Kansas bill would require KHP and KBI to provide funeral assistance for fallen officers; committee advances measure
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Summary
SB 445 would require the Kansas Highway Patrol superintendent and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation director to make available temporary personnel and other assistance to local law enforcement agencies for funerals when requested through the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Advisory Committee; witnesses cited four line‑of‑duty deaths in 2025 and urged passage.
Senate Bill 445 would require the superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol and the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to make temporary personnel and other assistance available to local law enforcement agencies in support of funeral services honoring officers who die in the line of duty, when requested through the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Advisory Committee.
Doug Woods of the Kansas Highway Patrol, chairman of the advisory committee, told the Transportation Committee the measure formalizes a team already created to assist departments with logistics, traffic and parking control, temporary staff coverage, family liaison, honor guard details, public information coordination, critical incident management and peer counseling. "2025, Kansas experienced an extraordinary loss of 4 law enforcement officers in the line of duty," Woods said and listed four recent deaths the committee heard about as context for the bill.
Chief Don Scheibler of the Hays Police Department, speaking on behalf of the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, the Kansas Sheriffs Association and the Kansas Peace Officers Association, described KHP and KBI assistance after the Sept. 28 line‑of‑duty death of Sergeant Scott Hyman in Hays and praised the professionalism and family support the agencies provided.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Tony Mativi said the agencies provided substantial peer‑support assistance this year — more than 700 man‑hours for Hays PD alone — and argued that the support should be an ongoing obligation rather than a discretionary practice. "We would like it to be an obligation of our successors in addition to being the honor that it is," Mativi said.
Committee staff reported pro forma written testimony from the state Fraternal Order of Police and no opponents or neutrals on record. Senator Corson moved that the committee pass SB 445 favorably; the motion was seconded by Senator Clace and carried by voice vote with ‘‘aye’’ responses and no roll‑call tally recorded in the transcript. The committee closed the matter and advanced the bill for further action.
