CHAPTER 210
HOUSE BILL No. 2590
(Amends Chapter 118)
An Act concerning public safety officers; relating to
administration of educational benefits
for dependents of such officers; amending K.S.A. 75-4364 and
repealing the existing
section; also repealing K.S.A. 75-4364, as amended by section 1 of
2001 House Bill No.
2189.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 75-4364 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 75-
4364. (a) As used in this section:
(1) ``Kansas educational institution''
means and includes area voca-
tional schools, area vocational-technical schools, community
colleges, the
municipal university, state educational institutions, and technical
colleges.
(2) ``Public safety officer'' means a law
enforcement officer or a fire-
fighter or an emergency medical services attendant.
(3) ``Law enforcement officer'' means a
person who by virtue of office
or public employment is vested by law with a duty to maintain
public
order or to make arrests for violation of the laws of the state of
Kansas
or ordinances of any municipality thereof or with a duty to
maintain or
assert custody or supervision over persons accused or convicted of
crime,
and includes wardens, superintendents, directors, security
personnel, of-
ficers and employees of adult and juvenile correctional
institutions, jails
or other institutions or facilities for the detention of persons
accused or
convicted of crime, while acting within the scope of their
authority.
(4) ``Firefighter'' means a person who is
employed by any city, county,
township or other political subdivision of the state and who is
assigned to
the fire department thereof and engaged in the fighting and
extinguish-
ment of fires and the protection of life and property
therefrom.
(5) ``Emergency medical services
attendant'' means a first responder,
emergency medical technician, emergency medical
technician-intermedi-
ate, emergency medical technician-defibrillator or a mobile
intensive care
technician certified by the emergency medical services board
pursuant to
the statutory provisions contained in article 61 of chapter 65
of Kansas
Statutes Annotated.
(5)
(6) ``Dependent'' means (A) a birth child, adopted
child or step-
child of a public safety officer or (B) any child other than the
foregoing
who is actually dependent in whole or in part on a public safety
officer
and who is related to the public safety officer by marriage or
consanguin-
ity.
(6) (7) ``State
board'' means, in the case of the state educational
in-
stitutions and the municipal university, the state
board of regents; in the
case of area vocational schools, area vocational-technical
schools, com-
munity colleges, and technical colleges, the state board of
education.
(b) Every Kansas educational institution
shall provide for enrollment
without charge of tuition or fees for any dependent of a public
safety
officer who died as the result of injury sustained while performing
duties
as a public safety officer so long as such dependent is eligible.
Any such
dependent shall be eligible for enrollment at a Kansas educational
insti-
tution without charge of tuition or fees for not to exceed eight
semesters
of undergraduate instruction, or the equivalent thereof, at all
such insti-
tutions, in the aggregate, for any such dependent.
(c) Subject to appropriations therefor,
any Kansas educational insti-
tution, at which enrollment, without charge of tuition or fees, of
the de-
pendent of a deceased public safety officer is provided for under
subsec-
tion (b), may file a claim with the appropriate
state board for
reimbursement of the amount of such tuition and fees. The state
board
shall be responsible for payment of reimbursements to Kansas
educa-
tional institutions upon certification by each such institution of
the
amount of reimbursement to which entitled. Payments to Kansas
edu-
cational institutions shall be made upon vouchers approved by the
state
board and upon warrants of the director of accounts and reports.
Pay-
ments may be made by issuance of a single warrant to each Kansas
ed-
ucational institution at which one or more eligible dependents are
en-
rolled for the total amount of tuition and fees not charged
eligible
dependents for enrollment at that institution. The director of
accounts
and reports shall cause such warrant to be delivered to the Kansas
edu-
cational institution at which such eligible dependent or dependents
are
enrolled. If an eligible dependent discontinues attendance before
the end
of any semester, after the Kansas educational institution has
received
payment under this subsection, the institution shall pay to the
state the
entire amount which such eligible dependent would otherwise qualify
to
have refunded, not to exceed the amount of the payment made by
the
state in behalf of such dependent for the semester. All amounts
paid to
the state by Kansas educational institutions under this subsection
shall be
deposited in the state treasury and credited to the state general
fund.
(d) Each The
state board shall adopt rules and regulations, as
appro-
priate, for administration of the
applicable provisions of this section and
shall determine the qualification of persons as dependents of
public safety
officers and the eligibility of such persons for the benefits
provided for
under this section.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 75-4364 and K.S.A. 75-4364, as
amended by section 1
of 2001 House Bill No. 2189, are hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its
publication in the statute book.
Approved May 22, 2001.
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