The Kansas Legislature passed its FY 2027 state budget late Thursday night: 67-53 in the House, 23-16 in the Senate.

The vehicle: HB 2513, a bill originally authorizing $6,347 in payments for lost prisoner property at state correctional facilities, a catering invoice from Lansing, and a broken window at the state historical society. That bill had passed the House 118-1 and the Senate 39-1…with a minor technical amendment. The amendment prevented the bill from being sent directly to the governor’s office and held it open.

Then its first conference committee failed. Then its second conference committee gutted every word and inserted the entire state budget—$26.8 billion in total spending, $10.7 billion from the State General Fund.

The actual budget bill (H Sub for SB 181), with full committee hearings, a substitute recommendation, and months of deliberation, sat on House General Orders all week. It was never voted on.

The margins tell a story. Twenty House Republicans voted No alongside 33 Democrats. Seven Senate Republicans crossed over with all nine Democrats. Those are extraordinarily tight margins for a state budget. Something in the package split the GOP caucus.

The conference budget sets total state expenditures at $26.8 billion, including $10.7 billion from the state general fund (SGF). Major additions over the starting point include:

The education function totals $11.16 billion—nominally $525 million less than FY 2026, but that headline is misleading. Most of the drop comes from capital and debt spending falling from $850 million to $349 million. Classroom aid is essentially flat at $7.3 billion.

Inside a flat budget, the legislature made pointed choices. K-12 formula spending dropped roughly $109 million SGF because Kansas is losing students and the formula reflects it. The $6 million special education add (the House wanted $10 million, the conference split closer to the Senate) is contingent on KSDE publishing detailed special education funding reports by June 30, 2026. Excel in CTE was cut $10 million with new eligibility restrictions and legislative intent to cap the program at $50 million. The virtual math program was deleted entirely.

The policy riders may matter more than the dollar amounts. KSDE is barred from using updated assessment cut scores for two school years: the legislature is freezing the goalposts. A new provision requires KSDE to establish a complaint process and financial penalty for school districts that allow student walkouts, with lost instructional days remitted to the SGF. The legislature forced a rebid of the KU state assessment contract at no more than $5.1 million. And community college funding was structured so that colleges that raise their mill levy must refund the state money…the property tax issue, manifesting inside the education budget.

The SGF profile shows Kansas is running a structural deficit of $400-700 million per year:

For emphasis:

The SGF ending balance drops from $3.2 billion (FY 2024) to a projected $494 million by FY 2030—just 4.3% of expenditures. Revenue growth is projected at 0.4% in FY 2027 while expenditures grow at 2.0%. The Budget Stabilization Fund at $2.1 billion provides a second cushion, but the trajectory doesn't self-correct. By FY 2029-2030, someone will face a choice between significant tax increases or substantial service cuts.

The House never reached General Orders this week.

The floor was reserved exclusively for conference committee reports. Leadership's decision to hold the Line off the floor meant that 40-plus bills and resolutions that had cleared committees, received floor recommendations, and were waiting for a vote never got one. They all needed to move through conference committees, or get bundled together into other bills that were currently in conference.

Among the bills still on the Line:

Two proposed constitutional amendments. HCR 5006 would enshrine the right to bear arms as a fundamental right subject to strict scrutiny. HCR 5021 would require voters to present photo ID. Both need 84 votes.

Four election overhaul bills. H Sub SB 65 (restricting mail ballot elections), H Sub SB 231 (moving municipal elections to even years), H Sub SB 392 (citizenship status on driver's licenses), H Sub SB 394 (advance voting signature verification). H Sub SB 394's policy provisions did survive, loaded into the HB 2569 conference report without a standalone floor vote.

The tax stack. H Sub SB 303 (omnibus property tax relief with sports wagering tax), SB 402 (homestead refund expansion), SB 10 (watercraft and off-road vehicle property tax exemption), SB 52 (film tax credits), SB 39 (gold and silver as legal tender).

Everything else. SB 363 (Medicaid eligibility restrictions), SB 372 (app store regulation for minors), SB 339 (mandatory school recess), HB 2771 (immigration detainer enforcement), SB 452 (unlawful approach of a first responder), HB 2599 (the Kansas Lemonade Stand Law), and SB 1 (exempting Kansas from daylight saving time).

The Senate's own General Orders was equally loaded and equally untouched: SB 522 (Kansas Medical Freedom Act), SB 438 (school meals/CEP), SB 441 (applied behavior analysis in schools), HB 2588 (statewide electrician licensing), and HCR 5031 (FIFA World Cup disaster emergency declaration).

The floor was limited to conference committee reports because leadership was concerned that opening General Orders would allow rank-and-file members to force votes on legislation that didn't have leadership support. The result: the only bills that reached the floor this week were bills that had already been negotiated in conference—a process that operates outside normal calendar control and takes no public testimony on new content.

At least five conference committee vehicle swaps in five days (these got increasingly difficult to detect as things got faster):

Monday. SB 20: Introduced as a bill reducing membership on insurance-related boards. Was gutted and replaced with the Kansas Consumer Prescription Protection and Accountability Act, the PBM regulation framework that Speaker Dan Hawkins (R) had spent the session blocking. Passed the House 104-17, the Senate 32-8. Headed to the governor.

Tuesday. SB 30: Introduced for fingerprint-based background checks. Was gutted and replaced with occupational licensing reform requiring legislative ratification of new licenses. Senate 30-10. House adopted Thursday.

Wednesday. HB 2124: Introduced to designate memorial highways honoring CPL Monte Wayne Forrest and POW/MIA veterans. Was gutted and replaced with golf cart sidewalk regulations and residential speed limit changes. The memorial provisions were already law through a 2025 bill. House 89-35, Senate 38-2.

Thursday. SB 356: A firearms civil liability bill that passed the Senate 40-0 and was expanded by the House into a broader firearms/municipal preemption measure. Was gutted and replaced with sports wagering rules ratification. The firearms provisions were relocated to HB 2501. House 105-19.

Thursday night. HB 2513: $6,347 in prisoner property claims. Became the $26.8 billion state budget.

Conference committees are a legitimate and necessary part of the legislative process. They resolve genuine disagreements between chambers. Sometimes they're the only way to save good policy from a procedural death.

But when the mechanism becomes the default path for moving priority legislation—when the state budget travels through a prisoner claims bill because the actual budget bill was never brought to a vote—the transparency cost compounds. Conference committees meet with minimal advance notice. They take no public testimony on new content. They produce no recorded committee votes.

The formal legislative process (committee hearings, public testimony, floor amendments, recorded debate) is the front door. It exists to create accountability. Conference committees are the loading dock. Both are technically public. But only one was designed for public participation.

This week, nearly everything came through the loading dock.

Today is First Adjournment. Both chambers convene at 10:00 a.m. Expect a final sprint of conference committee report adoptions, any remaining concurrence votes, and the formal adjournment resolution. Any bills still in conference that don't clear both chambers today are dead unless they can find a vehicle during Veto Session.

Among the items still alive heading into today: SCR 1603 (the property tax constitutional amendment the House rewrote and passed 85-39) has not received a Senate vote. HB 2372 (ICE detainer authority for county sheriffs) failed two conferences and is on third conferees. SB 356 (now sports wagering rules) awaits Senate adoption. The Chiefs Stadium bill needs Senate action.

Veto Session is April 9. The primary purpose is to consider gubernatorial vetoes, but conference committee reports can also be adopted and new agreements reached.

The governor's desk. Several bills headed to Gov. Kelly are likely veto candidates. SB 254 (immigration benefits ban) passed the Senate 22-18, well short of the 27 needed for a veto override. HB 2437 (SAVE Kansas Act/voter registration overhaul) passed 80-43 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate. HB 2569 (election law venue/conditional mail voting restrictions) passed 78-45 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate. The budget itself, at 67-53 in the House, could face a line-item veto.

We'll be covering today's session in real time on Facebook and Instagram.

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