Governor Laura Kelly is proposing a new state agency.
Kelly plans to combine the Department for Children and Families, the Department for Aging and Disability Services and the Department of Corrections’ juvenile services division. The new agency would be known as the Department of Human Services if approved by lawmakers.
The agency would oversee foster care, mental health services, four state hospitals and the juvenile justice complex. Laura Howard, the current director for KDCF and KDADS, would lead the new agency. Both Kelly and Howard say the main goal with this consolidation would be to make the overall system easier and more accessible for children and families. They also say it would encourage collaboration between agencies on matters like juvenile justice, mental health treatment and others.
Kelly plans to submit an executive order by the middle of February. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to approve the new agency.
6 am Wednesday: Governor announces KPERS restructuring option
Will the state cut payments to its pension system?
Governor Laura Kelly is offering a plan to extend the deadline for closing a long-term funding gap by a decade. This would mean sharply reduced payments to the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System, or KPERS, during that time, and KPERS believes that step could actually increase the overall cost of getting the pension fully funded by over $4 billion.
The state held off on paying into KPERS on several occasions last decade due to budget issues. It still owes KPERS close to $270 million in missed payments in addition to a roughly $9 billion long-term gap between funding and promised benefits.
Kelly floated a similar plan last year, but lawmakers refused.
