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Minutes for SB311 - Committee on Children and Seniors
Short Title
Adding emergency medical personnel to the list of mandatory reporters of abuse, neglect or exploitation of certain adults.
Minutes Content for Tue, Mar 20, 2018
The Chair opened the meeting welcoming members, conferees and guests. She introduced Faith Williams, a senior at Fairfield High School, who is shadowing today to observe the various procedures of the legislative process. The Chair then outlined the time constraints for testimony and questions in consideration of the number of bills on the agenda.
The Chair opened the hearing on SB 311.
Staff, Kyle Hamilton explained that SB 311 is identical to the introduced version of HB 2730 which passed out of the House. A floor amendment made a one word change to KSA 38-2223, which keeps the statutes in the bill. Because of this change, SB 311 and HB 2730 are no longer identical. He noted that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is already included in the bill for reporting child abuse or neglect.
Speaking for C. David Johnston, a proponent of SB 311, Sean Gatewood commented that the omission of EMS personnel in the original statute was an apparent oversight. He requested that EMS personnel be included in the list of mandatory reporters for abuse, neglect or exploitation of certain adult individuals (Attachment 1).
Brian Dempsey spoke briefly as a proponent of SB 311, noting that the bill will reinforce the role of reporters as they assist individuals when providing protection to vulnerable adults (Attachment 2).
Written Only testimony was provided by Ernest Kutzley, Advocacy Director for AARP Kansas (Attachment 3).
The hearing on SB 311 was closed.
