Brief ⁽¹⁾

HB 2189, as amended, concerns postsecondary education tuition and fees waivers for dependents of public safety officers who die in the line of duty. The bill would expand the program to include dependents of emergency medical services attendants, in addition to law enforcement officers and firefighters, who are killed in the line of duty. The bill also would delete references to the State Board of Education in the case of those postsecondary institutions that have been transferred to the State Board of Regents.

Background

HB 2189 originally was introduced at the request of the State Board of Regents as a clean-up measure to replace references to the State Board of Education with the State Board of Regents. The proposed change is in regard to a program enacted in 1996 that requires state universities, Washburn University, community colleges, area vocational schools, and technical colleges to waive charges for tuition and fees to a dependent of a law enforcement officer or firefighter who is killed in the line of duty. The statutes provide that, whenever a postsecondary institution waives tuition and fees for such an individual, the institution is reimbursed by the state.

The House Higher Education Committee amended the bill at the request of a representative of the Kansas Emergency Medical Services Association to extend the benefits of the program to dependents of emergency medical service workers who are killed in the line of duty. (In the amended version of the bill, "emergency medical services attendant" is defined to include first responders, emergency medical technicians, emergency medical technician-intermediates, emergency medical technician-defibrillators, or mobile intensive care technicians who are certified by the Emergency Medical Services Board.) In addition, the House Committee expanded the bill to include not only dependents of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services attendants who are killed in the line of duty, but who also suffer a fatal injury or a permanent, total disability.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee amended the bill to delete the House provisions expanding the program to dependents of those who suffer a fatal injury or a permanent, total disability.

The bill, as introduced, had no fiscal impact. The amended version of the bill would expand the number of dependents who potentially would be eligible for tuition and fee waivers that would be reimbursed by the state.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi