Kansas

Kansas is missing out on data center projects. Can sales tax breaks change that?

Published

1 year ago

February 24, 2025

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Kansas is missing out on data center projects. Can sales tax breaks change that?

Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that would exempt data centers from paying sales tax on construction and equipment.
Supporters say the tax break is needed to attract data centers and the high-paying jobs they bring.
Opponents argue the tax breaks are too costly and that Kansas should focus on broader tax relief.
Some lawmakers also expressed concern about the impact data centers would have on the state’s electric grid.

Kansas politicians are renewing an effort to lure data centers to the state by giving such projects tax incentives.

The Senate voted 34-6 on Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 51, which sends it to the House. The bill would create a sales tax exemption for the construction or remodeling of a qualified data center in Kansas with a minimum investment of $250 million. The tax break would apply to the purchase of equipment and other costs.

State economic development officials say Kansas is missing out on data center projects and could continue to miss out on them without a tax incentive.

“The choice is simple,” said Sen. Joe Claeys, R-Wichita. “We can pass SB 51 and compete for billions in new investment, or we can continue to watch these opportunities go to other states.

“No state has ever attracted a significant data center investment without this basic exemption. This bill brings new investment, creates high paying jobs, improves our power infrastructure and generates long-term tax revenue. It’s time for Kansas to get in the game.”

Kansas is missing out on data centers

Rachel Willis, of the Kansas Department of Commerce, told the Senate Commerce Committee last month that Kansas missed out on five projects in the past calendar year. That included a $10 billion data center campus that went to Louisiana and four separate projects, each worth $800 million, that chose Alabama, Minnesota, South Carolina and Wyoming.

Meanwhile, the agency’s business recruitment team has 14 data center projects in the pipeline. Willis said tax incentives would help entice those projects to choose Kansas.

Greater Topeka Chamber president Juliet Abdel indicated that the capital city has been considered for some of the projects.

“Go Topeka, our Topeka and Shawnee County economic development entity, has had several Data Center projects express interest,” Abdel said in written testimony. “The economic impact both directly and indirectly is substantial. These projects contribute to the economy through infrastructure investments, employment, and function as a catalyst to growth as industries become more digitally driven.”

How would the tax break work?

“This exemption would be for sales tax for anything from land or site improvements, buildings, data center equipment, lease purchases, etc.,” said Sen. Stephen Owens, R-Hesston. “It’s important to note that these sales tax exemptions do have a timeline.”

The timeline depends on the size of the investment. The exemption lasts 15 years for an investment of at least $250 million investment, 30 years for an investment of $500,000 or more and 60 years for an investment that tops $1 billion.

“The reason for that extension is to ensure that these data centers can continue to be refreshed over time,” Owens said, such as investing in updated servers as technology changes.

Owens said this would put Kansas in line with 31 states that have similar sales tax breaks for data centers.

Owens said the tax breaks are offset by the taxes a data center would pay on its electric bill.

“The sales tax that we would have forgone is actually outweigh by the sales tax we would collect on the utilities, and specifically the electricity that is being purchased,” he said. “So ultimately, this is a net benefit.”

Data center projects criticized

Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, pointed to a 2016 study by Good Jobs First, a corporate subsidy watchdog. It reported that 11 data center megadeals received a total of more than $2 billion in incentives, translating to a cost of $1.95 million per job created.

A follow-up report in 2023 raised similar concerns, concluding: “The data we do have is clear: Such subsidies are indefensible in any state, given spiraling costs and paltry job creation.”

“If we’re serious about cutting the state budget and providing meaningful tax relief to all Kansans, we must stop picking winners and losers with targeted tax relief for a few,” Thompson said. “Instead, we should level the playing field for all our residents and businesses so they can share in the economic benefits.”

Electric grid concerns

Sen. Kenny Titus, R-Manhattan, opposed the bill “because of concerns about our electric power grid’s ability to provide adequate power supply in the future for both the potential influx of data centers and other economic development opportunities that provide many more employment opportunities.”

Claeys, citing a Kansas Corporation Commission report, said that “large load customers like data centers actually help make electricity more affordable for everyone. Because these facilities provide substantial, predictable demand from large customers, they can plan and invest more efficiently in our power infrastructure.”

Electric utility monopoly Evergy made the same argument in written testimony.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

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Kansas

Kansas court sides with Stormont Vail in Medicaid payment dispute

Published

4 hours ago

May 9, 2026

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Kansas court sides with Stormont Vail in Medicaid payment dispute

Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.

At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.

The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.

The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.

The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.

The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.

But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.

“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”

Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.

“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”

Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.

“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.

He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”

In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.

But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.

There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.

“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.

“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

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Kansas

Kansas Lottery Pick 3, 2 By 2 winning numbers for May 7, 2026

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

The Kansas Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at May 7, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 7 drawing

Midday: 6-2-2

Evening: 0-5-9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning 2 By 2 numbers from May 7 drawing

Red Balls: 07-15, White Balls: 02-16

Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 7 drawing

05-08-21-44-48, Bonus: 01

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Kansas Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at select Kansas Lottery offices.

By mail, send a winner claim form and your signed lottery ticket to:

Kansas Lottery Headquarters

128 N Kansas Avenue

Topeka, KS 66603-3638

(785) 296-5700

To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a claim form, and deliver the form along with your signed lottery ticket to Kansas Lottery headquarters. 128 N Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603-3638, (785) 296-5700. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Kansas Lottery.

When are the Kansas Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3 Midday/Evening: 1:10 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. CT daily.
2 By 2: 9:30 p.m. CT daily.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Super Kansas Cash: 9:10 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Kansas editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.

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Kansas City, Kansas, is now a sister city to Concepción, in the Tucumán province of Argentina.

The connection that carries deep personal meaning for members of the Kansas City area’s Argentinian community, with less than six weeks until Lionel Messi and their national team play at Kansas City Stadium (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium).

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of World Cup

The official Sister Cities Agreement was signed Wednesday at Sporting Park, in a ceremony that also served as the kickoff of a broader cultural and economic initiative connecting Argentina and Kansas.

Federico Carmona has lived in the United States for more than two decades. He spent Wednesday afternoon cheering and smiling.

“This is my dream,” Carmona said.

For Carmona, the moment was personal — a merging of the two places he calls home.

KSHB/ Brian Luton

“This is a blessing,” Carmona said.

He continued, “Argentina is my heart. I was born in Argentina. I have so much passion for soccer. I used to play, my kids play. We never thought that Argentina was going to be in Kansas City. So that was a big, big surprise for us.”

Claudia Luna West, chair of the Sister Cities Association and a native of Concepción, Tucumán, was one of the driving forces behind the partnership.

“It means the world to me,” Luna West said.

She described the pairing of the two cities as a natural collaboration — like the ingredients of a perfect recipe coming together.

“Everything collaborates to be this great thing,” Luna West said.

That recipe metaphor extended to food. The event featured the announcement of a partnership between Kansas BBQ Empanadas and Jack Stack BBQ — a culinary symbol of the two cultures meeting.

“Now, empanadas aren’t going to be just an ethnic food. They’re going to be a landmark of Kansas,” Luna West said.

Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK, Christal Watson, said the designation reflects the city’s diversity and its ability to connect with the world.

“I think it’s important that we set a global stage on how diverse we are and how beautifully, wonderfully made we are with all the different cultures,” Watson said.

Watson said shared experiences — including food — are what bring communities together.

“Food is a common link. Those are the things that get us engaged… those are the things that help us grow and be a better community overall,” Watson said. “We already have a flavor going on.”

Jake Reid, president and CEO of Sporting Kansas City, said the timing of the sister city announcement — with the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaching — felt right.

Jake Reid, President and CEO of Sporting Kansas City .png

“We’ve been planning this for so long. I think to have it on the doorstep now and be probably a month out is becoming very real and exciting,” Reid said. “They’re meant to be from… kind of everything we’ve got going on right now, for sure.”

For Carmona, the day was a long time coming.

“We can’t wait for all this to happen,” Carmona said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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