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Thursday, March 19, 2026
Top Stories
House Advances Two-Part Housing Agenda — Build More, Regulate Less
The House passed two bills Wednesday that together represent the most aggressive housing deregulation package Kansas has seen in years — but the vote margins tell different stories about where the consensus actually lies.
SB 418, the By-Right Housing Development Act, passed 97-27. The bill fast-tracks small residential projects — single-family homes, townhouses, and accessory dwelling units — that meet existing zoning rules. Projects under one acre and 12 units get a 30-day deemed-approval deadline for permits: if the city doesn't act, the permit is automatically granted. The bill also forces local governments to allow certain building options for new homes under 2,000 square feet, including single-car garages, one-sided exterior finish, and lots as small as 3,000 square feet. Private HOA covenants remain enforceable, and historic districts are excluded.
SB 391, the voucher preemption bill, passed with a much thinner margin — 75-49. It bars cities and counties from requiring landlords to accept Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) or other housing assistance, and strips local authority over tenant-screening methods including income checks, credit history, eviction records, and criminal background. Existing local ordinances are voided as of July 1, 2026. The gap between a 97-27 pro-building vote and a 75-49 anti-regulation vote is the story: the House broadly agrees Kansas needs more housing built faster, but nearly a third of members balked at removing local tenant protections to get there.
Both bills now go to the Senate, where they face tomorrow's crossover deadline.
Tort Reform Sweep Reshapes Kansas Civil Liability
Wednesday's House floor saw the continuation of a civil liability overhaul that has been building all session. SB 462 passed 84-40, fundamentally changing public nuisance law. Lawful product activities (design, manufacture, sale, labeling, marketing) generally can't be treated as a public nuisance anymore. Government plaintiffs face new causation standards and a ban on recovering monetary damages for abatement. The attorney general becomes the primary filer for multi-jurisdiction claims and must get written approval from the governor before suing. Class actions are banned. The law applies to cases filed or pending on or after July 1, 2026.
Alongside it, SB 375, the Proxy Advisor Transparency Act, also passed 84-40. It requires proxy advisory firms to disclose when they recommend against company management without a written financial analysis, and lets the attorney general enforce violations under the Consumer Protection Act.
But the most contentious piece may be the one that hasn't reached the floor yet. SB 463, which cleared House Judiciary on Wednesday, would bar people who engaged in "wrongful conduct" from bringing negligence claims, limit general damages in auto crashes for people in the U.S. without legal authorization, and narrow negligent-security claims by requiring actual knowledge of substantially similar incidents in the past year. It's on today's House General Orders. Taken together, these three bills represent the most significant shift in Kansas civil liability in at least a decade — and they share identical 84-40 margins that suggest an organized floor coalition driving the agenda.
The Tomorrow Deadline: What Lives and What Dies
Tomorrow (Friday, March 20) is the last day to consider non-exempt bills that have crossed over to the other chamber. After that, the only bills still alive are exempt ones (touched by Appropriations, Taxation, Federal and State Affairs, Ways and Means/Assessment and Taxation, or select committees), conference committee reports, and bills in their chamber of origin.
The Senate is the real bottleneck. It has roughly 60 non-exempt House bills that must clear both General Orders and Final Action by end of day tomorrow. That's an enormous volume, and it guarantees triage. Among the bills that die if the Senate can't get to them: HB 2700 (digital right-to-repair), HB 2588 (statewide electrician licensing), HB 2444 (presumptive prison for new felonies committed while on supervision), HB 2402 (requiring school boards to consider free-meal eligibility), HB 2357 (eviction record sealing), HB 2528 (nursing board reform), HB 2343 (home-based business protections), and HB 2515 (virtual currency kiosk regulation).
The House has its own stack of about 25 non-exempt Senate bills to process, including a cluster of election bills that just cleared committee Wednesday: H Sub SB 394 (restricts mail voting if signature verification is struck down), H Sub SB 65 (narrows mail ballot eligibility), and H Sub SB 392 (candidate withdrawal rules, plus driver's license citizenship display and noncitizen quarterly reporting). Also at risk: SB 463 (the negligence/immigration liability bill), SB 363 (public assistance verification), SB 339 (K-5 recess requirements), SB 381 (civics exam graduation requirement), H Sub SB 231 (municipal elections in even years), H Sub SB 263 (active shooter drill regulations), and SB 448 (expedited partner therapy for STDs).
What doesn't face the deadline: Exempt bills have until First Adjournment on March 27. That includes HB 2793 (the Chiefs STAR bond authority, now in Senate Appropriations), the property tax constitutional amendments (SCR 1603 and SCR 1616, through Taxation), the big tax bills (SB 402, HB 2005, HB 2011), HB 2771 (immigration enforcement detainers, through Federal and State Affairs), and HCR 5006 (right to bear arms strict scrutiny amendment). Conference committee reports — there are about 34 active conference committees — also run through March 27.
The committee agendas confirm the shift: almost no committee meetings are scheduled for today or tomorrow except Appropriations and a few on-call chairs. The committees are done working. It's all floor action from here.
Chiefs STAR Bond Bill Arrives in Senate — On the Exempt Track
HB 2793, the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority bill that passed the House 79-41 Tuesday, appeared on today's Senate calendar for referral — sent to Senate Appropriations, an exempt committee. That means it doesn't face tomorrow's crossover deadline and has until First Adjournment on March 27 to clear.
That's important because the Senate schedule is already overwhelmed with non-exempt crossover bills. The exempt status gives Senate leadership a full extra week to move the bill — through committee hearing, possible amendment, and floor vote — without competing for time against the Friday crush. Whether that's enough time depends on whether opposition materializes. The House vote was 79-41, closer than it might appear given the floor amendments added to address transparency and scope concerns. The Senate's Assessment and Taxation and Ways and Means committees, which might have had a claim on the bill, were bypassed in favor of Appropriations — a choice that keeps it on the exempt track and under the control of Senate leadership.
New Bills Introduced
Senate
SR 1735: Recognizing and commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Jayhawk Theatre.
House
Floor Votes
Wednesday, March 18
House (21)
SB 391: PASS — Passage (75 Yes, 49 No, 1 Absent). Bars cities and counties from requiring landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers or restricting tenant-screening methods. See Top Stories.
SB 462: PASS — Passage (84 Yes, 40 No, 1 Absent). Limits public nuisance claims; bars lawsuits over lawful product activities; centralizes filing power with AG. See Top Stories.
SB 418: PASS — Passage (97 Yes, 27 No, 1 Absent). Creates the By-Right Housing Development Act fast-tracking small residential projects. See Top Stories.
SB 375: PASS — Passage (84 Yes, 40 No, 1 Absent). Proxy Advisor Transparency Act requires disclosure when recommending against company management without a written financial analysis. See Top Stories.
SB 334: PASS — Passage (81 Yes, 43 No, 1 Absent). Requires nursing school faculty to hold a degree at least one level above what they teach. Board can't demand more but can grant hardship exemptions.
SB 374: PASS — Passage (116 Yes, 8 No, 1 Absent). Changes competency-to-stand-trial rules for serious felonies. Default becomes inpatient evaluation at state hospitals. Creates formal hearing process for involuntary medication.
SB 380: PASS — Passage (122 Yes, 2 No, 1 Absent). Bans investor-owned electric utilities from putting public fast-charger costs into customer rates. Requires fair access for competing charger providers. Sunsets July 1, 2036.
SB 434: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Creates the Veterans' Valor Property Tax Relief Act — a refundable income tax credit equal to 50% of property taxes paid by 100% service-connected disabled veterans. Replaces existing sales tax exemption.
HB 2036: PASS — Passage (113 Yes, 11 No, 1 Absent). Lets active-duty military subtract qualifying compensation from Kansas taxable income, capped at senior enlisted pay levels.
HB 2773: PASS — Passage (116 Yes, 8 No, 1 Absent). Changes how alcoholic liquor manufacturers calculate Kansas corporate income tax. Companies exceeding $5 million in Kansas property and $2 million in Kansas payroll use single-sales-factor; others use a three-factor formula. Takes effect for tax years starting 2027.
SB 408: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Narrows "child in need of care" for parent-permitted independent activities. Requires DCF military family referrals. Changes paternity acknowledgment challenge rules.
SB 459: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Expands Prisoner Review Board from three to five members. Shifts appointments to Governor (3) and AG (2). Strengthens victim notice for parole hearings on serious felonies.
SB 487: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Directs KBI to build a statewide offender registration system. Technology fee capped at $10. Starting 2028, fees paid only in county of residence.
SB 480: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Restores rules for managing property of missing persons and POW/MIA. Nonresident fiduciaries must name a Kansas agent.
SB 260: PASS — Passage (110 Yes, 14 No, 1 Absent). Born to Invest Act lets State Treasurer receive birth data to inform families about 529, ABLE, and federal child savings accounts.
SB 398: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Changes opinion testimony rules. Requires party offering an expert to show it's "more likely than not" the expert's knowledge will help the trier of fact.
SB 364: PASS — Passage (101 Yes, 23 No, 1 Absent). KDWP must offer discounted senior combination license for residents 65+. Expands kids lifetime license to ages 6–15 with lower fee caps.
SB 425: PASS — Passage (121 Yes, 3 No, 1 Absent). Raises fee caps for seed wholesalers ($300→$400) and retailers ($30→$50). Creates stepped late-fee schedule for missed renewal deadlines.
SB 232: PASS — Passage (123 Yes, 1 No, 1 Absent). Lets KPERS invest up to 5% of unclaimed-property cash in qualifying foreign government bonds. Bars countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
SB 51: PASS — Passage (123 Yes, 1 No, 1 Absent). Lets the state CITO offer IT, cloud, and cybersecurity services to local governments and qualifying hospitals/nonprofits. Requires stronger central cloud-computing rules for executive agencies.
SB 55: PASS — Passage (124 Yes, 0 No, 1 Absent). Bans post-loss assignment of insurance benefits to contractors and restoration companies. Soliciting or accepting such assignments becomes an unfair trade practice.
Senate (8)
HB 2702: PASS — Passage (40 Yes, 0 No). Modernizes PA practice rules with fingerprint background checks, defines "collaboration," and creates a pathway for experienced PAs (4,000+ hours) to work under a practice agreement instead of direct physician supervision.
HB 2393: PASS — Passage (25 Yes, 15 No). Extends the Supreme Court's authority to add capped surcharges to court fees through June 30, 2030. Revenue goes to the state general fund.
HB 2737: PASS — Passage (34 Yes, 6 No). Creates "taxpayer agreements" letting cities contract directly with developers to finance TIF-qualifying projects. Agreements can create automatic liens on property with priority over mortgages if lenders consent.
HB 2412: PASS — Passage (40 Yes, 0 No). Raises penalties for child endangerment when the victim is under six. Same conduct that's a misdemeanor for children 6–17 becomes a felony for younger children.
HB 2763: PASS — Passage (39 Yes, 1 No). Adopts the Athletic Trainer Licensure Compact for interstate practice privileges. Activates when the seventh state joins.
HB 2579: PASS — Passage (40 Yes, 0 No). Designates a portion of K-49 as the Pvt Michael E Gerber memorial highway (Vietnam KIA).
HB 2647: PASS — Passage (40 Yes, 0 No). Authorizes KDOT to build a statewide conduit system for fiber optic broadband along highways. Creates a broadband revolving fund. Fees limited to actual incremental costs. Requires annual public reports.
HB 2323: PASS — Passage (40 Yes, 0 No). Gives the Insurance Commissioner civil enforcement power over fraudulent insurance acts. Fines up to $10,000 per act. Extends fraud rules to the automobile assigned claims plan.
Committee Actions
Appropriations
Bills Reported Out
SB 181 (substitute bill be passed): FY2027 spending bill directing returned coronavirus relief money to Commerce ($10M+ for business attraction), KDADS ($2M for young adult I/DD home), Historical Society ($1M for Fort Dodge repairs), and the 911 Board ($2M for critical facility mapping). Also authorizes KU to use KDFA bond financing for a $60M Marvin Hall architecture school project.
Commerce
Bills Reported Out
HB 2481 (bill be passed as amended): Expands short-term rental tax coverage by lowering the bedroom threshold to one, pulling more single-room rentals into the transient guest tax. Adds a temporary freeze (May 15–July 25, 2026) barring cities from capping short-term rental numbers or duration and requiring 15-day permit approval or automatic approval.
HB 2596 (bill be passed as amended): Pilot at Hutchinson Correctional Facility letting private contractors produce manufactured homes using facility space and incarcerated workers. Requires nationally recognized construction certification, regional average wages, and contractor-covered costs. Expires December 31, 2029.
HB 2588 (bill be passed as amended): Creates statewide electrician licensing through the State Fire Marshal. Local governments lose licensing authority after July 1, 2027 but keep code enforcement and inspections. National exam standard (75% minimum), 8,000 hours for journeyman, contractor liability insurance required.
HB 2357 (bill be passed as amended): Seals eviction court files at filing for cases under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Creates a free electronic expungement process after three years. Bars screening companies from collecting or sharing sealed filing information. Courts must consider mediation.
HB 2767 (bill be passed as amended): Creates the Kansas Military Affairs Commission as a 16-member advisory group in the Governor's Office with quarterly meetings and a Governor-appointed executive director. No specific funding.
Education
Bills Reported Out
SB 263 (substitute bill be passed): Creates the Students Safe at School Act regulating active shooter drills. Student drills can't include realistic shooting elements. Simulations banned on K-8 properties. Parents can opt students out. KSDE must publish guidelines by October 1, 2026.
Elections
Bills Reported Out
SB 394 (substitute bill be passed): Restricts advance (mail) voting if a court strikes down the state's signature verification rule. After the Secretary of State publishes a notice, mail voting would be limited to voters who are out-of-county, sick/disabled, prevented by religious belief, or serving as election workers. Also routes all constitutional election challenges to Shawnee County district court.
SB 65 (substitute bill be passed): Removes counties, cities, school districts, and community college districts from eligibility for all-mail ballot elections. Lets irrigation districts opt in to mail ballots. Requires anyone delivering another person's advance ballot to affirm they are a qualified voter.
SB 392 (substitute bill be passed): Narrows post-deadline candidate withdrawal to severe medical hardship or loss of residency. Requires driver's licenses to show citizenship status and triggers a provisional ballot for anyone presenting a noncitizen license. Requires quarterly state agency reports on noncitizens receiving public benefits.
Federal and State Affairs
Bills Reported Out
SB 372 (bill be passed as amended): The App Store Accountability Act requires app stores and developers to identify minor users, link their accounts to a verified parent account, and get parental consent before downloads or purchases. Takes effect January 1, 2027. AG enforces under Consumer Protection Act; parents can also sue for damages.
Judiciary
Bills Reported Out
SB 463 (bill be passed as amended): Bars people who engaged in "wrongful conduct" from bringing related negligence claims. Limits general damages in auto crashes for people without legal U.S. status. Narrows negligent-security claims to require actual knowledge of similar past incidents within the prior year. See Top Stories.
Public Health and Welfare
Bills Reported Out
HB 2528 (bill be passed as amended): Voids certain Kansas Board of Nursing actions from 2005–present related to nonpractice or licensure/renewal violations. Creates a fixed two-year renewal cycle with a 30-day late window. Narrows "unprofessional conduct" to practice-related acts. Creates a private right to sue the board for failure to void records. Board appointments become subject to Senate confirmation.
Transportation
Bills Reported Out
SB 404 (substitute bill be passed): Creates a Vehicle Services Modernization Task Force to recommend updates to registration and titling. Allows counties to temporarily raise motor vehicle fees to $10/transaction (2027–2029) with county commission approval. Task force reports by January 2028.
Water
Bills Reported Out
SB 317 (bill be passed as amended): Changes criteria for two state water grant funds. Requires most applicants to demonstrate a 25-year water supply. Bars grant use for water-rights impairments. Limits large-city eligibility. Prioritizes small towns under 2,000. Requires published scoring matrix and September 15 annual deadline. Extends funds through 2031.
Welfare Reform
Bills Reported Out
SB 363 (bill be passed as amended): Tightens public assistance verification across Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and child care subsidies. Requires data matches with vital records, labor, revenue, and corrections. Monthly Medicaid enrollment data to CMS. Shortens retroactive Medicaid coverage. Raises SNAP work-age range to 18–64. People with permanent I/DD on HCBS waivers may get continuous Medicaid if federal approval is granted.
Ways and Means
Bills Reported Out
HB 2781 (bill be passed): Lets the Kansas State Historical Society acquire the junior officers' quarters at Fort Dodge as a state historical landmark.
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