Category: Kansas Legislature

Property, sales and income tax mega-bundle approved by Kansas governor

Plan to cost state $91 million in 2023 tax revenue

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — A Kansas bill signed into law Thursday spans the gamut of tax policy, packaging more than two dozen measures amending property, sales and income tax laws.

The massive House Bill 2239, backed by the Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly, included provisions from 29 different bills cutting taxes and will hack nearly $91 million from state tax revenue in the first year. The largest cost is the taxpayer-assessed 20 mill levy toward supporting K-12 public education.

In approving the changes to state tax laws, Gov. Kelly said she felt the opportunity to provide relief for Kansans was now, while the state experiences its first budget surplus in decades.

“Our fiscal responsibility has put Kansas back on track,” Gov. Kelly said. “We’ve been able to fully fund our schools, fix our roads and bridges, balance the budget and cut property taxes, providing relief for Kansans.”

The House voted 103-10 to adopt the bill, while no senator opposed the measure. Before negotiations between the two chambers, House tax committee leaders said the bill drained close to $500 million.

In 2024, the package will sap $99.8 million in state tax revenue and an additional $119.6 million in 2025.

The changes increase the residential property tax exemption, provide homestead property tax refunds to eligible taxpayers and will broaden the property tax reduction authority of county commissioners for property destroyed by a disaster.

Rep. Adam Smith, R-Weskan, said the measure contains many noncontroversial measures so he was excited to see the governor approve it. In particular, he applauded the property tax relief provided and the homestead exemption for qualifying elderly Kansans.

“A lot of senior citizens on fixed lower incomes, are faced with increasing property values and property tax statements every year,” Rep. Smith said. “This essentially, once they hit the qualifying terms for the program, freezes their property tax bill, and that’s something they can count on for for the rest of their years is that the property taxes that are due will never be going up.”

Although some legislators expressed concern about passing so-called mega bill legislation, both parties found common ground in the bill.

The law provides tax credits for school and classroom supplies purchased by teachers and graduates of aerospace and aviation-related educational programs and employers of graduates. It also provides additional personal income tax exemptions for disabled veterans.

“I am very pleased Kansas taxpayers will benefit from the governor’s election year conversion,” said Senate President Ty Masterson.

Additional provisions create a sales tax exemption for the purchase of supplies to reconstruct or repair fencing for agricultural land damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster, a highly sought-after bill for farmers and ranchers impacted by recent wildfires.

While Gov. Kelly said these tax cuts would provide needed relief for Kansans, she reiterated the need for an elimination of the food sales tax. House Bill 2106, which wasn’t acted upon before the Legislature adjourned for a three-week break, would phase out the state sales tax by 2025.

“We have the opportunity to help Kansans who are feeling the impact of pandemic-induced inflation,” Gov. Kelly said. With the largest budget surplus in decades, we can do both – provide property tax relief and finally eliminate the state sales tax on food.”

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/2022/04/14/property-sales-and-income-tax-mega-bundle-approved-by-kansas-governor/

Litigants file appeal of Kansas judge’s dismissal of lawsuit challenging election restrictions

Kelly fought disenfranchising legislation; Schmidt hailed election integrity victory

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — A Shawnee County District Court judge issued a decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by four organizations and several individuals challenging constitutionality of 2021 election mandates vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly but sustained by the Kansas Legislature.

Judge Teresa Watson, appointed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014, dismissed the suit Monday contesting signature verification requirements on advanced ballots and restrictions on political operatives collecting absentee ballots from voters and transporting them to polling places or election offices.

League of Women Voters of Kansas, Loud Light, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center filed an appeal asserting dismissal of the case was a mistake. The plaintiffs claimed House Bill 2183 and House Bill 2332, passed in the 2021 legislative session, violated the Kansas Constitution by interfering with Kansans’ voting, due process and free speech and association rights.

“With primary elections just around the corner, voters need swift action to protect them against these anti-voter laws,” said Jacqueline Lightcap, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas. “The longer justice for voters is delayed, the less time we have to educate them on how to make their voices heard in the election.”

Teresa Woody, Kansas Appleseed’s litigation director, said the district court judge’s dismissal meant Kansans’ right to vote and exercise political free speech remained under attack.

“The state’s enactment of these cynical statutes, where evidence of election fraud is non-existent, unconstitutionally stifles Kansans’ votes and access to the polls,” Woody said.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor, said the state “successfully defended these important election-integrity provisions.”

“We will continue to provide them a vigorous defense as long as necessary to help ensure that Kansas elections are safe and secure,” he said.

Gov. Kelly, a candidate for re-election in November, said when vetoing the two bills that restrictive legislation wasn’t based on evidence of consequential voter misconduct in Kansas. She said the bills offered a solution to a “problem that doesn’t exist” and was intended to “disenfranchise Kansans” by making it more difficult to participate in the democratic process. She said the legislation didn’t have anything to do with voter fraud.

“Although Kansans have cast millions of ballots over the last decade, there remains no evidence of significant voter fraud in Kansas,” she said. “We also know what happens when states enact restrictive voting legislation. Hundreds of major companies across the nation have made it abundantly clear that this kind of legislation is wrong. Antagonizing the very businesses Kansas is trying to recruit is not how we continue to grow our economy.”

Legal challenges to portions of the two bills were filed in state and federal courts.

A U.S. District Court struck down in November a provision banning any person from mailing an advance voting application or causing an application to be mailed, unless the sender was a resident of Kansas or domiciled in Kansas. The state of Kansas agreed not to enforce that provision in a binding consent decree.

The challenge of a prohibition on mailing of advance mail ballot applications personalized with a voter’s information remains in litigation at the federal level.

A state district court upheld in September a portion of the legislation related to false representation of an election official is on appeal to the Kansas Court of Appeals.

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/2022/04/12/litigants-file-appeal-of-kansas-judges-dismissal-of-lawsuit-challenging-election-restrictions/

Kelly pulls plug on electric delivery devices Amazon sought to operate on Kansas sidewalks

Kansas governor also vetoes bill forbidding city, county bans on single-use plastic

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Gov. Laura Kelly threw up a roadblock to Amazon’s request for legal authority to operate fully electric, autonomous delivery devices in Kansas.

The authorization bill vetoed by the governor was approved 22-17 in the Senate and 75-47 in the House, but neither margin would suggest there was support to override the governor’s veto. The Legislature could return to Senate Bill 161 when it reconvenes April 25 to close out the 2022 legislative session.

She also rejected Senate Bill 493, which Republican legislators sought to thwart action by cities or counties to ban stores from using plastic packaging that often wound up littering the ground. This bill didn’t receive two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate to indicate a veto override was certain.

Gov. Kelly, a Democrat seeking re-election in November, said she wasn’t satisfied with safety precautions in the bill guiding operation of large robotic devices on residential sidewalks.

“This bill does not clarify who is responsible for enforcing rules and regulations related to personal delivery devices other than requiring an annual fee and a certification form with minimal information,” Gov. Kelly said. “The provisions around minimum liability are also ambiguous and unclear in their application.

She said veto of the bill Monday was necessary to give the Legislature more time to work on a bipartisan solution that embraced technological advances and addressed public safety.

Ashleigh de la Torre, who leads transportation and sustainability public policy at Amazon, told legislators in March she was interesting in convincing state lawmakers to allow personal delivery devices, including the Amazon Scout, to be operated on sidewalks of Kansas. The program’s objective is to allow Amazon to work toward reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, she aid.

Amazon launched its autonomous delivery program in January 2019 with a device the size of a picnic cooler, she said. It operated at a speed that paces the average person walking on a sidewalk in four communities — Snohomish County, Washington; Irvine, California; Franklin, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia.

“Scout has been designed for safety and accessibility,” she said. “Scout is able to stop, or safely navigate around pedestrians, pets and obstacles. Scout will provide visual and audio cues to alert people sharing the sidewalk of its presence. Scout will also instantly stop if something crosses in front of it.”

Under the bill vetoed by the governor, the state would allow personal delivery devices to operate primarily on sidewalks, crosswalks roadway shoulder or right side of a public highway of any municipality. The devices wouldn’t exceed 550 pounds, excluding cargo and would navigate with or without the active control or monitoring of a person.

The devices wouldn’t be considered a vehicle under state law and would have to yield to all vehicles, not block public rights-of-way, obey all traffic signals, operate at a maximum of 10 miles per hour on sidewalks and prominently display an identifying number.

In addition, the bill authorized local units of government to ban personal delivery devices by resolution or ordinance in the interest of public safety. The bill prohibited city or county government from regulating the design, manufacture or maintenance of a personal delivery device or the types of property the device may transport.

Meanwhile, Kelly also vetoed Senate Bill 493 that would have prohibited municipalities from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, resolution, or regulation that would restrict, tax, prohibit or regulate use of plastic straws, bags, cups, packages, containers, bottles, device or other packaging.

“The disposal and regulation of solid waste is traditionally a public policy issue that Kansans decide at the local level with input from local businesses, waste management providers and private citizens,” the governor said. “As this bill advanced through the process, no evidence was provided demonstrating why the Legislature had a compelling public interest to repeal city and county local control and home rule over these matters.”

There has been discussion in Wichita and other communities about banning reliance on single-use plastic bags for consumer purchases of light-weight goods and carry-out food from restaurants.

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/2022/04/12/kelly-pulls-plug-on-electric-delivery-devices-amazon-sought-to-operate-on-kansas-sidewalks/