Comment 10 for bug 206176

I believe I have solved this, but would like feedback before closing the bug.

This bug appears to be the result of the new way in which Kate handles plugins and settings, which is called "sessions".
When using sessions, the plugins will change dynamically based upon the file opened. This however must be manually configured by the user and the default session has no plugins enabled.

If you want to have a set of default plugins that are loaded every time Kate is run, then enable all the plugins you would like to have in your default session. After this, select "sessions" from the menu, then select "save as default". This will cause Kate to keep your plugins preferences.

Alternatively Kate can be reconfigured to the "old behavior" by following the recommendations of the Kate handbook.
http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdesdk/kate/fundamentals-using-sessions.html