Category: Kansas Legislature

Kansas governor signs law legalizing sports betting

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — After years of waiting, Kansans will soon be able to legally wager on sporting events under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Laura Kelly.

Senate Bill 84 allows for the four state-owned casinos to use digital or in-person avenues to engage in the business of sports betting. The casinos, established under the control of the Kansas Lottery, can create and operate sportsbooks or partner with up to three online betting operators each to launch mobile platforms.

Native American tribes can negotiate a new or updated gaming compact regarding sports wagering.

“Legalizing sports betting will bring more revenue to our state and grow our economy,” Gov. Kelly said. “This is another mechanism that casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment venues can now utilize to attract Kansans to their establishments.”

The long-sought law gained approval 73 to 49 in the House, and, in the waning hours of the veto session, the Senate followed suit 21 to 13.

The Kansas Lottery and the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission will share oversight of sports wagering. Betters on the casinos’ platforms will have to be physically located in Kansas to bet and must be 21 years or older.

There is some hope the system could be set up in time for the NFL and college football seasons, but its more likely to be place in January 2023.

Opponents of legalizing this form of gambling when the industry has contributed to 65,000 problem gamblers in Kansas. They argued the 10% state tax on sports gambling generating $1 million to $5 million in annual revenue was not enough financial incentive to legalize the activity and risk more trouble with this potential addiction.

The state-affiliated casinos stand to make $9 million to $45 million annually on sportsbooks.

“I was excited to pass sports wagering in Kansas, it’s something that Kansans are already doing, and it will bring additional tax revenue to our state to help with our needs,” said Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican and chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. “My constituents have pushed for this legislation for years, and now, the next time we have a significant sporting event in our state, Kansans will be able to bet on their hometown team.”

Eighty percent of state revenue from legal gambling on sports will go into a Kansas Department of Commerce fund to be used to support the establishment of a professional sports facility in Kansas, to lure a team such as the Kansas City Chiefs across state lines.

Casinos can enter agreements with professional sports franchises and place kiosks at a team’s facility to allow fans to place bets. They can also partner with 50 businesses and entities, one-fifth of which must be nonprofit organizations.

“We have heard from our constituents for years about the need for a sports wagering program here in Kansas, both for the value it will bring to their lives and for the revenues it will generate for our state,” said Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. “I’m proud to have contributed to this package that will do just that and revitalize my community by creating jobs in Wichita.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/12/kansas-governor-signs-law-legalizes-sports-betting/

Kelly goes shopping for sweet food sales tax repeal, settles for gradual reduction

Bill to be signed by governor ends 6.5% state tax on groceries in 2025

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Olathe — Gov. Laura Kelly planned a trip to a Hy-Vee store in Olathe to sign a bipartisan bill Wednesday phasing out over three years the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries, but would prefer the Legislature reconsider her proposal to promptly wipe out the state tax on groceries.

The Republican-led Legislature is sitting on a large budget surplus, but has been wary of wholesale deletion of the state’s tax on food on July 1 because it would be a political victory for the Democratic governor and the lost state revenue could haunt lawmakers in a recession. The governor has campaigned to “Axe the Food Tax,” which would be popular among consumers grappling with the highest inflation rate in decades.

Instead, the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would culminate with repeal of the state’s food sales tax in 2025. The reform wouldn’t alter local sales tax on grocery purchases.

Under House Bill 2106, the state would lower the state’s sales tax on groceries to 4% on Jan. 1, 2023. It would slide to 2% by Jan. 1, 2024. The tax would be eliminated Jan. 1, 2025. The first phase of the rollback would cost the state $77 million. The second year revenue reduction would be an estimated $252 million, followed by $411 million in 2025.

Gov. Kelly referred to the Legislature’s alternative to her plan as a “good first step,” because it would deliver savings for every Kansan. She said strong state tax revenue collections in April demonstrated the Legislature could take up the issue May 23 when legislators return to Topeka.

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said an extreme downturn in the state’s economy had to be anticipated. The stair-step process of lowering the sales tax on groceries would allow the Legislature to remain nimble, he said.

The bill to be signed by Gov. Kelly defined food as standard groceries as well as bottled water, candy, dietary supplements, soft drinks and food sold through vending machines. It excluded alcoholic beverages, tobacco and prepared food offered by restaurants.

The unusually high statewide sales tax on groceries was raised to 6.5% in 2015. It was bumped up to help balance the budget because former Gov. Sam Brownback’s strategy of aggressively lowering the state’s income tax — his goal was to eliminate that tax in Kansas to create job growth — depleted the state treasury to an extent it was difficult state government to fulfill basic duties.

In 2019, Republicans in the Legislature passed two tax-cut bills vetoed by Gov. Kelly. GOP lawmakers attempted to induce Gov. Kelly to approve of the cuts by inserting a reduction in the state food sales tax. Gov. Kelly rejected the legislation, saying it would have been irresponsible to add financial instability to the budget.

Derek Schmidt, the attorney general and a candidate for governor in 2022, said the latest phased approach to the sales tax on groceries was Gov. Kelly’s “second chance to get it right.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/11/kelly-goes-shopping-for-sweet-food-sales-tax-repeal-settles-for-gradual-reduction/

Kansas legislative leaders argue district court erred by ruling congressional map unconstitutional

Plaintiffs denounce attempt by GOP lawmakers to distort ‘legislative privilege’

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — The Republican-controlled Legislative Coordinating Council’s legal brief to the Kansas Supreme Court rejects a lower court decision that the 2022 congressional map was unconstitutional, arguing that judge’s ruling amounted to partisan overreach and parroted unproven claims by plaintiffs.

The three consolidated lawsuits to be argued on appeal May 16 before the state Supreme Court challenged the Legislature’s decision to divide Wyandotte County between two congressional districts and transfer Lawrence from the 2nd District in eastern Kansas to the rural 1st District.

The state is appealing the district court decision that said the congressional map wasn’t compliant with the state’s Bill of Rights and the Kansas Constitution. Legislative leaders on the LCC, attempting to bolster the argument for a reversal, asked the Supreme Court to accept their amicus brief explaining why the map was valid.

“Regardless of the standard actually adopted by the district court, it has overreached,” attorney Todd Graves said in the brief on behalf of Secretary of State Scott Schwab and the Wyandotte and Douglas county election clerks. “The court simply adopted as its own the intensely partisan content, rhetoric and tone of the plaintiffs. The court also made a series accusations of malfeasance against legislators without any evidence.”

During the trial, Democratic legislators said House and Senate hearings last year on redistricting were a sham because Republicans at times appeared indifferent to public input. For example, there is a widely circulated photograph of several GOP lawmakers staring down at their cellphones during a joint House and Senate redistricting forum in Overland Park.

Graves’ motion said the Supreme Court ought to be “troubled” by the ease with which the district court judge adopted claims of malfeasance by legislators involved in crafting the congressional map. He also said the district court had no authority to enact limits on political latitude granted state legislators by the U.S. Constitution in drawing election maps.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said it wouldn’t be fair for House and Senate members on the LCC to rely on “legislative privilege” to avoid testifying under oath during the trial in Wyandotte County District Court, but they have the Supreme Court accept the LCC’s brief on appeal of the district court decision issued by Judge Bill Klapper.

Sharon Brett, an attorney with the ACLU of Kansas, joined with other lawyers representing plaintiffs in asking the Supreme Court to reject the LCC’s brief or at least disregard factual assertions in the document. In a filing Monday, she criticized “inappropriate gamesmanship” of LCC members.

“The council’s brief is therefore an attempted end-run around the legislative privilege these leaders previously claimed, introducing evidence not in the record and rehashing purported justifications for the congressional redistricting map,” the plaintiffs’ joint response said. “It’s acceptance would inappropriately allow these leaders to invoke their legislative privilege as both a sword and a shield.”

The legal dispute centers on whether House Speaker Ron Ryckman and Senate President Ty Masterson and their Republican colleagues engaged in gerrymandering to diminish the political influence of non-GOP residents of Douglas and Wyandotte counties while working to fracture Democratic-leaning communities of interest and disenfranchise minority voters.

The GOP’s objective with new boundaries of the state’s four U.S. House seats with the “Ad Astra 2” map was to give presumptive 3rd District GOP nominee Amanda Adkins a better shot at defeating U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a two-term Democrat.

“Partisan gerrymandering, as appears in Ad Astra 2, violates the equal protections enshrined in the Kansas Constitution, and should be rejected by this court,” said Teresa Woody, of the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, in a motion requesting the Supreme Court affirm the lower court’s ruling on constitutionality.

She said gerrymandered districts leading to preordained election results discouraged voter education, participation and turnout due to a belief that some votes didn’t matter.

However, the brief submitted to the Supreme Court by Graves and other attorneys representing the state suggested the district court was on a path to control congressional mapping in Kansas.

“If anything, it is for the voters to carefully consider and pass their own procedural change to the constitution to limit gerrymandering — not for the state courts to create new substantive rights on the fly,” Graves said.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/10/kansas-legislative-leaders-argue-district-court-erred-by-ruling-congressional-map-unconstitutional/