2025 Capitol Review

Week One

Jan. 13 – Jan. 17, 2025

Following the election in November, where all 125 House of Representatives seats and 40 Senate seats were open, more than 30 new lawmakers were sworn in to represent their districts’ interests. Governor Laura Kelly delivered the annual State of the State address on Wednesday where she focused on economic development initiatives, a new strategic plan to conserve water and her disagreement toward republican leadership’s plans to cut corporate income and property taxes. Quickly following the speech, Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) and Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Andover) quickly went to work with their party’s supermajority (88-37 in the House, 31-9 in the Senate) advantage to begin advancing their plans to reduce the tax burden on Kansans.

Read More

Week Two

Jan. 20 – Jan. 24, 2025

Following Monday’s holiday, lawmakers took advantage of the short work week and quickly introduced a flurry of bills ahead of the Jan. 27 deadline concluding the window for individual bill drafts. In all, nearly 170 pieces of legislation have been introduced in the 2025 Kansas legislative session, with many more ideas still in the drafting queue. The House of Representatives passed its resolution of the joint rules for the 2025-2026 biennium to the Senate for consideration, however, most of the heavy-lifting was conducted in committees during the legislature’s second week in Topeka. Leadership in both the House and Senate are focused on tax policy early-on in the session, evidenced by the Senate Tax Committee’s passage of SCR 1603, which would, if adopted by two-thirds majority in both chambers of the legislature, cap the growth of taxable value of any real property or residential mobile home personal property to three (3) percent per year.

Read More

Week Three

Jan. 27 – Jan. 31, 2025

Schools from around the state brought students to the statehouse this week to celebrate Kansas Day as lawmakers scrambled against the clock to get their bills introduced in this truncated 2025 legislative session. Social issues including gender affirming care dominated the headlines this week. Meanwhile, the first major piece of property tax legislation cleared the Senate chamber eliminating the state’s 1.5 mill property tax levy. With the legislature’s, “Turnaround,” scheduled for Feb. 20, a date by which all non-exempt bills must be passed out of their house of origin, committee chairs have scheduled numerous pieces of legislation for hearing and action next week.

Read More

Week Four

Feb. 03 – Feb. 07, 2025

Kansas legislative committees worked rapidly throughout the session’s fourth week, holding more than 75 hearings as the ‘Turnaround’ week quickly approaches on February 20. ‘Turnaround’ refers to the mid-point of the session where most bills must be passed out of their house of origin for hearings to begin in the opposite chamber. A bill is subject to the ‘Turnaround’ deadline unless it is “blessed” by legislative leadership or resides in an exempt committee (Federal and State Affairs, Appropriations, Tax and Ways and Means). Lawmakers and advocates work to have their interests advanced through the committee process, and several bills have been passed to the opposite chamber. Still looming are agreements on overall tax policy between the House and Senate, and the ever-present item of constructing a fiscally responsible state budget

Read More

Week Five

Feb. 10 – Feb. 14, 2025

TBD

Read More

Week Six

Feb. 17 – Feb. 21, 2025

TBD

Read More

Week Seven

Feb. 24 – Feb. 28, 2025
TBD

Read More

Week Eight

March 03 – March 07, 2025

TBD

Read More

Week Nine

March 10 – March 14, 2025
TBD

Read More

Week 10

March 17 – March 21, 2025
TBD

Read More

Week 11

March 24 – March 28, 2025 (First Adjournment)

TBD

Read More

Veto Session

April 10 – April 12, 2025

TBD

Read More

Sine Die Adjournment

April 12, 2025

TBD

Read More

Post Session Update

May 2025
TBD

Read More
X
X