Brief⁽¹⁾

Sub. for H.B. 2077 would create on October 1, 1999, the Kansas Department of Health and the Kansas Department of the Environment and abolish the existing Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the position of Secretary of that Department.

The bill would transfer all the powers, duties, and functions of the existing Division of Health to the Department of Health and from the Division of Environment to the Department of Environment. Existing statutory duties, regulations, contracts, licenses, permits, orders, directives, and obligations of the department would remain in effect and be allocated as appropriate to one of the new departments. Current employees of KDHE who in the opinion of either the Secretary of Health or the Secretary of Environment are necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the new departments would be transferred to one of the new departments. Employees so transferred would retain all retirement benefits and all rights of civil service to which they were entitled prior to the transfer. Likewise, existing appropriations would be transferred to one of the new agencies to be used for the purpose for which the funds were originally appropriated. The transition plan would be jointly developed by the Governor and the Secretary of Health and Environment and would have to be completed by October 1, 1999.

The bill would authorize the Governor to appoint a Secretary as head of each of the two new departments. The secretaries would be subject to Senate confirmation. Each Secretary would be authorized to appoint classified and unclassified staff to carry out the duties of the department. Unclassified positions created by the bill for each department would be: assistant secretaries, chief attorney, staff attorneys, public information officer, personal secretary, and special assistant. Salaries of the unclassified positions would be fixed by the department heads with the approval of the Governor. All other positions authorized by the bill would be in the classified civil service. The bill would allow any current employee in a classified position that would be unclassified under the bill to remain in the classified service until he or she leaves the position. Once a vacancy occurs, that position would become unclassified. Under current law, the chief attorney, division heads, chief administrative officer of the Bureau of Oil Field and Environmental Geology, health officers, the public information officer, Secretary's personal secretary, and special assistant are unclassified positions.

The bill would abolish the office of Director of the Division of Health who, under existing law, must be a qualified physician with experience and educational training in the field of public health. Existing authority of the Director of Health would be assumed by the Secretary of Health. The bill also would abolish the position of the Director of the Division of Environment. Under current law, the Director of Environment must have experience and educational training in the field of environment. Existing authority of the Director of Environment would be assumed by the Secretary of Environment. The bill would abolish the office of laboratory services and statutes that transferred certain authority to the Secretary of KDHE when the Department was created in 1974 (K.S.A. 75-5602, K.S.A. 75-5604, and K.S.A. 75-5606).

The bill would become effective upon its publication in the Kansas Register.

Background

Representative Mayans, representatives of the Governor's Office, Sierra Club, and the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers testified in support of H.B. 2077 as introduced. A representative from the Kansas State Nurses Association testified in opposition to the bill.

A representative of the Governor's Office suggested amendments to the bill as introduced that would make all attorney positions unclassified, repeal a variety of statutes, make the bill effective upon publication in the Kansas Register, and make the separation effective October 1, 1999. The House Committee on Governmental Organization and Elections (HGO&E) adopted the suggested amendments and recommended the amended version for passage.

The House Committee of the Whole re-referred H.B. 2077 to the House Committee on Governmental Organization and Elections. That Committee created a substitute bill for H.B. 2077 that would make the effective date of the repealed statutes and the transition plan October 1, 1999, and would reinstate the statutory health programs and environmental statutes. The Committee also codified case law in the substitute bill that would require classified positions to remain classified until a vacancy occurs after the effective date of reorganization.

The Division of the Budget fiscal note states that The FY 2000 Governor's Budget Report separates the budget of KDHE into two parts. The health portion of the budget is $103,800,068 of which $21,265,949 is from the State General Fund. The fiscal note states that the number of FTE positions for health functions includes 439.5 classified and 80.7 temporary positions. The Environment portion budget totals $68,811,098 of which $9,210,401 is from the State General Fund. The number of FTE positions approved for environment functions include 397.5 classified and 71.5 temporary positions. The fiscal note states that the totals for each of these numbers would change with reorganization.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.