Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas House Bill HB2720

Introduced
2/5/26  

Caption

Enacting the Kansas surrogate medical decisions act to establish a hierarchy for identifying a surrogate who would make healthcare decisions and provide associated definitions and provider guidelines.

Impact

The implementation of HB 2720 will significantly influence existing state laws governing medical decision-making and patient rights. By enacting a structured approach to surrogate decision-making, the bill will help improve clarity for healthcare providers, patients, and families. This structured hierarchy reduces ambiguity when identifying decision-makers, potentially leading to quicker and more informed decisions about patient care.

Summary

House Bill 2720, titled the Kansas Surrogate Medical Decisions Act, seeks to establish a clear hierarchy for identifying surrogates who would make healthcare decisions on behalf of individuals unable to do so themselves. This bill is aimed at enhancing the decision-making process in healthcare settings by providing defined roles and responsibilities for surrogates, while also setting forth guidelines for healthcare providers on how to navigate surrogate decision-making. By doing so, it intends to ensure that patient autonomy and preferences are respected even when they are incapacitated.

Conclusion

Overall, while HB 2720 provides a framework that could streamline the healthcare decision-making process, it also necessitates a careful consideration of ethical implications and the actual decision-making power afforded to surrogates. Stakeholder feedback, particularly from medical and ethical perspectives, will be critical in shaping the final provisions and ensuring that patient rights remain at the forefront of surrogate decision-making.

Contention

Notably, discussions around HB 2720 have raised points of contention concerning how surrogate decision-makers are designated and the extent of their authority. Critics have expressed concerns about the potential for conflicts between the wishes of the patient and the decisions made by surrogates. This issue raises ethical questions regarding autonomy and the adequacy of consent, which are central to medical ethics. Additionally, there is apprehension regarding the impact on vulnerable populations who may rely heavily on surrogate decision-makers to advocate for their needs.

Companion Bills

No companion bills found.

Previously Filed As

KS HB2002

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

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 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 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 SB6

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

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 SCR1602

Approving the creation of a port authority in Wyandotte County Kansas.

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 SR1702

A resolution honoring the life, career and trailblazing achievements of Kansas icon Ed Dwight.

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