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Advocates press KDADS on $20,000 CSW cap and budget provisos; agency says appropriations drive implementation
Summary
At a KDADS town-hall, Disability Rights Center representative Rocky Nichols questioned whether the CSW’s $20,000 annual limit is statutory or a budget proviso; KDADS said funding and slot decisions depend on legislative appropriations and offered to follow up offline.
Rocky Nichols of the Disability Rights Center asked KDADS whether the CSW’s $20,000 annual per-person service limit is codified in statute or exists only as a budget proviso, and why KDADS appears to follow that proviso when advocates said the agency did not comply with another budget proviso related to the IDD wait list.
"The proviso regarding the wait list cap on the IDD waiver wait list is specific ... the wait list shall be 4,000 or less," Nichols said, and asked why KDADS appeared to apply the CSW $20,000 cap if the IDD wait-list proviso was treated differently. The question sought clarity on KDADS’s legal obligations and whether the agency was constrained by a one-year budget condition.
Michelle Hayden, KDADS’s long-term services and supports commissioner, responded that implementation is constrained by appropriations. "If we are not appropriated funds, then we cannot implement those," Hayden said, adding that KDADS has requested funds and reminded the legislature about needs but that moving limited funds is challenging. KDADS staff suggested the detailed budget-proviso discussion be taken offline with advocates to resolve technical questions about fiscal-year language and appropriations timing.
KDADS staff also told the town-hall that the CSW was initially funded at "something less than 500" slots because of a later start in the fiscal year, and that the agency will provide more precise slot and funding details in the coming weeks. On the question of whether a CSW wait list currently exists, KDADS said there is none today but that future adjustments are possible depending on demand and appropriations.
The exchange underscores that some implementation limits on the CSW are set by the legislature’s budget decisions — not by KDADS rulemaking alone — and that advocates and the agency remain in active discussion about how provisos and appropriations will affect slot counts and allowable service amounts.
KDADS asked attendees to follow up by email (KansasCSW@pcgus.com) for detailed fiscal clarifications and said it would continue engagement with stakeholders on these matters.
