Kansas agencies would check records to verify public assistance eligibility

Kansas agency leaders would arrange record comparisons to verify food assistance eligibility. The Kansas secretaries for children and families and health and environment would compare records for households enrolled in food assistance, child support services, Medicaid, and other public assistance programs. The secretaries would either enter agreements with commercial payroll data providers or submit commercial, state, and federal options to the Legislative Coordinating Council for approval. Commercial payroll agreements would obtain real-time employment and income records from employers or payroll providers, without using modeled estimates. The council option would require presenting choices before November 1, 2025. If enacted, the bill would take effect upon publication in the statute book.

Kansas agencies would regularly check records for changes affecting eligibility, and the children and families secretary would act on federal findings. State reviews would cover people or households enrolled in food assistance, child support services, Medicaid, and other public assistance programs. Federal reviews would assess continued eligibility. Lottery and gambling checks would identify households with winnings of at least $3,000. Agencies would treat those records as verified when federal law permits. If winnings records were not verified upon receipt, the department would refer them for investigation to identify households reaching the federal asset limit for elderly or disabled households. Reviews would occur at least monthly for deaths, out-of-state benefit card use, incarceration, gambling winnings, and federal records; quarterly for wage and tax records; and twice monthly for labor department records on employment, income, or assets.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families would publish food assistance investigation totals on its website. Reports would include investigation and prosecution referral totals, improper payments and recovered money, rates of improper payments and ineligible recipients among those reviewed, and benefit card spending in each other state. Reports would use combined totals that are nonconfidential and do not identify individual people. The department would post the information at least quarterly.