Legislative Update: Veto Session Preview

Veto Session Preview

With the legislature set to return next, a number of issues lay ahead including K-12 funding, veto overrides, maintenance of effort issues for federal funds and creating checks on the Governor’s emergency powers to use federal funds when the legislature adjourns Sine Die.

Economy

Every year prior to Veto Session beginning, the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) estimates how the economy is performing and what tax revenue will be for the remainder of the fiscal year and next year. This is critical to shaping the budget and dictating if there are additional funds to be spent or if cuts are necessary. This year, the CREG determined that the economy was recovering faster than what they had estimated back in November and concluded that there will likely be an additional $361M in the State General Fund between FY21 and FY22. This is obviously a positive for the State; however, it has fueled the Republican leadership’s calls for overriding the Governor’s veto of the tax bill.

Vetoes

Speaking of vetoes, the Governor not only vetoed the tax bill but also bills impacting conceal and carry, elections, transgender student athletes, mandating civics and financial literacy tests in K-12, creating the “Gadsden Flag” distinctive license plate and line-item vetoing parts of the budget. This is the most bills a Governor has vetoed in Kansas in 17 years. There are likely enough votes to override the Governor on many of these bills including the tax bill and gun legislation, and this will set the stage for a contentious and perhaps protracted Veto Session.

For higher education, the line-item veto of the deferred maintenance fund was likely the biggest financial  impact. Originally the Governor included $10.3M for the employee pay plan or Board priorities; however, the legislature; at KBOR’s request, moved that money to capital improvements. The Governor line-item vetoed this funding stating that the money was intended to help implement the State Employee Pay Plan and the $10.3M was calculated with that purpose in mind. She also stated that federal funds should be considered for deferred maintenance. The $25M for operations that the legislature added to restore part of the cut was not impacted by the line-item veto.

House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Meet

The appropriations committees did meet with the legislature in recess to discuss revenue estimates, federal stimulus and omnibus. This is routine in order to move Veto Session along; however, there were a couple of issues that came to light including one that impacts higher education. Legislative Research provided a brief overview on Maintenance of Effort (MOE) required to draw down federal stimulus dollars. In order to receive federal funds for K-12 and higher education, the State must provide State-funded support of those agencies at a certain level based on their respective proportions of the State’s budget over a period of time. Legislative Research is still reviewing federal guidance to provide an exact number, but they believe the State will likely be required to provide additional funds to higher education FY22 and FY23.

Next Week

The legislature will come back next week and consider veto overrides as well as K-12’s budget and an omnibus bill. Late in regular session, the Senate failed to pass K-12’s budget due to provisions that included expansion of scholarships for students that wanted to attend a private school as well as use federal funds to supplant State support. In addition to veto overrides, this will also likely be a pivotal issue to overcome for the legislature to reach adjournment. The omnibus bill will also need to be passed which is the legislature’s last opportunity to fix any technical mistakes made in earlier bills as well as consider additional appropriations for State agencies for next year.

Legislative Update No. 12

It was a busy week in the Capitol. While there was little floor work, there were numerous conference committees that met to discuss a variety of bills. Most importantly to higher education was the conference committee on the budget, HB 2007. The House and Senate started off with relatively fewer differences than in previous years; however, there were a couple of major distinctions.

First on Higher Education, the Sente had a position to add $25M to restore 3% of the original 5% cut while the House wanted to add $10M with a focus on those dollars going to need based aid and recruitment. The House and Senate agreed to take the Governor’s $10M set aside for KBOR priorities or the pay plan and use that for Deferred Maintenance but had differing positions on whether or not to delete the square footage formula for spending deferred maintenance funds. Currently there is a proviso in the budget that states a formula will be used that dictates where property tax revenue will be spent on maintaining buildings largely based on square footage. That formula was eventually deleted in conference allowing KBOR to create a policy to spend those funds. The actual funding for higher education was one of the last things to be agreed to with the House finally acceding to the Senate’s position late Wednesday night to restore $25M of funding to the system.

Second, the Senate had a position to cut nearly $1B of State General Fund (SGF) support for K-12 education with language authorizing school districts to draw down federal funds. This has been a point of contention between the school districts and the legislature with the school districts contending it may not be legal to use CARES funds for general operating expenses. The House has a similar position but puts the language in a separate appropriations bill signaling concern that this policy position may receive the Governor’s veto.

There was also an effort by the House to cut 2% across the board that would have undone the progress that was made in the conference committee. However, that effort was rejected by the Senate that signaled there were a handful of critical votes that depended on partial restoration of higher education funding.

The House and Senate agreed to the conference committee report Friday, and it will now go to the governor.

With the House running a second appropriations bill for K-12, this allowed for a number of other policy bills that have not passed both chambers to be added to a conference committee report. Included in the conference committee report is expansion of private school scholarship tax credit and creating education savings accounts for at risk student populations allowing them to take $4,500 private institution that is accredited. SB 175 became the shell for all these policy positions and narrowly passed the House but failed in the Senate late Thursday evening. It will have to be approved during Veto Session in order for the legislature to adjourn Sine Die.

Bills

There was movement on HB 2058 late Wednesday night on the Senate floor. The bill would provide conceal and carry reciprocity with other states and lower the conceal and carry age to 18 with a permit.

SB 55 became the shell for the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act or what was originally SB 208. While SB 208 never passed the House, the full House had to take an up or down vote Thursday evening on the bill which eventually passed 76-43 which is far less than what is needed for a veto override.

Election Laws

There was a late push by the Senate to pass an election law bill that primarily focuses on advance ballots that are delivered by a third party to an individual. The bill limits the number of advance ballots a third party can deliver to individuals to ten and makes it a misdemeanor if they violate that law.

• Bars a candidate for office from delivering an advance voting ballot on behalf of another voter unless it is on behalf of an immediate family member.

• Prohibits candidates from assisting any voter in marking an advance ballot or signing an advance ballot form. A violation of this provision would be a misdemeanor.

• Prohibits county election officers from accepting an advance voting ballot sent by mail unless they verify that the signature on an advance voting ballot envelope matches the signature on file in the county voter registration records.

The bill eventually passed both the House and the Senate and is headed to the Governor.

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Legislative Update No. 11

It was a very busy week with a lot of floor debate as the Senate and House try to begin the conference committee process which is often the final step for a bill to become law before going to the Governor for consideration. Next week, conference committees will meet to workout differences between House and Senate bills before going home for the April break.

Budget

The House also moved out its budget bill which has an additional $10M for higher education. However, before the budget could be passed a legislator made a motion to cut all spending by 2% in order to improve the fiscal health of the budget. This includes cutting K-12 and higher education spending. For WSU, this would be an additional $1.6M cut. The amendment was ultimately passed by a voice vote and then the budget passed shortly after. Given the cut would put the State out of compliance with the State Supreme Court’s Gannon decision, it is questionable whether the 2% cut will make it through the conference committee process.

Bills

SB 32 – Allows for school districts to pay for concurrent enrollment. Passed the Senate and House Education Committee and has been placed in House Appropriations to keep it alive for next week.

HB 2101 – Would reauthorize the University Engineering Initiative Act for another ten years providing $3.5M to WSU. The Senate passed HB 2101 Tuesday. It will now go to the Governor for signature.

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Legislative Update No. 10

The legislature was busy this week as the March 26^th deadline approached which is the deadline for committees to work bills to be considered before First Adjournment on April 9^th.

The most impactful action taken this week when the Governor signed SB 40 into law. SB 40 is the legislation that limits the Governor’s emergency powers. First it revokes all of the current executive orders pertaining to COVID-19 and any new executive orders have to be ratified by either the legislature or the Legislative Coordinating Council which is made up of legislative leadership from both the House and the Senate. The first test of this new method will likely come quickly as the Governor has stated her intent to order a new statewide mask mandate the Legislative Coordinating Council publicly stating it will likely not be upheld.

It does extend the emergency management declaration which is critical for receiving federal funds. The legislation also mandates County Commissions ratify or veto health orders made the County Health Officer. Currently the Health Officer may make health orders and the county has the option to override them. While this legislation has been controversial, it did have bipartisan support.

Budget

There wasn’t any official work done on the budget this week. Late last week the House Appropriations Committee passed out its budget, but the full House has not yet scheduled a vote on that bill. As the legislature moves closer to April 9^th, the budget will become the number one priority or a decision will be made to leave it until veto. All signs point to the full House voting early next week with conference committee happening shortly after.

Taxes

The House Tax committee forwarded a much-anticipated tax bill. The Senate’s version would cost nearly $1B over two years while the House version is much more limited and would cost $375M over three years. The House bill allows for Kansans to itemize on their taxes regardless of if they take the standard deduction at the federal level.

The bill also places a tax on what is called marketplace facilitators that helps pay for a portion of the tax cuts. This is a tax on goods that are purchased from an online vendor that only facilitates a transaction and isn’t actually the seller of a good. One example would be Amazon if the item is stored in a different state and not at an Amazon warehouse.

The bill also increases the standard deduction by $500 to $3,500 and $8,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The bill also includes an exemption for income earned by foreign affiliates of U.S. companies from intangible assets which is controversial and likely will be a consideration by the Governor when she decides to sign or veto the bill.

Promise Act

The Senate Education Committee heard the House’s version of the Promise Act that pays for the last-dollar in for two-year colleges and private colleges. The Senate Education Committee had previously worked their version of the bill earlier in session, but the full Senate never worked the bill. The committee ultimately put their version of the bill in the House’s bill so the two committees can begin conferencing next week.

Engineering Act

HB 2101 that extends the transfers from the lottery fund to the three engineering colleges at KU, KSU and WSU for the purposes of growing the number of engineers in Kansas had a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee Tuesday. The bill was then quickly voted favorably for passage Thursday. It is expected to receive a floor vote next week or before the April 9^th deadline of First Adjournment.

Conceal and Carry

HB 2058 lowers the age to conceal and carry from 21 to 18 while adding a licensing requirement until someone is 21 years of age. The bill is currently scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee Monday.

Fairness in Women’s Sports Act

SB 208 that prohibits biological men from participating in women’s sports was supposed to have a hearing in House Education on Tuesday, but that was canceled last minute and it has not been rescheduled. Since the bill has passed on chamber, the rules allow for it to be added to other legislation in conference committee which could happen between now and April 9^th.

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Legislative Update No. 9

The legislature moved quickly on a number of bills coming up on the last week for committees to work bills. The House and Senate reached a compromised on the Kansas Emergency Powers Act (details below), and the Senate passed its appropriations bill.

Budget

The Senate Ways and Means Committee voted to pass SB 267, the MEGA appropriations bill on Monday. It was then passed by the entire Senate Tuesday evening. This includes an additional $25M on top of the Governor’s Recommended Budget. The Senate has essentially completed its work on the budget; however, the House Appropriations Committee worked their MEGA bill Wednesday and Thursday, and the full House will likely work their budget bill next week.

There was one point of controversy dealing with K-12’s budget. The Senate delayed almost $500M in increases to State funding for K-12 believing they could wait until omnibus and use federal stimulus funding to backfill those delayed payments. Conservatives noted that K-12 has received almost $1B in federal stimulus funding so far. This contention made the vote tighter than expected and only 24 voted in favor of the bill. The Governor also condemned the action making the budget’s future uncertain if the House agrees to the Senate’s position.

Emergency Powers

The House and Senate reached a compromise on the Governor’s emergency powers. The legislature has been criticizing the Governor’s use of emergency powers since the beginning of the pandemic a year ago including the shutting down of businesses and empowering local health officers to do the same. The compromise does the following:

• Extends the disaster declaration until May 28^th. The current declaration expires March 31^st.
• Any new executive orders would be subject to being revoked by the Legislative Coordinating Council which is made of seven members of legislative leadership.
• Any new emergency declarations related to COVID-19 would be subject to LCC approval.
• Limits the power of local health officers by requiring any order to be reviewed by county commissioners. Currently, commissioners may review orders but are not required to.
• Codifies that only local school boards can close local schools.

So far, the Governor’s office has not made a comment on the negotiated bill, but she was vocal against the original bills that passed the Senate and the House. It will likely go to her desk next week for signature or veto.

Bills

HB 2264 – Permitting student athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness had a hearing in Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee on Thursday and will likely be worked sometime next week.

HB 2287 – Establishing the Kansas Promise Act which pays for the “last dollar in” cost for a student to go to technical/community college or any private nonprofit college or university in Kansas. The bill was passed out of the full House on Tuesday.

SB 84 – Allows for sports wagering in Kanas, including college sports. House Federal and State Affairs held a hearing Thursday.

SB 22 – Allows for Kansans to itemize their state taxes while taking the standard deduction at the federal level and provides similar ability for Kansas corporate tax filers. House Tax held a hearing Wednesday. The bill will likely be worked by the full next week.

SB 267 – This is the MEGA appropriations bill for the Senate. It includes an additional $25M for higher education and was passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee Monday.

SB 208 – Establishes the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act and prohibit biological males from participating in women’s sports was voted favorably out of committee Tuesday. The bill was then rushed to a floor vote Wednesday afternoon where it passed with moderate Republicans and Democrats voting against it. On a vote of 24 – 10 – 5 – 1, the bill did not get a veto proof majority but will now go to the House where members there have signaled the bill will receive a hearing before the April 9^th First Adjournment date. The Governor has already signaled her disapproval of the bill.

Legislative Update No. 8

The legislature returned from turnaround break and acted on a couple of bills aimed at opening up communities and the economy including legislation mandating K-12 schools have an option for in-person learning despite local school board directives.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee did meet this week and worked SB 267, the MEGA appropriations bill. The committee ultimately added $25M to restore part of the cut that was in the Governor’s original budget; however, the House only has a position to consider an additional $10M at omnibus so it is unclear what the final higher education budget will be until the House Appropriations Committee works its budget bill likely next week. The committee also voted to fully fund the Career in Technical Education initiative or SB 155 for technical and community colleges that the Governor’s budget also cut. The budget bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration.

In the House, the House Appropriations Committee did hear presentations from each of the universities focusing on the transition to online learning during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. This hearing was necessary because during the subcommittee report out, members voiced their frustration at online learning and voted to add an amendment that would force universities to refund 50% of a student’s tuition if they were forced to go to online in FY21. The Appropriations Committee will have an opportunity to either keep the amendment in the budget or remove it next week when they consider their MEGA bill.

Next week you can expect continued work on the budget bill as well as other legislation important to leadership including tax bill(s). As we move closer to the April 9^th First Adjournment deadline, the pressure to pass bills will increase.

Bills

SB 208 – Creates the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act and prevents biological males from participating in women’s sports. Was scheduled for last minute discussion and action on Thursday but was then struck from the calendar.

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Legislative Update No.7

The week was dominated by floor debate on a swath of legislation due to the turnaround deadline. The deadline for bills to be passed out of their chamber of origin or they’re considered “dead” with the exception of bills that were introduced on assigned to the Appropriations, Federal and State Affairs, Ways and Means and Tax Committees in the House and Senate.

In the Senate, the biggest debate came over the Governor’s emergency powers. In the early days of the pandemic, the Governor drew scrutiny from Republican leadership over closing businesses and suggesting schools and churches do the same. This legislation would require executive action be reviewed by committees made up of legislative leadership and, in some cases, regional leaders. The Governor quickly denounced the bill stating it would limit the executive branch’s ability to respond to the pandemic and utilize federal resources. The bill ultimately passed 27-12 making it veto proof. The House passed their version of an updated KEMA bill on Wednesday.

In an act of emergency help to cities, the legislature passed House Substitute for SB 88 which provides $100M in loans through a dedicated State account to pay for the high energy bills that city-owned utilities are incurring. Over the last week, multiple local leaders have been testifying and providing news interviews on the impact to their finances and possibility for some localities to go bankrupt due to the recent cold blast that drove up energy prices. This is the fastest bill passed this session having been amended in the House and passed in the Senate in one day.

Bills

HB 2264 – Authorizing student athletes to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness passed on the House floor Tuesday and will now go the Senate for consideration.

HB 2058 – Creates reciprocity for other states that allow conceal and carry of firearms permitting their citizens to conceal and carry in Kansas. The bill itself wasn’t very controversial until an amendment was offered lowering the age to carry a firearm to 18 with a permit. After a lengthy debate Wednesday, the amendment passed and then the bill passed largely along party lines. It will now go to the Senate for consideration.

SB 84 – Authorizes sports wagering in Kansas including on college sports. Passed out of the Senate Wednesday and will now go to the House for consideration.

SB 13 – Amends the Truth and Taxation Act requiring approval of governing bodies to use property tax revenue derived from property valuations increasing. Passed out of the House with amendments so it will likely need to be conferenced before going to the Governor.

Revenues Up in February

Kansas tax revenues once again exceeded estimates made in November. Revenues were $18.8M or 4.5% above estimates, and the year-to-date amount is $179M above estimates. The legislature’s reaction to this is cautious optimism and adds fuel to some individual’s argument that the time is right to cut taxes with revenues exceeding expectations and high projected ending balances. So far, none of the proposed tax bills have been passed and sent to the Governor.

Next Week

With turnaround week behind them, the legislature will take Monday and Tuesday off next week and return to begin formal hearings on the budget bills that have now been introduced in both chambers. Expect emergency powers and tax legislation to be the primary focus when the legislature returns as they move closer to First Adjournment at the end of March.

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Legislative Update No. 6

The House began the week with a number of bill introductions (see below) and a back and forth with the Governor over who is to blame for the state of disarray within the Department of Labor and issues facing its technology. The Governor held a press conference stating while her administration wasn’t responsible for the problems handed to them, they have been committed to addressing them and updating the IT security and technology within the agency.

Republicans in the legislature have been pushing the fact that claimants have to wait weeks or months to be called back before receiving unemployment benefits while fraudulent claims have been paid out. While KDOL has stated that over $20B in fraudulent claims have been successfully blocked, Republicans have stated that $700M have been paid out. KDOL early in the week stated approximately $300M, both state and federal unemployment, had been paid out to fraudulent claimants. An independent legislative post-audit concluded nearly $600M had been paid out in fraudulent claims. With the high amounts, continued frustrations in what the legislature sees as a lack of answers and the worry from the Kansas employers on the state of the unemployment trust fund; the legislature has introduced bills that would create a separate oversight committee to monitor the implementation of new technology standards as well as use federal relief funds to backfill what was incorrectly paid out fearing the cost could be passed onto employers.

The Higher Education Budget Committee held an informational hearing on Deferred Maintenance for universities and the KBOR plan that was adopted last Wednesday.

The House K-12 Budget Committee continued into its fourth week of hearings on expanded tax credits for low-income students to attend private schools. These hearings included SB 61 which is the Senate version of the expanded tax credit indicating the House may simply advance that bill to get something to the Governor to sign or veto.

On the House floor, HB 2101 was brought “above the line” for floor debate Thursday. The bill was debated and emergencied to a final action vote where it received a 112-12 vote. It will now go to the Senate for consideration.

In the Senate, the chamber was in recess Monday for the funeral of State Senator Bud Estes. While budget subcommittees continued to work through the week to do their report outs to Senate Ways and Means, the only policy bill that had a hearing this week in the Senate was SB 208 that creates the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act preventing males from participating in female sports as well as prescribing a number of processes that KBOR and universities have to adopt and implement. It was noted by the author of the bill, State Senator Renee Erickson, that 20 other states have introduced or adopted similar legislation beginning with Idaho. The State Representative from Idaho that was the original author also testified on the bill. While the hearing proceeded as normal, the Chair ultimately did not allow questions of the conferees which was criticized by Democrats as a lack of transparency.

Overall, committees in both the House and the Senate are working quickly to get bills out of committee as they get closer to the March 5^th turnaround date. That is the date that bills that are not in exempt committees must be passed out of their chamber of origin or they are considered “dead”. After that, it’s a sprint to April 9^th which is the First Adjournment date where legislators will go home and wait for new economic data, and possibly federal stimulus information, that will impact their decisions during Veto Session.

Bills

SB 208 – Establishes the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act that prevents males from participating in female sports had a hearing in Senate Education Committee. The chair used her prerogative to prevent questions by the committee members for the over 20 conferees that testified indicating an uncertain future for the bill’s advancement.

HB 2264 – Allowing student athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee and recommended to be favorably passed. It is scheduled for a floor vote Monday morning.

HB 2315 – Establishes a tax credit for contributions to technical colleges had a hearing in House Taxation Committee Tuesday.

HB 2407 – Regulates sexual assault, stalking and other crimes at post-secondary institutions was introduced in House Federal and State Affairs Monday.

HB 2381 – Establishes the state energy task force charged with creating a comprehensive state energy plan was introduced in the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee.

HB 2265 – Creates a permanent exemption for sales tax on college textbooks sold at University Bookstores was introduced in House Taxation Committee and had a hearing Monday.

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Legislative Update No. 5

The legislature was quiet Monday and Tuesday with the cold weather shutting down most of the Capitol building’s legislative operations. However, the House Appropriations Committee continued to aggressively push through with subcommittee recommendations in an effort to build a budget bill as quick as possible. The committee approved the Higher Education Budget Committee’s recommendation that the Governor’s Recommended Budget be approved with the modification that language be added to review an additional $10M for the higher education block grant that goes to the six four-year institutions at omnibus. Omnibus is usually the last bill of the session that is passed to fix technical errors in previous legislation as well as additional appropriations that are based of more accurate economic estimates that are created in April. An amendment was added stating the universities should refund 50% of a student’s tuition for classes that moved to a virtual format. While the amendment was adopted, the Chair stated his desire to have universities come and testify in committee about their transitions to an online environment, what federal funds have been spent on and what has been provided to students. From a higher education standpoint, there is cautious optimism that both Senate and House appropriations committees have signaled they want to look at restoring funding to higher education at omnibus.

In addition to ongoing budget work, a number of other bills that are leadership priorities continued to advance. The House Tax Committee passed SB 13, the truth in taxation bill, that requires public notification if the County or City wishes to spend property tax revenue that is derived from increases in assessed valuation. It’ll now go to the House floor likely sometime next week.

Late last Thursday, the Senate passed SB 61 which would expand the tax credit to low-income students who want to attend a private school. The legislation has reignited the K-12 debate in the Capitol which has been comparatively quiet since the school funding bill had passed four years ago satisfying the Supreme Court lawsuit. Opponents of the bill see this harming public K-12 schools in the long run if students transition to a private option. The House has a companion bill that had hearings multiple days this week and was perhaps an even more divisive conversation in the K-12 Budget Committee.

Bills

SB 249 – A bill that impacts how IT projects are reviewed was introduced Monday morning and would move the threshold for review form a cost model (currently $250K) to a risk model that is desired by the Department of Administration. As higher education is one of the largest IT consumers in the State, this would have an impact on how it handles IT purchases going forward.

HB 2199 – A bill that authorizes sports wagering in Kansas including betting on college sports. HB 2199 had a hearing in House Federal and State Affairs Committee Wednesday and Thursday.

HB 2264 – Permits student athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) while attending a post-secondary institution. There are currently about 30 other states that have either adopted or have introduced NIL legislation or something similar as well as congressional interest. For background, about two years ago, California passed a law that would allow something similar, but it had a five-year moratorium for Congress to create a federally uniformed law for across the country or for other states to pass similar legislation. The NCAA has been resistant to NIL early on; however, now sees it as a compromise avoiding “pay-for-play” and preventing the distinction from being blurred between student athletes and professional athletes. HB 2264 had a hearing in House Judiciary Thursday.

SB 43 – Establishes the Kansas PROMISE Act that pays for two-year college and four-year not for profit private institutions courses in select fields. In addition to previous amendments, the Senate Education Committee capped the program at $6M. The bill was then voted out of committee with a favorable recommendation. It will likely go to the full Senate early next week.

SB 208 – Creates the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act which prohibits biological males from engaging in women’s sports. SB 208 has a hearing next week in Senate Education.

HB 2265 – Creates a sales tax exemption for college textbooks bought at a university bookstore and will be heard Monday in House Tax Committee.

HB 2101 – Extending the University Engineering Initiative Act for another ten years was passed out of House Appropriations Thursday with an amendment requiring universities report on the number of graduates that are retained in the state.

Next Week

The budget committees will near the end of hearing from subcommittees and closer to assembling the MEGA Budget Bill. There are also a number of policy bills that can be found in the tracker (link below) that have hearings. Also look for the House and Senate to continue taking action on leadership priorities such as school choice legislation and tax bills. The appropriations bills were finally introduced in the House this week as well as the KPERS reamortization which will likely set the stage for a confrontational hearing in the House over the Governor’s plan to reamortize KPERS and House and Senate Republicans resisting that plan.

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