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Topeka Buzz: Friday, February 7
Tax and budget proposals pass the Senate with systemic changes in store for Kansas state budgets and property values.
Jason Anderson
February 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
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The 🐝 Rating System
Each bill is evaluated based on four key factors: Scope of Impact, Financial Impact, Urgency, and Controversy. These factors are weighted to reflect their influence on the bill's overall importance. Here's how the ratings break down:
🐝 Minimal Impact: Legislation with limited reach or lower urgency and controversy.
🐝🐝 Moderate Impact: Proposals with a broader or more notable influence, addressing issues of medium urgency or financial significance.
🐝🐝🐝 High Impact: Bills with widespread consequences, urgent needs, or significant public and political attention.
Daily Legislative Update 🐝
Friday, February 7, 2025
Below is today’s morning update on published activities in the Kansas Legislature.
Table of Contents
Top Stories of the Day
Major tax and budget proposals pass the Senate
Two of the earliest items filed this session were SB 14 and SCR 1603. Both would have major financial impacts:
SB 14 creates a “continuous state budget” mechanism that makes all state appropriations automatically continue as-is into the next fiscal year, in the event the legislature does not pass an explicit budget. The proposal is strongly endorsed by Americans for Prosperity; it has the potential to be extremely destabilizing to some departmental operations, particularly in situations where there are disagreements between the legislature and the governor that lead to a budget negotiations deadlock.
SCR 1603 implements a California-style “Prop 13” limit on property tax valuation increases. It restricts residential assessed values from increasing more than 3% per year, including during the sale or transfer of property. This would disconnect property values from their assessed values; for example, home buyers whose lenders require assessed values to meet or exceed the negotiated purchase price of a home may find that much more difficult.
Should SCR 1603 clear the House as well, it will place the issue on the ballot (and likely trigger significant marketing campaigns, both for and against the measure).
New BillBee Feature: Bill Categories!
You may have noticed that the Topeka Buzz list of newly introduced bills has started organizing the bills into topical categories. You can now filter the bill list on billbee.ai with these same tags:
Category dropdown on billbee.ai makes it easier to find bills of interest
Bills and Resolutions
UPDATE: Summaries of these bills are now published on BillBee. The links below go directly to each bill’s writeup.
Bills Under Consideration
House Bills on the Floor for Consideration
Senate Bills on the Floor for Consideration
Final Action on Bills and Concurrent Resolutions:
Consent Calendar (Bills Eligible for Fast-Track Approval):
New Bills Introduced
House Bills:
Government Organization, Elections, and Public Administration:
🐝🐝 HB 2313: Prohibits AI platform access on state-issued devices.
Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and Corrections:
🐝🐝 HB 2312: Excludes certain offenders from drug treatment programs.
Taxes, Fiscal Policy, and Economic Development:
🐝🐝 HB 2318: Income tax rate decreases hinge on revenue exceeding projections.
Healthcare and Public Health:
🐝🐝 HB 2310: Supports disability workforce development programs and services.
🐝🐝 HB 2314: Establishes peer support certification standards in healthcare.
🐝 HB 2315: Designates September 9 as FASD awareness day.
🐝 HB 2316: Establishes funds for civil penalty reinvestment.
🐝 HB 2317: Establishes the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders task force.
Child Welfare, Family Services, and Social Assistance:
🐝🐝 HB 2311: Prohibits conflicting child placement policies with religious beliefs.
Transportation and Infrastructure:
🐝🐝 HB 2319: Permits digital driver's licenses and identification cards issuance.
Education:
🐝🐝 HB 2320: Transfer and attendance rights for foster children in schools.
Senate Bills:
Taxes, Fiscal Policy, and Economic Development:
🐝🐝 SB 223: Authorize sales tax for school facility financing in Russell County.
🐝🐝 SB 224: Tax credit for healthcare training preceptors.
🐝 SB 225: Counties must buy certain homesteads at appraised value.
🐝 SB 226: Allows deductions for losses from wagering transactions.
🐝🐝 SB 227: Historic structures tax credit varies by city size.
Healthcare and Public Health:
Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and Corrections:
Child Welfare, Family Services, and Social Assistance:
Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources:
🐝🐝 SB 233: Establishes decommissioning requirements for wind and solar facilities.
Labor, Employment, and Workers’ Rights:
🐝🐝 SB 229: Terminates occupational licenses every five years unless extended.
Government Organization, Elections, and Public Administration:
Insurance and Financial Regulation:
Transportation and Infrastructure:
🐝🐝 SB 230: Allows digital driver's licenses and ID cards.
Agriculture:
🐝🐝 SB 235: Bans sale of neonicotinoid-coated seeds from 2028.
Senate Resolutions:
Education:
🐝 SR 1708: Designate February 5, 2025, as Early Childhood Advocacy Day.