News from Kansas Senator Elaine Bowers
SENATE HAPPENINGS
This week, the Senate standing committees continued to hold hearings and bring forward legislation. The Ways and Means Committee is starting to work the budget bill with subcommittee meetings to report to the full committee in a few weeks. The Senate will be returning to General Orders where we will see the first committee bills to have a vote from the entire Senate.
SENATE FLOOR ACTION
The Senate confirmed sixteen appointees nominated by the Governor. State law in Kansas requires that certain appointments by the Governor or other state officials be confirmed by the Senate prior to the appointee exercising any power, duty, or function of the office.
SB 146 - SB146 would transfer oversight of state certification of ignition interlock device (IID) manufacturers and service providers from the Kansas Department of Revenue (KDOR) to the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP).
SB 146 passed 39-0.
SB 337 – SB 337 would amend provisions pertaining to the pilot program established within the Technology-Enabled Fiduciary Financial Institutions (TEFFI) Act to clarify and retroactively codify the intended date for the issuance of a full charter to the Beneficent Company. SB 337 passed 39-0.
HB 2087 – HB2087 would amend law related to the order of review of administrative rules and regulations, as well as specifics in the area of economic impact statements. HB 2087 passed 39-0.
SB 347 – SB 347 is a bill concerning economic development; enacting the attracting powerful economic expansion act; relating to tax and other incentives for projects inspecified industries or for a national corporate headquarters with specified capital investment requirements of at least $1,000,000,000. SB 347 passed 32-7.
Senate Bill 347 is also known as the Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion Act, or APEX Act. It would establish new economic development incentives targeted at specific industries that agree to invest at least $1.0 billion within the State of Kansas. The APEX Act also targets incentives at the suppliers involved in the APEX project. The APEX Program would be under the purview of the Secretary of Commerce for the purpose of attracting large capital investments in new facilities and operations by businesses engaged in specified industries and encouraging the development of Kansas-based supply chains. To help drive taxes down for all who do business in Kansas, an important provision of the bill would lower the corporate income tax the year after a qualified firm or supplier receives benefits under the law. Qualified firms under the bill would be for-profit businesses subject to state income, sales, or property tax that is engaged in one or more industries such advanced as determined by the Secretary of Commerce: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, distribution, logistics, transportation, food and agriculture or professional and technical services. To ensure oversight occurs in the short-term, a sunset of March 31, 2023 was added, to ensure that the full legislature reviews the provisions of the APEX Act in just one year.
KANSAS DAY
January 29th of 2022 marked the 161th anniversary of President James Buchanan signing a bill to make Kansas the 34th state of the United States of America. Kansas is full of rich history, beautiful scenes of nature, and notable landmarks. In Kansas Senate District 36, we have remarkable landmarks such as the Nazareth Motherhouse in Concordia, Rock City outside of Minneapolis, and the “Home on the Range Cabin” in Smith County, birthplace of our state song. “Home on the Range” was adopted by the Kansas State Legislature as the official state song on June 30, 1947. Along with our state song, Kansas has not one, but TWO official state marches, “The Kansas March” and “Here’s Kansas.” But while the marches are grand, nothing brings as much pride into the hearts of the residents of the Sunflower State as that of seeing our great flag dancing in the breeze. The flag was designed by Hazel Avery of Lincoln County in 1925. Directly in the center on the field of blue is the Great Seal of the State of Kansas with our motto arching near the top: “Ad Astra Per Aspera” to the stars through difficulties. The flag was modified in 1961 by a bill introduced by Senator Ross Doyen of Concordia to add the word “KANSAS”.
VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF KANSAS - www.kansas.gov
You can find a wealth of information at this well-designed website which focuses on Kansas with topics of business, education, government, residents and services with links to agencies and staff to help answer any question you might have. Webfile will take you directly to the Department of Revenue to file your taxes; Form finder will take you to the Secretary of State’s office for all types of forms for businesses; Learning Quest will direct you to the State Treasurer’s Office; the three branches of Government; and Plan your Trip to Kansas will open to the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
TOLL-FREE LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE
Kansas residents can access information on legislation, legislative procedure, state government, public policy issues and more by calling 1-800-432-3924. Calls are answered by experienced reference/research librarians at the State Library of Kansas and kept confidential. Lines are open weekdays 8AM-5PM. Callers can also leave brief messages to be delivered to legislators as well as request copies of bills, journals, and other legislative documents. Questions can also be left at infodesk@ks.gov on weekends and evenings. Kansans can now chat with a librarian in real-time through the library’s Ask A Librarian service found at kslib.info/ask. You will have the option of installing a mobile app connecting users to all the State Library’s services, including chat, texting and email. Text questions to 785 256-0733. The State Library is located on the 3rd floor, north wing of the Capitol.
Thank you for the honor of serving you!
Senator Elaine Bowers
Kansas State Capitol Building
Room 223-E
300 SW 10th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
785 296-7389
