All Roll Calls
Yes: 162 • No: 0
KansasHB 25242025–2026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET
Permitting the secretary for children and families to license family foster homes when certain persons reside in such home and creating an appeal process for family foster homes when licenses are not granted.
Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable
Signed by Governor
public health and welfarechild welfare and foster care
Your PRIA Score
Score Hidden
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
7 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 3 costs, 2 mixed.
High school required to run day care
To run a day care, you must have a high school diploma or equivalent. The Secretary may allow exceptions in extraordinary cases. This rule does not apply to people who operated a day care before July 1, 2010, or had an application on file that day. The rule ends June 30, 2026.
Stricter hiring rules for child care
Child care operators cannot keep a license if they employ people with certain records, like person felonies, sex‑offender registration, child abuse or neglect findings, terminated parental rights, or related diversion agreements. Operators who have been legally found to need a guardian or conservator cannot run a licensed facility. Anyone living in the facility who is under a guardianship or conservatorship counts toward the licensed child capacity, which can reduce open slots.
Easier licenses for some foster homes
The Secretary for Children and Families can license a family foster home even when a former ward with a juvenile record lives there. The person must have been placed in the home by the Secretary, be 18 or older, live there or be adopted by a resident, and at least six months must have passed since adjudication. Homes with a resident under age 26 who was placed there and has a listed conviction or adjudication can keep their license if the person still lives there or was adopted. The Secretary may also allow a license when the resident is older than 26 or has another listed offense after release, if there is no safety concern. If a license is denied or not maintained, the applicant or licensee can appeal to the Secretary, and that decision is final.
Legal shield for good-faith compliance
Child care facilities and their staff are not civilly liable for refusing to hire or for firing someone when they act in good faith to follow these licensing and background‑check rules.
Fingerprint checks and fees for workers
Child care employees and applicants must be fingerprinted for national criminal history checks. The Secretary sets a fingerprinting fee by rule to cover costs. The state creates a fund that receives these fees and pays law enforcement to process fingerprints and background checks.
Record access, notices, and privacy rules
Health and Environment can review court orders, KBI criminal records (including diversions), and child‑abuse investigations to check licensing. Child placement agencies must get criminal‑history information in writing, even when there is no record. Staff must keep this information confidential; improper sharing is a misdemeanor with a $100 fine per violation. If a background review finds you unfit, the Secretary must send you certified notice within seven days. A person on the child‑abuse registry is barred only after they had a chance to be interviewed, got written notice, and had a chance to appeal to the Secretary and to court.
Old child care law repealed
The law repeals K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 65-516. The repealed section’s contents are not restated here, so practical effects depend on what that section previously required.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
There is no primary sponsor on record.
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 40 Nay: 0
Yes: 40 • No: 0
House vote • 4/23/2026
Yea: 122 Nay: 0
Yes: 122 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Approved by Governor on Monday, April 6, 2026
4/9/2026HouseEnrolled and presented to Governor on Friday, March 27, 2026
3/26/2026HouseFinal Action - Passed; Yea: 40 Nay: 0
3/19/2026SenateCommittee of the Whole - Be passed
3/18/2026SenateCommittee Report recommending bill be passed by Committee on Public Health and Welfare
3/16/2026SenateHearing: Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 8:30 AM Room 142-S
3/11/2026SenateReferred to Committee on Public Health and Welfare
2/26/2026SenateEngrossed on Monday, February 23, 2026
2/25/2026HouseReceived and Introduced
2/25/2026SenateFinal Action - Passed as amended; Yea: 122 Nay: 0
2/19/2026HouseCommittee of the Whole - Committee Report be adopted
2/18/2026HouseCommittee of the Whole - Be passed as amended
2/18/2026HouseCommittee Report recommending bill be passed as amended by Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care
2/11/2026HouseHearing: Monday, February 2, 2026, 1:30 PM Room 152-S
2/2/2026HouseHearing: Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 1:30 PM Room 152-S - CANCELED
1/28/2026HouseIntroduced
1/22/2026HouseReferred to Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care
1/22/2026House
Bill Text
As Amended by House Committee
As introduced
Enrolled
Related Bills
HB 2761 — Enacting the speech-language pathology assistant act to provide for the licensure of speech-language pathology assistants.
HB 2739 — Relating to housing code requirements, removing the definition of apartment houses from chapter 31 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, providing requirements for adoption of the international fire code, 2024 edition, and providing that certain state accessibility standards are not applicable to moderate income housing program and Kansas investor tax credit housing act projects.
HB 2737 — Enacting the taxpayer agreement act to provide for an alternative method of tax increment financing of municipal economic development projects through taxpayer agreements.
HB 2711 — Modifying and updating procedures for dissolution of cities of the third class.
SB 473 — Authorizing Audubon of Kansas to convey certain property in Wabaunsee county and requiring any deeds or conveyances related to such property be reviewed and approved by the state historical society.
HB 2702 — Providing that applicants for a physician assistant license submit to a criminal record check, providing for the collaboration between physicians and physician assistants and requiring the revocation of a physician assistant license under certain circumstances.