Kansas Republicans are accusing the state's aging and disability services agency of quietly moving roughly $24 million away from programs meant to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, even as the waiting list for those services has swelled to 5,357 people. Some Kansans seeking those services can wait as long as 10 years, and lawmakers say the money should have gone toward shrinking that backlog instead of being redirected elsewhere.
The dispute centers on the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which transferred approximately $24 million internally among disability service programs, according to reporting by Kansas Reflector. The money was drawn from unspent state appropriations tied to the I/DD and physical disability programs, and the reallocated funds were originally intended to support the 5,300 people on the state's intellectual and developmental disability waiting list, per the same report. KDADS directed roughly $19 million of that reallocated money toward frail elderly Kansans, and used the rest to expand aid for Kansans with severe brain injuries, frail elderly people, and people needing technology assistance for disabilities.
Legislature Says It Set a Clear Target
Republican lawmakers argue the money movement violated the Legislature's own intent. Lawmakers had adopted a budget proviso directing KDADS to reduce the I/DD waiting list to no more than 4,000 people, and the Kansas Legislature had included an expectation to reduce that waiting list in both the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 fiscal years, per Kansas Reflector's reporting.
Rep. Kyle Hoffman, who represents Coldwater, said the Legislature expected KDADS to cut the I/DD waiting list to 4,800 by the end of fiscal year 2024-2025 and to 4,000 by the end of fiscal year 2025-2026. Hoffman accused KDADS of misappropriating House Bill 2513 funds, a bill that was passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, and he said KDADS Secretary Laura Howard should not have treated prior committee discussions as formal permission to reappropriate the $24 million.
Rep. Kristey Williams, who represents Augusta, said agencies did not use the money as appropriated. House Speaker Dan Hawkins went further, accusing KDADS of engaging in a “blatant bureaucratic shell game,” according to the dossier's sourcing from The Lawrence Times, and criticized the agency for failing to present a strategic plan for eliminating the waitlist.
KDADS Defends a Transparent Process
Secretary Laura Howard has pushed back on the characterization, saying KDADS requested and received approval to use one-time funding and that the agency's actions regarding the funding were transparent. Howard said house and senate lawmakers endorsed the one-time funding movement through a transparent Medicaid-spending oversight process, and she noted every slot authorized by the Legislature was filled. Howard also said the budget proviso itself provides no funding to actually reduce the waiting list, and KDADS did not deny that money was specifically appropriated to add slots within the I/DD system, nor did the agency withdraw services from Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Not every lawmaker at the table sided with the sharpest critics. Sen. Rick Billinger, who represents Goodland, said I/DD service-delivery challenges had historically been framed as a lack of providers rather than insufficient state funding, a framing that complicates the simple narrative of an agency starving one program to feed another.
The Cost of Waiting, County by County
Sen. Pat Pettey, who represents Kansas City, Kansas, said reducing the I/DD waiting list requires direct state financing, and she noted each person removed from the waiting list creates an ongoing cost the state must sustain. Kansas currently provides financial support to 9,800 people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, even as the waitlist for additional services keeps growing. InterHab has reported 5,468 individuals on the I/DD waiting list, spanning Kansas counties.
State funding for new I/DD waiver slots has also been trending in the wrong direction, according to the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities: 500 new slots were funded in 2024, 200 in 2025, and zero for 2026. The council's executive director, Sarah Hart Weir, said in August that the decade-long waitlist stems partly from manual pen-and-paper intake procedures and from Secretary Howard simultaneously managing two separate state agencies, an administrative strain flagged by The Sentinel.
Where the Reallocated Money Actually Went
KDADS officially established a waitlist for the Frail Elderly Home and Community-Based Services waiver on July 6, citing legislative funding that failed to keep pace with demand, which helps explain why roughly $19 million of the reallocated funds landed there instead of the I/DD program. The agency did report some progress elsewhere: during the August 11-12 meeting of the Bob Bethell Joint Committee on HCBS and KanCare Oversight, KDADS said the state's Physical Disability waiver waitlist had been fully cleared, according to the Kansas Hospital Association.
Commissioner Michele Hayden, KDADS's Long-Term Care Commissioner, told lawmakers that a person called off the waitlist could need an updated disability assessment before a slot can be filled, per The Lawrence Times.
A New Waiver, and a Program Kansas Left Behind
Federal regulators approved a new option meant to ease pressure on the system. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved Kansas's new 1915(c) Community Supports Waiver, which is effective October 1, according to the Office of Governor Laura Kelly. The program is designed for individuals with lower support needs rather than as a full substitute for the existing I/DD waiver. According to Medicaid.gov, nearly all states and the District of Columbia offer services through home- and community-based waivers, with about 257 waiver programs currently operating nationwide.
At the same time, Kansas has stepped back from other federal support. The state officially withdrew from the federal Money Follows the Person rebalancing program effective July 1, ending a grant initiative that helped nursing home residents transition back into community-based care, according to Kansas Advocates for Better Care. That advocacy group has also reported on the financial stakes tied to moving people off waiting lists and into community settings, underscoring how quickly the state can provide community-based care.
The fight over the $24 million comes as Kansas Republicans renew their discontent with Governor Laura Kelly's administration over reallocating funds affecting Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Questions about provider pay, workforce shortages, and whether lawmakers will fund new I/DD slots remain unresolved.
