House Judiciary Committee advances multiple bills to the floor; summary of actions
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Summary
The Committee worked a slate of bills Feb. 12, 2026, and passed several favorably to the House floor, including sentencing and tort-claims changes and new criminal provisions for sextortion and blackmail; one sentencing bill was withdrawn.
The Kansas House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12 worked several bills and sent multiple measures favorably to the House floor after committee debate and amendments.
What the committee advanced: - HB 27-47 (sentencing/DUI criminal-history counting): Passed favorably after discussion; a proposed amendment to reclassify DUI offenses as person crimes lacked a second and was not adopted. The committee recorded the passage by voice vote and the chair announced it was passed unanimously.
- HB 25-21 (child placement agencies and the Kansas Tort Claims Act): A reviser-drafted amendment clarified that a child placement agency (rather than the state) would be treated as the governmental entity for liability and tied coverage to the contract in effect when the alleged act occurred. The amendment and the bill as amended passed favorably; Representative Carmichael recorded a 'no' vote on final passage.
- HB 24-60 (public-records exceptions for protected addresses): The committee added an amendment extending protection to household residents tied to covered officials or long‑service positions; the amendment and bill as amended passed favorably.
- HB 25-37 (sextortion/education): The committee adopted cleanup language clarifying the 'anything of value' element, and expanded the statutory definition of 'image, video or other recording' to cover AI-altered media; the bill passed favorably as amended. Members discussed potential overlap with a separate K-12 education bill and left floor options open.
- HB 25-94 (blackmail and related privacy provisions): The committee amended the blackmail bill to limit overlap with sexual-extortion statutes, restore coverage for dissemination of images obtained in violation of breach-of-privacy law, and standardize the 'image, video, or other recording' phrasing; the amended bill passed favorably.
What did not advance or was delayed: - HB 26-12 (consolidating supervision periods for multiple nonprison sentences): Members raised concerns that the change could significantly alter probation and revocation consequences and eliminate caps for multiple convictions; the sponsor withdrew the motion and the bill was not worked further that day.
Votes and procedure notes: Committee votes were taken by voice; roll-call tallies were generally not provided in the transcript. Several amendments were adopted by voice vote. In cases where members asked to have their votes recorded (for example Representative Carmichael on HB 25-21 and HB 24-60), the transcript notes those recorded 'no' votes but does not provide a full roll-call tally.
The committee adjourned and scheduled a busy workday for Monday.
