The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, or “KDADS,” spent $24 million earmarked by the Legislature for services for Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities on other programs, according to a release from Kansas Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins.
“The Legislature put money on the table to get Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities off the waitlist,” Hawkins said. “Instead, the waitlist grew while the Kelly Administration found millions of dollars to plug holes elsewhere. This looks like a blatant bureaucratic shell game, and families waiting years for services deserve answers. If money intended to help reduce the IDD waitlist was redirected to another waiver, Kansans deserve to know exactly how much, where it went, and who made that decision.”
The funds were intended for “Home and Community Based Services” for individuals with disabilities such as autism or Down Syndrome, among others.
The money was appropriated in 2024 for fiscal 2025 and apparently went unspent, and was then directed to the “Frail and Elderly Waiver” instead of being used to move Kansans off the waitlist.
This matters because the Kansas Legislature set a cap of 4,000 individuals on the IDD waitlist, and the current count is 5,348.
“The Legislature capped the I/DD waiting list at 4,800 in 2024 and then lowered the cap to 4,000 in 2025” Hawkins said Wednesday in an email statement. “Despite those clear directives, the waiting list has grown to approximately 5,348 Kansans, many of whom will wait eight to ten years for services. These caps were enacted into law. They were not suggestions the administration could ignore when they became inconvenient.”
KDADS claims to have permission, but Hawkins disagrees
Department of Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard — who is also in charge of KDADS — said in a release that during the most recent legislative session, KDADS “authority to use the $24 million in unused funds from the IDD appropriation and [Physical Disability] waiver savings to avoid creating waiting lists for other HCBS waivers, including the Frail Elderly (FE) and Brain Injury (BI) waivers.”
Howard said the legislature had not “adequately funded these waivers” and claimed the legislature had approved the expenditure.
The Sentinel asked Howard to provide proof the legislature had approved the transfer, but what her office offered as proof is not completely clear.
KDADS Spokesperson Erin La Row said that on January 30, 2026, Howard explained the reappropriations and told the legislature that “KDADS would use it for the other waivers, to cover overspending to avoid waitlists.”
However, on February 3, House Social Services Committee Vice Chair Will Carpenter, who also chairs the Robert G. Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight, made a motion to reappropriate “for people on the waitlist.”
Moreover, while Howard said the I/DD funds were used to “avoid creating waiting lists” for other waivers, on July 6, 2026, KDADS said in a release that a waitlist for the FE waiver had been created.
In an email statement, Hawkins took exception to Howard’s characterization.
Council on Developmental Disabilities confirms expanded waitlist
Sarah Hart Weir is the executive director of the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities, a federally funded independent state agency. She said in a phone interview that when the funds were appropriated, the waitlist was considerably shorter than it is currently.
“We’re currently at 5,300 individuals,” she said. “When those funds were appropriated, we were significantly less than that, and …. this is probably where maybe it gets a little vague for the layperson. Those funds were intended to fund spots under the IDD waiver waitlist.
“KDADS made the decision to allocate the remaining funds to other waivers that have far less waitlists or no waiver waitlists at all, and you know our concern is that one, those were intended to fund slots in our community. That’s what the legislature intended. Two, we are the only community that has a waiver wait list of 5,300 individuals waiting eight to 10 years for services, and three, the processes and the operations at KDADS are just taking way too long to fund these slots.”
During a recent meeting of the Bethell Committee, legislators expressed frustration with the money being diverted and the size of the waitlist.
Bethell Committee Chair, Rep. Will Carpenter, a Republican, said he was “disappointed the money was not used for its intended purpose.
“I was so disappointed last year when we found out that there was $24 million, and that was not offered to people out there,” Carpenter said. “That would have easily taken that waiver under 4,000. Okay, so I know some of the excuses that I’ve heard were that it takes a long time to process the application and all this kind of stuff. I visited with KDHE. They’re talking about (instances) where they could pre-qualify them for that if they knew. I’m just so disappointed that that money just sat there and was not distributed out into the slots, and I’ve not heard any answers that have even remotely given me any kind of comfort.”
Carpenter also took issue with how long it takes to get services to those who need them, when the Community Developmental Disability Organizations — which sign residents up for and administer services locally — know who needs the help.
“I’m just frustrated about how damn much time it takes for these folks to get approved when we have the money sitting there for these slots,” Carpenter said. “I’ve visited with the CDDOs; they know who these people are. They know more than KDADS knows about who these people are out there, and it’s just so frustrating for us to have enough money in the bank that we’ve appropriated, and we haven’t offered that for a slot.”
