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Committee hears bill to create statewide offender-registration system; fees and drafting issues debated
Summary
SB 487 would require the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to implement a statewide offender-registration system, funded in part by a technology fee of up to $10; proponents argued the current K-SORT system is antiquated, while committee members and neutral analysts flagged drafting inconsistencies, indigency processes, and fiscal questions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard extensive testimony on Senate Bill 487, which would require the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to provide a statewide offender registration system for agencies registering offenders under the Kansas Offender Registration Act. The system would centralize registration, deliver real-time relocation notifications, and reduce duplicate data entry for sheriffs and other registering agencies. The bill authorizes a technology fee not to exceed $10 (in addition to existing registration fees) and would deposit those fees in an Offender Registration Technology Fund to pay acquisition and maintenance costs.
Sheriff Jeff Easter (Kansas Sheriffs Association) and Bob Stewart (KBI executive) described the current K-SORT system as antiquated, requiring double entry and lacking interoperability, address verification, automated alerts and interstate sharing. They said 22 sheriff offices already use a more modern vendor system and that a statewide SaaS platform would improve compliance monitoring, geocoding, and automated alerts to law enforcement and the public.
KBI described a fiscal note estimating startup and initial-year costs (transcript lists roughly $1.4 million in FY27 and ~ $721,000 in FY28 and $734,000 in FY29 in internal estimates) and said an RFP is anticipated rather than a preselected vendor. Senators raised concerns the technology fee could disproportionately affect indigent registrants and asked whether nonpayment could trigger further criminalization; witnesses said existing law already makes nonpayment a crime unless the person is declared indigent and judges can declare indigency or provide waivers. Committee members and the neutral BIDS analyst (Josh Harsen) identified drafting inconsistencies: section 2 creates a single registration point but section 3's language could be read to require payment in every county where a registrant lives, works or goes to school. Harsen also asked the committee to clarify that increased registration frequency for transient individuals should not automatically multiply fees and to add a process for renewing indigency findings.
Proponents offered technical amendments to streamline fee collection and enforcement (a notice-to-appear process and clarifications about indigency). KBI said portability of records in vendor contracts and the ability to export data would be prioritized in procurement. The committee closed the hearing after taking proponent and neutral testimony; committee members flagged the need for technical drafting fixes and a plan for funding and procurement before advance to further steps.
