Topeka Buzz 🐝
Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Table of Contents

• Top Stories of the Day

  • The House Elections Committee wants to elect Gover …

    • Why That Matters

    • The Fine Print

    • Constitutional Questions

    • Part of a Pattern

    • What Happens Next

• New Bills Introduced

  • 🐝🐝🐝 High Impact

  • 🐝🐝 Medium Impact

  • 🐝 Low Impact

  • Not Rated

• Floor Votes

• Committee Actions

  • Agriculture and Natural Resources

  • Assessment and Taxation

  • Child Welfare and Foster Care

  • Commerce

  • Commerce, Labor and Economic Development

  • Corrections and Juvenile Justice

  • Education

  • Elections

  • Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications

  • Federal and State Affairs

  • Financial Institutions and Insurance

  • Financial Institutions and Pensions

  • Government Efficiency

  • Health and Human Services

  • Higher Education Budget

  • Insurance

  • Judiciary

  • K-12 Education Budget

  • Legislative Modernization

  • Local Government

  • Local Government, Transparency and Ethics

  • Public Health and Welfare

  • Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs

  • Taxation

  • Transportation

  • Transportation and Public Safety Budget

  • Utilities

  • Veterans and Military

Top Stories of the Day

The House Elections Committee wants to elect Governor with an Electoral College

Most days, I rely on BillBee and other monitoring tools to flag the most important activities of the prior day and use those to substantially prepare this newsletter. Yesterday's action, though, goes beyond anything we've tracked in two years of covering Kansas politics.

HCR 5027 proposes replacing the direct election of Kansas Governor and Lieutenant Governor with an electoral college. Under this system, voters in each of the 40 state senate districts would effectively be choosing an elector…not a governor. Those 40 electors would then cast the actual votes for our state’s top executive office.

If that sounds familiar, it's modeled on how we elect the President. But with one critical difference: each senate district's elector would carry equal weight, regardless of population. (It’s also unconstitutional.)

Why That Matters

Kansas senate districts vary significantly in population density. Rural western Kansas districts and suburban Johnson County districts each get one elector under this proposal, despite representing vastly different numbers of voters. This is intentional.

The proposal also includes a failsafe for the majority party: if no candidate pair wins 21 electoral votes, the Legislature elects the governor in a joint session, with each legislator casting one vote. Given the current supermajority dynamics in Topeka, this framework would likely cement one-party control of the governor's mansion for a generation—regardless of statewide popular vote totals.

The Fine Print

You won't find much about HCR 5027 on the Legislature's website yet. At the time of this writing, the draft language appears only on page 1,709 of the House daily journal. Here's the full text:

Constitutional Questions

As a constitutional amendment, HCR 5027 would need two-thirds approval from both chambers before appearing on a statewide ballot. Voters would then decide.

But even if passed through that process, the proposal may face legal challenges. Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution guarantees states a "Republican Form of Government"—language the Supreme Court has historically avoided interpreting, but which scholars argue requires some baseline of representative democracy. Whether an electoral college that can override the popular vote meets that standard is an open question.

There's also the matter of the Kansas Constitution's own Bill of Rights, Section 1: "All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Courts have historically read such provisions as foundational to equal voting power.

Part of a Pattern

HCR 5027 doesn't exist in isolation. This session has seen an unprecedented wave of election-related legislation, much of it now law:

Already signed:

• SB 4: Advance ballots must arrive by 7 p.m. Election Day (no more postmark grace period)

• SB 5: Blocks federal election funds without legislative approval

• HB 2020: Requires DMV to send quarterly lists of noncitizen license holders to election officials

• HB 2106: Bans out-of-state contributions to Kansas constitutional amendment campaigns

• SB 105: Governor must pick replacements for U.S. Senate, state treasurer, and insurance commissioner from a three-name list approved by a new legislative committee

Moving through the House:

• HB 2438: Limits online voter registration to .gov websites

• HB 2452: Move local elections to even-numbered years

• HB 2525: Bans remote drop boxes for advance ballots

And that's before counting the 23 other bills referred to the House Elections Committee this year alone.

What Happens Next

HCR 5027 is currently in the House Elections Committee. As a constitutional amendment, it faces a higher procedural bar than ordinary legislation, but in a supermajority environment that bar is not insurmountable.

We'll be watching.

New Bills Introduced

🐝🐝🐝 High Impact

Business & Commerce

• SB 471: Raise Kansas minimum wage to $16/hr

Healthcare

• SB 457: Expands Medicaid to adults up to 138% FPL

Housing

• HB 2641: Requires govt to pay property owners for regulatory takings

🐝🐝 Medium Impact

Business & Commerce

• SB 463: Bars certain negligence claims; narrows security duty

• SB 462: Limits public nuisance lawsuits and centralizes AG control

• HB 2671: Requires accounts and age checks for AI chatbots

• HB 2649: State-run payroll IRA for private workers

• HB 2657: Require parental consent for under-16 social accounts

• HB 2648: Tightens rules for social media ad and caller ID fraud

• HB 2650: Limit noncompetes; void after business sale

Criminal Justice

• SB 456: Creates $125M Kansas law enforcement trust fund

• HB 2658: Limits police from hiding faces on duty

• SB 454: Increases penalties for foreign-directed crimes

• SB 469: Limits police face coverings; requires policies

• HB 2639: Rename juvenile crisis centers, expand stabilization care

• SB 459: Postpone parole if victims not notified; expand board

• HB 2654: Limits traffic-citation sanctions to 5 years

• HB 2655: Let municipal courts run specialty programs and seal records

• SB 452: Includes federal officers and buildings in Kansas laws

• SB 461: Registers drug distributors who cause great harm or death

• HB 2653: State must help inmates get IDs and job records

Education

• HB 2656: State pays schools to give free breakfast and lunch

• HB 2661: Bars foreign-adversary funding and groups on campuses

• HB 2660: State adopts stricter literacy rules, funds reading plan

• HB 2663: Shift cohort to 4th grade, ties at-risk aid to results

• SB 458: Freeze state test cut scores at 2024 levels

• HB 2673: Establishes teacher rights and school discipline plans

• HB 2662: Requires annual student safety and awareness month

• HB 2637: Boards must consider Community Eligibility for school meals

Elections & Government

• HB 2659: Requires hand counts of paper ballots for audits/recounts

• HB 2640: State checks voter rolls against federal SAVE twice a year

• SB 450: State can pay employees for reporting fraud

Energy & Environment

• HB 2674: Bans sale of many consumer products with added PFAS

• HB 2669: Blocks condo rules from banning rooftop solar

Healthcare

• HB 2668: Requires insurers to expand access to pain treatments

• SB 467: Ban AI-only medical denials; require clinician review

• SB 464: Licenses anesthesiologist assistants in Kansas

• HB 2676: Pharmacists may start treatment for flu, strep, UTI

Housing

• SB 466: Limits landlords' use of old eviction records

• HB 2667: Give tenants first chance to buy rentals

• HB 2666: Limits landlord late fees; requires tenant disclosures

• HB 2665: Tenants can end leases mid-cycle for safety breaches

Infrastructure

• HB 2647: KDOT authorized to build statewide fiber conduit

• HB 2664: Allows private on-site power campuses for industry

Public Safety

• SB 453: Blocks foreign access to Kansas critical infrastructure

Social Services

• HB 2646: Bars paid veterans-claims fees; requires counseling

• SB 468: Allows cities to create guaranteed income programs

• HB 2651: Expands when paternity acknowledgments can be challenged

Taxation

• SB 470: Exempts residential electricity from sales tax

• HB 2643: Allows Butler County to seek sales tax for property tax relief

• HB 2644: Appraisers must review big post-appeal property value jumps

• SB 455: Restores renters' eligibility for homestead refunds

• HB 2645: Extends college contribution tax credit to 2031

🐝 Low Impact

Agriculture

• SB 465: Require county approval for LLP dairy and swine farms

Business & Commerce

• HB 2670: Stops streaming ads from being louder than shows

• HB 2675: Establishes Kansas–Italy trade commission

Criminal Justice

• SB 460: Allow municipal probation IDs for replacement licenses

Elections & Government

• HB 2652: Publish monthly lists of overdue appellate decisions

• SB 451: Require vendor services in campaign finance reports

Social Services

• HB 2638: Require foster children get rights notice and acknowledgment

• HB 2672: Updates outdated disability terms in state law

Taxation

• HB 2642: Removes obsolete GILTI subtraction from Kansas income tax

Not Rated

Uncategorized

• SR 1725: Recognizing Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, for their outstanding service to the citizens of our state, our nation and the international community and their promotion of scholarship, service and advocacy

Floor Votes

• HB 2471: PASS (120 Yes, 0 No, 5 Absent). Designates a stretch of I-35 in Franklin County as the “Deputy Sam Smith Memorial Highway” and adjusts the 35th Infantry Division memorial limits on I-35 so they don’t overlap; KDOT will install signs after required steps. No change to traffic rules.

Committee Actions

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Bills Referred (2)

• SB 465: Require county approval for LLP dairy and swine farms

• HB 2476: Treats EPA pesticide labels as meeting Kansas warnings

Assessment and Taxation

Bills Referred (2)

• SB 470: Exempts residential electricity from sales tax

• SB 455: Restores renters' eligibility for homestead refunds

Child Welfare and Foster Care

Bills Referred (2)

• HB 2638: Require foster children get rights notice and acknowledgment

• HB 2639: Rename juvenile crisis centers, expand stabilization care

Commerce

Bills Referred (1)

• SB 471: Raise Kansas minimum wage to $16/hr

Commerce, Labor and Economic Development

Bills Referred (6)

• HB 2675: Establishes Kansas–Italy trade commission

• HB 2669: Blocks condo rules from banning rooftop solar

• HB 2666: Limits landlord late fees; requires tenant disclosures

• HB 2667: Give tenants first chance to buy rentals

• HB 2650: Limit noncompetes; void after business sale

• HB 2665: Tenants can end leases mid-cycle for safety breaches

Corrections and Juvenile Justice

Bills Referred (3)

• HB 2655: Let municipal courts run specialty programs and seal records

• HB 2654: Limits traffic-citation sanctions to 5 years

• HB 2653: State must help inmates get IDs and job records

Education

Bills Referred (9)

• SB 458: Freeze state test cut scores at 2024 levels

• HB 2663: Shift cohort to 4th grade, ties at-risk aid to results

• SB 440: Authorizes private special education training pilot

• SB 438: Boards must consider CEP for free school meals

• SB 437: Creates task force to design outcomes-based funding

• SB 441: Allows private ABA therapy in schools

• HB 2637: Boards must consider Community Eligibility for school meals

• HB 2662: Requires annual student safety and awareness month

• HB 2673: Establishes teacher rights and school discipline plans

Bills Reported Out (2)

• HB 2420 (bill be passed as amended): Requires parental consent for school mental health services

• HB 2468 (bill be passed as amended): Joins federal SGO tax credit and doubles state credit cap

Elections

Bills Referred (3)

• HCR 5027: Proposing to amend article 1 of the constitution of the state of Kansas by adding a new section establishing a system of electing the governor and the lieutenant governor by creating a state electoral college whereby each state senatorial district would have a vote in selection of the governor and the lieutenant governor.

• HB 2640: State checks voter rolls against federal SAVE twice a year

• HB 2659: Requires hand counts of paper ballots for audits/recounts

Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications

Bills Referred (2)

• HB 2664: Allows private on-site power campuses for industry

• HB 2670: Stops streaming ads from being louder than shows

Federal and State Affairs

Bills Referred (6)

• SB 452: Includes federal officers and buildings in Kansas laws

• SB 454: Increases penalties for foreign-directed crimes

• SB 453: Blocks foreign access to Kansas critical infrastructure

• SB 451: Require vendor services in campaign finance reports

• SB 449: Prohibits Geoengineering and Weather Modification

• HB 2641: Requires govt to pay property owners for regulatory takings

Financial Institutions and Insurance

Bills Referred (2)

• SB 467: Ban AI-only medical denials; require clinician review

• SB 435: KPERS elects vice chair; new employers pay actuarial rates

Bills Reported Out (2)

• SB 300 (bill be passed): Blocks state receivership for failed tech fiduciaries

• SB 331 (bill be passed): Repeals Saturday/holiday rule for negotiable payments

Financial Institutions and Pensions

Bills Referred (2)

• HB 2648: Tightens rules for social media ad and caller ID fraud

• HB 2649: State-run payroll IRA for private workers

Bills Reported Out (2)

• HB 2515 (bill be passed as amended): Protects consumers at virtual currency kiosks

• HB 2497 (bill be passed): Ban prepayment penalties after six months on many home loans

Government Efficiency

Bills Referred (3)

• SB 450: State can pay employees for reporting fraud

• SB 432: Removes dentist 20% in‑office presence rule

• HB 2004: Seward County may seek 0.5% sales tax for roads

Health and Human Services

Bills Referred (3)

• HB 2672: Updates outdated disability terms in state law

• HB 2676: Pharmacists may start treatment for flu, strep, UTI

• HB 2674: Bans sale of many consumer products with added PFAS

Higher Education Budget

Bills Referred (2)

• HB 2660: State adopts stricter literacy rules, funds reading plan

• HB 2661: Bars foreign-adversary funding and groups on campuses

Insurance

Bills Referred (1)

• HB 2668: Requires insurers to expand access to pain treatments

Judiciary

Bills Referred (14)

• SB 460: Allow municipal probation IDs for replacement licenses

• SB 463: Bars certain negligence claims; narrows security duty

• SB 466: Limits landlords' use of old eviction records

• SB 462: Limits public nuisance lawsuits and centralizes AG control

• SB 469: Limits police face coverings; requires policies

• SB 459: Postpone parole if victims not notified; expand board

• SB 461: Registers drug distributors who cause great harm or death

• SB 456: Creates $125M Kansas law enforcement trust fund

• HB 2652: Publish monthly lists of overdue appellate decisions

• SB 443: Limit residential evictions to specified causes

• SB 446: Exempts attorney-supervised social workers from some reporting

• SB 447: Creates statewide domestic violence task force

• SB 442: Raises felony level for intentional disease exposure

• HB 2651: Expands when paternity acknowledgments can be challenged

K-12 Education Budget

Bills Referred (1)

• HB 2656: State pays schools to give free breakfast and lunch

Legislative Modernization

Bills Referred (2)

• HB 2671: Requires accounts and age checks for AI chatbots

• HB 2657: Require parental consent for under-16 social accounts

Local Government

Bills Reported Out (1)

• HB 2433 (bill be passed): State replaces county control of water transfers

Local Government, Transparency and Ethics

Bills Referred (3)

• SB 468: Allows cities to create guaranteed income programs

• SB 444: Gives cities power to inspect and abate unsafe interiors

• SB 436: Raises county construction public-bid threshold to $100K

Public Health and Welfare

Bills Referred (3)

• SB 464: Licenses anesthesiologist assistants in Kansas

• SB 457: Expands Medicaid to adults up to 138% FPL

• SB 448: Allows treating partners for STDs without exam

Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs

Bills Referred (2)

• SB 433: Ban paid veterans-benefits fees and unsafe contracts

• SB 434: Expands veteran sales-tax exemption for disabled

Taxation

Bills Referred (4)

• HB 2645: Extends college contribution tax credit to 2031

• HB 2643: Allows Butler County to seek sales tax for property tax relief

• HB 2644: Appraisers must review big post-appeal property value jumps

• HB 2642: Removes obsolete GILTI subtraction from Kansas income tax

Transportation

Bills Referred (3)

• HB 2471: Names I-35 segment in Franklin County for Deputy Sam Smith

• SB 445: Directs KHP and KBI to assist line-of-duty funerals

• HB 2647: KDOT authorized to build statewide fiber conduit

Bills Reported Out (2)

• HB 2542 (bill be passed): Designate portion of U.S. 56 as Bill Tucker Memorial

• SB 324 (bill be passed): Ban hand-held phone use in school & work zones

Transportation and Public Safety Budget

Bills Referred (1)

• HB 2658: Limits police from hiding faces on duty

Utilities

Bills Referred (1)

• SB 439: Standardizes utility crossings of railroad rights-of-way

Veterans and Military

Bills Referred (1)

• HB 2646: Bars paid veterans-claims fees; requires counseling

Have any ideas or feedback, just let us know!