Kansas Legal Services asks committee to fund expungement, driver-license-restoration clinics

Matthew Keenan, executive director of Kansas Legal Services, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that renewed state funding is necessary to sustain a network of expungement clinics and to create driver's-license restoration clinics, which his group says improve employment prospects and reduce barriers to work in rural communities.

Keenan asked the committee to renew $200,000 for expungement clinics and add $100,000 for driver-license restoration clinics. "These are workforce development initiatives at a time when Kansas has about 3 and a half percent unemployment," he said, arguing that restoring licenses and clearing records helps people re-enter the workforce and benefits local economies. He added that the economic-return figure commonly cited for legal-aid investments is roughly $7 returned for every $1 invested, noting the figure as an economist's estimate rather than committee-verified data.

Committee members asked about current funding sources; Keenan said the $200,000 expungement clinics request is expected to come from the State General Fund and that smaller supplemental funds come from private foundations (e.g., the Kansas Bar Foundation and the Neil Patterson Foundation). He said that without the additional $100,000 SGF allocation, there would be no driver's-license restoration clinics unless private funding was secured.

Keenan said the organization plans a statewide clinic schedule this year, including multiple rural stops, and asked the committee to reauthorize the funding in the budget. The committee acknowledged the request and will consider funding as part of its budget deliberations.