Kansas Bills

Requiring a competitive bid process for the permitting of electric transmission lines.

Enacting the Kansas film and digital media industry production development act, providing a tax credit and sales tax exemption to incentivize film, video and digital media production in Kansas, establishing a program to be administered by the secretary of commerce for the purpose of developing such production in Kansas and requiring the secretary of commerce to issue reports to the legislature regarding the program.

Providing a Kansas income tax subtraction modification for certain amounts received as compensation for members of the armed forces.

Authorizing school districts to employ chaplains or accept such persons as volunteers.

Authorizing the state corporation commission to increase or decrease an electric public utility's return on equity based on whether such utility's all-in average retail rate has increased or decreased.

Reconciling multiple amendments to certain statutes.

Requiring all persons to be 18 years of age to be eligible to give consent for marriage and eliminating exceptions to such requirement.

Repealing the three-mile extraterritorial planning and zoning authority for cities.

Providing a tax credit for firefighters who incur unreimbursed medical expenses for screening for occupation-related cancer, enacting the fighting chance for firefighters act.

Creating the election crime of interference with an election official.

Authorizing the board of county commissioners to appoint a person to fill a vacancy in a county-elected office when no candidate runs for such office.

Senate Substitute for HB 2018 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Creating the crime of interference with the conduct of a religious assembly, providing criminal penalties therefor and providing for a civil cause of action for damages.

Requiring the return of advance voting ballots by 7:00 p.m. on the day of the election.

Providing property tax exemptions for certain personal property including watercraft, marine equipment, off-road vehicles, motorized bicycles and certain trailers.

Discontinuing the imposition of sales tax on certain cable services.

Substitute for HB 2012 by Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources - Establishing the ethanol grant program fund and transferring an amount of not to exceed $5,000,000 from the state general fund to the ethanol grant program fund each July 1 beginning in 2026.

Decreasing the rate of ad valorem tax imposed by a school district, increasing the extent of exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy and providing for certain transfers to the state school district finance fund.

Prohibiting abortion procedures and creating the crimes of unlawful performance of an abortion and unlawful destruction of a fertilized embryo.

Prohibiting abortion procedures except when necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman and providing a private cause of action for civil enforcement of such prohibition.

Modifying the definition of security officer to include certain juvenile corrections officer positions for purposes of the KPERS correctional employees group.

Providing membership in the KP&F retirement system for certain security officers of the department of corrections and allowing certain service credit purchases of previous KPERS security officer service for purposes of KP&F retirement benefits.

Establishing the veterans' valor property tax relief act providing an income tax credit or refund for eligible individuals and discontinuing the sales tax exemption for purchases made by certain qualifying military veterans.

Establishing the EV energy equity road repair tax act (EVEERRT act) and providing for a road repair tax on electricity distributed from a public charging station for electric vehicles.

Requiring the department of health and environment to audit hospital compliance with the lay caregiver act and report the results of such audit to the legislature.

Continuing the reimbursement from the taxpayer notification costs fund for printing and postage costs of county clerks through calendar year 2029.

Proposing to amend section 1 of article 11 of the constitution of the state of Kansas to value residential real property, commercial and industrial real property and mobile homes personal property based on the fair market value or average fair market value and providing that the legislature may provide by law for the freezing of property tax valuations for owner-occupied residential property of qualifying seniors.

Extending the expiration date for provisions that authorize an electric utility to not offer parallel generation service to certain large load customers and exempt certain large load customers from the determination of the utility's peak demand.

Enacting the supported decision-making agreements act to provide a statutory framework for allowing an adult to receive decision-making assistance from one or more other adults, requirements for decision-making agreements and duties related thereto.

Prohibiting the assignment of benefits under certain property and casualty insurance contracts and defining such assignment of benefits as an unfair method of competition and unfair or deceptive act or practice.

Requiring the Kansas bureau of investigation to implement a statewide offender registration system for agencies who register offenders under the offender registration act, providing for a petition to determine that an offender is indigent and authorizing a notice to appear to be issued for a violation of the act involving nonpayment of a fee.

Reviving repealed statutes related to estates of absentees and requiring nonresident fiduciaries to appoint an agent residing in this state.

Prohibiting persons who engaged in wrongful conduct from recovering damages in certain civil actions, prohibiting certain public nuisance claims, providing that only the attorney general may file claims regarding public nuisances that are not wholly contained in one political subdivision unless the attorney general delegates authorization to file such claims and requiring special injury for certain public nuisance actions.

Removing the prisoner review board from the supervision of the secretary of corrections, changing the appointing authority and creating qualifications for the members of the board and requiring parole hearings to be postponed if proper notice of the public comment session is not made to the victim.

Providing procedures, standards and requirements for the deposit and investment of public moneys, creating the public moneys fee fund and authorizing the state treasurer to assess a fee to operate the public moneys pooled method, making and concerning appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for the office of the state treasurer, authorizing a certain transfer from the state general fund to the public moneys fee fund, modifying investment standards for the board of trustees of the Kansas public employees retirement system of moneys certified by the state treasurer as equivalent to the aggregate net amount received for unclaimed property and authorizing investments in certain foreign governments and the KPERS board of trustees to elect the vice chairperson of the board, requiring newly affiliated KP&F employers to contribute at the actuarial required rate for past and future service and repealing certain working after retirement statutes for state and local elected officials.

Increasing the maximum annual registration fee limit for seed retailers and wholesalers and authorizing a late fee for registrations renewed after the registration deadline.

Enacting the by-right housing development act to provide a streamlined permit approval process for by-right housing developments, allowing third-party review of new residential construction development documents and inspection of improvements, requiring political subdivisions to allow certain building provisions for certain single-family residences of a certain size, excluding owner initiated rezoning to a single-family residential district from protest petition provisions and providing for all land within the corporate limits of a city that is zoned for any type of residential use to be considered zoned for single-family residential use.

Imposing a duty on a conservator to notify certain entities and persons of any court order commanding performance or safekeeping of a conservatee's estate assets.

Excluding a child engaging in age-appropriate independent activities from the definition of a child in need of care in the revised Kansas code for care of children, requiring the secretary for children and families to enter into a memorandum of understanding with military organizations and create a referral process for children in need of care cases involving children of military personnel to provide families with services that a military family advocacy program offers, authorizing a challenge to a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity as soon as practicable after discovery of fraud, duress or mistake of fact and specifying that certain genetic testing results shall constitute a change of circumstances that warrants a court finding of material mistake of fact.

Providing for the pheasants forever, quail forever and delta waterfowl distinctive license plates, restricting the use of material or objects covering a license plate for motor vehicles and modifying the definition of conviction in the Kansas uniform commercial drivers' license act.

Requiring a proponent to demonstrate that it is more likely than not that certain specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand evidence before certain qualified witnesses may testify.

Providing for the administration of statewide assessments to virtual school students by such students' virtual schools, adding third parties who contract with school districts to the definition of special teacher, providing for special education state aid reimbursement for certain qualified teachers, authorizing nonpublic schools to permit nonaccredited private elementary or secondary school students to participate in certain activities and authorizing foreign exchange students who reside with a host family to enroll in and attend the resident school district of the host family.

Requiring retail electric suppliers to provide fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory rates and services to entities that provide electric vehicle charging services.

Enacting the proxy advisor transparency act, requiring proxy advisors to make certain disclosures when recommending an action against company management, authorizing the attorney general to investigate and take enforcement actions against violators and establishing a private right of action for a declaratory judgment or injunctive relief.

Permitting a municipal judge to initiate a psychiatric or psychological examination to determine competence, setting forth relevant procedures and requiring further consideration of evaluation and treatment during the course of competency proceedings for defendants charged with the most serious offenses.

House Substitute for Senate Bill 366 by Committee on Transportation - Prohibiting the use of a mobile telephone while operating a motor vehicle in school or construction zones and providing penalties thereof and permitting the display of certain lighting in road construction zones by vehicles and trailers engaged in highway construction and maintenance operations.

Requiring the department of wildlife and parks to offer a discounted resident senior combination hunting and fishing license to residents of Kansas who are 65 years of age or older and increasing the maximum age to qualify for the Kansas kids lifetime combination hunting and fishing license and decreasing the maximum fee and removing the expiration of such license.

Electing to participate in the federal tax credit for individual contributions to scholarship granting organizations.

House Substitute for SB 356 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Authorizing the adoption of administrative rules and regulations concerning sports wagering by the Kansas racing and gaming commission.

Designating an official Kansas railroad hall of fame and establishing the Kansas railroad hall of fame selection committee.

Facilitating nursing workforce development by providing education levels for instructors at nursing schools as a requirement for state approval.

Creating the vehicle services modernization task force, providing limitations on expenditures of county treasurer motor vehicle fee funds and authorizing county treasurers to charge certain increased fees for vehicle registration transactions.

Designating certain bridges on U.S. highway 69 and 18th street expressway in Johnson county as the Representative Robert M Tomlinson memorial bridge, a bridge on interstate 135 in Sedgwick county as the Don Snyder memorial bridge, a portion of interstate 35 as the deputy Sam Smith memorial highway, a portion of U.S. highway 36 as the undersheriff Brandon Gaede memorial highway, a portion of K-49 highway as the Pvt Michael E Gerber memorial highway and redesignating a current portion of the 35th infantry division memorial highway for interstate 35.

Providing for occupational licensing annual reports by agencies to the joint committee on administrative rules and regulations and requiring that adoption of new occupational licenses and material changes to existing occupational licenses by a state agency be approved by the legislature by ratification.

Updating income eligibility requirements for the state children's health insurance program and requiring the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell joint committee on home and community based services and KanCare oversight hold meetings each quarter.

House Subsitute for SB 260 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Relating to campaign finance; concerning a vacancy in the joint candidacy of the governor and lieutenant governor; relating to reasons for withdrawal of candidacy from national, state and local offices; relating to the election of the board of directors of certain irrigation districts; specifying when such elections may be conducted by the mail ballot election law; relating to the crime of corrupt political advertising; removing the requirements that treasurers be listed in political advertising attributions; clarifying campaign finance reports regarding vendor information.

Establishing the born to invest act and requiring the office of vital statistics to provide data to the office of the state treasurer for distribution of informational materials regarding certain government-administered savings accounts.

Requiring agents and insurers to respond to inquiries from the commissioner of insurance within 14 calendar days and authorizing certain rebate pilot programs to exceed one year in duration.

Enacting the Kansas consumer prescription protection and accountability act and providing for regulation and registration of pharmacy benefits managers.

Honoring and supporting United States veterans who served in Honduras between 1981 and 1992.

Providing for a session of the House of Representatives to hear a message from Ambassador Alexander Tah-ray Yui.