Panel deletes 8.1 KDHE FTE additions, trims state water-plan add and attaches proviso to CAMS funding

During review of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Division of Environment budget, the Agriculture and Natural Resources committee voted to delete 8.1 FTEs that the House had added into the agency budget, reduced a House proposal for state water plan funding that would have resurrected rural groundwater, septic system and well-testing work, and attached reporting conditions to CAMS-related funding.

The chair opened discussion by urging deletion of the 8.1 FTEs, saying the committee should avoid adding positions that agencies had not demonstrated were necessary. Mr. Drury, the committee analyst, said the Legislative Budget Committee had globally deleted newly requested FTEs; the House later put some back. Committee debate showed members were concerned about whether the positions were new, whether they were already filled, and how they were funded.

Senator Ware and others told the committee some of the positions were currently filled and paid from federal grants or fee funds, not State General Fund. Senator Beaulieu and others asked why positions already filled would need to be added to the state budget if they are funded from non-SGF sources; the transcript shows that the positions may have been moved from the Department of Health to the Division of Environment rather than being newly created. After discussion the committee adopted a recommendation to delete the 8.1 FTEs from the House substitute for House Bill 2,007.

On state water plan funding, the House had added $2 million and divided it into three categories (two half-million allocations and a $1 million allocation), including funds for "rural groundwater septic system and well testing," which the chair described as a "resurrected" program. The committee considered reducing that add to $1.5 million and deleting the specific rural groundwater/septic/well-testing line. After a roll call-style vote that initially appeared tied, the chair cast the deciding vote in favor of the reduction; the committee included the reduced $1.5 million allocation in its report.

Senator Titus asked to add proviso language to approximately $425,000 in CAMS (permitting/reporting software) funding that would require KDHE to report to the State Finance Council in FY2026 on implementation problems raised by a stakeholder working group before those funds are released. Committee staff said the proviso language would condition disbursement on a State Finance Council briefing; the committee adopted that proviso language by unanimous consent.

Ending: The committee finalized its KDHE Division of Environment recommendations to Ways and Means and adjourned.