood and creating day care licensing duties of the director of early childhood.
Sponsored By: Committee on Insurance
Signed by Governor
senate committee on financial institutions and insurancehouse committee on insurance
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
29 provisions identified: 14 benefits, 4 costs, 11 mixed.
Day care violations bring fines
Beginning July 1, 2026, licensees must make corrections within five days after receiving an authorized agent's written notice. Serious health, safety, or sanitation violations can bring civil fines up to $500 each after notice and a chance to respond. Each continuing day counts separately; civil fines go to the state general fund. Criminal convictions bring $5 to $50 fines per daily offense; continued noncompliance for 30 days after final conviction or revocation can lead to closure, with notice and a hearing. Local prosecutors must pursue violations through final determination when an authorized state agent makes a complaint.
Child care vaccines require documented exceptions
Beginning July 1, 2026, children in day care need state-required immunizations, including the operator's own children. A licensed doctor can certify that a vaccine endangers a child's life or health. A parent or guardian can instead submit a signed statement of sincerely held religious opposition. Operators must keep and provide required vaccine information, but missing vaccine records alone cannot cause license revocation.
Day care screening adds fees
Beginning July 1, 2026, the director can review court, criminal, diversion, and child-abuse records and conduct national employee checks requiring fingerprints. Fingerprinting fees are set by regulation, may fall on employees, and support a dedicated law-enforcement processing fund; no amount is set. Applicants or licensees must receive certified-mail notice within seven days when a review finds legal grounds for disqualification. Operators cannot knowingly operate with employees covered by listed criminal, child-welfare, sex-offender, or infectious-disease restrictions; abuse-registry restrictions include correction, record-clearing, participation, and appeal protections. A person found to need a guardian or conservator cannot operate a facility; a resident with that finding counts toward its child limit.
Day care safety brings provider duties
Beginning July 1, 2026, covered facilities must meet building, water, sanitation, hygiene, and fire standards; referral agencies must follow applicable fire rules. The director's operating rules cover supervision, safe sleep, emergency plans, transportation, and maintenance. Children must sleep in approved areas on approved surfaces; infants under 12 months need surfaces without soft or loose bedding or toys, except approved special-health exceptions. Day care homes need working, easily reached fire extinguishers, and facilities cannot care for adults unless the director's rules allow it. Licensed facilities must record children's names and ages and parents' or guardians' names and addresses, using free state forms.
Unsafe providers face suspension and bans
Beginning July 1, 2026, the director can limit, change, or suspend licenses and temporary permits for listed violations, crimes, or unsafe conduct. Emergency action before a hearing is allowed to protect children from abuse, abandonment, or another substantial threat, using Kansas emergency procedures. After final revocation or nonrenewal, a licensee must wait one year before applying again. At least three violations, or a finding that a licensee contributed to a child's death or serious bodily harm, triggers a permanent ban. That ban covers new child care licenses and employment under another licensee.
Day care licensing adds temporary options
Beginning July 1, 2026, covered day care providers serving children under 16 need a license or temporary permit, with listed exceptions. A regular license requires an inspection and a finding that the facility follows the law. Initial applicants can receive a 90-day permit, plus one 90-day extension after efforts toward compliance. The director can issue a free temporary license when a formal study request cannot be decided within 30 days. Providers whose services fit the legal definition of day care but fall outside the licensing section can apply for a waiver.
Some foster homes gain licensing exception
The health and environment secretary can license a family foster home despite a person's specified juvenile-offender finding, after finding no safety concern. The person must have been placed there by the secretary while a child in the secretary's custody. The person must now be at least 18 and live there or have been legally adopted by a resident. At least six months must have passed since the juvenile finding.
Child care complaints get an advocate
The law creates a child care ombudsman overseen by the deputy director of child care licensure and finance. The ombudsman addresses public concerns and advocates for parents, families, and providers. After a complaint, the ombudsman reviews license revocations and can appeal to the director. Providers can appeal an unsatisfactory determination through the Kansas administrative hearing process. The ombudsman reports annually on concerns, actions, and recommendations for sharing with lawmakers.
Families get public day care histories
Beginning July 1, 2026, a public online system must show day care applicants, licensees, citation histories, and confirmed findings. Other facility records generally remain confidential when disclosure identifies people, with named-party and legally authorized disclosure exceptions. Specified government bodies, food-program sponsors, emergency organizations, and legislative committees can receive records under the law. The director must withhold facility names, addresses, and phone numbers when needed to protect health, safety, or welfare. The confidentiality protection expires July 1, 2031, unless lawmakers review and renew it.
Licensing exemptions cover camps and families
People or groups providing educational activities to their own children, from pre-K through high school, need no child care license or permit. This does not create a general exemption for care provided to other families. Summer instructional camps run by nonprofits, schools, verifiable nonpublic schools, or employees of those schools also qualify for an exemption. Those camps no longer face the former five-week limit, age-10 minimum, or accreditation requirement.
Transferred state workers keep earned benefits
By July 1, 2026, employees doing transferred work move to the Kansas Office of Early Childhood. Employees identified by the director as providing essential support also transfer. Covered workers keep applicable classified job status, earned retirement benefits and leave, and continuous-service credit.
Child care pilots allow alternative licenses
The health and environment secretary can run pilots intended to increase day care availability or capacity. Pilots can use alternative licensing requirements, but cannot approve facilities, programs, or staff arrangements that endanger children. Licenses can last up to five licensure years, with up to two additional years for pilot participants. State operating money depends on appropriations. When the secretary finds a pilot successful and likely to increase availability or capacity, the secretary must recommend changes in law.
Day care operators get transition relief
The high school diploma or equivalent requirement for maintaining a day care facility expires June 30, 2026. Beginning July 1, 2026, existing licenses, registration certificates, and temporary permits remain valid until their original expiration dates. They must still be in effect that day and can end sooner through suspension or revocation. Licenses no longer need an expiration sticker, but their expiration dates do not change.
Faster child care licensing across states
Child care facility applicants can use Kansas's occupational credential portability process, including its out-of-state license and experience requirements. Qualifying military servicemembers and spouses must receive credentials within 15 days; other qualifying applicants have a 45-day deadline. Qualifying spouses of active service members are exempt from licensing, renewal, reciprocity, endorsement, permit, and related background-report fees. The health department handles licensing through June 30, 2026; the Kansas Office of Early Childhood takes over July 1, 2026.
Fewer licensing hurdles for youth programs
Beginning July 1, 2026, qualifying school-age and youth programs gain protection from license denial, suspension, or revocation for environmental deficiencies. The problem must pose no imminent danger, be outside the operator's immediate authority to correct, and be reported to the school or public recreation center. When these conditions and the specified school or recreation-center requirements are met, the license must be approved or renewed. School-based programs need no extra fire inspection when the public or private school already must pass one each school year. References to drop-in programs in laws, rules, contracts, and other documents also apply to youth development programs.
More licensing flexibility for child care providers
The law directs updated rules exempting care for fewer than 35 hours for up to four unrelated children, including no more than two infants. The secretary can raise the time limit. Separate exemptions cover care in a child's own home and irregular care arranged between friends and neighbors. Licensed day care operators can request temporary waivers, identifying the legal requirements they want waived; approval is case by case. Beginning July 1, 2026, the deputy director must recommend a waiver before the director can approve it.
Providers gain freedom over care operations
The health and environment secretary cannot require child care home licensees to live in the licensed home. The secretary also cannot restrict day care operators' use of 15-passenger vans bought on or before July 1, 2025. The early childhood director cannot require providers licensed under the act to follow a curriculum or meet educational outcomes.
Child care programs move under one office
The Kansas Office of Early Childhood takes over subsidies, licensing, quality programs, and specified Head Start and home-visiting programs. Funding remains subject to state and federal appropriations. The office can arrange for the Department for Children and Families to handle subsidy payments and apply existing eligibility standards. By July 1, 2026, related funds, property, and records move to the office; funds keep their original purposes. Beginning that date, day care facilities and resource and referral agencies are excluded from the statutory definition of “child care facility.” The law also repeals several existing child care statutes; those repeals alone do not establish new household benefit amounts.
Families get yearly day care inspections
Beginning July 1, 2026, every day care facility must be inspected at least once every 12 months. Inspections are also required after complaints and before a new facility receives a license. The yearly rule also covers facilities serving military families receiving military child care assistance. Facilities with repeated complaints or serious violations can be inspected at any time. Inspectors must hold state certification and receive at least yearly continuing education; failed improvement plans can lead to lost certification.
Kansas brings early childhood programs together
The law creates the Kansas Office of Early Childhood, led by a governor-appointed director confirmed by the Senate. The transition team deadline is July 1, 2025; program transfers must start by January 1, 2026, and finish by July 1, 2026. Beginning July 1, 2025, the Children's Cabinet reviews grant applications and manages awards when directed; no award amounts are guaranteed. Beginning July 1, 2026, covered licensing fees go into a dedicated fund, spent only for the law's purposes under approved appropriations. This money cannot revert to the state general fund or replace or reduce other state or local funding.
Child care centers face space standards
Licensed child care centers must provide at least 28 square feet of indoor activity space per child. Kitchens, passageways, storage areas, and bathrooms do not count. Centers must provide outdoor play space on the premises of at least 60 square feet per child using it at once. Centers must also meet local fire protection, water supply, and sewage disposal requirements.
Providers lose payments for empty slots
Beginning July 1, 2025, agencies cannot use covered child care funds to reimburse providers for unfilled slots. The restriction covers funds subject to federal requirements and legislative appropriations. It does not apply when a child is temporarily absent because of illness or another reason and plans to return.
Existing parent education grant laws end
Beginning July 1, 2026, the law repeals existing statutes governing school-district parent education programs, grants, and related administration. The broader law also transfers Parents as Teachers administration to the Kansas Office of Early Childhood. The repeal does not establish how much funding changes or which district services continue afterward.
Child records protected, vaccine sharing expands
Beginning July 1, 2026, covered child care records cannot be made public in a way that identifies a person. Their Kansas Open Records Act exemption expires July 1, 2031, unless lawmakers review and renew it. Specified recipients can exchange immunization information without written parental permission when needed for state-law compliance or age-appropriate vaccination. Written permission remains required when a parent or guardian has filed a statement of sincerely held religious beliefs about immunization.
Parents get notices about license problems
Beginning July 1, 2026, facilities and referral agencies must notify enrolled children's parents in writing about specified license actions. These include license limits, changes, suspension, revocation, or denial. The director must notify specified public agencies and relevant licensed placement and referral agencies when day care licenses are issued or changed. No person may place or cause a child under 16 to be placed in an unlicensed facility or referral agency.
Day care homes face smoking limits
Beginning July 1, 2026, smoking is banned inside day care homes while children unrelated to the operator are in care. The family relationship exception covers blood, marriage, and legal adoption. Smoking remains allowed elsewhere on the property, including outdoors, and licenses must display the ban in bold. First and second violations can bring civil fines; third and later violations face additional penalties, and criminal punishment is also authorized.
New hiring and training rules for providers
Center directors or lead teachers must be at least 18, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and meet a state-set qualification. Qualification options must include a non-academic experience path. Assistant teachers can be 16, must meet state-set skills standards, and cannot face educational requirements imposed by the director. For home-provider license years beginning after July 1, 2025, required training is capped at 10 hours, including at least eight state-specified hours. Providers must submit proof of up to four outside training hours. Sole providers caring for four infants at once during the license year must also complete at least three infant-specific training hours.
Lower license fees, possible paper charges
Beginning July 1, 2026, the law sets annual day care license fees at $0 and resource and referral agency fees at no more than $150. Existing fees stay in place until the director sets different fees by regulation. Amended-license fees cannot exceed $35. Renewing more than 30 days after expiration adds a late fee of $75 or the renewal fee, whichever is greater. The director can also charge fees needed to process paper applications, licenses, reports, and related documents; no amount is set.
Youth programs gain licensing flexibility
The rule excluding qualifying youth development programs from the day care definition expires July 1, 2026. Beginning that day, the director can set safety and staff rules and change occupancy or gathering limits within building and fire codes. Kansas cannot deny, suspend, or revoke qualifying school-age or youth program licenses solely for additional licensing building standards. This protection covers schools or public recreation centers serving the program's age group and meeting applicable codes during program hours; fire standards control conflicts. The director must run youth-program pilots with license flexibility and address barriers to accepting child care assistance; this does not automatically approve providers or change family benefits.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Committee on Insurance
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 99 Nay: 23
Yes: 99 • No: 23
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 30 Nay: 10
Yes: 30 • No: 10
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 39 Nay: 0
Yes: 39 • No: 0
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 104 Nay: 10
Yes: 104 • No: 10
House vote • 4/11/2025
Conference Committee Report was adopted
Yes: 99 • No: 23
Senate vote • 4/10/2025
Conference Committee Report was adopted
Yes: 30 • No: 10
Senate vote • 3/13/2025
Final Action - Passed as amended
Yes: 39 • No: 0
House vote • 2/7/2025
Final Action - Passed
Yes: 104 • No: 10
Actions Timeline
Approved by Governor on Thursday, April 24, 2025
4/24/2025HouseMotion to suspend Joint Rule 4 (k) to allow consideration adopted
4/11/2025HouseConference Committee Report was adopted; Yea 99, Nay 23, Absent 3
4/11/2025HouseEngrossed on Monday, April 14, 2025
4/11/2025HouseEnrolled and presented to Governor on Friday, April 18, 2025
4/11/2025HouseConference committee report now available
4/10/2025SenateMotion to suspend Joint Rule 4 (k) to allow consideration adopted
4/10/2025SenateConference Committee Report agree to disagree adopted; Sen. Beverly Gossage, Sen. William Clifford and Sen. Dinah Sykes appointed as second conferees
4/10/2025SenateConference Committee Report agree to disagree adopted; Rep. Sean Tarwater, Rep. Adam Turk and Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton appointed as second conferees
4/10/2025HouseConference committee report now available
4/10/2025SenateConference Committee Report was adopted; Yea 30, Nay 10
4/10/2025SenateRep. Sean Tarwater, Rep. Adam Turk, and Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton are appointed to replace Rep. Bill Sutton, Rep. Brian Bergkamp, and Rep. Cindy Neighbor on the Conference Committee
3/27/2025HouseSen. Dinah Sykes is appointed to replace Sen. Cindy Holscher on the Conference Committee
3/27/2025SenateSen. Beverly Gossage, Sen. William Clifford, and Sen. Cindy Holscher are appointed to replace Sen. Brenda Dietrich, Sen. Michael Fagg, and Sen. Marci Francisco on the Conference Committee
3/26/2025SenateNonconcurred with amendments; Conference Committee requested; appointed Rep. Bill Sutton, Rep. Brian Bergkamp and Rep. Cindy Neighbor
3/17/2025HouseMotion to accede adopted; Sen. Brenda Dietrich, Sen. Michael Fagg and Sen. Marci Francisco appointed as conferees
3/17/2025SenateFinal Action - Passed as amended; Yea 39, Nay 0, Absent 1
3/13/2025SenateCommittee of the Whole - Committee Report be adopted
3/12/2025SenateCommittee of the Whole - Be passed as amended
3/12/2025SenateCommittee Report recommending bill be passed as amended by Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance
3/6/2025SenateHearing: Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 9:30 AM — Room 546-S
3/4/2025SenateHearing: Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 9:30 AM — Room 546-S
2/26/2025SenateReferred to Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance
2/10/2025SenateFinal Action - Passed; Yea 104, Nay 10, Absent 11
2/7/2025HouseReceived and Introduced
2/7/2025Senate
Bill Text
As Amended by Senate Committee
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.