Kansas
Kansas Legislature's committee to study options for changing state budget process • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Leaders of the Kansas Legislature approved formation of an interim committee to study options for changing the process of developing an annual state government budget that didn’t depend on when a governor submitted a spending plan to lawmakers.
Kansas governors traditionally offered budget insights to House and Senate members during the State of the State speech at outset of legislative sessions in January, but formal budget documents wouldn’t immediately be forwarded to legislators.
Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said the interim committee would convene for two days this fall to discuss the possibility of enabling the Legislature to get rolling on development of a budget before the governor’s blueprint was delivered. He said Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget outline in January could be considered an alternative to the Legislature’s bill rather than a starting point for debate.
“Then we’re not on pins and needles waiting for what’s this going to look like at the end of our first week of the session,” Masterson said. “We can introduce our own budget bill. And, really, you still have both options open to you.”
Masterson said he would appreciate analysis of whether the House Appropriations Committee could be assigned responsibility of pulling together an initial version of the state budget. It would be passed to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for potential amendments, he said. This would be a departure from a tradition of the House and Senate independently producing budget bill.
“They would start. We would finish,” the Senate president said. “That would also help us confine our session into the 90 (allotted) days. It just would be a more efficient process.”
Under the current and potential system, House and Senate negotiators would attempt to resolve differences between the two chambers. Kelly, and future Kansas governors, would retain authority to veto entire budget bills or line-item expenditures in spending bills.
Members of the Legislative Coordinating Council, which convenes when the full Legislature wasn’t in session, approved formation of the bipartisan 21-member committee to consider amending the budget process. Republicans would take as many as 15 seats on the committee, while Democrats could be appointed to at least six seats.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said the special committee could investigate the surge in budget provisions tucked into the budget by conference committees comprised of three House members and three Senate members. The six-person committees include four Republicans and two Democrats. Conference committee reports cannot be amended — only accepted or rejected.
“I’ve been thinking a long time about the budget process and certainly the fact that most of us would agree that we have way too many provisos coming in at the end during conference committees. It happens every time,” Hawkins said.
In the 2024 legislative session, he thought there were 30 to 40 special-interest provisos shoved into the budget. More often than not, these provisions weren’t considered by the House and Senate before dropped into the bill. Several provisos during the most recent legislative session not only directed the state to spend money, but identified a specific company or recipient of that earmark.
“Most of those items never get a chance to be vetted by the budget committees,” Hawkins said.
Rep. Abi Boatman gives her thoughts on transgender bathroom bill
Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Kelly’s veto for transgender bathroom bans. Hear what this trans legislator has to say.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging Kansas’ new sweeping anti-transgender law, the first in the nation to rescind previously issued IDs with updated gender markers.
Senate Bill 244 took effect Feb. 26 after the Republican supermajorities in the Kansas Legislature overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, the ACLU of Kansas’ legal director, in a statement. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 26 in Douglas County District Court on behalf of two anonymous plaintiffs. The lawyers on the case are from the ACLU and Ballard Spahr LLP. They argue “that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.”
The law prohibits transgender Kansans from changing the sex or gender marker on their driver’s license and birth certificates. It also immediately invalidated identification documents for more than 1,000 transgender Kansans who already had changes approved.
The law also bans transgender people from using bathrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities in government buildings that align with their gender identity. They must instead use the restroom corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. Additionally, the law bans gender-neutral bathrooms with more than one stall.
The law has various enforcement provisions, including allowing anyone to sue someone else who they think is transgender and suspected of using a restroom that is different from their sex assigned at birth.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach lobbied for lawmakers to explicitly ban gender marker changes after state courts allowed them to resume amid litigation over a predecessor law, Senate Bill 180. Lawmakers then added the bathroom bill provisions through a gut-and-go without a public hearing.
The state of Kansas, represented by Kobach, is a defendant in the case. Other defendants include agencies and agency leadership under the Kelly administration, including the Kansas Department of Revenue and Kansas Department of Administration.
Spokespeople for Kobach and Kelly did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs have filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and asked for a hearing on Feb. 27 “or as soon as possible.”
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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The Kansas Division of Vehicles (DOV) has instructed transgender residents to surrender their updated driver’s licenses, as one of the nation’s most extreme anti-trans laws takes effect this week.
Trans Kansans received letters from the DOV on Wednesday informing them that licenses and other state ID papers that do not match a person’s assigned sex at birth are considered invalid and must be surrendered to the state effective immediately, ostensibly giving them less than 24 hours to make accommodations, according to multiple copies of the letter reviewed by the Kansas City Star.
“Please note that the Legislature did not include a grace period for updating credentials,” the letter read in part. “That means that once the law is officially enacted, your current credentials will be invalid immediately, and you may be subject to additional penalties if you are operating a vehicle without a valid credential.” Affected residents were “directed to surrender your current credential to the Kansas Division of Vehicles” and receive a new ID — at their own expense, as SB 244 did not provide state funding to cover the reversions, the Star noted.
The move comes as a result of Kansas’ SB 244, which became law on Thursday and instructs state agencies to reverse gender marker changes on official documents. Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the legislation, but the Republican supermajority overrode her veto last week.
Kansas officially recognizes only “male” and “female” as recorded at birth as valid sexes, per a state law passed in 2023. About 1,700 people are expected to have their licenses invalidated as a result of the new law, according to a legislative analysis of SB 244 conducted by the state House. The law will also invalidate amended birth certificates that were issued with a corrected gender marker.
The LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas shared a copy of one letter on Instagram, with identifying information redacted. Representatives for the nonprofit noted that some Kansas counties will hold special elections next week, and trans residents without valid photo ID cards will not be able to cast a vote under existing state law.
At least three other states have passed laws banning gender marker changes on driver’s licenses, but Kansas is now the only U.S. state to require such previous changes be reverted, according to KCTV.
“The persecution is the point,” said Rep. Abi Boatman, Kansas’ only trans state legislator, in a statement to the Star on Wednesday. “It tells me that Kansas Republicans are interested in being on the vanguard of the culture war and in a race to the bottom,” she added in a comment to KCTV.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man has now been charged in the death of a teenage girl who was reported missing and found dead a day later from a gunshot.
Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced Wednesday that Eric R. Phillips II has been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandoning a corpse, following the girl’s November 2025 death.
Elayjah Murray had been reported missing on Nov. 28, 2025. As investigators looked into her disappearance, the Independence Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit learned that she’d possibly been shot.
Multiple witnesses and surveillance footage helped detectives identify Phillips as the shooter. Court documents say he shot Murray multiple times while she was in the back of his car during the early morning hours of Nov. 28.
A day later, police with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department found Murray in Kansas City. Phillips’ cell phone pinged in the area where Murray’s body was located.
Phillips’ bond has been set at $350,000 cash only.
Johnson said Phillips was charged on Dec. 3, 2025, under seal. The case was unsealed Wednesday in an effort to help locate Phillips.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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