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Kansas committee hears heated debate over bill to send lists of noncitizen benefit recipients to secretary of state
Summary
HB 24‑91 would require state agencies to report quarterly the names and addresses of noncitizens receiving public benefits to the secretary of state for voter‑roll maintenance. Proponents, including the secretary of state's counsel, argued it aids list maintenance; opponents cited privacy, potential federal‑law conflicts (Medicaid confidentiality), and chilling effects on immigrant communities.
The House Committee on Elections on Thursday held an extended hearing on House Bill 24‑91, a one‑sentence measure that would require state agencies to report quarterly the names and addresses of noncitizens receiving public funds, scholarships or other public benefits to the secretary of state.
Clay Barker, general counsel for the Kansas Secretary of State, testified the office supports tools that allow "reliable lists" for voter‑roll maintenance and urged lawmakers to provide the legal ability to obtain names for comparison. "We have no interest in what agency these names came from, what program they're applied for or participating in," Barker said, adding that his office would seek additional identifiers (date of birth, alien number, last‑4 SSN, driver’s license) to improve matching.
Proponents such as Madeline of FGA Action and Jacqueline Doyer of Honest Elections Project ACTION said the bill would build on existing list‑maintenance efforts and pointed to similar measures enacted in other states. Doyer cited an inspector general brief she said showed more than 1,000,000 voter registration packets were mailed by KDHE to people who did not request them.
Opponents, including Logan DeBond of the ACLU of Kansas, warned the bill creates "privacy risks, invites government misuse of personal information, fuels conspiracy theories about noncitizen voting, [and] places unnecessary administrative burdens on state agencies." KDHE Deputy Secretary Christine Osterlund testified that sharing beneficiary names could violate federal law and regulations governing Medicaid data (she cited provisions in the Social Security Act and 42 C.F.R.), and warned that improper disclosure could jeopardize federal matching funds.
Faith and community leaders and immigrant‑advocacy groups also opposed the bill, saying compiling lists of noncitizens could expose vulnerable people to data leaks, enforcement or public shaming, and could deter eligible people from seeking services.
Committee members asked technical questions about which agencies would be required to report, whether the requirement could be limited to "voter registration agencies" under the National Voter Registration Act, and how data alignment and MOUs with agencies like DMV would be handled. Barker said MOUs and data‑alignment processes are used in existing work with the DMV and the temporary driver's license list and argued the process narrows matches through successive filters.
No final vote on HB 24‑91 was taken; the committee closed the hearing and adjourned for the day.
