Kansas Judiciary committee hears testimony on bill to exempt social workers on legal teams from some mandated reporting

At a hearing of the Committee on Judiciary, lawmakers heard hours of testimony for and against House Bill 24-80, which would create a narrow exception to certain mandated-reporting laws for licensed social workers when they are supervised by an attorney and the information prompting a report arises solely from the attorney's representation or prospective representation (date not specified).

The bill's reviser, Jason Thompson of the Reviser's Office, told the committee HB 24-80 would insert similar language into multiple mandatory-reporting statutes and related employment provisions so that a social worker supervised by an attorney would not be required to report information learned solely in the course of representation. The bill also would treat such information as privileged for purposes of testimony under the cited confidentiality provisions and take effect July 1 if adopted.

Supporters, primarily from public-defense and legal-aid organizations, said the change would allow licensed social workers to be fully integrated into defense teams. Noelle O'Neil, director of social…