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Minutes for HB2734 - Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care
Short Title
Requiring expedited procedures for children who are under two years of age at the time that a petition is filed requesting such child be adjudicated to be a child in need of care, requiring permanency for such a child within 12 months and directing the secretary to report on such expedited procedures.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 16, 2026
The Chair reopened the hearing on HB2734.
Jessie Pringle, Assistant Revisor, Bill Brief, written-only. (Attachment 2)
Susan Humphries, Representative, District 99 gave proponent testimony and spoke of the importance of early years of childhood and the impact of uncertainty and instability. (Attachment 3)
Kristalle Hedrick, CEO, Children's Alliance of Kansas gave proponent and spoke of timelines with terminations and continuances. (Attachment 4)
Kerrie Lonard, Child Advocate, OCA, gave proponent, but urged the committee to consider timing of hearings, presence of siblings, allocation of resources, and language used in other states. (Attachment 5)
The conferees all stood for questions from the committee.
Sara Hortenstine, Executive Director, State Child Death Review Board, submitted written-only proponent testimony. (Attachment 6)
Sarah Goble, Private Citizen, submitted written-only opponent testimony. (Attachment 7) (Attachment 8)
Kate Zigtema and Rae Nicholson, Private Attorneys, submitted written-only opponent testimony. (Attachment 9)
Tanya Keys, Deputy Secretary, DCF, gave neutral testimony, and spoke on the need for reasonable efforts language and other technical language changes that could be made. (Attachment 10) There were no questions from the committee.
The Chair closed the hearing on HB2734.
