Legislative Update: Kansas Speaker of the House, Daniel Hawkins

Kansas Speaker of the House, Daniel Hawkins.

Daniel Hawkins Interview 5-29-26

14:29

It's time for another legislative update, this time with Speaker of the House Daniel Hawkins! NWKS Radio News Director Lucas Kenney joined Hawkins on a Zoom call to discuss matters regarding the Kansas Government during an election year, property tax relief that failed to pass, and educational tax credits.

This year is an election year, so things may look a little different outside of legislative session for the Kansas government, which is what Kenney and Hawkins talked about first. Hawkins really wanted to hit home what they have to do to stay on track.

"It's really just a change in atmosphere. As representatives, we still have a job to do. Just because the session is over doesn't mean our work is done."

He also wanted to highlight what some people may not realize. After the main work of the legislative session is over, they still have lots of things to do.

In fact, "Most people don't realize their representatives still spend 15 to 20 hours a week on legislative-related work during the off-season. Even though we're not in session, members still attend meetings and events throughout their districts," Hawkins said.

Another large topic this year from the legislative session was how large the veto session was, but more specifically, how many vetoes Governor Laura Kelly submitted.

Hawkins noted, "One thing that intensified this year was Governor Kelly's vetoes. She vetoed more than 50 provisions, and the Legislature overrode her vetoes 40 times, which I believe is a record in Kansas."

The discussion then moved on to property tax relief, or rather the lack thereof. There were a few attempts at some sort of property tax relief during the legislative session, but none of them passed into law. Hawkins had a very interesting point.

"Many people don't realize that local budgets determine property taxes. Local governments don't set tax rates first and then build a budget. They establish a budget, and that budget determines the property tax revenue needed to fund it. Because of that, the budgeting process at the local level is extremely important to taxpayers."

He then started explaining a couple of the attempts at legislation regarding property taxes. One of which was House Bill 2745. Hawkins explained, "It was a broad structural property tax reform plan aimed at slowing the growth of local government budgets. The proposal would have capped budget growth at the Consumer Price Index, up to a maximum of 3 percent."

This bill actually passed both the House and Senate, but the Governor vetoed it, asking them to fix a few things and she would most likely sign it. And so, they introduced House Bill 2043. "It addressed the concerns she had raised...The bill was designed to put local taxpayers in charge of deciding whether larger budgets, and therefore higher taxes, would be allowed," said Speaker Hawkins.

Unfortunately, the Governor also vetoed that bill, which Hawkins said was disappointing because they all felt it was a good plan.

The last thing regarding property taxes he mentioned was an attempt at a constitutional amendment, but the House and Senate could never agree.

The next item Kenney and Hawkins discussed had to do with education tax credits that were recently passed during legislative session. They discussed two different bills that were passed.

Hawkins talked about the first passed legislation and mentioned, "Under that program, individuals can receive a tax credit for donating to scholarship-granting organizations, which then provide scholarships to eligible students."

The other, Senate Bill 361, included another tax credit with grant and scholarship donations.

"The program includes a $1,700 tax credit. Individuals can donate to a scholarship-granting organization and receive that tax credit, while the organization uses those funds to provide scholarships to low-income families."

Kansas Speaker of the House Daniel Hawkins is about to complete his last year as a representative, as this election, he is running for Insurance Commissioner.