(Feb. 27, 2026) –Today, the House Select Committee on Government Oversight met to review issues previously before the committee, including a presentation by Secretary Laura Howard of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and the Kansas Department for Children and Families, who discussed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program error rate.

The committee also heard from chair Kristey Williams (R-Augusta) on House Bill 2528, which addresses reforms to the Kansas State Board of Nursing. The chair highlighted written testimony provided to the committee, which revealed that 2,113 cases are under review by the board, and of those, 1,300 were initiated by the Kansas State Board of Nursing, with the majority involving licensure renewals and reinstatements. The chair shared with the committee that the KSBN outside consultant report highlighted many of the same issues the committee had worked on and reviewed the recommendations. Carol Moreland with KSBN appeared before the committee. The committee asked her about the review process the board had undertaken as a result of the committee directive to go back and review the cases in question. Moreland responded that their legal counsel advised them they were not able to re-open closed cases. The chair suggested that even if the case couldn't be re-opened, conversation and dialogue could have occurred.

The committee highlighted a proviso in the House budget that would establish the Nurse Fair Treatment and Recovery Fund, adding $1 million and limiting the ability to increase nurse licensure fees in fiscal year 2027. Moreland explained to the committee the fee fund is $1.9 million, expenditures are $4.2 million and the board had that in reserves and was saving for an upcoming licensure software planned expense. KSBN suggested they would also need to hire staff to implement House Bill 2528. Committee members questioned that if you cut back on license renewal investigations, you could free up staff to implement the legislation. Committee members asked for clarification on the ability to line-item veto from revisors staff, suggesting the line-item veto of the language would also require a line-item veto of the current $1 million in the KSBN budget.

KSBN discussed recent changes including, how it has revised licensure process tracking features, updating renewal notifications, assistance from National Council of Boards of Nursing e-notification system, which will be starting soon, additional communication about the licensure renewal process, making things more customer friendly and less legal and customer service training. The board discussed the committee work they did to decouple licensure issues from professional misconduct. The committee updated an internal policy to allow for 30 days to the re-instatement process following licensure expiration.

The committee also followed up on items related to diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, as well as voter registration information sent out by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and updates to the Community Corrections Funding formula.