Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504 adam.c.proffitt@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612 Division of the Budget http://budget.kansas.gov
Adam C. Proffitt, Director Laura Kelly, Governor


February 9, 2024


The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Senate Committee on Judiciary
300 SW 10th Avenue, Room 346-S
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Senator Warren:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for SB 425 by Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning SB 425 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
SB 425 would amend KSA 20-165 to add “the direct medical and pregnancy-related
expenses of the mother if the child is an unborn child” to the list of factors to be considered by the
court when adopting rules establishing guidelines for child support. The bill would prohibit the
inclusion of any costs related to an elective abortion, would define “elective abortion” and “unborn
child,” and update definitions in related statutes. The amount of support for the unborn child would
be calculated from the date of conception and the maximum amount would not exceed the direct
medical and pregnancy-related expenses of the mother of the unborn child. The bill would state
that the term “child” incudes any unborn child.
According to the Department for Children and Families (DCF), enactment of SB 425 would
result in additional State General Fund expenditures totaling $487,561 beginning in FY 2025 and
continuing in future years. The agency notes that there is currently no provision for support for an
unborn child because a parental relationship is not legally established until there is a live birth and
parentage may be established through one of several means. Pregnancy and birth-related expenses
are currently sought as judgments after a child is born via KSA 23-2215. The provisions of SB
425 could increase expenditures for both local courts and DCF because there could be an increased
duration for the cases. Additionally, added testing, back-dated orders, and larger arrearage
potential may occur. The agency notes the bill would create additional administrative burdens on
parties if it was later determined an obligor is not a legal parent and would create additional
administrative burdens on DCF to modify orders created prior to a child being born, as well as
potentially modifying an order if a child is later found to be the child of another party.
The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Page 2—SB 425

DCF states that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 12,732
children born out of wedlock in 2023, with an average of 13,000 children born out of wedlock over
the previous five years. The agency used the assumption in its estimates that two-thirds, or 8,667,
of those mothers would apply for support. Currently, parentage is not determined until after birth,
but passage of SB 425 would require Child Support Services to begin work on some cases before
birth, resulting in case management and testing that is currently not provided. If 10.0 percent of
the 8,667 out of wedlock births resulted in child support services starting during pregnancy, there
would be approximately 867 additional cases for a portion of a year. DCF contracts for child
support services and the average annual cost per case to administer is $283. This calculation is
based on expenditures totaling $35.6 million as reported to the federal Office of Child Support
Enforcement (OCSE), and divided by 125,890, which was the number of open cases at the end of
2023. New case management costs are estimated to cost $245,361. In addition, DCF would likely
need to contract for in utero genetic testing services for some of the cases, which cost on average
$1,400 per instance. If 20.0 percent of the 867 new cases needed this testing service, it would cost
$242,200. The agency also notes that current federal regulations do not provide or allow for
parentage establishment prior to the birth of a child. For that reason, federal funds would not be
able to be used to supplement this portion of the process and a State General Fund appropriation
would be needed. This portion of the program is currently shared and funded at 66.0 percent by
the OCSE.
The Office of Judicial Administration states enactment of the bill would not result in any
significant fiscal effect on expenditures and would not have an effect on revenues to the Judicial
Branch or the State General Fund. Any fiscal effect associated with SB 425 is not reflected in The
FY 2025 Governor’s Budget Report.

Sincerely,

Adam C. Proffitt
Director of the Budget


cc: Trisha Morrow, Judiciary
Kim Holter, Department for Children & Families


Statutes affected:
As introduced: 20-165, 23-2205, 23-3001