Capitol Bee published a social media post Wednesday about HB 2124, the bill originally introduced to designate memorial highways honoring CPL Monte Wayne Forrest and POW/MIA veterans. The post described the bill's memorial provisions being "gutted" in a conference committee and replaced with regulations for golf carts on sidewalks and residential speed limits.

We got key facts wrong, and we owe you the correction before we tell you why the underlying story still matters.

What we got wrong: The CPL Forrest memorial and POW/MIA highway designations were already enacted into law last session through HB 2263. By the time the conference committee acted on HB 2124, the memorial language in the bill was a legislative shell; it was essentially already on the books. The memorial was not killed. We should have said so.

We also described the conference committee as "closed-door." Conference committees are public meetings. They operate with minimal advance notice, take no public testimony on new content, and do not publish recorded votes…but they are not closed. That distinction matters, and we should have been precise.

Finally, we stated that SB 367—Sen. Mike Petersen (R)'s original golf cart bill—was never heard in the House. It was. House Transportation held a hearing on SB 367 and chose not to advance it.

We're grateful to Reps. Rui Xu (D), Nick Hoheisel (R), and Nikki McDonald (D) for the corrections. As Rep. Hoheisel noted, corrections belong in the original post, not buried in comments. We agree, and are updating both the post and the graphic.

Now here's why the process still matters.

HB 2124's conference committee report replaced every word of the bill with new policy: cities may now authorize golf carts on sidewalks, and local authorities can reduce residential speed limits from 30 to 25 mph without an engineering study. The House adopted the CCR 89-35 after a failed motion to kill it. The Senate followed 38-2.

This is the third consecutive day that a conference committee has been used to move unrelated policy through a bill shell. Rep. McDonald made a point worth repeating: gut-and-replace isn't inherently bad. The Brownback tax experiment was ended through one. Some good policy that would otherwise be procedurally dead gets revived this way. We think that's a fair point.

But the process has a transparency cost that compounds across sessions. Conference committees meet with minimal advance notice. They take no public testimony on the new content. They produce no recorded votes. The bill's public-facing title still describes the original content---not what's inside. Even our own automated systems, which pull from the state's official data feed, described HB 2124 to our readers Wednesday morning as a memorial highways bill. The state's data didn't reflect the conference committee changes.

When the state's own information systems can't tell you what's in a bill after a conference committee rewrites it, the transparency gap is structural.

The House adjourned Wednesday without reaching General Orders for the second straight day. Everything on the Line (40-plus bills and resolutions) is now compressed into Thursday and Friday, with the state budget (H Sub SB 181) expected to consume much of that.

Here's what's waiting:

Constitutional amendments (need 84 votes): HCR 5006 would subject firearms restrictions to strict scrutiny. HCR 5021 would require voters to present photo ID. SCR 1616 would cap assessed value increases on residential property…but it already failed a motion to recommend for adoption in committee. Each requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass, and each requires dedicated floor debate. There may not be time for all three.

Election bills (four, all contentious): H Sub SB 65 would remove cities, school districts, and community colleges from the mail ballot election law. H Sub SB 231 would move municipal elections to even-numbered years. H Sub SB 392 would require driver's licenses to show citizenship status. H Sub SB 394 would establish Shawnee County district court as the venue for all constitutional challenges to election laws.

Property tax and the tax stack: H Sub SB 303 is the omnibus property tax relief bill. It reduces school district mill levies, imposes sales tax on lottery tickets, and creates a 2% sports wagering privilege tax. It's tied to the property tax issue that has driven much of this session. Behind it: SB 402 expanding homestead refunds, SB 10 exempting watercraft and off-road vehicles from property tax, and a long tail of smaller tax credits and exemptions.

Everything else: Daylight saving time (SB 1). Gold and silver as legal tender (SB 39). Film tax credits (SB 52). Immigration enforcement detainers (HB 2771). App store regulation for minors (SB 372)—which a source tells us is probably dead. The Kansas Lemonade Stand Law (HB 2599). Active shooter drill guidelines (H Sub SB 263). Recess requirements (SB 339). And dozens more.

The Senate Line is equally loaded: SB 522 (Kansas Medical Freedom Act), SB 438 (requiring school districts to consider the Community Eligibility Provision for free school meals), HCR 5031 (ratifying the FIFA World Cup disaster emergency declaration), HCR 5008 (legislative oversight of executive branch regulations), and 20-plus others.

The stadium: HB 2793, the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority Act, passed the House 79-41 on March 17 and is sitting in Senate Commerce with no hearing scheduled. But the bill is exempt from Turnaround deadlines, and (as this week has demonstrated) conference committee vehicles can move just about anything.

The conference committee scoreboard: Meanwhile, behind the Line, the agree-to-disagree pile is growing. HB 2329, HB 2365, HB 2437, HB 2528, HB 2569, and HB 2731 all agreed to disagree Wednesday and appointed new conferees. HB 2437 and HB 2569—both election bills—are now on second conferees, signaling leadership still wants them to move. And the House rejected the conference report on HB 2422 (grain theft felony penalties) outright, 69-55, and appointed new conferees…a rare step that suggests the chambers are far apart on that bill.

Leadership has to triage what they choose to bring to the floor Thursday (and what they leave to die).

SB 391, the bill prohibiting cities and counties from requiring landlords to accept housing choice vouchers, finally cleared the House 76-48 Wednesday after two failed conference attempts.

The resolution came through capitulation, not compromise: the House receded from all of its amendments to the Senate version. The first two conference committees agreed to disagree, with new conferees appointed each time. On the third attempt, the House simply accepted the Senate's original bill.

SB 391 preempts local ordinances that require landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers or other voluntary housing assistance programs. It also bars local limits on tenant screening methods, security deposit caps, and right-of-first-refusal requirements. The bill includes a narrow carve-out allowing localities to prohibit discrimination based solely on veterans benefits.

The bill heads to Gov. Kelly.

For readers keeping score: the legislature expanded school vouchers this session through HB 2468 and banned local housing voucher protections through SB 391. Different kinds of vouchers, different outcomes.

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