Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas Senate Bill SB175

Introduced
2/4/25  
Refer
2/5/25  
Report Pass
2/17/25  
Engrossed
2/25/25  
Refer
2/25/25  
Report Pass
3/7/25  
Enrolled
3/18/25  

Caption

Updating the definition of athletic trainer and providing an exemption for those licensed in another state, District of Columbia, territory or foreign country to practice in Kansas.

Summary

SB 175 updates Kansas law governing athletic trainers. The bill revises the statutory definition of “athletic training” and clarifies that an “athletic trainer” is a person licensed under the act. It also modernizes the education language in the licensure qualifications by replacing the older requirement tied to a baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate degree with a major in athletic training with a requirement that the applicant complete the curriculum requirements of an accredited athletic training education program at an accredited college or university approved by the board. The bill also expands and clarifies pathways for out-of-state and internationally credentialed athletic trainers to obtain Kansas licensure without examination. The State Board of Healing Arts may issue a license without exam to applicants licensed, registered, or certified elsewhere if their standards are equivalent to Kansas, or to applicants who have practiced elsewhere and hold equivalent national certification. The bill also preserves an exemption for athletic trainers accompanying visiting teams or organizations, limiting them to services for the traveling team members. Temporary permits and practice-protocol requirements remain in place under the act.

Impact

SB 175 amends K.S.A. 65-6902, 65-6906, and 65-6907 and repeals the prior versions of those sections, thereby updating Kansas’s athletic trainer licensure framework. The practical effect is to broaden reciprocity and streamline licensure for qualified athletic trainers from other states, the District of Columbia, territories, and foreign countries, while keeping board oversight through equivalency determinations, disciplinary-history screening, fees, and practice-protocol requirements. The bill affects the State Board of Healing Arts, athletic trainer applicants, and visiting athletic trainers working with traveling teams in Kansas.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the Senate 40-0 and the House 121-1, indicating strong bipartisan approval and little visible opposition. The available record does not include committee testimony or debate, but the overwhelming votes suggest the measure was viewed as a routine professional licensure update rather than a contentious policy change.

Contention

The main policy issue in SB 175 is how broadly Kansas should recognize out-of-state and foreign athletic training credentials. Supporters likely favored easier mobility and workforce access for licensed professionals, while any potential concern would center on ensuring equivalent standards, protecting patient safety, and preserving board discretion to deny applicants with disciplinary issues. The bill’s exemption for trainers accompanying visiting teams is narrowly drawn, limiting them to the traveling team’s members, which reduces the chance of broader controversy over unlicensed practice.

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 HB2002

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

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 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 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 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 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 HB2004

Authorizing counties to propose an earnings tax for ballot question.

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