17 January 2025 | Health Early Learning Education Economic Security Tax and Budget

2025 Statehouse Snapshot: Week 1

Kansas Action for Children
January 17, 2025

Want to receive this weekly recap as soon as it's released? Sign up for our emails here.

Working for the Next Generation of Kansans

This week, all 165 lawmakers officially made their way back to the Statehouse for the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers aren’t wasting any time – several hearings have already taken place!  

The KAC team jumped right into the action earlier this week when we dropped off personalized packets for each legislator. These packets included our legislative priorities, educational materials about child- and family-friendly policies, and data on the counties in each lawmaker’s districts. 

Every day our team is in the Statehouse, we try to remember the work we’re doing is on behalf of our youngest Kansans. In her State of the State address on Wednesday, Governor Kelly reiterated her vision focused on making Kansas a better state for all through streamlining the state’s child care system, expanding cost-free school meals for more than 36,000 kids, and increasing funds for special education.  

We hope this sentiment permeates throughout the rest of session. Making Kansas the best state to raise a family can’t happen overnight nor without working across the aisle. As the Governor noted in her speech, investing in Kansas requires putting partisanship aside and putting Kansans first.  

That’s what we’ll be working toward this year, and we hope you’ll stay informed on what policies are gathering steam in the Kansas Legislature.  

Governor Unveils Priorities, but Lawmakers Continue Deviation from Budget Procedure

Gov. Kelly’s budget was released with identified spending priorities for child care, covering the student’s cost of reduced-price lunches, K-12 special education, and the state water plan. Yet, this year there will be a departure from the serious consideration that is typically given to the Governor’s budget recommendations. Lawmakers instead introduced their own budget bill (HB 2007) on the first day of legislative session and won’t be using the Governor’s budget as the base for discussion as has been the typical procedure for many years.  

We anticipate a legislative session filled with difficult discussions that will target reduced spending in every state agency. This week, the House Appropriations Chair directed every state agency to provide a list of options that add up to a 7.5% spending reduction. While some spending areas are excluded from that list, like Medicaid services and K-12 school funding, this is likely to be a year of austerity as we will most certainly see funding shifts and declines from the federal government.  

We’ll be keeping you informed of the areas targeted for reductions and hope it helps you share stories with lawmakers of where state spending is making a difference in your lives and how reductions could create serious consequences.

Senate Tax Proposes Property Tax Constitutional Amendment

The Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation got right to work this week with a hearing on SCR 1603, which would place a measure on the ballot to amend the state constitution to limit property valuation assessments in a way that is similar to current law in California. Unfortunately, this would distort the Kansas real estate market and create a lock-in effect for homeowners and make it more difficult for people to buy their first home or move into a more appropriately sized home throughout their lives.  

KAC provided opponent testimony on the resolution because there are better ways to offer property tax relief to struggling households in the state. While creating a cap would stabilize property taxes for some, future generations will be doomed to shouldering a greater share of the property tax burden based on nothing more than the year they were finally able to buy a home.  

And, of course, capping revenues from property taxes arbitrarily will likely strain the state budget, forcing cuts to vital programs or shifting around other taxes to make up the difference. With the tax cuts doled out last session, the state (at this time) just isn’t equipped to handle even less revenue coming in.  

There are many choices lawmakers can make in the coming months (such as a circuit breaker approach) that could address property taxes without experimenting with our tax system. We will advocate for lawmakers to move forward sensible tax changes that help everyday Kansans while balancing other needs in the state’s budget. 

Welfare Reform Committee Picks Up Where It Left Off – Now with a Senate Counterpart

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the House Committee on Welfare Reform started off the session by introducing some of the same harmful legislation we’ve seen attempted in past sessions. 

One bill (HB 2015) seeks to take away Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients’ freedom to choose what foods are best for their family. It would direct the Department for Children and Families (DCF) to request a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prohibit the purchase of sugary foods and drinks using SNAP dollars, despite the USDA having never granted such a waiver to any state (even during Republican administrations). 

Another bill (which the Senate voted down in 2023) would require non-custodial parents to cooperate with Child Support Services in order to be eligible for SNAP. Many families choose not to pursue formal child support arrangements; instead, they figure out a system that works best for them. Kansas already has one of the lowest SNAP participation rates in the country because of barriers put in place by previous legislation. This would add yet another barrier and make more low-income Kansas families food insecure.  

There is a new Senate committee called the Committee on Government Efficiency, or COGE. COGE met only briefly this week, but the Chair commented that one of the Committee’s goals is to “stop giving resources to those that they are not intended for.” When we have heard this talking point in the past, it has often meant more erected barriers to keep families from accessing necessary, temporary support that gets them back on their feet. It’s one to keep a close eye on. 

Child Care Conversation Continues

Returning to the Statehouse this week offered lawmakers and advocates a chance to reconnect on child care solutions, with efficiency remaining a key focus. Governor Kelly announced in her State of the State address her intention to streamline the early childhood system by establishing the Office of Early Childhood. By bringing all early childhood programs currently facilitated by four state agencies into a single office, Kansas can offer families and providers a more streamlined system to meet their needs.  

If you remember, a bill last year establishing the Office nearly reached the finish line but failed to get taken up by the Senate. With so much bipartisan support in 2024, we are eager to continue the conversations around streamlining the system and how such a structure would benefit families, providers, and the state.  

The Governor also proposed investments to reduce child care costs for families and ensure access to health and safety grants for child care providers, which can increase the quality of care a child receives. Additionally, child care accelerator grants can offer Kansas the opportunity to offer more child care slots, specifically for infants. We hope lawmakers will take this opportunity to invest in our youngest Kansans when considering budget proposals.  

Lawmakers in the education committees heard about the achievements and outcomes of K-12 students, including enrollment rates, state assessment and ACT performances, and graduation rates. A summary about the Blueprint for Literacy also offered lawmakers a chance to learn about efforts to increase reading proficiency among Kansas students.  

K-12 education funding is already a trending topic as lawmakers consider the best ways to continue funding public education and ensure all students receive the resources and environment they need to learn.  

Health Committees Hear from Agencies, Will See Repeat Bills

Health committees are already hearing from key state agencies about their programs, initiatives, and 2025 priorities. With 39 new lawmakers in the Legislature this year, it’s good to see committees take the time to familiarize themselves with the innerworkings of how programs are operated and what resources are needed to function to the best of their abilities.  

With a change in budget procedure this year, many state agencies (like the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services) will need to impress upon lawmakers the importance of each and every program they operate. As more is learned about the Legislature’s priorities, we’ll let you know. 

Going in the 2025 session, we’d hoped that a new year could mean that concerning anti-public health policy proposals would be in the rearview mirror, but those hopes were destroyed when the Senate introduced SB 19 and SB 29, two deeply concerning anti-vaccine and anti-public health provisions. These bills are identical to ones from last year (SB 390 and SB 391), which would dismantle parts of Kansas’ childhood vaccine policy and hamper the ability of state and local officials to stop the spread of infectious diseases.  

No bill hearings have been scheduled yet, but that could change at any moment. As the new Legislature takes shape, we’ll be intrigued to see how far these get in the process compared to previous years, which have rarely reached the Governor’s desk.  

What to Expect in Week 2

Lawmakers are off to a quick start and we’re expecting to see a flurry of bill introductions come out on several issue areas in the coming week. Some of the topics we’ll be watching for are:

  • Tax cuts. If you thought lawmakers had hashed it out this last summer, you’d be mistaken. Beyond addressing property taxes, some lawmakers want to keep cutting other taxes, like for individuals or corporations. 

  • Agency budget hearings. With the directive to find a way to cut their budgets by 7.5%, we could be at the beginning stages of repeating Kansas history, resulting in shorting programs that Kansans rely on to give out unnecessary tax cuts to those who don’t need them. We’ll see how agencies respond when presenting even barer bones budgets. 

  • Attacks on family support programs. With a Senate committee modeled after the new federal “Department on Government Efficiency” joining the Welfare Reform Committee’s efforts, we’re likely see two kinds of attacks – decreasing eligibility for programs and cutting program spending. And the Senate committee seems like it may go even further by eyeing the regulations process; in this scenario, child care regulations could be targeted as well.  

Get day-to-day updates on what bills KAC is monitoring during the 2025 Session here. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @kansasaction for updates throughout the week.