Panel briefed on House Bill 25‑13; committee recommended payment of a small set of claims totaling about $6,346.91

Nicole Rincher, a fiscal analyst with the Kansas Legislative Research Department and facilitator for the Joint Committee on Special Claims, briefed the Committee on Appropriations on House Bill 25‑13, which would authorize payment of certain claims against the state and related transfers.

Rincher told the committee the joint committee heard 57 claims during the 2025 interim and recommended payment of eight claims totaling $6,346.91 from the State General Fund in FY 2026. She said all recommended payments would be made from existing resources and would not increase total state expenditures.

Rincher walked through the claims recommended for payment. Among the amounts she listed were $76.74 for Billy Elliott (El Dorado Correctional Facility); $551.12 for Preston Ladd (Hutchinson Correctional Facility); $157 for Tremaine Thompson (Lansing Correctional Facility); $79.32 for Rudolph Wallace; a partial award of $175 for Isaiah Parker; a partial $100 recommendation for Robert Blorock; and a claim from Good Sense Services, LLC seeking $3,683.04 with a recommended partial payment of $1,841.52. The joint committee also recommended partial payment of $3,366.21 for a claim against the State Historical Society related to storm damage.

Members pressed for detail on why claims that appeared to involve contraband items such as hobby materials were nonetheless recommended for payment. Representative Estes and others asked how claims were evaluated when agency responses disputed claimants’ accounts. Representative Rogers, who served on the joint committee, said claimants and agency representatives appeared before the joint committee, videotape evidence was reviewed in some cases, and the joint committee split awards or recommended partial payments when documentation or video did not fully corroborate a claimant’s account. "We looked at these very, very strong," Rogers said, describing deliberations that sometimes split the difference when evidence was ambiguous.

On the Lansing facility truck damage claim, Rogers said the committee reviewed video near the gate and that testimony from the driver and the business was taken; because evidence and testimony conflicted, the joint committee made a partial award in some cases. Rincher noted that claimants must sign a release prior to receiving payment and that the bill would take effect upon publication in the Kansas Register.

Why it matters: HB 25‑13 would authorize modest payments that reflect the joint committee’s vetting of claims where agencies and claimants offered competing accounts; several awards were partial because documentation or video evidence was incomplete.

Ending: The committee closed the hearing on HB 25‑13 after no one signed up to testify proponent, opponent or neutral; no floor vote on the bill occurred in this meeting.