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Introducing the 🐝 Rating System
To help you quickly understand the potential significance of proposed legislation, we've introduced 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 🐝
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Below is today’s morning update on published activities in the Kansas Legislature.
Table of Contents
Top Stories of the Day
Proposals Target Public Assistance Restrictions
The Kansas Legislature introduced several bills aimed at restricting or reducing public assistance and wildlife management. Notably, SB 79, introduced in the Senate, proposes restricting the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to prohibit purchases of candy and soft drinks, reflecting ongoing debates about nutrition and public health policy.
Besides focusing on welfare optimization, the bill introduces a requirement for Kansas benefits cards to include recipient photographs for identification, linking their use to eligibility and regulations compliance. It mandates comprehensive checks against false claims in welfare applications and ensures that benefits are distributed only to eligible individuals through responsible channels.
Debate Intensifies on Pronoun Use in Education
One of the more contentious bills introduced on January 27, SB 76, known as the "Given Name Act," would require school and postsecondary institution employees to use names and pronouns matching a student's biological sex as listed on their birth certificate. The bill, introduced by the Senate Education Committee, also includes provisions for legal action in cases of non-compliance.
Ban on Guaranteed Income Programs
House Bill 2101, introduced by the Committee on Welfare Reform, takes aim at guaranteed income programs in Kansas, which provide individuals with regular, unconditional cash payments. The proposed legislation prohibits cities and counties from implementing such programs and nullifies any pre-existing programs established before July 1, 2025. This bill represents a clear policy shift, steering public assistance away from unconditional cash support.
Bills and Resolutions
UPDATE: Summaries of these bills are now published on DataHive. The links below go directly to each bill’s writeup.
New Bills Introduced
House Bills:
🐝🐝 HB 2093: Extends filing limit for childhood abuse damages.
🐝🐝 HB 2098: The bill establishes tax exemptions for nonprofit services and goods.
🐝 HB 2095: Regulates water well and pump installation contractors.
🐝🐝 HB 2097: Tax credits for wildlife habitat management.
🐝🐝 HB 2101: Prohibited guaranteed income programs in Kansas cities/counties.
🐝🐝 HB 2091: Enhancing voter registration opportunities for discharged inmates.
🐝 HB 2092: Amends registration processes for professional employer organizations.
🐝🐝 HB 2094: Authorize e-cigarettes in vending machines.
🐝 HB 2096: Authorizes transfer of Kansas housing investor tax credits.
🐝 HB 2099: Mandates code inspections for subsidized rental housing.
Senate Bills:
🐝🐝🐝 SB 75: Education tax credit for private school children.
🐝 SB 77: Revise administrative rules regulation and agency review processes.
🐝🐝 SB 79: Prohibit food assistance for candy and soft drinks.
🐝 SB 80: Eliminates nonresident landowner deer permit issuance.
🐝🐝 SB 81: Restricts economic rates for large utility facilities.
🐝🐝 SB 82: Grants waivers for rural hospital nursing facilities.
🐝🐝 SB 83: Extends voting rights to extraterritorial residents.
🐝 SB 84: Expands criminal use of cards to include gift cards.
🐝🐝 SB 76: Mandates pronoun use based on birth sex, requires consent.
🐝 SB 78: Mandates accreditation policy reviews by postsecondary institutions.
House Concurrent Resolutions:
🐝🐝 HCR 5006: Amendment recognizing and extending right to bear arms.
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House of Representatives
Session Highlights for January 27, 2025
The House, presided over by Speaker pro tem Carpenter, convened at 11:00 a.m.
Roll Call:
Attendance not explicitly noted in the journal.
No excused absences reported.
Notable Bills Introduced:
HB 2094: Authorizes electronic cigarette vending.
HB 2095: Updates water well license rules.
HB 2096: Enables transfer of tax credits.
HB 2097: Wildlife habitat tax credit program.
HB 2098: Tax exemption for community theaters.
HB 2099: Code inspections for subsidized rentals.
HB 2100: HIV prophylaxis dispensing protocols.
HB 2101: Prohibits guaranteed income programs.
Bill Actions:
Committee Assignments:
Rep. Wilborn replaced Rep. Huebert on General Government Budget.
Rep. Ballard replaced Rep. Curtis on Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget.
Additional Notes:
Adjournment occurred with the next session scheduled for January 28, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.
Senate
Session Highlights for January 27, 2025
The Senate, presided over by President Ty Masterson, convened at 2:30 p.m.
Roll Call:
36 senators were present.
Absent were Senators Holscher, Shallenburger, Shane and Titus.
Notable Bills Introduced:
SB 76: Require names/pronouns per birth certificate.
SB 77: State agency regulation revocation notices.
SB 78: Review/update accreditation in education.
SB 79: Prohibit candy/soda food assistance.
SB 80: Eliminate nonresident deer permits.
SB 81: Public utility economic rate rules.
SB 82: Waivers for rural emergency hospitals.
SB 83: Voter franchise for extraterritorial zones.
SB 84: Criminal use of financial cards.
Bill Actions:
SB 75 referred to the Education Committee.
Additional Notes:
Guest chaplain Doug Henkle delivered the invocation.
Next session scheduled for January 28, 2025, at 2:30 p.m.
Upcoming House and Senate Actions
(January 28, 2025)
House
Session Time: 11:00 AM
Committee Updates:
Appropriations (9:00 AM): Budget reports from Agriculture and Natural Resources, Legislative Budget, and Social Services Budgets, covering entities such as the Kansas Corporation Commission, Legislative Coordinating Council, and state hospitals.
Federal and State Affairs (9:00 AM): Meeting on call of the chair (no scheduled hearings).
Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications (9:00 AM): Presentations on rural broadband by Pioneer Communications and the oil and gas industry by KIOGA.
Veterans and Military (9:00 AM): Guest speaker Bill Turner, Executive Director, Kansas Offices of Veterans Services.
Water (9:00 AM): Presentation on water updates by Jay Kalbas, Kansas Geological Survey.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget (1:30 PM): Budget recommendations for the Kansas State Fair and hearings on the State Water Plan, Kansas Water Office, and Kansas Department of Agriculture.
Commerce, Labor and Economic Development (1:30 PM): Final action on previously heard bills and a hearing on HB 2092 regarding professional employer organization registration.
Corrections and Juvenile Justice (1:30 PM): Request for bill sponsorship (no hearings scheduled).
Education (1:30 PM): Presentation on the Foster Care Report Card by KDSE and Department for Children and Families representatives.
Health and Human Services (1:30 PM): Hearing on HB 2071, the “help not harm act” addressing gender-transition-related medical practices.
Higher Education Budget (1:30 PM): Budget hearing for Washburn University and discussions on previously heard budgets.
Transportation (1:30 PM): Hearing on HB 2030, excluding certain trailer dealers from licensing act provisions.
Welfare Reform (1:30 PM): Presentation by Joe Espinoza, Inspector General, Kansas City Social Security Office.
Agriculture and Natural Resources (3:30 PM): Kansas commodity reports covering corn, soybeans, wheat, and grain sorghum.
General Government Budget (3:30 PM): Budget hearings for the Board of Barbering and State Board of Cosmetology, with recommendations on these budgets.
Judiciary (3:30 PM): Hearing on HB 2061, defining critical infrastructure facilities for trespassing and criminal damage laws.
K-12 Education Budget (3:30 PM): Presentation of KSDE budget enhancements, Board of Education recommendations, and Governor's priorities.
Social Services Budget (3:30 PM): Continuation of public testimony for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Taxation (3:30 PM): Final action on HB 2011 to decrease school district ad valorem tax rates.
Transportation and Public Safety Budget (3:30 PM): Budget recommendations for agencies including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, State Fire Marshal, and State 911 Board, and hearings on corrections facilities.
Elections (3:30 PM): Hearings on HB 2018, allowing active military members to serve as poll workers regardless of residency, and HB 2057, requiring legislative approval of gubernatorial appointments for certain vacancies.
Senate
Session Time: 9:00 AM
Committee Updates:
Agriculture and Natural Resources (8:30 AM): Presentations from the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission, Wheat Commission, Corn Commission, and Soybean Commission.
Public Health and Welfare (8:30 AM): Hearing on SB 63, the “help not harm act,” focusing on restrictions for gender-transition-related medical care for minors.
Transportation (8:30 AM): Hearing on SB 9 to extend the time for filing certain U.S. public land survey reports and a presentation by Kansas Secretary of Transportation Calvin Reed.
Assessment and Taxation (9:30 AM): Briefings on property tax constitution overview and tax credits, abatements, and exemptions by legislative staff.
Government Efficiency (9:30 AM): Presentation on the Office of Medicaid Inspector General.
Local Government, Transparency and Ethics (9:30 AM): Hearings on SB 2 validating a school bond election in Greeley County and SB 7 increasing township bond limits.
Federal and State Affairs (10:30 AM): Hearing on SB 5 prohibiting the use of certain federal funds for elections without legislative approval.
Judiciary (10:30 AM): Hearing on SB 53, concerning attorney members of county law library boards and permissible use of fees.
Ways and Means (10:30 AM): Briefing on House Appropriations Committee budget actions and a hearing on SB 14, providing for continuous state budgets.
Utilities (1:30 PM): Updates on rural broadband by Pioneer Communications and Kansas oil and gas by KIOGA.
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