Topeka Buzz 🐝
Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Table of Contents

• Top Stories of the Day

  • 🐝🐝 HB 2437: Expands voter-list checks; limits pu …

  • 🐝🐝 SB 319: Creates property tax rebates when sal …

  • 🐝🐝 HB 2438: Limits websites that can submit vote …

  • Other New Bills Introduced

    • Business & Commerce

    • Criminal Justice

    • Elections & Government

    • Energy & Environment

    • Healthcare

    • Infrastructure

    • Natural Resources

    • Taxation

Top Stories of the Day

Over two dozen new bills were introduced yesterday, including two introduced in the House Committee on Elections that would affect election law for the 2026 election cycle.

🐝🐝 HB 2437: Expands voter-list checks; limits public access

HB2437 expands how Kansas verifies and cleans its voter registration lists and who it affects. Counties must send a confirmation notice when a registrant has no "election-related activity" for any four-calendar-year period. The bill also lets counties use new death and conviction data, and allows a notarized family attestation of death, to remove ineligible voters. This affects registered voters (especially infrequent voters), county election officers, the secretary of state, and people who use public records.

The secretary of state must obtain and share specific datasets on set schedules (duplicate checks, DMV address changes, SSA deceased lists, and USCIS noncitizen lists) and may use other public or private sources. The bill sets quick timelines for felony-related removals and makes the obtained data confidential under a Kansas Open Records Act exemption that sunsets July 1, 2031. The bill does not specify new funding; counties and the state will likely see added mailing and processing costs.

Read full analysis →

🐝🐝 SB 319: Creates property tax rebates when sales show overvaluation

This bill lets owners of certain residential or commercial property apply for a rebate when an arm's-length sale shows the sale price is less than 97% of the county appraised value. Eligible sellers may seek refunds for the sale year and up to four immediately preceding tax years. Home sellers, commercial property sellers, county appraisers, county treasurers, and local taxing districts are affected.

Applicants file with the county appraiser by December 20 of the year after the sale. The rebate equals the excess tax paid over what would have been due if the sale price had been used as the appraised value, excluding other refunds or credits. County appraisers decide claims with an appeal to the State Board of Tax Appeals. After final approval, county treasurers pay rebates and charge the original taxing funds; the change applies to qualifying sales on or after July 1, 2026.

Read full analysis →

🐝🐝 HB 2438: Limits websites that can submit voter registrations

HB2438 restricts online voter registration in Kansas so people may only use a .gov website or a non-.gov site approved by the Kansas Secretary of State. The change affects Kansans who register online, county election offices that must screen and reject noncompliant electronic applications, the Secretary of State who must set approval rules, and third-party groups that provide registration tools.

To get Secretary of State approval, a site must use industry-standard security (including encryption), confirm that each application reached the correct county office, and not sell, share, store, or transmit applicant data except to the county election office. The Secretary of State must adopt implementing rules by January 1, 2027; the bill leaves many approval and enforcement details to that future rulemaking and does not specify funding, though administrative costs for state and county offices are likely.

Read full analysis →

Other New Bills Introduced

Business & Commerce

• 🐝🐝 SB 316: Allows the state bank commissioner to set up a Kansas nonprofit to offer consumer financial education, grants, and scholarships. The group can take donations, get money from a settlement fund, and accept certain fines as donations with approval.

• 🐝🐝 SB 323: SB 323 says paid or payable pay—wages, bonuses, commissions, or other compensation—counts as "earnings" when applying wage garnishment limits. This clarifies what pay can be withheld and affects workers, creditors, employers, and courts.

• 🐝 SB 331: Removes a Kansas law that set rules for paying checks and other negotiable instruments on Saturday afternoons or holidays. Banks, businesses, and courts will instead rely on other laws, contracts, or bank policies for timing questions.

Criminal Justice

• 🐝🐝 HB 2444: The bill stops the same jail days from reducing multiple consecutive sentences, makes new felonies by people already under felony supervision presumptive prison and consecutive, and sets high minimum secured bonds unless a judge decides otherwise.

• 🐝🐝 SB 326: Kansas would let officers certify a failed alcohol or drug test when they had reasonable grounds to believe a person was operating or attempting to operate a vehicle. That could make administrative license suspension more likely even if driving wasn’t observed.

Elections & Government

• 🐝 HB 2446: Deletes the rule that required treasurers’ names in many political ad attributions and disclaimers. Sponsors and a responsible person still must be named; penalties and other disclosure rules remain.

Energy & Environment

• 🐝🐝 HB 2439: Kansas would ban geoengineering and weather modification statewide. Violators could face felony charges and large fines; airports must report certain aircraft, and KDHE would handle enforcement and public reporting.

Healthcare

• 🐝🐝 SB 330: SB330 requires insurers and reviewers to use secure electronic systems for prior authorizations, sets faster decision deadlines, and bars many prior authorizations for emergency, maternity, and NICU care. It adds provider appeal rights and public reporting.

• 🐝🐝 SB 328: Gives schools the authority to keep stock epinephrine auto-injectors and lets pharmacists supply them to a school with a prescription in the school's name. Trained staff or nurses may use them for anyone showing anaphylaxis; schools must train and track supplies.

• 🐝 HB 2436: The bill expands Kansas' Good Samaritan immunity to cover using an expired emergency opioid antagonist (up to 10 years past expiration) when someone seeks or renders help during a suspected opioid overdose. It doesn't change medical guidance or add funding.

• 🐝 SB 322: This bill removes the State Board of Pharmacy’s power to add new types of people who can look up Kansas prescription monitoring data. Only the staff job types listed in law can be delegates, which may change who runs PDMP checks for clinicians.

• 🐝 SB 327: This bill lets the Bob Bethell joint committee hold its January and April meetings when the Legislature is not in session. It keeps the committee’s duties, meeting limits, and annual reporting unchanged.

Infrastructure

• 🐝🐝 SB 324: Drivers cannot use a hand-held mobile phone in school zones when reduced speeds are enforced or in road construction zones while workers are present. Officers must issue warnings until July 1, 2027; later violations may carry a $60 fine, with hands-free and emergency exceptions.

• 🐝 SB 325: Stops drivers from using license-plate covers or frames that hide or reduce a plate’s visibility or reflectivity. Defines when a plate is “clearly legible,” keeps existing mounting and cleanliness rules, and applies statewide on publication.

• 🐝 SB 318: Kansas drivers must use turn signals when moving right or left within a roundabout or when exiting one. The bill defines “roundabout” and ties signaling rules to existing traffic laws to reduce confusion.

• 🐝 SB 321: Designates the I-35/US-69 and 18th Street Expressway interchange in Johnson County as the 'Representative Robert M. Tomlinson memorial interchange.' KDOT will install memorial signs; no changes to traffic rules or roadway operations.

Natural Resources

• 🐝🐝 SB 317: SB317 requires most applicants for state water grants to show a 25-year water supply (unless the project creates a new long-term source), bans grant funding for water-right impairment disputes, sets a Sept. 15 deadline, and adds a 7-factor scoring system.

Taxation

• 🐝🐝 SB 320: Starting in the 2026 tax year, the bill would let Kansas businesses exempt commercial and industrial machinery bought or moved into the state on or before June 30, 2006 from property tax. Local governments may see lower personal property revenue.

• 🐝🐝 HB 2442: The bill makes Kansas liquor manufacturers that sell to distributors use a three-factor formula (property, payroll, sales) to assign corporate income to Kansas instead of the statewide single-sales-factor. That may raise taxes for producers with big in-state facilities and payroll.

• 🐝🐝 SB 329: SB 329 requires county appraisers to file a single-property appraisal report at State Board of Tax Appeals valuation hearings. If a taxpayer gives a qualifying appraisal, the county must produce its own within 90 days and may bear the burden to dispute it.

• 🐝🐝 HB 2445: Kansas would let residents subtract payments to qualifying health care sharing ministries and exclude certain shares received from state taxable income starting in tax year 2027. The Department of Revenue will set claim rules; fiscal impact is unknown.

• 🐝🐝 HB 2443: Local tax rules could change for new Kansas gas storage facilities: those built after Jan 1, 2026, inside a single county and not crossing state lines would not be classed as public utilities for property tax, possibly altering assessments and local revenues.

• 🐝 HB 2441: Kansas will let corporations claim an existing corporate income tax credit for costs tied to compressed or liquefied natural gas (CNG/LNG) vehicles and fueling equipment. Credit rules and caps stay the same; state revenue may fall if adoption rises.

• 🐝 HB 2440: Owners of oil leases that already qualify for a state tax exemption would no longer have to file a formal exemption request with the county appraiser and Board of Tax Appeals, cutting paperwork and speeding recognition of exempt status.

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