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 20, 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 472 by Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning SB 472 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
SB 472 would create the crime of unlawful sexual communication. The bill would make
it a severity level 7, person felony to knowingly transmit a visual depiction of an adult in a state
of nudity to a person who is at least 16 years of age, is not married to the offender, and is under
the custody, detention, supervision, or care of the offender by virtue of the offender’s professional
duties. The bill would apply to employees, workers, contractors, teachers, volunteers, sureties,
and officers at law enforcement agencies, adult and juvenile correctional facilities, community
corrections offices, parole offices, licensed foster care facilities, schools, and state agencies. The
bill would establish the penalty of a severity level 6, person felony for offenses committed against
inmates at a juvenile correctional facility by employees of the facility.
The Board of Indigents Defense Services indicates that the bill would increase agency
expenditures on legal counsel and support staff by unknown amounts. The Board estimates that
on average, severity level 6 or 7, person felony cases require 57 hours of direct work by an attorney
to provide constitutionally adequate representation. Based on the rates of $83.36 per hour for
public defenders and $120 per hour for assigned counsel, each new severity level 6 or 7, person
felony case brought to the agency would result in State General Fund expenditures of $4,752 to
$6,840.
The Judiciary indicates that the bill has the potential to increase the number of cases filed
in district courts. This may increase agency operating expenditures due to the additional time spent
by district court judicial and nonjudicial personnel in processing, researching, and hearing cases.
However, the Judiciary is unable to calculate an exact estimate of this effect. The bill has the
potential to increase the collection of docket fees, fines, and supervision fees, which are deposited
in the State General Fund; however, the amount of additional collections is unknown.
The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Page 2—SB 472

The Sentencing Commission indicates that the bill has the potential to increase prison
admissions and beds by unknown amounts. The current estimated available bed capacity is 9,668
for males and 932 for females. Based upon the Commission’s most recent ten-year projection
contained in its FY 2024 Adult Inmate Prison Population Projections report, it is estimated that
the year-end population will total 8,556 male and 828 female inmates in FY 2024 and 8,847 male
and 870 female inmates in FY 2025. The Department of Corrections indicates that the bill has the
potential to increase agency operating expenditures depending on its effect on prison admissions
and beds. Any fiscal effect associated with SB 472 is not reflected in The FY 2025 Governor’s
Budget Report.

Sincerely,

Adam C. Proffitt
Director of the Budget


cc: Heather Cessna, Board of Indigents Defense Services
Jennifer King, Department of Corrections
Trisha Morrow, Judiciary
Scott Schultz, Kansas Sentencing Commission