Gov. Kelly Signs Bipartisan Bill to Expand Health Coverage for Children

TOPEKA – Gov. Laura Kelly today announced she signed Senate Bill 271, bipartisan legislation that permanently updates the outdated income eligibility requirements for Kansas' Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and protects access to affordable health coverage for Kansas children.

"Every Kansas child deserves access to quality, affordable health care," Gov. Kelly said. "For far too long, Kansas has relied on temporary fixes to address the outdated standards that made it harder for families to get the coverage they need. I'm pleased to sign this bipartisan, commonsense legislation that cements these updates to the Kansas CHIP income eligibility requirements and prioritizes the health, well-being, and future of Kansas kids."

Senate Bill 271 adjusts the household income eligibility threshold for the State CHIP from 250 percent of the 2008 federal poverty level to 250 percent of the current federal poverty income guidelines, aligning Kansas with the rest of the nation.

This change safeguards access to coverage for working families while ensuring income eligibility keeps pace with today's economic realities.

"This was a true bipartisan effort to pass a clean SB 271," said Representative Susan Ruiz, District 23. "We recognized that passing this bill has been a long time coming and was the right thing to do for the children of Kansas."

Additionally, Senate Bill 271 directs the Secretary of Health and Environment to codify the existing practice of using a sliding-fee scale that charges premiums per family and ensures that eligible children can maintain coverage at renewal if families remain eligible and pay all delinquent premiums. The legislation also removes outdated provisions regarding waiting periods and penalties for non-payment of premiums within a continuous eligibility period to align state and federal law.

"Making CHIP premiums based on a sliding-fee scale per family is a practical, family-first approach," said Representative Will Carpenter, District 75. "Senate Bill 271 ensures costs are more affordable and predictable, so families don't have to choose between paying for health coverage and other basic needs. This bill is a commonsense step to keep more Kansas kids covered."

In addition to Senate Bill 271, Governor Kelly also signed the following bipartisan bills:

– Senate Bill 380: Requiring retail electric suppliers to provide nondiscriminatory rates and services to entities that provide electric vehicle charging services and prohibiting any costs and expenses associated with a retail electric supplier's electric vehicle charging stations from being recovered in electric rates.

– Senate Bill 382: Providing for the administration of statewide assessments to virtual school students by such students' virtual schools, adding third parties who contract with school districts to the definition of special teacher, providing for special education state aid reimbursement for certain qualified teachers, authorizing nonpublic schools to permit nonaccredited private elementary or secondary school students to participate in certain activities and authorizing foreign exchange students who reside with a host family to enroll in and attend the resident school district of the host family.

– Senate Bill 403: Authorizing Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, and Delta Waterfowl license plates, prohibiting a license plate with any frame or other object on or around the plate that affects its visibility or legibility, and clarifying the definition of "conviction" in the Kansas Uniform Commercial Driver's License Act.

– Senate Bill 408: Excluding a child engaging in age-appropriate independent activities from the definition of a child in need of care in the revised Kansas code for care of children and requiring the Secretary for Children and Families to enter into a memorandum of understanding with military organizations and create a referral process for children in need of care cases involving children of military personnel to provide families with services.

– Senate Bill 412: Imposing a duty on a conservator to notify certain entities and persons of any court order commanding performance or safekeeping of a conservatee's estate assets.

– Senate Bill 435: Authorizing the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System board of trustees to elect the vice chairperson of the board, requiring newly affiliated Kansas Police and Firemen's Retirement System employers to contribute at the actuarial required rate for past and future service, and repealing certain working after retirement statutes for state and local elected officials.

– Senate Bill 480: Reviving repealed statutes related to estates of absentees and requiring nonresident fiduciaries to appoint an agent residing in this state.

– Senate Bill 487: Requiring the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to implement a statewide offender registration system for agencies who register offenders under the offender registration act, providing for a petition to determine that an offender is indigent, and authorizing a notice to appear to be issued for a violation of the act involving nonpayment of a fee.

– House Bill 2158: Permitting beekeepers who meet certain requirements to sell packaged honey and honeycombs without holding a food establishment or food processing plant license under the Kansas food, drug and cosmetic act.

– Senate Substitute for House Bill 2501: Providing for immunity from civil liability to federal firearms licensees for returning a firearm to the firearm owner at the termination of a firearm hold agreement, removing the criminal prohibition against firearm suppressors and shotgun barrel length requirements, and enhancing penalties for certain felonies committed while using a firearm suppressor or short-barrel shotgun.