TOPEKA — A Kansas property owner wants to impose a restriction across the entire state because of one city’s rules.

Stan Weber, CEO and president of Tower Properties, was one of several housing industry professionals who pushed for twin pieces of legislation Feb. 5 during back-to-back hearings, which centered on whether landlords should be required to accept federal rental assistance payments.

House Bill 2504 and Senate Bill 391 seek to overturn a city of Lawrence ordinance that outlawed the practice of turning away renters solely based on their source of income, which allows people participating in federal rental assistance programs to be equally considered for housing.

“If you want companies like ours that invest millions of dollars trying to provide housing and run business in the state of Kansas, then you will pass this, move it on and make Kansas a place that we need to do business,” Weber told Senators. “If not, I have a fiduciary responsibility to say we’ve got to go with our money to other places.”

The Lawrence ordinance does not force landlords to lower tenant standards, said Lea Roselyn, housing director for the city. The bill, she said, could also prohibit the city from enacting further renter protections.

Weber oversees 1,400 rental units across the state, including more than 540 units in four complexes in Lawrence. The company also owns commercial properties in Kansas and Missouri. He said at the hearings that he does not want to be forced to participate in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs.

Kansas City, Missouri, officials passed a similar ordinance in 2024, but Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a law last year overriding those protections. The Kansas bills mirror the language in Missouri’s law.

Weber said, without evidence, that property owners left Kansas City, Missouri, in droves when leaders passed their ordinance.

Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, a Lawrence Democrat, pointed out that Lawrence’s law has been in place almost three years, and Weber is still in business there.

Tower Properties is also embroiled in active litigation with the city of Lawrence over the ordinance. The company sued the city in January in federal court. The ordinance in question already survived a legal challenge in Douglas County from Landlords of Lawrence, a decision that was affirmed by the Kansas Court of Appeals.

Mark Tomb, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of Realtors, introduced the bill in the House. He said the legislation ensures cities and counties don’t exceed their authority.

“Cities should stay in their lane here,” he said.

Spencer Duncan, the government affairs director for the League of Kansas Municipalities and the mayor of Topeka, warned both committees of encroaching on home rule, the constitutional guarantee that cities have the power to determine their own affairs and government.

Government assistance is legal income, he said. He encouraged lawmakers to consider what distinction they would create by differentiating between this type of income and other types.

“The Lawrence law does not mandate — and I understand the concern — but it only really requires that you can’t use income as the lone disqualifier,” he said.

Rep. Kirk Haskins, a Topeka Democrat and an economics professor at Baker University, said economic decisions are about choices: “not restricting choices for businesses, not restricting choices for municipalities, not restricting choices for tenants.”

Tomb, the president of the Kansas Landlords Association, a Lawrence attorney who represents housing providers and Weber testified in favor of the bills in both hearings. Other citizens and organizations, including the Apartment Association of Kansas City and the Kansas Manufactured Housing Association, wrote in to support them. More than a dozen private citizens, local governments and organizations wrote to the committees in opposition.

The Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, the mayors of Lawrence and Garden City, an Altamont city councilor, the executive director of the Manhattan Housing Authority, Kansas Action for Children, the Habitat for Humanity of Kansas and Topeka Tenants were among the opposition.

Rep. Paul Waggoner, a Hutchinson Republican, asked Kristy Baughman, executive director of United Community Services of Johnson County, if a city making, perhaps well-intentioned, rules that skew the economics of housing providers is a concern.

Baughman, who is also a homeowner and landlord in Overland Park, said she would like her community and their elected officials to make rules that apply to their city.

“When I think about a situation like Lawrence, I have to assume that the people in Lawrence elected their city council, and they elected their city council because they agreed with their policies,” she said.

The House committee has not advanced the bill. The Senate committee advanced it Wednesday.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

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