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- Topeka Buzz: Tuesday, February 11
Topeka Buzz: Tuesday, February 11
We're 10 days away from Turnaround Day, when most bills must have passed at least one chamber to be considered during the session. That means another flurry of new proposed bills (and an increasing trickle of prior bills returning from committees).
Jason Anderson
February 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes
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The 🐝 Rating System
Each bill is evaluated based on four key factors: Scope of Impact, Financial Impact, Urgency, and Controversy. These factors are weighted to reflect their influence on the bill's overall importance. Here's how the ratings break down:
🐝 Minimal Impact: Legislation with limited reach or lower urgency and controversy.
🐝🐝 Moderate Impact: Proposals with a broader or more notable influence, addressing issues of medium urgency or financial significance.
🐝🐝🐝 High Impact: Bills with widespread consequences, urgent needs, or significant public and political attention.
Daily Legislative Update 🐝
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Below is today’s morning update on published activities in the Kansas Legislature.
Table of Contents
Top Stories of the Day
Kansas Senate proposes replacing the State Supreme Court
A state constitutional amendment proposed by the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs would drastically reengineer how the state supreme court is formed:
Supreme Court justices would no longer be appointed by the governor. Instead, they would be elected in statewide elections to 6-year terms. It specifies initial scheduling for the current justice seats in 2028, 2030, and 2032.
Justices would be allowed to be partisan (belong to political parties, and run campaigns with the support of their party).
In short, this amendment would explicitly remove the nonpartisan nature of the judicial system. The most obvious and immediate impact would be the threat to abortion rights that were previously reaffirmed by citizen vote in 2022, but the range of implications and at-risk regulatory and legislative topics is too long to fit in a paragraph.
Should this proposed amendment make it to a citizen ballot, expect loud and confrontational campaigns for and against the measure.
Turnaround Day approaches
This year’s legislative calendar is short by design: Thursday, February 20 is the last day that non-exempt1 bills can be voted on by their originating chamber.That means roughly nine days from now, the flow of new bills will stop and attention shifts to tracking the progress and providence of the existing 500+ pieces of proposed legislation.
We’re almost halfway through the 2025 legislative session—the current calendar shows the session ending on March 28, with a veto session estimated around April 10. After that: it’s off to the 2026 election races!
Bills and Resolutions
UPDATE: Summaries of these bills are now published on BillBee. The links below go directly to each bill’s writeup.
Bills Under Consideration
House Bills on the Floor for Consideration
Senate Bills on the Floor for Consideration
No bills currently reported on the floor.
New Bills Introduced
House Bills
Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and Corrections:
🐝🐝 HB 2321: Limits appeals based on victims' rights violations.
🐝 HB 2322: Prohibits motorcycle profiling by law enforcement.
🐝🐝 HB 2324: Increases penalties for firearms on school properties.
🐝🐝 HB 2325: Reform juvenile justice, detention, and firearm offenses.
🐝🐝 HB 2326: Considers custody for sentencing and diversion decisions.
🐝🐝 HB 2327: Certifies employability for inmates; aids negligent hiring defense.
🐝🐝 HB 2328: Allows prison-made housing in low-activity areas.
🐝🐝 HB 2329: Increase juvenile placements in youth residential facilities.
🐝 HB 2331: Authorizes coroners to dispose of unclaimed remains.
🐝🐝 HB 2347: Increases penalties for motor vehicle theft.
🐝🐝 HB 2349: Authorize investigations, penalties for scrap metal theft violations.
🐝🐝 HB 2350: No juveniles prosecuted as adults under age 18.
🐝🐝 HB 2354: Exception for disabled veterans with medical marijuana cards.
🐝🐝 HB 2357: Seals and expunges eviction court records selectively.
🐝🐝 HB 2362: Report lottery winners claiming Medicaid assistance.
Insurance and Financial Regulation:
🐝🐝 HB 2323: Enhances procedures for handling fraudulent insurance acts.
🐝 HB 2333: Rename Kansas Insurance Department and Securities office.
🐝🐝 HB 2334: Regulates Kansas captive insurance companies' cell operations.
🐝 HB 2335: Adds maternity centers to healthcare provider definition.
🐝🐝 HB 2351: Invalidates insurance arbitration agreements with exceptions.
Miscellaneous / Commemorative and Cultural Acts:
🐝 HB 2330: Designate November 14 as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day.
Government Organization, Elections, and Public Administration:
Taxes, Fiscal Policy, and Economic Development:
🐝🐝 HB 2336: Reform Kansas tax law for businesses and financial institutions.
🐝🐝 HB 2337: Establishes fee for international wire transfers.
🐝 HB 2343: Permits no-impact home-based businesses with limited regulation.
🐝 HB 2344: Establishes Kansas-Ireland trade commission for mutual economic benefit.
🐝🐝 HB 2346: Kansas sports tourism grant program establishment.
🐝🐝 HB 2355: Allows consolidation of LLC and series for tax purposes.
🐝🐝 HB 2371: Amends regulations on LLCs, resident agents, and statutory fees.
Labor, Employment, and Workers’ Rights:
🐝 HB 2338: Authorize temporary cosmetology demonstration permits.
Healthcare and Public Health:
🐝🐝 HB 2339: Enhances care home services with childcare and scholarships.
🐝🐝 HB 2353: Require abortion drug liability notification to patients.
🐝🐝 HB 2361: Create Kansas healthcare service scholarship program.
🐝🐝 HB 2364: Mandates equal insurance coverage for non-opioid pain drugs.
🐝🐝 HB 2365: Bill revises mental health facility admissions and Kansas healthcare laws.
🐝🐝 HB 2366: Broadens practice scope for Kansas naturopathic doctors.
🐝 HB 2367: Authorizes naturopathic doctors for business practice certification.
🐝🐝 HB 2368: Establishes anesthesiologist assistant licensure in Kansas.
🐝🐝 HB 2369: Pharmacists can administer FDA-approved vaccines in Kansas.
🐝🐝 HB 2370: New certification for dementia care in assisted living.
Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources:
Education:
🐝🐝 HB 2348: Tenure is not an entitlement or property interest.
Child Welfare, Family Services, and Social Assistance:
🐝🐝 HB 2352: Mandates clergy abuse reporting; exempts penitential privilege.
🐝🐝 HB 2356: Modifies nonparent visitation rights evidentiary standards.
🐝🐝 HB 2358: Require employment training for food assistance eligibility.
🐝🐝 HB 2359: Comprehensive reforms are proposed for guardianship, conservatorship, and digital asset management.
🐝🐝 HB 2360: Enhance public assistance eligibility through data verification.
Senate Bills
Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and Corrections:
🐝🐝 SB 245: The bill outlines employment restrictions for offenders in health agencies.
🐝🐝 SB 246: Require criminal checks for Kansas school employees.
🐝 SB 247: Ends vehicle dealers' exemption from scrap metal regulations.
🐝🐝 SB 248: Enhancing criminal records access, industrial hemp regulations.
🐝🐝 SB 254: Restricts benefits to unlawfully present aliens.
🐝🐝 SB 255: Allows inmates to request sentence reevaluation.
Healthcare and Public Health:
🐝🐝 SB 249: Establishes FASD task force for prevention and support.
🐝🐝 SB 250: Allows investigational treatments for life-threatening illnesses.
🐝 SB 251: Annual newborn screening program report requirement.
🐝 SB 253: Establishes licensing and regulation for massage therapists.
🐝🐝 SB 257: Expands Medicaid eligibility for working Kansans.
Education:
🐝🐝 SB 252: Expands low-income student scholarship eligibility and tax credits.
Labor, Employment, and Workers’ Rights:
🐝🐝 SB 256: Requiring state employees to work in-office primarily.