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Committee endorses broad KDADS HCBS and provider funding package including waiver increases and targeted one‑time grants
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Summary
The committee approved a suite of KDADS recommendations: a 3% across‑the‑board HCBS waiver rate increase, targeted funding to avoid wait lists for brain‑injury and technology‑assisted waivers, funding for Inclusion Connections/Belong KC and Heartspring construction, $3M to reduce Meals on Wheels waiting lists, and provisos creating CCBHC oversight and salary reporting limits.
The Committee on Social Services Budget approved multiple KDADS recommendations and a package of targeted appropriations and provisos intended to stabilize services for people with disabilities, behavioral‑health needs and older Kansans.
Representative Rivas initially moved to increase IDD waiver funding to implement a 3% rate increase; Representative Carpenter offered a substitute motion to apply a 3% increase across all eight HCBS waivers to prevent imbalances among waivers. The substitute motion (around $31.3 million all funds and $16.1 million SGF) passed on a voice vote.
Representative Steens won committee approval to fully fund the HCBS brain‑injury waiver (the governor’s SGF figure of roughly $6,914,313) to avoid creation of a waiting list. The committee also approved the governor’s HCBS community support waiver recommendation (~$3,597,000 SGF) and a technology‑assisted (TA) waiver appropriation (about $2,773,000 SGF) to keep people off wait lists.
On targeted one‑time appropriations, the committee approved $2,000,000 SGF for Inclusion Connections/Belong KC in Olathe to complete construction, $1,800,000 SGF for workforce development tied to substance‑use disorder supports, a $1,000,000 one‑time appropriation for Heartspring construction to expand autism services, and $3,000,000 SGF to KDADS nutrition programs to reduce Meals on Wheels waiting lists (to be allocated based on 12/31/25 waiting‑list data and with four AAAs identified by committee members for initial distribution).
Representative Carpenter proposed re‑establishing reappropriations for projects that had been removed from the special committee’s draft; the committee restored reappropriations for the South Central mental health hospital and certain IDD reappropriations by voice vote. Carpenter also moved budget provisos: (1) to establish a CCBHC funding sustainability advisory board (membership enumerated in the motion) and (2) to cap nonclinical salaries above $400,000 from inclusion in certified CCBHC cost reports; both provisos passed.
The committee approved rate and wage adjustments intended as cost avoidance: increases to FE and PD waiver hourly payments (including raising the PD waiver to $29/hour and a $1/hour increase to FE) with SGF and federal matching implications across FY27–28. Representative Carpenter framed these as cost‑avoidance measures: "So this is cost avoidance as far as I'm concerned," he said, noting nursing‑home costs exceed in‑home waiver costs.
What comes next: The committee’s package consolidates many KDADS requests into the chair’s appropriations report. Several items require administrative follow‑up to confirm dollar amounts, match timelines and implementation language before appropriation language is finalized.
