Capitol Comments Articles
House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Continue Budgets

Budget 3 (Feb. 11, 2026) – Today, budget committees continued their conversations and report outs on agency budgets.

The House Appropriations Committee completed its review of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Health, and left the subcommittee's recommendation to maintain funding for adult Behavioral Health Beds payments. The committee also heard the budgets of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which reduced committee enhancements for the Medicaid add-on for daily rates from $20 to $10 and cut the Frail Elderly Waiver in fiscal year 2026.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee worked on several budgets, including state hospitals. A motion to delete $10 million in contract staffing at Larned was not approved by the committee. The committee also considered a motion to increase funding for staffing at the future South Central Mental Health Hospital, which was not adopted.

The committee considered the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services budget and made the following adjustments:

  • Proviso language addressing involuntary discharges from long-term care facilities and requiring reporting on the topic
  • Envision funding addition of $600,000
  • $1.8 million for Mirror to compete with certified community behavioral health clinics
  • $5 million increase in block grant for substance abuse disorder treatment
  • Clubhouse investments from $8 million to $16 million from Lottery Vending, with at least 2 percent of Lottery Vending allocated to problem gambling in fiscal year 2027
  • EmberHope addition of $250,000
  • Inclusion Connections additions from ARPA funds if they are available
  • Community Mental Health Centers Fund for the Uninsured
  • Kansas Nursing Facilities and $175 for daily Medicaid patients as a Behavioral Health add-on payment for FY 2027 and FY 2028, totaling $1.5 million.

The committee took up the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Health Budget and made the following adjustments:

  • Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/Automated External Defibrillator Grant for State General Fund, $250,000, to provide school districts with equipment and instruction on CPR and AED
  • Cerebral Palsy Foundation addition of $263,000

The committee will have a few more for KDADS and more for the KDHE, Division of Health budget, when they meet tomorrow.