On April 12 the Kansas legislature adjourned sine die after a two-day veto session. 707 bills were introduced, 107 were passed with Governor Laura Kelly’s (D) signature and 8 passed without her signature. The legislative supermajority held by the Republican Party meant that vetoes by the Governor could be easily overridden as 14 of her 19 vetoes were.
State Medicaid Services and Healthcare
The 2025 session was very active regarding healthcare legislation with great attention paid to Medicaid and provider care. HB 2284, which was enacted despite the Governor’s veto, requires written rules to be established governing the negotiated procurement of Medicaid services and creates an appeals process overseen by a legislative committee. The bill takes effect July 1. Medicaid expansion, a priority for the Governor, was not passed, continuing Kansas as one of 10 states not to have done so. SB 63 prohibits healthcare providers from administering gender transition care to children whose expressed gender differs from their sex, including puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and gender-affirming surgeries. This measure takes effect July 1. SB 67 requires nurses to attain more qualifications before they prescribe or administer controlled substances. Finally, HB 2009 was passed which bans abortion except when necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The bill is symbolic in nature, as the right to obtain an abortion in the first 21 weeks of pregnancy is enshrined in the Kansas Constitution.
Infrastructure
The legislature passed HB 2149 which requires distributed energy retailers to disclose certain information to residential customers who are offered or seeking to install a distributed energy system. HB 2061 expands the definition of “critical infrastructure” and provides for its increased protection.
SB 98 exempts qualifying data center projects from sales tax. The bill was signed by Governor Laura Kelly on April 24. The measure came about as a result of a conference committee after the language was initially proposed as part of a separate bill earlier in the year.
Budget
On March 29, the legislature passed a $27 billion budget, which Governor Laura Kelly line-item vetoed. Included in the budget is an appropriation of $1,825,000 for fiscal year 2025 to provide the Kansas Department for Children and Families for the summer EBTprogram. Under this measure, the Secretary for Children and Families must certify to the members of the State Finance Council that the Secretary has requested a waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture to exclude candy and soft drinks from the definition of eligible foods. The budget also appropriates $2 million to the Department of Education for fiscal year 2026 to implement a virtual math program to be used by school districts. The program must be customized to Kansas curriculum standards, be evidence-based, not impose any fee or cost upon students, provide tutoring in multiple languages, provide professional development for the implementation of the program and have been implemented in other states during the preceding eight fiscal years. A continuous budget bill, SB 14, was passed which will allow for continued modifications to the state appropriations.
2026 Outlook
Bills from the 2025 session will carry over into the 2026 session so familiar issues will reappear. Governor Kelly will be in her final year as Governor before the 2026 race. She may further push for Medicaid expansion in 2026, an issue she has continuously advocated for.