Legislative Update Articles

It’s hard to believe it has been a month since our Capitol Conference. The enthusiasm of our rally started our legislative session off on a good foot. While there are a number of bills the Kansas Association of REALTORS® (KAR) has been tracking and researching, there are a few key issues we’re focusing on and delivering testimony on. Home ...

A fairly steady increase in activity at the committee level occurred during the second week of the legislative session. In addition to reports from state agencies and informational briefings, several committees had rather active hearing schedules to consider legislation. This was particularly the case with the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee where numerous hearings on ...

The 2020 Kansas Legislative Session started this week in Topeka. As with most opening weeks of a session, the pace could be characterized as somewhat slow. There were certainly exceptions, tax committees in both chambers introduced a number of bills impacting the appraisal process and other tax issues that we will be monitoring throughout the session. On Wednesday, Governor Laura ...

May 29th, the Kansas Legislature formally brought to an end the 2019 Legislative Session.  The Kansas Association of REALTORS® (KAR) tracked more than 100 individual pieces of legislation, actively monitored 36 bills and testified 25 times this Session.  Going into the 2019 session, KAR had 5 legislative priorities and we saw success on 3. Below is a list of our 2019 ...

The Kansas Legislature adjourned the Veto Session on May 5th and will return on May 29th for Sine Die – the official last day of the 2019 Legislative Session.  Before adjourning, the Legislature took action on the remaining major pieces of legislation including an omnibus budget bill with a $17.2 billion budget for the current fiscal year and $18.4 ...

The Kansas Legislature adjourned on April 5th for their spring recess and will return on May 1st for the Veto Session.  Significant issues remain for the Legislature to address when they return, including a general budget and needed tax legislation responding to changes at the Federal level.  KAR has had a busy session, but has seen forward progress on priority ...

SB 22 – Itemized Deductions SB 22 is a large tax bill containing a priority issue for KAR, which changes Kansas tax law to allow Kansas taxpayers the ability to take state-level itemized deductions regardless of whether they itemize or take the standard deduction federally.  (For more information, visit www.protectthededuction.com). This change is necessary in light of ...

Click on image for larger version. The last week of February, legislation to protect Kansans’ ability to deduct mortgage interest on their state taxes, advanced again at the Statehouse.   SB 22, which contains these critical provisions, passed out of the House Taxation Committee and is one step closer to reaching the Governor’s desk. The 2017 Federal tax reforms doubled the ...

The Kansas Legislature has adjourned for the 2018 legislative session after narrowly failing to pass a large tax package on the House floor.  Senate Substitute for HB 2228 failed 59-59 (needed 63 votes) on the House floor on Friday, May 4th, after the Kansas Senate passed the measure 21-19.  The tax bill had various provisions, ...

The Kansas Association of REALTORS® (KAR) strongly supports legislation which would allow Kansas income tax filers to take advantage of Kansas itemized deductions regardless of whether they itemize or take the standard deduction on their federal filing.  If the Legislature does nothing, the result is a hidden income tax increase on middle-class homeowners, the year ...