(March 8, 2023) – Today, the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, chaired by Representative Stephen Owens (R-Hesston) held a hearing on Senate Bill 228. The legislation modernizes statutes concerning county jails, removes the requirement that every county shall have a jail, modifies procedures used when district courts commit prisoners to jail in another county and when counties contract with city jails to keep prisoners and requires a medical examination and billing processes for those evaluations.

The Kansas Hospital Association requested a clarifying amendment to the legislation to ensure billing for these medical evaluations is done similarly to what has been the case historically and not add to uncompensated care.

The legislation as amended suggests prisoners needing medical evaluation under certain circumstances, shall remain under arrest. Billing would be first to the prisoner's medical insurance, billed also to the prisoner but as a final option paid pursuant to existing statutes K.S.A. 22-4612 and amendments thereto.

The committee also held a hearing on Senate Bill 174.