Committee on Welfare Reform approves technical reorganization of public assistance statute in HB 2027

The Committee on Welfare Reform approved an amendment and voted to advance House Bill 2027, a technical reorganization of the public assistance statute, to the full House.

Jenna Moyer of the Revisor’s Office told the committee, "House Bill 2027 proposes a reorganization of the public assistance statute section which is KSA 39-709. The bill would have the statute be organized by each public assistance program, which would be subsections now A through D and then, E would be, subsection E would be fraud investigations, F drug screening and convictions, G would now be assignment of support rights, and H would be the electronic benefits card. And these are non substantive changes they would all be, technical and clerical in nature."

Representative Riley, who sponsored the amendment and later moved the bill to the floor, said the changes were intended to improve consistency and readability. "I asked the revisers to go through and put in paragraphs and change things so it looked better. Again, this is all technical," Riley said during the amendment discussion.

Nut graf: The measure reorganizes and standardizes statutory language—replacing repeated phrases with defined terms such as TANF, inserting paragraph marks, and clarifying phrasing for defined terms (for example, how "disability" is introduced). Committee members described the changes as clerical and nonpolicy; the committee adopted the amendment and then voted to report HB 2027 favorably to the House as amended.

Committee discussion and amendments Committee members and Revisor’s Office staff reviewed page-by-page drafting changes. Moyer and others explained that the bill changes occurrences of the phrase "cash assistance" to the defined term "TANF" (referencing KSA 39-702 for the defined term), inserts paragraph marks to standardize paragraphing, and adjusts phrasing for defined terms (for example, changing "disability is defined as" to "as used in this subparagraph, 'disability' means"). The reviser emphasized the changes were technical and clerical, not substantive.

Representative Reilley and Representative Bergkamp seconded and spoke in support of the amendment’s clarifying edits. Representative Humphreys called the draft "cleaner," and Representative Pickert said the reorganization made the statute more user-friendly.

Vote on the amendment Representative Riley moved the amendment. The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote; Representative Housley asked that an abstention be recorded. The committee chair announced the amendment passed.

Final motion and vote to advance HB 2027 Representative Riley moved that the committee report House Bill 2027 to the floor favorably as amended; Representative Humphreys seconded. The committee approved the motion to advance the bill. Several members asked to have their opposition recorded: Representatives Owsley, Simmons, Carr and Brownlee Page requested their “no” votes be recorded. The chair confirmed the ayes had it and the bill passed out of committee.

Dissent and recorded votes Representative Owsley said, "I didn't vote for any of these policies when they were put into statute and I don't feel like I'm gonna vote for this now," and asked that the no vote be recorded. Representative Simmons and others also had no votes recorded. The committee recorded four members voting no on the final motion; the amendment had one recorded abstention.

What the bill does and what it does not do The changes described to the committee are drafting and organizational: renumbering subsections, standardizing defined terms (including using the acronym TANF in place of repeated uses of "cash assistance"), inserting paragraph symbols/paragraph breaks for clarity, and clarifying phrasing around defined terms such as "disability." Committee members and reviser staff repeatedly described the edits as technical and not changing program policy.

Next steps With the committee vote, HB 2027 will move to the House floor for further consideration under the Legislature’s regular process. Staff and members indicated the measure is a drafting cleanup rather than a policy change; no implementation actions or new funding were discussed at the hearing.

Ending: The committee concluded its session after the vote and indicated additional informational hearings and bill hearings are scheduled in the coming weeks.