The Legislature adjourned late Friday evening after a frenetic week of conference committees and floor debates. We saw some good bills advance, but we are deeply worried about other bills that could bring harm to many Kansans. Bills that passed both chambers will now be sent to Governor Kelly for her consideration. As a reminder, she has ten calendar days from the time a bill is sent to her to sign, veto, or allow it to become law without her signature.
We urge Governor Kelly to sign these bills:
Sub HB 2402: requiring eligible boards of education to consider participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), providing a financial hardship exception to such participation, and requiring the Kansas Department of Education to assist school districts seeking such participation. We have worked on this legislation all year and were very pleased to see it pass both chambers easily. With Kansas almost last in the nation in CEP participation, this bill is a step in the right direction, as it will help more Kansas kids have access to school meals.
HB 2653: requiring the Kansas Secretary of Corrections to assist inmates with obtaining identification and employment-related documentation prior to release from custody. This vital legislation will help individuals transition out of incarceration and get back to their lives.
Sub HB 2595: enacting the attorney training program for rural Kansas act, providing stipends to law students who meet certain requirements and agree to practice law in rural areas, and providing loan forgiveness to lawyers who meet certain requirements and practice law in rural areas. This bill is an important step toward ensuring that every Kansan has access to legal counsel in their own communities.
HB 2467: making changes regarding suspended and restricted driver’s licenses. This bill will help people get back to work by preventing them from losing their driver’s license for unnecessary reasons.
HB 2320: authorizing children in DCF custody to attend school in any district, requiring their records to be transferred between districts in a timely manner, and requiring a transportation plan, if needed, to keep the child in their original school. This legislation ensures children’s uninterrupted access to education, which should always be a top priority.
We urge Governor Kelly to veto these bills:
If Governor Kelly vetoes any bill, it would take a two-thirds majority of both chambers to override the veto. Several of the bills we urge her to veto fall short of the veto-proof majority, giving us hope that some of them might not become law.
HB 2329: increasing youth detention limits, expanding criminal penalties, requiring the state to create youth residential facilities (group homes) using a decreased amount of $4.5 million from the evidence-based programs accounts, expanding the definition of “chronic offender,” and requiring detention placement for youth presenting to intake for the second time within three months who are accused of an offense where if committed by an adult would be a misdemeanor or felony. While there were some improvements to this bill made during conference committee, it remains extremely harmful, with increased unnecessary detention and out-of-home placement.
HB 2521: expanding the Kansas Tort Claims Act to include private child placement agencies that contract with DCF, with carve-outs for cases introduced before July 1, 2026. The bill would sunset in July 2029 and would prioritize foster care contractors while preventing harmed children from seeking unconstrained justice.
HB 2437: authorizing the Secretary of State to twice a year cross-reference driver’s license records and state voter rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database, and restricting voter registration websites to .gov domains or state-approved sites, and requiring county elections officials to remove people from their voter rolls when a funeral home publishes a person’s obituary.
HB 2569: eliminating no-excuse mail-in voting if any judge in the state deems the state’s ballot signature verification law to be invalid, and eliminating all constitutional challenges to election laws in the Shawnee County district court.
Sub HB 2731: establishes data-matching and eligibility verification requirements for DCF and KDHE for certain public assistance programs; permits continuous eligibility provisions for select individuals; prohibits certain exemptions, waivers, and self-attestation; and changes eligibility requirements for certain public assistance programs. This bill codifies some of the most onerous provisions of HR 1, including increased work requirements for SNAP recipients. Several Republicans in both chambers joined Democrats in opposing this bill. It is very clear that it has not been as appetizing as proponents originally thought, as many of the legislation’s hallmark provisions have been removed over the past few weeks. Even so, it adds more red tape to safety net programs, and we encourage the Governor to veto it.
The legislature will return to Topeka on April 9 for the Veto Session, at which time lawmakers will take up unfinished business and attempt to override the governor’s final vetoes. Prior to their return, we’ll keep you updated on actions you can take to contact your legislator to sustain the veto on the bills important to us.
