Kansas House Health Committee opens session, sets paperless policy and distributes agency report lists

Representative Will Carpenter, chair of the Committee on House Health and Human Services, opened the committee’s organizational meeting and asked members to share contact numbers for quick notifications and informal communication. "My door is always open," Carpenter said as he encouraged members to stay in contact.

The meeting focused on committee operations rather than policy. Carpenter told members the committee will operate without paper: "We are a paperless, we are a paperless committee," he said. He explained leadership is reviewing a standard set of committee rules and that the committee has held off adopting its own rules pending that review.

Leigh Anne Thone of the Kansas Legislative Research Department distributed three documents prepared by KLRD, including a legend of acronyms and two lists provided by state agencies. Thone said the two agency documents came from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) and "are just a listing of all of the statutorily required reports and some of the quarterly and annual reporting that they do." Thone added the materials note where reports are sent and where they can be found online.

Committee staff and members made brief introductions at the start of the session. Committee Assistant Dave Long identified himself as a staff resource and several members of legislative research — including Elizabeth Cohen — were present to explain the materials and offer help locating reports cited in the lists.

Carpenter asked members to provide cell phone numbers for a short-notification system for time-sensitive notices such as weather-related cancellations, saying some members do not always check email. The chair closed the session after the orientation; no formal votes or legislative actions were taken.

Why it matters: The procedural choices made at the start of a legislative session — including how members receive materials and notifications and where to find agency reports — shape how the committee will handle oversight and review of health-related agencies and programs. The distributed KLRD documents will serve as a reference for which statutory reports KDHE and KDADS file with the Legislature and which committees receive them.

What’s next: Carpenter said committee rules are pending standardization by leadership; the committee will rely on the distributed KLRD materials and staff assistance when locating statutory agency reports.