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Read. Follow. Verify.Kansas SB 188 sets mandatory $50,000 cash or surety bail for specific drug, gang, and racketeering offenses
Last action · April 10, 2026: Died in Committee
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What This Bill Proposed
This failed Kansas bill would have required a minimum $50,000 cash or surety bail and restricted personal recognizance or for individuals charged with manufacturing controlled substances, possessing precursors with intent to manufacture, certain drug paraphernalia offenses, criminal street gang felonies, and racketeering. It also updated statutory references from recognizance programs to unsecured judicial release programs across multiple criminal statutes.
Changes pre-trial release terms by removing standard unsecured release options for specific high-level felony charges unless strict judicial findings, supervision, or drug treatment agreements are met, directly affecting defendants facing drug manufacturing, gang-related, and racketeering charges in Kansas courts.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Defendants charged with drug manufacturing or racketeering
Defendants facing specified drug, gang, or racketeering charges face mandatory minimum cash or surety bail requirements of at least $50,000 and stricter limitations on unsecured pre-trial release.
Kansas District Courts
Courts must make specific on-the-record determinations if granting exceptions to mandatory bail floors and must update program administration from recognizance to unsecured judicial release.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum bail required for individuals charged with manufacturing controlled substances under the bill?
Are there exceptions that allow unsecured release for defendants facing these charges?
Does the bill apply to criminal street gang members?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died in committee.
Procedural history
4 actions- Apr 10, 2026SenateDied in Committee
- Feb 13, 2025SenateHearing: Thursday, February 13, 2025, 10:30 AM — Room 346-S
- Feb 5, 2025SenateCommitteeReferred to Senate Committee on Judiciary
- Feb 4, 2025SenateIntroducedIntroduced
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Systemic Replacement of Recognizance Terminology
The legislation systematically amends multiple Kansas statutes to replace references to 'release on recognizance' with 'unsecured judicial release' alongside mandatory bail floors.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.kslegislature.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 65)
- Controversy75Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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