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Minutes for HB2360 - Committee on Children and Seniors
Short Title
Concerning background checks of employees and volunteers that have unsupervised access to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 20, 2019
Kyle Hamilton gave an overview of HB2360.(Attachment 1)
Larry Campbell provided written comment as a fiscal note on the bill. (Attachment 2)
Katie Whisman spoke as a proponent of the bill giving a history of the situation and the need for the bill. Federal law now requires that this be done under State law. Previous authority expires next month, so this bill needs to be passed to avoid a gap in service to children, seniors and dependent adults.(Attachment 3)
Dawn Rouse spoke as a proponent of the bill explaining that federal law requires they do background checks. They need this bill passed to comply with federal law and to guarantee the people they serve. (Attachment 4)
Mickey Edwards spoke as a proponent of the bill stating that it is critical that the volunteers who work through CASA are verified safe to work with children. Background checks are a vital part of to this vetting process. If they cannot do background checks their service can come to a halt. (Attachment 5)
Steve Gieber spoke as a proponent of the bill stating that people with disabilities are seven times more likely to be at risk. Background checks help to protect them. (Attachment 6)
Chuck Knapp spoke as a proponent of the bill stating that background checks are a condition of the grant that supports his organization. Without the ability to get a KBI background check, he cannot comply with his grant. (Attachment 7)
Thomas Witt provided written testimony as a proponent of the bill explaining that their organization operates on contributions from the community. It has a small budget that is presently strained by hiring a private service to do background checks on the people who work with the children they serve. They are less than confident about the quality of the background checks this company performs. Learning that KBI background checks could be available to groups like his was exciting. They could trust the information received. They whole-heartedly support HB2360. (Attachment 8)
Rachel Monger spoke as neutral on the bill explaining that adult care homes need to be exempted from the bill because they are already covered through a different statute.(Attachment 9).
Cindy Luxem provided written neutral testimony on the bill proposing an amendment that includes KSA 39-970; KSA 39-2009; and KSA 65-5177 in the list of statues regarding licensed organizations (line 21 of the bill). If this amendment were added to the bill, her organization would gladly support it. (Attachment 10)
Hearing closed at 1:58.
