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 Proffitt, Director Laura Kelly, Governor


February 16, 2021


The Honorable Brenda Landwehr, Chairperson
House Committee on Health and Human Services
Statehouse, Room 352C-S
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Representative Landwehr:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for HB 2202 by Representative Gartner
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning HB 2202 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
HB 2202 would permit a capable Kansas adult resident who is 18 years of age or older to
make a written request to a licensed physician for a prescription that would be used to end the
adult’s life. The bill would be known as the Kansas Death with Dignity Act. The bill would
require there to be a diagnosis of a terminal disease that will result in the patient’s death within six
months. The bill would specify qualifications for the patient, the manner in which the request
must be made and witnessed, the steps the physician must take, recordkeeping requirements,
remedies for violations of the law, and limitations on criminal, civil and administrative liability.
The bill specifically requires the physician to contact and inform the pharmacist of the prescription.
If the pharmacist chooses to participate, the prescription must be dispensed directly to the patient
or an agent of the patient. Upon dispensing the medication, a copy of the dispensing record must
be forwarded to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
Pharmacists would not have a legal duty to participate in the dispensing of end of life
medications and could not be compelled to do so. If a business has a policy that prohibits its
employees from participating in end of life dispensing, it would be authorized to sanction the
employee for violation of the policy. Any pharmacist participating in dispensing end of life
medications could not be criminally, civilly or administratively sanctioned as long as they follow
the mandates of the bill.
The Office of the Attorney General, the Board of Healing Arts, the Board of Pharmacy,
and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, each have indicated that enactment
of the bill would have no fiscal effect on agency operations.
The Honorable Brenda Landwehr, Chairperson
Page 2—HB 2202

The Sentencing Commission indicates that enactment of the bill would have an effect on
prison admissions and beds due to the severity levels that would be assigned to the crimes listed
in the bill. The agency is not able to determine at this time what the effect would be.
The Office of Judicial Administration indicates that the bill could increase the number of
cases filed in district courts because it creates new crimes. This, in turn, would increase the time
spent by district court judicial and nonjudicial personnel in processing, researching, and hearing
cases. However, the Office is unable to estimate the fiscal effect because the number of cases that
would be filed is unknown. Any fiscal effect associated with HB 2202 is not reflected in The FY
2022 Governor’s Budget Report.


Sincerely,

Adam Proffitt
Director of the Budget

cc: Connie Hubbell, Aging & Disability Services
Susan Gile, Board of Healing Arts
Debbie Thomas, Judiciary
Scott Schultz, Sentencing Commission
Alexandra Blasi, Board of Pharmacy
Willie Prescott, Office of the Attorney General