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Minutes for HB2349 - Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice

Short Title

Creating a mechanism to seek relief from the Kansas offender registration act requirements, decreasing criminal penalties for failure to register, allowing courts to waive fees associated with registration, reducing number of places a person is required to register and eliminating registration for most juvenile adjudications.

Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 22, 2021

Chair Jennings opened the hearing on HB2349.

Natalie Scott, Assistant Revisor, gave an overview of the HB2349 and the statutes affected. (Attachment 1) The revisor stood for questions.

Scott Schultz, Executive Director, Kansas Sentencing Commission, submitted a HB2349 Prison Bed Impact Assessment for Committee review. (Attachment 2)

Judge Ben Sexton testified in support of HB2349 providing information on the background and makeup of the Kansas Judicial Council and its Advisory Committee on Sex Offenses and Registration that started in the fall of 2018. The Advisory Committee has completed its reform study and HB2349 contains all the Advisory Committee’s offender registration recommendations. (Attachment 3)

Seth Wescott testified in support of HB2349 as a comprehensive bill that is evidence-based and enacts policies that are backed by science not the myths. (Attachment 4)

Jennifer Roth testified in support of HB2349 in its entirety but pointed to three areas specifically that address penalties for registration violations, changes to the drug registry, and changes to a certain category in the definition of “violent offender.” Ms. Roth briefly recounted the history and evolution of Kansas’ offender registration creation, requirements, and changes and concluded with the recommendation from the Judicial Council and the reasons why the change is warranted. (Attachment 5)

Representative Susan Humphries testified in support of HB2349 stating it is time to make some changes to our outdated core statutes for three key reasons: data, common sense, and people. (Attachment 6)

Ed Klumpp testified in opposition of HB2349 stating while some of the proposed changes seem reasonable others seem too dramatic and therefore could not support HB2349 as written. (Attachment 7)

Special Deputy Sheriff Greg Smith testified opposing HB2349 echoing the Kansas Sheriff’s Associations’ testimony presented by Ed Klumpp and wanted to point out states will lose 10% of their funding for each year of non-compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). While registry modifications appear appropriate, Government, Veteran, and Crime Victim Affairs oppose HB2349 in its current form. (Attachment 8)

All participants were available for questions from the Committee.

Written only opponent testimony for HB2349 was submitted by Sheriff Jeffrey T. Easter. (Attachment 9)

Written only neutral testimony for HB2349 was submitted by Leslie Moore, Information Services Division Director, Kansas Bureau of Investigation. (Attachment 10)

Chair Jennings called for final questions from the Committee.

The hearing on HB2349 was closed.

The next Committee meeting will be Tuesday, February 23, 2021.

The meeting adjourned at 3:07 p.m.