Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas House Bill HB2499

Introduced
1/21/26  

Caption

Requiring persons convicted of or given diversion agreements for driving under the influence offenses to attend victim impact panel programs.

Summary

HB 2499 would require courts, beginning January 1, 2027, to order people convicted of DUI-related offenses to attend an in-person victim impact panel program approved by the court, with an online option allowed only if in-person attendance is not practicable. The same requirement would also apply to people who enter diversion agreements for DUI offenses. The bill allows the nonprofit running the panel to charge up to $100 for attendance. The bill also amends Kansas DUI and commercial DUI statutes to incorporate the new victim impact panel requirement into sentencing and diversion provisions. It updates K.S.A. 8-1567, K.S.A. 8-2,144, K.S.A. 12-4416, and K.S.A. 22-2909 to require alcohol and drug evaluations, preserve existing penalties and enhancement rules, and ensure diversion agreements for alcohol-related offenses include the panel requirement. The bill retains current rules on fines, community service, supervision, license consequences, prior-conviction counting, and related reporting to state agencies.

Impact

HB 2499 would change Kansas criminal procedure and DUI sentencing by making victim impact panel attendance a mandatory post-conviction or diversion condition for DUI and commercial DUI cases. It would affect defendants convicted under state DUI law, local ordinance or county resolution equivalents, and people entering diversion agreements in alcohol-related cases. The bill also directs courts to approve nonprofit-run panel programs and permits a fee of up to $100, while leaving existing DUI penalties, evaluation requirements, and driver’s license consequences largely intact.

Sentiment

The available record shows no committee transcript or vote history, so there is no documented debate or recorded roll-call sentiment to assess. Based on the bill’s structure and caption, the measure appears to be a public-safety and accountability proposal aimed at adding an educational/victim-awareness component to DUI dispositions rather than changing core punishment levels. Because no discussion or votes are provided, overall legislative sentiment cannot be determined from the supplied materials.

Contention

The main policy issue apparent from the text is the new mandatory victim impact panel requirement, especially the shift from optional or locally administered practices to a statewide court-ordered condition for both convictions and diversions. Potential points of contention include the cost to defendants, the requirement that panels be approved nonprofit programs, and the preference for in-person attendance with online attendance allowed only when impracticable. The bill also preserves strict DUI sentencing rules and limits plea bargaining to avoid mandatory penalties, which may be viewed as either necessary deterrence or as reducing judicial and prosecutorial flexibility.

Companion Bills

No companion bills found.

Previously Filed As

KS HB2003

Establishing the veterans' valor property tax relief act providing for an income tax credit or refund for eligible individuals, modifying the definition of household income and increasing the appraised value threshold for eligibility of seniors and disabled veterans related to increased property tax claims and citing the section as the homeowners' property tax freeze program, providing property tax exemptions for certain personal property including watercraft, marine equipment, off-road vehicles, motorized bicycles and certain trailers, excluding internal revenue code section 1031 exchange transactions as indicators of fair market value, providing for certain exclusions from the prohibition of paying taxes under protest after a valuation notice appeal and providing four prior years' values on the annual valuation notice.

KS HB2001

Authorizing the secretary of commerce to enter into agreements with major professional sports franchises to establish STAR bond projects for a major professional sports complex, providing for additional revenue sources, expanding the powers and discretion of the secretary and making other changes to the STAR bonds financing act to facilitate such projects, limiting the secretary’s authority to approve such projects to one year unless extended by the legislative coordinating council, authorizing the Kansas development finance authority to issue STAR bonds for such projects, transferring funds under certain circumstances from the state gaming revenues fund to the attracting professional sports to Kansas fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and, if approved by the legislative coordinating council, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.

KS HB2002

Expanding medical assistance eligibility and enacting the cutting healthcare costs for all Kansans act.

KS SB4

Requiring all advance voting ballots be returned by 7:00 p.m. on election day.

KS SB1

Modifying income tax rates for individuals, exempting all social security benefits from Kansas income tax, increasing the Kansas standard deduction and the Kansas personal exemption, increasing the income tax credit amount for household and dependent care expenses, decreasing the privilege tax normal tax, excluding internal revenue code section 1031 exchange transactions as indicators of fair market value for property tax valuation purposes, increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy, providing for certain transfers to the state school district finance fund and abolishing the local ad valorem tax reduction fund and the county and city revenue sharing fund.

KS SB2

Eliminating the income limit to qualify for the subtraction modification exempting social security benefits, increasing the income tax credit amount for household and dependent care expenses, establishing the veterans' valor property tax relief act providing for an income tax credit or refund for eligible individuals, citing the increased property tax homestead refund claim section as the homeowners' property tax freeze program, decreasing the normal privilege tax rate, increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy, decreasing the rate of ad valorem tax imposed by a school district; providing for certain transfers to the state school district finance fund, reducing the state rate of tax on sales of food and food ingredients and modifying the percent credited to the state highway fund from revenue collected.

KS SB6

Providing a sales tax exemption for sales of electricity to residential premises by municipally owned or operated utilities.

KS SB8

Exempting the sale of firearms, firearms accessories, ammunition, firearm safes and firearm safety devices from the retatilers' sales tax.

KS SB7

Authorizing federally licensed firearm dealers, in addition to county sheriffs, to receive applications for concealed carry licenses and forward such applications to the attorney general, prohibiting sheriffs from assessing any fee related to application services and allowing dealers to assess a fee related to application services not to exceed $20.

KS HB2004

Authorizing counties to propose an earnings tax for ballot question.

Similar Bills

No similar bills found.