February 2, 2024
Topeka
Bills Introduced
This week is the fourth week of the 2024 legislative session, and many more bills were introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives. Here is a look at some of those bills:
House Concurrent Resolution 5023 would amend the Kansas Constitution of the state of Kansas and lowers the minimum age for voting in elections from eighteen to sixteen. If passed by the Kansas Legislature with a supermajority vote, 84 votes in favor in the House, then the voters of Kansas would vote on this constitutional amendment.
House Bill 2607, which relates to agriculture in the state of Kansas, requires applicators of pesticides that are uncertified to be supervised, and requires applicants to file certificates of liability insurance, instead of bonds, letters of credit, or proof of escrow.
House Bill 2608 authorizes the Animal Health Commissioner to adopt rules and regulations to administer the Poultry Disease Control Act.
House Bill 2613 relates to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, most commonly referred to as “DARE.” It would create a position called the Statewide Drug Abuse Resistance Education Educator, establish the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Fund, and provide the funding for this fund by an annual transfer from the State General Fund.
House Bill 2006 relates to the Kansas Standard Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Act by specifying that certain drug offenses do not warrant the forfeiture of property for those particular drug offenses.
House Bill 2600 would establish a grant program to award dollars to qualifying Title 1 schools and provide feminine hygiene products to students at no cost.
House Bill 2604 increases the dollar amount for small claims proceedings.
These are a handful of bills introduced, and we will need to see if they will have a scheduled hearing in their committee. Many of these bills may not even have a hearing or make it out of committee.
Appropriations Committee – World Cup
The House Appropriations heard from the World Cup 2026 delegation on Tuesday morning. The delegation is advocating for $28-32 million for the World Cup that will be in the Kansas City region, both the Missouri and Kansas sides, in 2026. They explained that there are definitely three, possibly four, venues that will have base camps in Kansas. These base camps will generate a great economic impact to the state. They explained that in order for the selection of the World Cup, there needed to be enough hotel rooms within a 250-mile radius of the match, which would involve Lincoln and Ellsworth in House District 109. The Governor has proposed $20 million for the World Cup.
Discussions on State Budget
During the past couple of weeks, I have had meetings with both House and Senate leadership regarding the governor’s proposals for the state budget. Many items the governor has included in her budget do not need to be expended with dollars from the Kansas taxpayers. We are still discussing those items and will see if these happen to be funded in the final budget.
The House Appropriations Committee continued its discussions on the budgets for our state agencies and departments this week.
We heard the budget analysis for the Kansas Board of Hearing Aid Examiners, Kansas Lottery, Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, and the Kansas Department of Revenue. The budget for the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission was interesting due to the selection of the new historic horse racing facility to be opened in Sedgwick County by 2025.
Thursday, we continued our budget discussions with the Abstractor’s Board of Examiners, Board of Indigents’ Defense Services, and the Board of Technical Professions.
Contact Information
Anytime that you would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, you can tune in by video or audio at www.kslegislature.org.
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me 785-296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, or email me at [email protected].
Rep. Troy Waymaster is the House Appropriations Committee chairman and representative of the Kansas House 109th District which includes Ellsworth, Lincoln, Osborne, Russell, and Smith counties.