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


February 3, 2021


The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Senate Committee on Judiciary
Statehouse, Room 441B-E
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Senator Warren:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for SB 75 by Senator Holland
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning SB 75 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
Current law includes a list of individuals in certain professions who are required to report
suspected harm from physical, mental, emotional abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse of a child. SB
75 would add duly ordained ministers of religion, as defined in statute, to be added to the list of
mandated reporters. A duly ordained minister of religion who suspects abuse or neglect based on
a penitential communication would not required to violate penitential privilege.
The Department for Children and Families (DCF) estimates that enactment of SB 75 would
increase the volume of reports to the Kansas Protection Report Center by 2.0 percent annually,
which would require additional staff. Currently, there are 92.00 FTE Protection Specialist
positions in DCF. A 2.0 percent increase in staff would be approximately 2.00 FTE positions.
Salary and benefit costs for 2.00 Protection Specialist FTE positions would be $128,084 from the
State General Fund for FY 2022.
DCF also indicates this proposed legislation would likely increase workload for DCF Child
Investigative Staff. According to the Department, agency data shows that 57.0 percent of all
reports are assigned for investigation. It is anticipated that many of these calls would be duplicates
of other calls. However, DCF estimates an increase in investigations would not be significant and
could be absorbed within current resources.
In addition, DCF indicates SB 75 does not address reporting requirements for this new
category of mandatory reporter. As a result, the agency indicates the clergy reporter would be
counted in the other mandated reporter grouping. However, if reporting clergy as a separate group
is intended, DCF indicates systems updates would be necessary, creating additional costs. The
costs of any systems updates cannot be estimated.
The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Page 2—SB 75

The Office of Judicial Administration indicates that SB 75 could increase the number of
cases filed in district courts because it expands the list of mandatory reporters of suspected child
abuse or neglect. This would increase the time spent by district court judicial and nonjudicial
personnel in processing, researching, and hearing cases. Since the crime is a misdemeanor, there
could also be more supervision of offenders required to be performed by Court Services Officers.
The bill could also result in the collection of docket fees, supervision fees, and fines assessed in
those cases filed under the provisions of the bill. However, it is not possible to estimate the number
of additional court cases that would arise or how complex and time-consuming they would be.
Therefore, a fiscal effect cannot be estimated. Any fiscal effect associated with SB 75 is not
reflected in The FY 2022 Governor’s Budget Report.


Sincerely,

Adam Proffitt
Director of the Budget

cc: Kim Holter, Children & Families
Debbie Thomas, Judiciary


Statutes affected:
As introduced: 38-2223