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HB 2404

Prohibiting certain sex offenders from entering onto school property or attending school activities and creating criminal penalties for violation thereof.

2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 2404 restricts certain adult sex offenders from school properties/activities, imposes penalties, adds 1,000-ft residency limits near schools, and allows limited relief petitions

Stricken from Calendar by Rule 1507
#crimes #punishmentandcriminalprocedure #schools
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Bill Summary · HB 2404

Summary — HB 2404 (Kansas, as amended by House Committee on Judiciary)

Status & Key Dates
- Introduced: February 4, 2025 (House Committee on Taxation; requested by Rep. Estes)
- Committee Report (Judiciary) recommending passage as amended: March 20, 2025
- Effective date (as written): July 1, 2025

Purpose
- To amend the Kansas Offender Registration Act to (1) prohibit certain adult registered sex offenders from entering school property or attending school activities, (2) impose criminal penalties for violations, (3) establish a 1,000-foot school-residency restriction for certain registrants, and (4) permit limited petitions for relief from registration for certain persons affected by prior retroactive registration rules.

Who is covered
- Registered sex offenders age 18 or older whose underlying conviction requiring registration was for a crime against a victim under age 18 (committee amendment sometimes references victims under age 16 in earlier language; the operative amendment applies to victims under age 18 as described in the committee report).

Main provisions
1. Prohibition on school presence
- Makes it unlawful for covered offenders to enter school property or attend a “school activity.”
- “School activity” examples include instructional time, after‑school care/tutoring, athletic events, dances/social events, field trips, plays/assemblies.
- “School property” is property with structures used by unified school districts or accredited nonpublic schools for K–12 instruction/preschool program use.

  1. Exceptions

    • Voting: may enter a school used as a polling place only to vote and must leave immediately after voting.
    • Religious services: may enter if the school property is being used for a religious service and must leave immediately after.
    • Enrolled students: covered persons who are enrolled students may attend; schools may take safety measures.
    • Parent/guardian: a parent/guardian of an enrolled student may be on school property if they comply with local school board monitoring procedures. Local boards may adopt such procedures, must publish them online, and must include a method to notify parents of approved plans at least 14 days before the covered person’s presence.

  2. Criminal penalties (as amended)

    • 1st conviction: severity level 8 person felony (committee amendment replaces earlier severity level references).
    • 2nd conviction: severity level 5 person felony.
    • 3rd or subsequent conviction: severity level 3 person felony.

  3. Residency restriction

    • Prohibits certain lifetime-registered sex offenders (age 18+, offense against victim <18) from residing within 1,000 feet of school property.
    • Measurement: from nearest edge of residence structure (including attached garage) to nearest edge of school property.
    • Exceptions: (a) residences occupied prior to July 1, 2025 (must notify registering law enforcement by July 31, 2025 and provide proof); (b) residences that become within 1,000 feet because a school was later built/acquired nearby (must notify within 7 days of the school being used for instruction).

  4. Petition for relief from registration

    • Allows certain people who became subject to registration retroactively (due to 2011 statutory changes) to petition for relief from registration after specified waiting periods (generally 10 years after most recent release/parole/discharge or 10 years from conviction if not confined). Out‑of‑state convictions that result in Kansas registration are excluded.

Fiscal and operational impacts (from Fiscal Note, March 17, 2025)
- Board of Indigents’ Defense Services: increased defense workload; estimates per-case State General Fund costs of roughly $4,752–$7,125 for severity level 5/6 cases and $8,253–$12,375 for severity level 3 cases; possible need for 1.0 FTE attorney and support staff depending on caseload.
- Judiciary: potential increase in district court filings and workload; additional docket-fee revenue possible but unquantified.
- Department of Corrections / Sentencing Commission: potential for increased prison admissions and bed needs; precise fiscal effect undetermined and not included in FY 2026 Governor’s Budget Report.
- Counties: potential increased legal expenditures. League of Kansas Municipalities reported no fiscal effect on cities.

Related/Procedural notes
- Companion bill: SB 1086.
- Local school boards obtain discretion to create monitoring procedures for parental/guardian exceptions and must publish and notify parents as described above.

This summary focuses on the Kansas HB 2404 package as amended by the House Judiciary Committee (March 2025). The bill text has been amended during committee consideration; readers reviewing later stages should confirm final language and severity‑level formatting in enrolled or enacted versions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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