Committee considers narrow exception so social workers on legal teams can keep attorney‑client confidentiality

Senate Bill 128 would create a narrow exception to several Kansas mandatory‑reporting statutes to allow licensed social workers who are working under the supervision of an attorney to maintain attorney‑client confidentiality in the course of legal representation. The reviser told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the language is inserted into multiple reporting and employer‑protection statutes and into the social‑work confidentiality statute, identified in committee as KSA 65 63 15.

Heather Cessna, executive director of the Board of Indigent Defense Services, said BIDS requested the bill to resolve a conflict that arises when licensed social workers are embedded on defense teams. "There is this conflict between their mandatory reporting requirements and the duty of confidentiality that is the linchpin of the attorney‑client relationship," Cessna said. Proponents told the committee that licensed social workers improve client interviews, mitigation, release planning and connections to community services and that current law forces some offices either to use unlicensed staff or require client waivers, both of which proponents said are suboptimal.

The reviser described the bill’s structure: sections 1, 3 and 5 would amend reporting statutes (cited in committee as KSA 30 8‑20 22‑23, KSA 30 9‑14‑2 and KSA 30 9‑14‑31) to create an exception for licensed social workers working under an attorney’s supervision when the reason to suspect harm arises solely in the course of representation or a prospective client’s seeking representation in civil, criminal, domestic or juvenile matters. Sections 2, 4 and 6 amend related employment‑protection statutes to permit an attorney to require the social worker to maintain attorney‑client confidentiality, and section 7 would amend KSA 65 63 15 to clarify that a licensed social worker supervised by an attorney is not required to testify about privileged communications acquired solely from the attorney’s client or prospective client in the enumerated matters.

Proponents described operational impacts. Karen Levy, assistant director of special projects at BIDS, said social workers bring empathic interviewing and assessment skills that reveal background and needs lawyers often miss. James Pratt, a Wichita attorney and former public defender, said social‑worker interviews have helped him humanize clients for judges. Melody Brannan, federal public defender for the District of Kansas, said offices currently use client waivers or unlicensed staff as workarounds and that those approaches are disruptive and unsustainable. Noelle O’Neil, a licensed social worker with the Kansas Federal Public Defender's Office, and Courtney Ellis of the Midwest Innocence Project described reentry, mitigation and family‑planning work that they said depends on trust and confidentiality.

Proponents and law‑clinic representatives emphasized the bill’s narrowness: the exception applies only when the social worker’s reason to suspect harm arises solely in the course of the attorney’s representation or when a prospective client seeks representation in the enumerated matter types, and the exception does not remove mandatory reporting obligations that arise outside that supervisory relationship. The committee heard no opponents in person; the record includes proponent written testimony from the Kansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and others. No committee vote was recorded at the hearing.

Clarifying details: proponents said the fix is narrow and limited to social workers working under attorney supervision; offices currently ask clients to sign confidentiality waivers or use unlicensed social‑work staff as a workaround; the bill amends multiple statutory sections described by the reviser and would allow attorneys to require license‑held social workers on a legal team to maintain confidentiality under the rules of professional conduct.

The committee closed the hearing on Senate Bill 128; no committee action or vote was recorded at that time.