Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas House Bill HB2762

Introduced

2/6/26

Refer

2/6/26

Report Pass

2/17/26

Engrossed

2/24/26

Refer

2/25/26

Report Pass

3/13/26

Caption

Modifying the crime of unlawful sexual relations to describe who is a person in a position of authority for a school.

Summary

HB 2762 amends Kansas’s unlawful sexual relations statute to expand and clarify who can be prosecuted when they engage in consensual sexual conduct with a person under their supervision or authority. The bill keeps the existing prohibitions covering correctional staff, parole and probation-related personnel, jail and juvenile facility workers, foster care personnel, and certain state agency employees, but it adds a specific category for school settings. Under the bill, a teacher or other person in a position of authority for a school commits unlawful sexual relations if they engage in consensual sexual intercourse, lewd fondling or touching, or sodomy with a student age 16 or older enrolled at the school where they work. The bill also defines “person in a position of authority for a school” more broadly, covering nonstudents who are delegated authority to interact with students and who are volunteers, service providers, contractors, or contractor employees. It further clarifies that “teacher” includes teachers, coaches, supervisors, principals, superintendents, and other professional school employees. The bill includes a narrow exception for a parent of the student, directing that other criminal provisions apply instead of this section in that circumstance. HB 2762 affects K.S.A. 21-5512 by amending and then repealing the existing version of the statute, while preserving the offense classification structure. Most violations under the statute remain severity level 5 person felonies, with one juvenile correctional facility-related provision classified as severity level 4. The bill also cross-references related sex-crime statutes to ensure that, when conduct fits a more specific offense such as rape or other sexual offenses, those statutes control instead of unlawful sexual relations. The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial. It passed the House 122-0 and the Senate 40-0, indicating unanimous approval in both chambers. The lack of recorded committee testimony in the provided materials suggests there was little visible opposition or public dispute during the legislative process. The main point of policy focus is the school-related expansion: supporters appear to have sought to close a gap by explicitly covering school volunteers, contractors, and other adults with delegated authority over students, not just traditional employees. Because the bill applies to consensual conduct involving students age 16 or older, any contention would likely center on the scope of adult authority in schools, the breadth of the new definition, and how the statute interacts with other sex-crime laws, though no direct opposition is reflected in the available record.

Impact

The bill amends Kansas criminal law in K.S.A. 21-5512 to broaden the definition of unlawful sexual relations and to add a detailed school-based category of prohibited conduct. It expands the list of covered authority figures to include teachers and other persons in a position of authority for a school, including certain volunteers, contractors, and service providers, and it clarifies the meaning of school-related terms. The measure preserves existing felony penalties and cross-references other sexual offense statutes so that more specific crimes govern when applicable.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have received broad bipartisan support and little to no visible opposition. It passed the House 122-0 and the Senate 40-0, which indicates unanimous approval in both chambers. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded debate to suggest significant controversy in the materials available.

Contention

The principal substantive issue is the expansion of criminal liability in school settings to adults beyond traditional employees, including volunteers, contractors, and others delegated authority over students. The bill also raises the question of how to treat consensual sexual conduct involving students age 16 or older and adults in positions of authority, and it includes a parent exception that could draw interpretive attention. No organized opposition or recorded disagreement is shown in the provided voting history or committee materials.

Latest KS HB2762 Activity

View All Events: KS 2025-2026 Regular Session HB2762

Companion Bills

No companion bills found.

Previously Filed As

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 SCR1604

Proposing to amend section 1 of article 11 of the constitution of the state of Kansas to limit property tax valuation increases for real property and personal property mobile homes.

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 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.

KS SB5

Authorizing counties to impose an earnings tax.

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.

Similar Bills

KS HB2749

Amending the crime of unlawful sexual relations to include persons in a position of trust or authority when such position is used to carry out the offense.

KS HB2479

Authorizing electronic monitoring with victim notification as a condition of release prior to trial for certain offenders charged with a domestic violence offense, domestic battery, stalking or violation of a protective order, modifying the culpable mental state required to commit the crime of breach of privacy and increasing the criminal penalties for certain violations of such crime, modifying the elements of the crime of blackmail related to threatened dissemination of any image, video or other recording of another identifiable person who is nude or engaged in sexual activity, describing who is a person in a position of authority for a school for the crime of unlawful sexual relations and increasing the penalties for the crimes of endangering a child and aggravated endangering a child if the child is less than six years of age.