2025 Kansas Legislative Updates

During the legislative session, KAIA will provide updates to House and Senate bills with the assistance of Dan Murray, KAIA's Lobbyist.

Week of February 17, 2025

Week of February 17, 2025

Legislators concluded the first half of the session last week with the Senate finishing business on Wednesday and the House spending another day, wrapping up debate on Thursday night, marking the conclusion of “Turnaround”. Each chamber will consider those bills which were advanced from the opposite body and a few remaining bills which have been exempted from legislative deadlines.

After the turnaround deadline, those bills which did not have a hearing or committee action and were not voted on or exempted from the deadline are now considered “dead” for the remainder of the 2025 session. While these deadlines help to thin out the number of actionable bills, they also lead to the coupling of issues through the amending of seemingly dead proposals onto those bills which remain alive. In order for differing proposals to be amended together, they generally must share subject matter or a statutory connection.

Both the House and Senate returned to Topeka on Tuesday, February 25th to commence the session’s second half, which is set to end on April 12th.

Insurance Turnaround Highlights

SB23, requiring agents and insurers to respond to complaint inquiries within 14 calendar days, passed the Senate 40-0 and was referred to House Insurance. The Senate did not amend the bill as introduced.
SB25, establishing insurance savings accounts, received a hearing in Senate Assessment & Taxation on January 29th. It is an exempt bill and will receive action in that committee in the coming weeks.
SB42, establishing an online insurance verification system, passed the Senate 38-2. It will be referred to House Insurance for consideration.
SB54, providing for limited discovery and disclosure of third party funding of litigation, passed the Senate 39-1. It will be referred to House Judiciary for consideration.
HB2043, requiring agents and insurers to respond to complaint inquiries within 14 calendar days, passed the House 97-14. The House committee amended the bill to require response to ALL inquiries within 14 calendar days. It has been referred to Senate FI&I and was scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday, February 25.
HB2047, establishing an online insurance verification system, passed the House 121-0. It will be referred to Senate FI&I.
HB2087, clarifying that non-admitted carriers may provide coverage for auto dealers, passed the House 121-0. It will be referred to Senate FI&I.

Next Week

The House Insurance Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, February 26. The agenda is not yet available.

The Senate FI&I is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. See agenda for week of February 24th.

Week of February 3, 2025

Week of February 3, 2025

The legislature continued its work on committees and on the budget through the week of February 3, 2025. Here are a few highlights of agriculture, energy, tax, and other committees impacting businesses. This is the final full week before the turnaround deadline on Monday, February 17th. That means all non-exempt bills must pass from their chamber of origin. So, expect a flurry of committee and floor activity.

The upcoming week is relatively slow relative to insurance issues. The highlight of the week is the Monday hearing on SB54, 3^rd party litigation bill, in Senate Judiciary. This bill is reflective of the amended version from last year that attempted to assuage some of the 3rd party interests' concerns. However, we anticipate they and the trial bar will oppose. Testimony has been submitted. Also, look for the many KDOI bills to continue to receive action in committee and on the floors. Finally, the infamous bill dealing with arbitration clauses in insurance contracts is back on the tracker. It has been referred to House Judiciary but no hearing is set. That committee heard HB2323, the Commissioner's bill related to expunged records of insurance producers, on Wednesday.

2025 Kansas Legislature Convenes

Week of January 17, 2025

2025 KANSAS LEGISLATURE GAVELS IN

The 2025 Kansas Legislative session started this week. The week was filled with introductory meetings and the Governor’s State of the State.

In her seventh State of the State message, Governor Laura Kelly on Wednesday, January 15, outlined her priorities to the Legislature using a collaborative tone in her calls to action. A portion of her message focused on investments concerning the youngest Kansans, including fully funding public schools, extending free school lunches to more students, and advocating for a one-stop-shop for those who interface with early childhood services. Kelly also prioritized preserving the Ogallala Aquifer and clean water for future generations. Kelly shared her goal of both adding an additional $30 million annually to support water resources and creating an Office of Natural Resources to combine water-related services currently split over 14 different agencies.

Finally, for the seventh straight year, Kelly encouraged the Legislature to pass Medicaid expansion in Kansas, arguing that the state has left hundreds of millions of dollars on the table and lost opportunities to better the health of low-income Kansans.

Senate President Ty Masterson gave the Republican response to the Governor’s presentation. Both presentations may be found here.

In addition to the Governor’s State of the State, the legislature heard presentations from the Kansas Supreme Court and the state of the Kansas military.

House Appropriations budget subcommittees began meeting this week. Early in the week, it was announced that the committees should plan for a 7.5% cut to existing budgets. Legislative leadership is attempting to reduce spending by creating their own budget instead of working from the Governor’s budget as has been done in the past.

The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee hit the ground running with a hearing on a Constitutional Amendment that would cap the annual increase in appraisals at no more than a 3% increase per year. The proponents of the bill believe that this will reign in property taxes on properties that have rapidly increasing values. While this would be true, the opponents, including Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB), informed the committee that this would likely just lead to a tax shift to properties that do not exceed the 3% increase. Opponents pointed out that ultimately, the constitutional amendment would be a tax shift, not a tax reduction. KFB asserted that true broad based property tax relief should be the goal of this legislative session, not just a shift in who pays the property tax. Testimony from SCR 1603 can be found here.

Most committees conducted introductory meetings and received reports. Below is a summary of some of the committees’ actions.

Energy

The House Water, House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications and Senate Utilities committees heard an update on the Grain Belt Express (GBX) transmission line. The committees heard from Invenergy; owner of the Grain Belt Express. The presentation can be found here.The presentation explains the GBX line, the timeline, and compensation and impact to landowners. The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) also presented regarding their involvement in the siting of the GBX line. The presentation from KCC can be found here. KFB provided comments on their involvement in working to improve the siting of transmission lines. KFB emphasized the value of a code of conduct and agriculture impact mitigation protocols for energy projects. KFB’s testimony can be found here. If you would like to watch the hearing go here.

Agriculture and Water

The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee held an informational hearing on Kansas Agriculture and Trade. The Kansas Department of Agriculture presented to the committee highlighting the importance of agriculture to the Kansas economy and value of agriculture exports. The presentation can be found here.

The House Agriculture Committee heard from Dr. Allen Featherstone, Department Head of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University. Dr. Featherstone provided a farm and ranch financial update. The presentation can be found here.

The House Water Committee held an informational hearing on water funding and an update on the Kansas water implementation plan. Connie Owen, Director of the Water Office presented an overview of the office and an update on how increased funding to the State Water Plan has been spent. The presentation can be found here. Owen also presented on the Kansas Water Plan Implementation Framework which can be found here.

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