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2018 Kansas legislative session

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2018 legislative sessions coverage
Kansas State Legislature

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General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   None
Session start:   January 8, 2018
Session end:   April 7, 2018
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Susan Wagle (R)
House Speaker:  Ron Ryckman (R)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Jim Denning (R)
House: Don Hineman (R)
Minority Leader:   Senate: Anthony Hensley (D)
House: Jim Ward (D)
Structure
Members:  40 (Senate), 125 (House)
Length of term:   4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:   Art 2, Kansas Constitution
Salary:   $88.66/day + per diem
Elections
Redistricting:  Kansas Legislature has control

During 2018, Ballotpedia tracked notable stories from the Kansas State Legislature. The timeline on this page shows the major events that we tracked during 2018, including events in the regular session and in any special sessions that occurred after the regular session adjourned.

If you know of any additional events that should be added to this page, please email us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Overview

In 2018, the Kansas State Legislature was in session from January 8, 2018, through April 7, 2018. The legislature was in veto session until May 4, 2018.[1]

Partisan control

Kansas was one of 26 Republican state government trifectas in 2018. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Kansas State Legislature in the 2018 legislative session.

Senate

Party As of July 2018
     Democratic Party 9
     Republican Party 31
     Vacancies 0
Total 40

House

Party As of July 2018
     Democratic Party 40
     Republican Party 85
     Vacancies 0
Total 125

Leadership in 2018

Senate

House

Regular session

Bill statistics

Introduced Passed both chambers Governor signed Governor vetoed
House bills 365 70 66 0
Senate bills 208 54 52 0
Total 573 124 118 0

Source: Kansas 2017-2018 Legislative Sessions, "Bill reports: 2018 Bill Location Summary Report," accessed July 11, 2018

Status of legislation at the end of the regular session

This table details the status of legislation covered on this page at the end of the regular session.

Status of legislation at the end of the 2018 regular session
Legislation Subject area Actions during the regular session Status at the end of the regular session
HB 2042 Concealed carry license permits Passed House
Passed Senate 		Died in conference
SB 423 K-12 education funding Passed legislature Governor signed
SB 61 Fix to K-12 funding bill Passed legislature Governor signed

February 2, 2018

Kansas House approves bill requiring permit to carry firearms on college campuses
The Kansas House of Representatives approved House Bill 2042 in a 76 to 44 vote. The bill would recognize out-of-state concealed carry licenses for handguns, lower the concealed carry age from 21 to 18, and require a permit to carry concealed firearms on a university campus.[2] The bill was introduced at the request of the Office of the Attorney General.[3] It was sent to the Senate for consideration.

Update: The Kansas State Senate approved the legislation with amendments on March 15, 2018. The bill died in conference committee.

April 7, 2018

Lawmakers pass $534 million education funding increase
The Kansas State Legislature passed a measure increasing K-12 funding by $534 million over a five-year period. The Kansas State Senate, which originally wanted to increase funding by $274 million, agreed to the measure by a 21 to 19 vote while teachers assembled at the state capitol to show their support.[4] Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer also expressed support for the bill.[4]

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state did not sufficiently fund education. With this legislation, lawmakers attempted to address the court's order to provide more education funding or face school shutdowns until more funding can be provided. At the time of the bill's passage, Kansas spent more than $4 billion per year on K-12 education.[4][5]

According to the Kansas State Department of Education, the plan contained an $80 million error in the first year, decreasing the amount of new school funding from $150 million to $72 million. A spokesman for Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) said the governor would still sign the bill and would "work with the Legislature to correct the error when they return."[6] Read more here.

Update: The governor signed the legislation on April 17, 2018.
See also: Gannon v. Kansas

April 17, 2018

Gov. Colyer signs education funding bill SB 423 into law
Gov. Jeff Colyer signed Senate Bill 423 into law. The bill passed the state House 63-56 and the state Senate 21-19 on April 7, 2018. The legislature approved SB 423 in response to the Kansas Supreme Court's ruling in Gannon v. Kansas that state education funding was neither adequate nor equitable.

Among its provisions, the bill appropriated:

  • $26 million for state foundation aid payments, in addition to already-approved funding.
  • $32.4 million for special education services aid, in addition to already-approved funding.
  • $6 million for supplemental state aid payments, in addition to already-approved funding.
  • $2.8 million for the ACT and ACT WorkKeys assessments. The ACT WorkKeys assessments allow students in grades 9-12 to earn a national career readiness certificate.
  • $500,000 for the mentor teacher program for the 2018-2019 school year.
  • $10 million for a Mental Health Intervention Team pilot program between school districts and mental health professionals—$7.5 million for program operation and $2.5 million for a one-time purchase of a database.[7]
See also: Gannon v. Kansas

Veto session, April 26 to May 4

April 30, 2018

Legislators approve fix to school funding bill
The Kansas State Legislature approved a bill to correct an $80 million error in a funding bill they passed on April 7. The fix passed on April 30 would ensure a $534 million education funding increase, as originally intended, and was sent to Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) who expressed support for the measure: "I appreciate the Legislature for working to quickly pass this important school finance bill. Getting funding to the classroom, requiring outcomes for schools, and doing so without a tax increase is a model to move education forward."[8] Read more here.

Update: Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) signed the legislation on May 7, 2018.
See also: Gannon v. Kansas

May 7, 2018

Governor signs fix to school funding bill
Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) signed SB 61, legislation to correct an error in SB 423, which the governor signed on April 17, 2018. SB 61 increased the state's base aid for the 2018-2019 school year from $4,128 to $4,165 and enacted gradual base aid increases in each school year from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023. The bill mandated that after 2023-2024, base aid would increase by a three-year rolling average based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index for all urban consumers in the Midwest region. It also required school districts to have a local budget that amounted to at least 15 percent of the funds received from the state.[9]

See also: Gannon v. Kansas

Noteworthy events

Kansas Supreme Court rules state's education funding equitable but inadequate

On June 25, 2018, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state's legislative adjustments to education funding, SB 423 and SB 61, were equitable but inadequate. The court concluded that Kansas had not met the adequacy requirement in Article 6 of the state constitution. The court advised the state to undertake further adjustments to inflation and allowed the legislation (SB 19, SB 423, and SB 61) to temporarily remain in effect, thus providing funding for Kansas schools for the 2018-2019 school year. The court extended the deadline for the state to fulfill its constitutional duties to June 30, 2019.[9]

The ruling was the high court's sixth decision in a case called Gannon v. Kansas. The plaintiffs argued that the education funding the state had provided was constitutionally inadequate. In 2013, a three-judge panel agreed, and in 2014 the case reached the Kansas Supreme Court for the first time. Several rounds of court decisions and legislative efforts followed as the parties and court grappled with the requirements of the state constitution and the state budget.

On October 2, 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state legislature had not met its constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund Kansas public schools. The court ruled the state had failed to show that the legislature's education funding bill, SB 19, satisfied its constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund public education. However, allowing the ruling to go into immediate effect would have invalidated SB 19 and left Kansas schools without funding for the 2017-2018 school year. Therefore, the court stayed its ruling until June 30, 2018, leaving SB 19 temporarily in place. The court ordered the legislature to craft a new funding system and demonstrate to the court that the new system fulfilled the legislature's constitutional duties to adequately and equitably fund public education by June 30, 2018.[10]

Click here for more information.

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Kansas Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article 14 of the Kansas Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Kansas
Kansas Constitution
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Articles
Ordinance • Preamble • Bill of Rights
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15

Article 14 of the Kansas Constitution governs the ways in which the state's constitution can be changed over time.

  • One path is the legislatively referred constitutional amendment. Either house of the Kansas State Legislature can propose an amendment to the state's constitution. Two-thirds of the members of each chamber must approve the resolution. If they do, the proposed amendment goes on either the next statewide ballot during which members of the state legislature are elected or on a special election ballot if the legislature agrees to have a special election for this purpose.
  • If a simple majority of the electors of the state who vote on the proposition agree with it, it becomes part of the constitution.
  • The legislature must say what the measure's ballot title will be in their resolution authorizing it.
  • If there is more than one proposed amendment, voters must be able to vote on them separately.
  • At most, five amendments can be proposed for one election.
  • An amendment is allowed to revise one entire article of the constitution "except the article on general provisions."
  • Another path to amend the state constitution is through a constitutional convention. If two-thirds of the members of each house of the state legislature vote in favor, the question "Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the constitution of the state of Kansas?" or "Shall there be a convention limited to revision of article(s) ________ of the constitution of the state of Kansas?" shall be placed on a statewide ballot.
  • If a simple majority of those voting on that question say "yes," a convention is held.
  • Any amendments or revisions that come out of the convention must go before the state's voters.

Kansas does not feature the power of citizen initiative for either initiated constitutional amendments or initiated state statutes.


See also

Elections Kansas State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ KSNT News, "Kansas lawmakers to return to statehouse," April 25, 2018
  2. ↑ The Mercury, "Kansas House passes bill requiring permit to carry guns on college campuses," February 2, 2018
  3. ↑ Kansas Legislature, "Supplemental note on House Bill No. 2042," accessed February 27, 2018
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Miami Herald, "The Latest: Kansas lawmakers pass $534M school funding plan," April 8, 2018
  5. ↑ Fox 4 News, "Kansas Supreme Court rules the state is not spending enough money on education," October 3, 2017
  6. ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "$80 million first-year error found in school funding plan passed by Kansas lawmakers," April 9, 2018
  7. ↑ Kansas Association of School Boards, "KASB Summary of 2018 Legislative Session," May 7, 2018
  8. ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Kansas Lawmakers Pass School Aid Fix, Advance Other Spending," April 30, 2018
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kansas Supreme Court, Gannon v. Kansas, June 25, 2018
  10. ↑ Kansas Supreme Court, Gannon v. Kansas, October 2, 2017
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