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HB 2076

Reducing the authorized amount of days that a child may be placed in a secure facility and eliminating the court's option to extend such authorization.

2025-2026 Regular Session

Reduces court-ordered secure facility placement from 60 to 45 days (after July 1, 2025) and eliminates extensions, speeding decisions and tightening placement options.

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Bill Summary · HB 2076

Summary — HB 2076 (Kansas, 2025)

Title: Reducing the authorized amount of days that a child may be placed in a secure facility and eliminating the court's option to extend such authorization
Introduced: January 24, 2025
Primary sponsor/requestor: Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care / Laura Howard, Secretary for Children and Families
Statutory target: Amend K.S.A. 38-2260 (Kansas Code for Care of Children)
Status: Referred to Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care

Main purpose

To shorten the maximum period a court may authorize placement of a child in a secure facility from 60 days to 45 days, and to remove the court’s ability to grant extensions of that secure-care authorization.

Key provisions and changes

  • Amends K.S.A. 38-2260(f)(3): for authorizations granted after July 1, 2025, the authorization to place a child in a secure facility shall expire 45 days (previously 60 days), inclusive of weekends and legal holidays.
  • Eliminates the court’s prior option to grant two additional extension periods (each up to 60 days) of secure-care authorization upon rehearing/issuance.
  • Leaves intact existing procedural protections in K.S.A. 38-2260: ex parte orders when probable cause exists, preliminary hearing within 24 hours, evidentiary hearing within 72 hours, placement hearing if violation adjudicated, limits on facility types (no adult jails/lockups), and payment only upon valid court order.
  • Repeals the existing version of K.S.A. 38-2260 and enacts the amended section.

Who or what would be affected

  • Children in the custody of the Secretary for Children and Families (or otherwise subject to court-ordered placements) who are taken into custody for violating an order to remain in placement.
  • Custodians and the Department for Children and Families (DCF)/Secretary — authority to place children in secure facilities is time-limited.
  • Courts and guardians ad litem — continue to conduct the required hearings but will operate within the shortened maximum custody window.
  • Secure youth residential facilities — shorter maximum placements may change admission/length-of-stay planning.
  • Parents, foster parents, and other placement providers involved in reunification or permanency planning.

Procedural/timeline aspects

  • The 45‑day limit applies to authorizations issued after July 1, 2025.
  • Existing expedited timelines for hearings remain (preliminary within 24 hours; evidentiary within 72 hours).
  • The bill repeals the prior statute and becomes effective following publication in the statute book (per the bill text).

Fiscal note

  • Kansas Division of the Budget (Jan. 28, 2025): DCF indicates enactment would have no fiscal effect on the agency; the Judicial Branch reports a negligible fiscal effect on the courts.

Potential impacts and considerations

  • Reduces the maximum period a youth can be held in secure care, which advocates may view as limiting unnecessary detention and encouraging faster permanency planning or alternative placements.
  • Removes judicial flexibility to extend secure placements, potentially increasing pressure on DCF and local providers to identify nonsecure placements more quickly.
  • Fiscal note projects no material budgetary impact, but operational effects (placement workload, coordination with private facilities) could vary locally.
  • Does not change standards for probable cause, hearings, or the criteria that secure placement be used only after other options are exhausted.

Note: Multiple unrelated legislative documents from other states with the same bill number (HB 2076) were present in source materials; this summary addresses the Kansas bill amending K.S.A. 38-2260 as described above.

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

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