Kansas Legislature
This session’s bills, where are they now?
By Maria Martinez, Policy Intern
Maria is KCGA’s Policy Intern. Maria is from Queens, NY and is majoring in nimal sciences and industry at Kansas State University. She is also a member of Kansas Corn’s Collegiate Academy.
As promised, we are summarizing all the bills that have been on our radar this session, and what the current status is for them. It is no surprise that this session at the Statehouse has been unusually slower than past years. However, we have still seen significant movement on bills that KCGA has supported. Overall, we have monitored 20 bills, and have seen significant progress this year. The bills are grouped by KCGA’s level of involvement and in order of latest action.
Bills KCGA Directly Supported
Senate Bill 32: Exempting certain non-insurance healthcare benefits from the commissioner’s jurisdiction. You may remember a lot of talk around this bill back in late February when it passed in the Senate and was sent to the house. It was an exciting step in the right direction for Kansas Farm Bureau because it would allow for a competitive and innovation option for their members who do not qualify for ACA subsidies and have no other options for affordable coverage. After being introduced in the House it was referred to the Committee on Insurance and then a hearing was held on March 6th.
As discussed in the last newsletter, this bill received an unfriendly amendment in the House Insurance Committee. The bill was then placed within another House bill being considered by the senate and then added to a conference committee report. The conference committee report passed out of both chambers favorably on a largely party line vote and currently sits on the Governor’s desk.
House Bill 2248: Allowing all-terrain vehicles to cross federal or state highways. This bill has passed both in the House and Senate with amendments being added on the senate side. This should be headed to the Governor’s desk soon.
House Bill 2167: Establishing a commercial industrial hemp program. The intent of this bill is that the State of Kansas implement a commercial industrial hemp act by the Kansas department of agriculture. This bill was passed in both the House and Senate with very little opposition in either chamber. The bill then was enrolled and present to Governor Kelly last week, and then approved by the Governor on Monday.
Bills monitored by KCGA with a potentially negative impact on the agriculture industry, none of these bills received a hearing:
House Bill 2293: Changing to one-year averages when determining ag land valuations. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the Senate and referral to the Committee on Taxation in mid-February.
Senate Bill 111: Requiring counties to approve the establishment of a poultry confinement facility and establishing the procedures therefor. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the Senate and referral to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources in early February.
Senate Bill 112: Requiring counties to approve the establishment of a poultry production or poultry slaughter facility and establishing the procedures therefor. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the Senate and referral to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources in early February.
Bills Monitored by KCGA because of potential impact on the industry:
Senate Bill 22: Kansas itemized deductions, election, providing for deferred foreign income, global intangible low- taxed income, business interest, capital contributions and FDIC premiums income tax modifications; sales and compensating use tax, impositions of tax, nexus, remote sellers, marketplace facilitators, rate of tax on food and food ingredients. This bill would make several changes to Kansas income tax provisions in response to federal income tax changes enacted in late 2017. Back in March this bill was passed on both chambers with amendments and then enrolled and presented to the Governor. As of late March it was vetoed by the Governor and returned to the Senate.
House Bill 2001: Amending the sunset and assessment rates for the remediation reimbursement program. This bill extends the sunset date for the remediation linked deposit loan program, the remediation reimbursement program and the Kansas agricultural remediation fund. It was passed in both chambers back in late February and then enrolled and presented to the Governor in early March. It was then approved by Governor Kelly on March 14th and the law will be effective starting July 1, 2019.
Senate Bill 187: Providing for an increase in permit fees for oversize or overweight vehicles. There hasn’t been much moment on this bill since it was introduced in the Senate on February 14th. It was then referred to the Committee on Transportation and the following month a hearing was held, but there that been no progress since March.
Senate Bill 189: Providing for an increase in registration fees for electric and hybrid vehicles. After the bills introduction to the Senate and then referral to the Committee on Transportation, there was a hearing held in mid-March and the bill has not seen moment since.
Senate Bill 9: Authorizing the transfer of $115,000,000 from the state general fund to the Kansas public employees retirement fund during fiscal year 2019. This bill authorizes certain transfers from the state general fud to the Kansas public employees retirement fund. It was passed in both chambers with no opposition on both sides and then enrolled and presented to the Governor on Tuesday February 26, 2019. It was then approved by the Governor on Friday, March 8th, 2019 and the law became effective March 14th, 2019.
Senate Bill 197: Reducing the sales tax rate on food and food ingredients. This bill would collect and pay a tax on the gross receipts from the sale of food and food ingredients at a rate of 5.5%. It was referred to the Committee on Assessment and Taxation after its introduction to the Senate in mid-February, but after the hearing in early March, there has been no movement.
Senate Bill 182: Providing for water measuring device inspections and limiting the liability of water right owners regarding water measuring devices and the use of water measuring device technicians. After the bills introduction in mid-February it was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. There has been no movement on the bill since its hearing on February 21st.
Senate Bill 188: Providing an increase in motor fuel and taxes and trip permits. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the Senate and referral to the Committee on Assessment and Taxation in mid-February.
House Bill 2267: Sales tax exemption for fencing used in agricultural use. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the House and referral to the Committee on Taxation in mid-February
House Bill 2271: Imposing a criminal penalty upon owners who allow livestock to run at large and allowing county sheriffs to seize such livestock that are on a highway. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the House and referral to the Committee on Agriculture in mid-February.
Senate Bill 76: Sale tax rate on food and food ingredients. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the Senate and referral to the Committee on Assessment and Taxation in mid-February.
House Bill 2043: Review of tax credits, tax exemptions and economic development programs. After its introduction to the House it was originally referred to the Committee on Taxation. After a hearing it was then reported that the committee recommended the bill to be passed as amended by the Committee on Taxation.
House Bill 2128: Decreasing the sales and use tax rate on food and food ingredients. There has been no movement on this bill since its introduction to the House and referral to the Committee on Taxation.
Clearly we’ve had some success this session on bills that will be incredibly helpful moving forward, and there also has been a slow period with other bills (some of which may not be a bad thing). You can click on the blue hyperlink to check the status of any of the bills listed above to continue to track any further process made.