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- Topeka Buzz: January 21, 2026
Topeka Buzz: January 21, 2026
A proposed constitutional amendment to overhaul Kansas redistricting rules, a bill opening college campuses as public forums for free speech, and delaying the expiration of school finance formulas from 2027 to 2028 ("Gannon").
Jason Anderson
January 21, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes
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Topeka Buzz 🐝
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Table of Contents
Top Stories of the Day
🐝🐝 SCR 1618: Limits when and how Kansas redraws legislative maps
This proposed constitutional amendment would change how Kansas draws district maps and when the Legislature may pass redistricting laws. If approved by voters, it would affect all Kansas voters, the Legislature, candidates and incumbents, minority communities, and election officials by creating binding rules for congressional, state legislative, and state board of education districts.
The amendment requires use of the most recent U.S. decennial census and its geography, sets a ±5% population deviation cap for state senate, house, and board districts (and requires congressional districts be as equal as possible), bars maps that purposefully dilute minority voting strength, and lists traditional criteria (contiguity, compactness, respecting cores and communities of interest, avoiding incumbent pairings, and voter clarity). It also limits reapportionment bills to the regular or special sessions in the constitutional reapportionment year or when a court orders a map change. The measure would go to voters in November 2026; fiscal impacts are expected to be minor and mainly administrative, though litigation or longer-term costs are uncertain.
🐝🐝 HB 2472: Opens outdoor campus forums, limits speech controls
HB2472 (the FORUM Act) says outdoor areas of Kansas public colleges and technical schools are public forums. It lets people and invited speakers do lawful, noncommercial speech outdoors without prior approval unless the activity seriously disrupts campus operations. Student groups cannot be denied recognition, space, funding, or communication channels because of their beliefs or membership rules.
The bill requires colleges to publish all speech-related policies, train faculty, staff, and campus law enforcement, and send annual reports to the Legislature and Governor about speech restrictions, disruptions, lawsuits, and any money paid for damages or fees. People and student organizations can sue in district court; courts must order compliance for violations and may award up to $5,000 per violation and, in some cases, attorney fees. Institutions are expected to cover compliance costs from their operating budgets.
Supporters say the bill prevents viewpoint discrimination, ends so-called free speech zones, and protects online speech. Opponents worry it will limit colleges’ ability to manage harassment, safety, and serious disruption, and could increase lawsuits and costs. The proposal is controversial and could change how campuses handle speakers, protests, and online student expression.
🐝🐝 SB 347: Shift county election duties from commissioners to clerks
SB347 ends new appointments of county election commissioners after July 1, 2026 and says that when a county election commissioner's office becomes vacant, the county clerk will take over all election duties in that county. This affects voters, current election commissioners, county clerks, and the Secretary of State in counties that now have an appointed commissioner (generally larger counties).
The transfer happens vacancy by vacancy: duties, records, and files must move from the commissioner to the county clerk, and the clerk must run elections under the standard county-clerk election law. The bill does not spell out new statewide funding; costs are likely administrative and would fall mostly to county election budgets as offices and staff shift roles.
🐝🐝 SB 342: Extend school finance law sunset to 2028
SB342 moves the expiration date of the Kansas school equity and enhancement act from July 1, 2027 to July 1, 2028. This affects Kansas public school districts, the Kansas State Department of Education, state budget planners, and indirectly K-12 students and families by preserving the current school finance framework for an extra year. The bill does not change how money is distributed or alter program requirements; it only extends the law’s duration.
Floor Votes Today
Over two dozen bills are scheduled for a vote today; four of those are House votes on previously-passed Senate bills:
SCR 1603 requires a two-thirds majority in the House. If passed, it would put the issue on the November ballot this year.
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New Bills Introduced
Agriculture
🐝🐝 HB 2476: HB2476 says a pesticide label that matches EPA health or cancer findings will count as meeting Kansas warning and labeling rules. It affects manufacturers, farmers, workers, consumers, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, and related lawsuits.
🐝 SB 344: Gives pounds the authority to place sick, injured, or newborn impounded animals in foster homes during the required three-business-day hold and requires shelters to post a photo at the shelter and online if the animal is offsite.
Criminal Justice
🐝🐝 HB 2479: Expands pretrial electronic monitoring for people charged with domestic violence, stalking, or protective-order violations, sending real-time location alerts to protected persons and police. Victims must consent; defendants pay monitoring costs.
Education
🐝🐝 SB 343: SB343 would block Kansas state and local public money from paying for college or training programs the federal government labels “low-earning outcome programs.” The Board of Regents must adopt rules, update them yearly, and report to the Legislature.
Elections & Government
🐝🐝 SB 346: SB 346 lets Kansas courts stop repeat civil lawsuits filed by current or former family, household, or dating partners when those suits are found to be abusive. Courts can dismiss cases, require plaintiffs to pay fees, and block new filings for 48–72 months.
🐝 SB 345: Breastfeeding mothers would no longer be automatically excused from jury duty. They could request a postponement of at least one year or choose to serve and receive reasonable accommodations.
Healthcare
🐝 HB 2478: The bill clarifies that advanced practice registered nurses and registered nurse anesthetists must be included in criminal-history and fingerprint checks when applying for Kansas nursing licenses. Applicants may face fingerprinting, processing time, and a Board-set fee.
Infrastructure
🐝 HB 2471: 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.
Natural Resources
🐝🐝 HB 2477: Requires the Kansas Department of Agriculture to post a public map and full applications for new water diversions and point-of-diversion moves over 300 feet, and to notify landowners within half a mile. Notice duty shifts to the state and may raise scrutiny and admin work.
🐝🐝 HB 2473: The bill makes 18 the minimum age to consent to marriage in Kansas, removing all exceptions that allow minors to marry. It also clarifies the three-day waiting period by excluding Sundays, holidays, and days the clerk’s office is closed.
🐝🐝 HB 2480: The bill lets licensed social workers skip required abuse or neglect reports when the information comes only from their work under an attorney in criminal, civil, domestic, or juvenile cases. Attorneys can require confidentiality; no new funding.
Taxation
🐝 HB 2481: Adds many 1-bedroom short-term rentals and single-room brokers to local transient guest tax rules, which could raise local lodging tax collections and add filing duties for small hosts and booking platforms.
🐝 HB 2474: If a public utility’s total Kansas appraised value drops more than 5% from the prior year, the state must review or audit its appraisal and post the findings. Utilities, the Department of Revenue, and local taxpayers may see more work and more transparency.
🐝 HB 2475: The bill makes purchases of goods and services by Radical Life Inc., a Lyon County 501(c)(3), exempt from Kansas sales tax, lowering the nonprofit's costs. State and local sales tax revenue would fall by an unknown, likely small amount.
Committee Actions
Taxation
Bills Re-referred (1)
HB 2005: Starting with 2025 tax returns, Kansas would give a refundable income tax credit equal to 50% of property taxes paid on a veteran’s main home to those the VA rates totally disabled or unemployable. Claimants cannot also take homestead or SAFE‑SR refunds for the same year.
Hearings Calendar
Assessment and Taxation (Senate): 9:30 AM • 548-S
Education (House): 1:30 PM • 218-N
HB 2468: Doubles Kansas scholarship tax-credit cap, joins federal credit
Health and Human Services (House): 1:30 PM • 112-N
HB 2436: Includes expired naloxone (up to 10 years) in immunity law
Agriculture and Natural Resources (House): 3:30 PM • 112-N
HB 2476: Treats federal pesticide labels as meeting Kansas rules
Judiciary (House): 3:30 PM • 582-N
House Floor
SCR 1604 (Final Action): Kansas asks Congress to call a states' convention
HB 2065 (Final Action): Sets Kansas rules for Article V convention delegates
HB 2013 (Final Action): Ends state sales tax on cable and subscriber TV
HB 2057 (Final Action): Legislature picks shortlist for key vacancy appointments
HB 2098 (Final Action): Exempts nonprofit community theaters from sales tax
HB 2132 (Final Action): AN ACT concerning children and minors; relating to the revised Kansas code for care of children; modifying the definition of neglect; prohibiting the removal of a child from such child's home due solely to a lack of financial resources; determining when a law enforcement officer may or shall take a child into custody; requiring the secretary for children and families to provide means for a law enforcement officer to refer potential cases of abuse or neglect and that the secretary provide a response to such referrals within 24 hours; requiring that facts of serious harm demonstrate more than one fact of certain listed facts; allowing the court to consider the participation of parents in services when determining whether a child shall be removed from such child's home; amending K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 38-2202, 38-2231, 38-2234 and 38-2243 and repealing the existing sections.
HB 2159 (Final Action): Adds naloxone grants for police, drops pharmacy protocol
HB 2163 (Final Action): Tax credit for health preceptors in care homes
HB 2236 (Final Action): Creates statewide school mental health intervention teams
HB 2376 (Final Action): State takes over cereal malt beverage licensing
HB 2387 (Final Action): Extends Cedar Crest donation tax credit to 2036
HB 2393 (Final Action): Extends court add-on fees to fund staff until 2030
HB 2404 (Final Action): Bars certain sex offenders from school grounds
HCR 5006 (Final Action): Make gun rights a fundamental right in Kansas
HCR 5015 (Final Action): Urges U.S. DOE to give block grants to Kansas
SB 10 (Final Action): Exempts watercraft and certain personal vehicles from property tax
SB 51 (Final Action): Exempts sales tax for large data center construction
SB 52 (Final Action): Provides tax credits and sales-tax breaks for film
SCR 1603 (Final Action): Limits annual taxable property value increases to 3%
Senate Floor
Third Reading:
SB 263: Sets trauma-informed rules for school active shooter drills
HB 2340: Exempts some Johnson County owners from pesticide cleanup costs
SB 184: Double drycleaner surcharge; raises deductible, penalties
HB 2396: AN ACT concerning property taxation; relating to property tax revenues of taxing jurisdictions; authorizing the use of a protest petition to limit funding of a taxing jurisdiction by property tax revenues above a certain amount; establishing the acknowledging stewardship of tax revenue and appropriations (ASTRA) fund and authorizing certain transfers from the state general fund to qualifying cities and counties; requiring reporting by the state treasurer of the cities and counties that receive transfers; eliminating the revenue neutral rate requirements by taxing subdivisions and the taxpayer notification costs fund; amending K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 72-5137, 79-1801 and 79-2929 and repealing the existing sections; also repealing K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 79-2988 and 79-2989.
SCR 1606: Approves Wyandotte County port authority creation
HCR 5008: Legislature gains power to approve or revoke agency rules
SB 254: Prohibits undocumented immigrants from state/local benefits
SB 290: Funds Quindaro ruins master plan and phase-one work
SB 66: AN ACT concerning local governmental ethics; relating to filing requirements of the statement of substantial interests; requiring annual filing by city or county elected or appointed officials; providing that elected or appointed officials of a governmental subdivision other than a city or county file statements of substantial interests if any change in substantial interests occurred; requiring governmental officials with a substantial interest in a real estate development project to verbally disclose such interest prior to first participating in any discussion, review or action on a proposed zoning change or permit; amending K.S.A. 75-4302a and repealing the existing section.
SCR 1615: Establishes Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day on Oct. 14
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