Outgoing state Sen. Tom Holland recommended ahead of a special session a state tax reform bill highlighted by residential, commercial and agricultural property tax relief rather than offering a package emphasizing state income tax rate cuts.
Sen. Tom Holland, of Baldwin City, has introduced a bill that would forbid members of the Kansas Legislature from concurrently holding jobs in an executive branch agency. Others have filed bills on school starts, birth centers, taxation and heritage sites.
The Kansas Legislature sent Gov. Laura Kelly a bill bundling elements from more than a dozen bills, including a property tax exemption for fitness, restaurant and child care businesses able to demonstrate they were in direct competition with operations of state or local government.
Lawmakers may expand the rights of child sex abuse victims in the upcoming legislative session, renewing efforts to pass legislation that would require clergy reporting and remove time limits for lawsuit cases involving child abuse.
Sen. Tom Holland found little support for a motion designed to bring to the full Senate a resolution that would require religious leaders in Kansas to become mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect.
Sen. Tom Holland is hoping to kickstart the process for a slow-moving measure requiring duly ordained ministers of religion to report child abuse and neglect.
A Kansas Senate panel backed two bills Monday providing tax relief for everyday Kansans and teachers using their own money to fund classroom needs.
Sierra Club lobbyist Zack Pistora told lawmakers he could talk at length about the “big mess” plastic bags have created for aquatic ecosystems, landscape and infrastructure in Kansas.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
The Senate’s tax committee approved extraordinary legislation holding cities, counties and the state of Kansas responsible for issuing 100% property tax rebates to for-profit businesses construed to be in competition with government entities for delivery of products or services.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
A new Senate plan would redirect a portion of federal COVID-19 aid from the state and counties to small businesses impacted by public health orders during the pandemic.
