2022 Kansas Legislative Updates
The 2022 regular session has come to an end. There was a flurry of conference committees this past week and much of the work was wrapped up for the year. However, there were several key issues, including the funding for K-12 education that are still left to complete during the veto session in a few weeks. As is the norm, the political atmosphere was intense as the House and Senate continued to wrap up their work for the year.
The “mega” budget, SB 267, for the year was easily passed by both the House and the Senate. There was also a tax bill, HB 2239, with many provisions providing tax relief through different property and sales tax exemptions, as well as some income tax credits.
State Budget:
Both chambers reached agreement and passed the state budget with overwhelming majorities. SB 267 included many provisions of interest. First, the budget and certain tax incentives in other passed bills contain approximately $100 million dollars in housing incentives, including rural housing. The legislature focused on providing a wide array of incentives to support the housing needs that have been addressed across the state. Kansas Farm Bureau helped lead a coalition of groups to encourage rural housing investment.
Taxes:
Both chambers reached agreement on a bevy of tax measures and passed them, overwhelmingly, in HB 2239. The following provisions may be of interest to farmers and ranchers. First, the bill includes a sales tax exemption for fencing supplies and services used to repair fences and structures destroyed by natural disasters including wildfires. Additionally, the bill creates a permanent sales tax exemption for agricultural fencing supplies and services beginning July 1, 2022. The bill also includes the potential for a county to abate property taxes on certain structures destroyed by natural disasters if a declaration is made for such a disaster by the state or county. Finally, the bill included a provision that clarifies that land enrolled in the CRP Grassland program will continue to be assessed as grassland for the purposes of use value appraisal. Kansas Farm Bureau was instrumental in getting these measures included in the final tax package.
This was the final week for committee and floor action of bills not exempt from legislative deadlines. This week's legislative work sets the stage for conference committees to meet and finalize bills.
The Senate considered several Constitutional amendments this week that, if adopted, would make significant changes to governmental operations. SCR 1621 would change the way Kansas Supreme Court Justices are appointed. The resolution provides that the Governor would appoint Justices and the Senate would confirm the appointments like the federal process. The resolution failed to pass the Senate with the necessary 2/3 majority vote.
SCR 1620 if adopted would require a supermajority of the legislature to raise taxes. This resolution also failed to pass the Senate with the necessary 2/3 majority vote.
HCR 5014 provides for legislative oversight of rules and regulations adopted by the executive branch agencies. The resolution passed the Senate and will be on the ballot this fall.
The Kansas legislature also considered issues that are making headlines in other states. Those issues include fairness in sports based on biological sex (SB 484 passed the Senate) ; prohibition on sanctuary cities ( HB 2717 passed the House); modification to voting processes (HB2056 passed the House); and establishment of Parents Bill of Rights to review school materials and provisions of exemptions from vaccination requirements (SB496 passed the Senate).Headline topics that may still be considered include sports betting, medical marijuana, and removal of the sales tax on food.
The budget and redistricting will be considered this week in conference committees to complete the legislature's Constitutional duties. Below are highlights of other bills affecting specific sectors.
Insurance Happenings
The House passed SB 448 which pertains to adopting the national insurance commissioners amendments to unfair trade practices excluding commercial property and casualty insurance procedures, brokers and insurers from prohibitions on giving rebates and inducement on sales. It passed the House 122-0. SB 448 will head to the Governor’s desk for her signature to become law.
Other Major Legislative Headlines
Agriculture and Environment
The House passed several bills regarding Agriculture. The first being H Sub for SB 261 which prohibits meat identifiable terms being printed on fake meat products. This will now go back to the Senate and is expected to have a conference committee appointed.
The next bill the House passed was SB 417 which establishes a minimum and maximum permit renewal fees for certain solid waste disposal areas and processing facilities. The last bill passed was SB 346 which allows on-farm retail sale of milk and milk products. The Kansas Secretary of Agriculture does have the authority to declare an imminent health hazard under this bill and the bill extends certain milk and dairy license fees creating standards for milk.
Both SB 417 and SB 346 will head to the Governor’s desk awaiting her signature to become law.
On the Senate side they passed a couple bills relating to Agriculture. The first being HB 2559 which creates the Kansas cotton boll weevil program. This requires the program to levy an assessment upon Kansas produced cotton and monitor and mitigate the risk of boll weevils. The bill was amended by the Senate as whole which shortened the number of nominees from seven to three that the Kansas Cotton Association board of directors shall recommend to the Secretary of Agriculture. The amendment also requires notification to the owner, operator, or lessee for the purpose on entry upon inspection. The bill will now head back the House for further deliberation.
The next bill the Senate passed out was HB 2605 which increases the rural population requirement for the veterinary training program for rural Kansas. The bill also creates a food animal percentage requirement. The bill will go back the House to either concur or non-concur with the changes.
State Budget
The House advanced their budget bill, H Sub for SB 267. The Governor's original budget included $20 million for the moderate-income housing program which aids rural housing projects. The House, in early March, added $50 million to its budget for rural housing assistance, bringing their total housing allocation to $70 million. Earlier this month, the Governor amended her budget to increase funding by $50 million. The Senate Ways and Means Committee considered the Governor's Budget Amendment and included $50 million for rural housing in their budget. The House and Senate will begin conference meetings Monday.
Health
The House passed several bills pertaining to health to hear on the floor. The first being SB 200 which expands the pharmacist’s scope of practice therapy to include initiation therapy of influenza, strep throat or urinary tract infection.
The next bill heard was HB 2253 which is updating certain provisions of the prescription monitoring program. This relates to program data, storage, and access, increasing the membership of the advisory committee, and providing for setup and annual maintenance fees for program data integration. This will now return to the Senate for further deliberation.
H Sub for SB 19 was passed which implements the 988-suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline in Kansas. The Senate non concurred with amendments in the House. The bill will now go to a conference committee.
Lastly, SB 440 passed which allows an occupational therapist to treat a patient without referral from a physician and requires occupational therapists to maintain professional liability insurance. Both SB 200 and SB 440 will head to the Governor’s desk awaiting her signature to become law.
The Senate acted on a couple bills relating to health. The first being SB 155 which expands newborn screening services and increases transfers from the medical assistance fee fund to the Kansas newborn screening fund. The bill will now head to the House.
The next bill the Senate acted on was S Sub for HB 2280. This bill authorizes the prescribing and dispensing of medications for off-label use to prevent and treat COVD-19 infections. The bill also requires childcare facilities and schools to grant religious exemption from vaccination requirements without inquiring into the sincerity of such religious beliefs. The bill will go back the House expecting a conference committee to be appointed.
Business Regulation
The House advanced SB 493 which prohibits cities and counties from regulating plastic and other containers designed for consumption, transportation or protection or merchandise of food or beverages. This is heading to the Governor’s desk.
The House advanced SB 150 which defines along with prohibits certain deceptive lawsuit advertising practices and restricts the use or disclosure of protected health information of individuals for legal services. SB 150 passed and is heading to the Governor’s desk anticipating her signature to become law.
Taxes
The Senate advanced HB 2239 which establishes the golden years homestead property tax freeze act. This provides a refund for certain increases in residential property taxes and extends the Kansas corporate income tax net operating loss to carryforward. The bill will now go back to the House as it was amended several times in the Senate. It is expected to be further deliberated in conference committee next week.
The Senate acted on S Sub HB 2597 which would amend law related to property taxes. The changes law related to the revenue-neutral notice and hearing process, specify the classification of certain land as agricultural, create a property tax exception for antique utility trailers, and provide for the proration of property taxes for certain personal property. The bill was amended in the Senate Tax committee. It is expected to be discussed in conference committee next week.
Social Programs
The House passed SB 12 which establishes performance-based contracts for the Kansas department for children and families. This bill is heading to the Governor’s desk expecting her signature to become law.
The legislature sped past the turnaround deadline last week. The week began with he House reconsidering a failed attempt to pass a proposed Constitutional amendment, HCR 5014, that would allow the legislature to suspend or overturn an administrative regulation with a simple majority vote of each house. The reconsideration attempt was successful and the House passed HCR 5014 by a 85-39 vote. The legislature adjourned a day earlier than expected as they had finished most of the pre-turnaround work early in the day on Wednesday. Any nonexempt bills are no longer available for debate unless they have passed the chamber of origin. However, many bills were “blessed” prior to turnaround adjournment and may be considered for the remainder of the legislative session.
Each Chamber now has approximately three weeks to complete the bulk of the committee work before moving to full chamber consideration of issues and conference committees. The pace of the legislative session will pick up significantly from this point forward.
Insurance Happenings
The full Senate passed out SB448, the Insurance Department’s rebating bill, as amended by the Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee. The bill would amend the state Unfair Trade Practices Act to exempt additional practices from those practices considered to be unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance that relate to unfair discrimination and rebates. The bill would amend the Uniform Insurance Agents Licensing Act to clarify that allowed rebating practices would not be grounds for disciplinary action against an applicant or license holder seeking or issued a license under such act. The bill passed the Senate 36-1, with 3 (2 of whom are licensed insurance agents) voting present.
The Senate Committee amended the bill—addressing concerns KAIA had raised with the Department—to remove language providing exceptions for commercial property and casualty insurance. This change resulted in KAIA removing opposition to the bill. The Association is currently neutral on the legislation. After passage in the Senate, the bill was sent to the House and was assigned to the House Insurance & Pensions Committee. A hearing has not yet been scheduled for the bill.
A bill explainer can be found here: supp_note_sb448_01_0000.pdf (kslegislature.org)
In other news, SB150 passed the full Senate in advance of the turnaround deadline. The bill is one of few pieces of legislation introduced by the Kansas Chamber based upon the discussions of a Legal Reform Task Force. The KAIA participates as a member of this Task Force. SB150 would create law beefing up the regulation of legal advertising and the use of protected health information to solicit individuals for legal services. Following the Kansas Supreme Court decision in Hilburn to toss out the state’s statutory caps on noneconomic damages caps in business liability cases, the business community seeks to find legislation that could help curtail the pursuit of frivolous lawsuits. This bill, which passed 24-14, is one such measure.
A bill explainer can be found here: supp_note_sb150_01_0000.pdf (kslegislature.org)
As expected, the pace of the session picked up significantly over the past week. The Senate and the House both wrapped up their work on the two issues that have taken up a significant amount of time during the first few weeks of the session. Specifically, the Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion (APEX) bill became law, and the bill designated the boundaries of Kansas's Congressional districts. The focus of the next few weeks shifts to wrapping up the House of Origin Committee work that must be done before the "turnaround" deadline that is quickly approaching. Turnaround is the date that nonexempt bills must pass their chamber of origin to continue to be considered for the remainder of the legislative session. Practically speaking, next week is the next full week for committees to complete their initial work before "turnaround." Therefore, the committee schedule will be busy next week. The following week will work through the committee passed bills with the entire body in each respective chamber.
The APEX bill, SB 347, passed the House by a vote of 80-41. The Senate quickly concurred with the House amendments, and the Governor then signed the bill. The bill includes a wide range of economic tools. These tools include investment tax credits, payroll tax refunds, employee training cost reimbursement, property tax exemptions, and sales tax exemptions. These benefits would be limited to qualified for-profit firms that would invest a minimum of $1 billion; be engaged in specifically targeted industries including, but not limited to, advanced manufacturing, aerospace; transportation, food, and agriculture; professional and technical services, or a national corporate headquarters. The bill also outlines qualified suppliers and eligibility requirements. The Department of Commerce has disclosed that Kansas is a finalist for a megaproject that will bring $4 billion in new private investment to Kansas, create 4,000 permanent jobs with an average wage of $50, and add 6,000 more jobs during the construction phase. The Governor's administration is currently negotiating with a company now that the bill has become law.
The Statehouse centered around the veto override attempt of SB 355, the Kansas Congressional district map. The Senate initially failed to override the veto with four Republican Senators withholding their votes. In a reconsideration of that override attempt, the Kansas Senate was able to override the Governor's veto as two Senators switched their vote to override the veto. The House then successfully voted to override the Governor's veto, and the bill became law. The maps are expected to be challenged in court.
Senate President Ty Masterson announced that three of the four Senators that voted against the initial override attempt were stripped of some of their positions on committees. Additionally, the two Senators that initially voted against the override and switched their votes were removed from their roles as Vice Chairman of their respective committees.
The debate will continue to focus on dividing existing districts, counties, and communities with underlying judicial review concerns. It could mean the court would decide district boundaries rather than the legislature. The Senate passed Sub. SB 355 with a vote of 26-9 along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. The House passed the bill 79-37 along mostly party lines.
KAIA's Legislative Activity
The insurance department submitted SB 448 on February 8. It was referred to the Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, which held a hearing on February 9. SB 448 is the Kansas Insurance Department’s rebating bill. It incorporates much of the NAIC’s model law. KAIA submitted written testimony opposing the bill after meeting with its Government Affairs Committee several times. KAIA is in continued discussions with the insurance department and has made some progress in improving the language in the bill.
The House Insurance Committee will hold a hearing on it soon, and the Senate FI&I Committee will be working on the bill on February 17.
Insurance Happenings
- New Bills of Interest
- HB2635—House version of KID’s rebating bill
- HB2638—Would require windshields to be covered in insurance policies
- HB2693—Would eliminate the motor vehicle modernization surcharge (opportunity to bring up MVR concerns if the bill has a hearing?)
- SB449—Peck’s “old man” CE Bill: An insurance agent who has been continuously licensed for not less than 25 years and who is not less than 50 years of age shall be exempt from any requirement to obtain CEs.
- Upcoming Hearings
- 10:30 AM, Monday, February 14—Senate Judiciary: Hearing on SB152, Kansas Chamber bill that prohibits third-party lawsuits
- 3:30 PM, Wednesday, February 16—House Insurance: Hearing on HB2635, KID rebating bill
This week saw many significant changes to the regular weekly schedule as a winter storm moved through the area on Wednesday. The legislature did not meet that day, and meetings were limited on Thursday and Friday. Therefore, much of the committee was pushed back, creating a busy schedule for the upcoming two weeks. Most committees will need to complete the first half of their work to pass legislation before the turnaround date. That is the date that most legislation must pass the house of origin to have further consideration to become law during the 2022 legislative year. With the shortened week, there was still a lot of newsworthy activity occurring in Topeka.
First, the Governor vetoed the bill creating new boundaries for Kansas's United States Congressional Districts. This result was expected. A veto override will likely be attempted in the coming weeks. Debate will continue to focus on the division of existing districts, counties, and communities with underlying judicial review concerns, which could mean the court, rather than the legislature, would decide district boundaries. The Senate passed Sub. SB 355 with a vote of 26-9 along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. The House passed the bill 79-37 along mostly party lines (one Republican voted against the bill.) Accordingly, the veto override attempt will likely be a close vote.
The other hot topic in Topeka continues to be the discussion surrounding the “APEX” bill. The House Commerce Committee has had significant discussion on the bill and has not yet acted. The House is expected to debate the bill next week. The bill includes a wide range of economic tools, which are called APEX-Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion. These tools include investment tax credits, payroll tax refunds, employee training cost reimbursement, property tax exemptions, and sales tax exemptions. These benefits would be limited to qualified for-profit firms that would invest a minimum of $1 billion; be engaged in specifically targeted industries including, but not limited to, advanced manufacturing, aerospace; transportation, food, and agriculture; professional and technical services, or a national corporate headquarters. The bill also outlines qualified suppliers and eligibility requirements.
The Department of Commerce has disclosed that Kansas is a finalist for a megaproject that will bring $4 billion in new private investment to Kansas, create 4,000 permanent jobs with an average wage of $50,000 (which is above the county median average salary), and add 6,000 more jobs during the construction phase.
Once again, this week, the main focus was on redistricting. The Senate and the House have passed Substitute for SB 355 (See Sub SB 355 Supplemental note Map), creating new boundary lines for Kansas Congressional districts. The Congressional map is the first map debated by the Legislature. The debate focused on the division of existing districts, counties, and communities with underlying judicial review concerns, which could mean the Court, rather than the Legislature, would ultimately decide district boundaries. The Senate passed Sub. SB 355 with a vote of 26-9 along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. The House passed the bill 79-37 along mostly party lines (one Republican voted against the bill.) Over the next few weeks, the maps creating the boundaries for the state legislative and board of education districts will be debated.
Also making headlines this week was the introduction and hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee of a bill to provide approximately one billion dollars of economic development benefits to a potential investment from a business entity considering locating in Kansas. The full Senate passed the bill 32-7.
The bill includes a wide range of economic tools called APEX-Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion. These tools include investment tax credits, payroll tax refunds, employee training cost reimbursement, property tax exemptions, and sales tax exemptions. These benefits would be limited to qualified for-profit firms that would invest a minimum of $1 billion; be engaged in specifically targeted industries including, but not limited to, advanced manufacturing, aerospace; transportation, food, and agriculture; professional and technical services, or a national corporate headquarters. The bill also outlines qualified suppliers and eligibility requirements.
The Department of Commerce has disclosed that Kansas is a finalist for a megaproject that will bring $4 billion in new private investment to Kansas, create 4,000 permanent jobs with an average wage of $50,000 (which is above the county median average salary), and add 6,000 more jobs during the construction phase. The bill will likely be considered by the House next week.
Insurance Happenings This Week:
- To address the Kansas Supreme Court's decision that the statutory caps on noneconomic damages caps were unconstitutional, the Kansas Chamber introduced a couple of bills that the business community believes will make the pursuit of frivolous lawsuits more difficult and less enticing. One of those bills, SB150, passed out of the Senate Judiciary earlier this session. This bill would create laws related to legal advertising and the use of protected health information to solicit individuals for legal services, as follows. It is anticipated that SB150 may be up for consideration by the full Senate this week.
- 3:30 PM, Monday, January 31—House Insurance: Hearing on HB2564, the perfunctory bill updating the version of risk-based capital instructions in effect, and HB2547, a bill authorizing technology-enabled fiduciary financial institution insurance companies within the captive insurance act and providing for the requirements and operations thereof.
- 3:30 PM, Tuesday, February 1—House Judiciary: Hearing on HB2537, a bill that would allow a person affected by an order from the Insurance Commissioner to request a hearing per the provisions of the Kansas Administrative Procedures Act.
- 3:30 PM, Wednesday, February 2—House Insurance: Hearing on SB199, a bill that would amend law in the Insurance Code governing specially designed policies and short-term policies to update references to short-term limited duration (STLD) policies.
The 2022 Kansas legislative session began this week, and Governor Laura Kelly presented the State of the State address Tuesday evening. For the first time in decades, the Kansas budget has historically high revenues and over $3 billion year-end balances. (see JG Scott Consensus Revenue Estimates; 2022 budget profile).
The Governor asserted that the increased revenues provide an opportunity to put Kansas’ fiscal house for years to come. Governor Kelly's budget calls for:
- the end of borrowing from dedicated state highway funds;
- payment of the long-term debt;
- one-time spending on a variety of projects;
- and increased long-term spending on her priorities, such as the repeal of the sales tax on food, increased funding for higher education, and full funding of the State Water Plan.
The increased revenues allow for payments to the Kansas Public Employee Retirement fund (KPERS) to reduce the state’s liability and fulfill the state’s commitment to employees. The Governor also proposed to place $600 million in the state’s rainy-day savings fund. Over the next few weeks, Legislative budget committees will examine and modify the budget.
(Adam Proffitt Governor's Budget; Governor's budget volume 1; Governor's budget Vol. 2).
Tax: This week, the Senate Tax Committee passed SB 318, a tax relief bill for those affected by the December grass fires. SB 318 provides a sales tax exemption for all purchases of tangible personal property and services made to reconstruct, repair, or replace any fence used to enclose land devoted to agricultural use that was damaged or destroyed by wildfires beginning retroactively to January 1, 2021. Any sales tax paid on qualified fence projects after January 1, 2021, would be refunded. Future qualifying fence projects would be issued a sales tax exemption certificate. The bill would take effect upon publication in the Kansas Register. The full Senate will now hear the bill. The House Taxation Committee has listened to a similar House bill, and the committee plans to pass their version out of committee early next week.
Utilities: The House Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications Committee met several times this week under the new leadership of Chairman Blaine Finch.
Chairman Finch had served on the committee before becoming chair of Judiciary and Speaker Pro Tem of the Kansas House. Chairman Finch announced plans to hold informational hearings to educate new legislators and the public on committee topics involving public electric utilities; renewable, nuclear, coal, and natural gas energy providers; the oil and gas industry and telecommunications.
Both House and Senate Utilities Committees heard an extensive presentation from Justin Grady, Chief of Revenue Requirement, Cost of Service, and Finance for the Kansas Corporation Commission, regarding the events of winter storm Uri. Grady’s presentation offered detailed information on the magnitude of the storm, impacts, causes of shortages, the status of KCC's investigation, lessons learned, and recommendations of the KCC and Southwest Power Pool. In summary, his presentation emphasized the need for resource planning, energy reliability, and the need for diverse energy sources. (Justin Grady KCC presentation) Chairman Finch introduced a resolution calling for the Attorney General and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate price gouging during the storm.
Senate Utilities Committee heard the annual presentation of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Producers. (Ed Cross presentation) Senate Utilities Chair Mike Thompson introduced three bills dealing with wind and solar leases and zoning ( SB 323, SB 324, SB 325.) Laura Lutz with Evergy asked that a bill be introduced to allow Evergy to include costs of maintenance of coal plants in their rate base to assure reliable energy sources in major weather events. (The bill has not yet been printed.)
State Finance Council and SPARK: The state finance council on Monday, January 10, 2022, approved recommendations from the Executive committee of SPARK to provide funding for economic revitalization ($100 million); education and health ($50 million); and connectivity ($4 million) totaling $154 million. (For details, see SPARK funding pages 11-15).
The Kansas Legislature convenes for its 2022 regular session, January 10, 2022. Unlike the start of the 2021 Session, which featured a restriction on who can visit the statehouse in person due to concerns about COVID-19, legislative leaders have indicated operations will generally be back to pre-pandemic norms. The first week comprises introductory meetings to establish the tone for the year. However, because this is the second year in the biennium, bills carry over from 2021 and can have action taken immediately, somewhat speeding up the process. The legislature is constitutionally required to pass a reapportionment plan redrawing district lines for political offices respective to new census data. They must also pass an operational budget for state services. And the House of Representatives and statewide officeholders are up for elections this year. These three factors—maps, budget, and election year—will dominate the legislative environment and pace – likely yielding a lot of early activity and hopefully a shortened overall schedule not overlooked by other controversial or divisive issues.
On these matters, early hall talk is that the legislators are strongly considering passing separate district maps—one for the Kansas House of Representatives, the Kansas Senate, State Board of Education, and U.S. Congressional districts. Kansas currently sits with over $3.5 billion in state coffers regarding the budget. So, we have seen a mix of managing the surplus emerge. Governor Kelly, her likely General Election opponent, Republican Derek Schmidt, and the legislature have called for eliminating or reducing the food sales tax. Additionally, Schmidt and legislative leaders will push to pay down debt on the state’s retirement system and store a chunk in the state’s rainy-day fund.
Additionally, the legislative response to COVID-19 and federal vaccine mandates will continue to occupy a front-row seat among the issues in the 2022 Session. Last week, amid the Omicron surge, the Governor issued an Emergency Declaration and a 15-day Executive Order designed to address healthcare provider staffing concerns. Legislative leaders responded by saying they would plan to address these concerns early in the session.
Republicans continue to enjoy a supermajority in the House and Senate which provides enough votes to potentially override any veto made by Democrat Governor Laura Kelly—the legislature successfully exercised this override power on some key issues the last session. But, in year four of Governor Kelly’s first term, she has become familiar with contending with a Republican-controlled legislature. Heading into a reelection year, the Governor, who has shown a willingness to work across the aisle, will undoubtedly look to continue those efforts as she faces difficult political winds in Red State, Kansas, stemming from the national dialogue on inflation, supply chain issues, education, etc.
WHAT TO EXPECT THE FIRST WEEK…
As noted above, the session kicks off, January 10, 2022. The first week of every session is primarily organizational as legislators return to Topeka, move into their offices, and hold introductory committee meetings. The House and Senate will gavel in at 2:00 pm. The real work will start later in the week when Governor Kelly delivers her State of the State Address to the House and Senate on Tuesday evening. We don’t expect her to present many details, but she will paint a broad picture for her agenda. We expect she will focus on her legislative successes from 2021 and their work in response to the pandemic. The Governor will, of course, urge the legislature to work on the other priorities she established in her campaign. The administration will publicly release their budget recommendation to the legislature on Wednesday morning to a joint meeting of the House and Senate budget committees.
Legislative Calendars: Calendars - January 2022 | Kansas State Legislature (kslegislature.org)
Prefiled Bills
There have been several bills prefiled by legislators in the House and Senate. In Kansas, like many states, individual lawmakers are permitted to write and submit legislation before the official start of the legislative session. These bills are generally pet projects or political statements for the legislator prefiling the legislation. Links to the full list of pre-filed bills are below.
House Prefiled Bill List: 2022_Prefiled_Bills.pdf (kslegislature.org)
Senate Prefiled Bill List: 2022_senate_prefiled_bills.pdf (kslegislature.org)
Legislative Leadership:
House
- Speaker – Ron Ryckman Jr. (R-Olathe)
- Speaker Pro Tem – Blaine Finch (R-Ottawa)
- Majority Leader – Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita)
- Assistant Majority Leader – Les Mason (R-McPherson)
- Republican Caucus Chair – Ken Rahjes (R-Agra)
- Republican Caucus Whip – TBD (Blake Carpenter (R-Wichita) stepped down due to military service)
- Minority Leader – Tom Sawyer (D-Wichita)
- Assistant Minority Leader – Jason Probst (D-Hutchinson)
- Minority Whip – Stephanie Clayton (D-Overland Park)
- Democrat Caucus Policy Chair – Rui Xu (D-Westwood)
- Democrat Caucus Chair – Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence)
- Democrat Agenda Chair – Brandon Woodard (D-Lenexa)
Senate
- President – Ty Masterson (R-Augusta)
- Vice President – Rick Wilborn (R-McPherson)
- Majority Leader – Larry Alley (R-Winfield)
- Assistant Majority Leader – Renee Erickson (R-Wichita)
- Majority Whip – Richard Hilderbrand (R-Galena)
- Minority Leader – Dinah Sykes (D-Lenexa)
- Assistant Minority Leader – Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D-Wichita)
- Minority Whip – Pat Pettey (D-Kansas City)
- Democrat Agenda Chair – Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence)
- Democrat Caucus Chair – Jeff Pittman (D-Leavenworth)
Updated Legislative Rosters and Committee Lists
The Kansas Legislature’s website has been updated to include the most current members and committee memberships roster. The rosters and committee pages provide pertinent information, like contact information and meeting times and locations. Below are links to areas of interest that we hope you’ll find helpful as we kick off the 2021-22 cycle.
House Roster: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/members/csv/house/
Senate Roster: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/members/csv/senate/
Committee Lists: Committees | Kansas State Legislature (kslegislature.org)
2022 Legislative Session Deadlines:
The following dates are the deadlines for introducing and considering bills for the 2022 Session, pending adoption as part of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives.
Monday, January 1
Last day for member or members to REQUEST bill drafts from Revisor’s Office.
Monday, February 7
Last day for non-exempt Committees to REQUEST bill drafts from the Revisor’s Office. NOTE: This is the last day requests for introduction can be on non-exempt committee agendas
Wednesday, February 9
Last day for Individuals to INTRODUCE bills in originating chamber. NOTE: Bills must be submitted to chamber staff during the daily session for the introduction.
Friday, February 11
Last day for non-exempt Committees to INTRODUCE bills in originating chamber. NOTE: Bills must be submitted to chamber staff during the daily sessions for introduction.
Monday, February 21
Last day for committees to meet before Turnaround Day
Thursday, February 24 (Turnaround Day)
Last day to consider non-exempt bills in the house of origin.
Friday, March 18
Last day non-exempt committees can meet, consider bills
Thursday, March 23
Last day to consider non-exempt bills, not in originating chamber.
Friday, April 1 (Drop Dead Day)
No bills were considered after this date except bills vetoed by the Governor, omnibus appropriations act, and omnibus reconciliations spending limit bill.
Monday, April 25 (Veto Session Begins)
Veto Session where the legislature considers gubernatorial vetoes and puts finishing touches on budget.
Exempt committees: House and Senate Federal and State Affairs, Senate Ways and Means, Senate Assessment and Taxation, House committees on Calendar and Printing, Appropriations, Taxation or select committees of either house when so authorized. Exempt bills are those sponsored by, referred to, or acted upon by an exempt committee.
Exempt bills are those sponsored by, referred to, or acted upon by an exempt committee.
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