TOPEKA – The 1st of July is the start of the fiscal year for the state of Kansas. It’s also when most of the 129 laws passed by the 2025 Kansas Legislature officially go on the books.
Though most of the new statutes are not controversial, a handful are the result of hard-fought political battles between Democratic Governor Laura Kelly and the Legislature’s conservative Republican leadership.
Not surprisingly, tax cuts have been a major battleground.
Republican leaders were forced to negotiate a compromise tax-cutting package with Kelly in 2024. But after gaining seats in last year’s election, they saw an opportunity to achieve their long-time goal of moving Kansas to a flat income tax.
Kelly vetoed the flat tax again this year, claiming that it would blow a hole in the state budget. But unlike previous years, Republicans had the votes to override her. The law gradually reduces the state’s existing two rates – which are both above 5% – to a single rate of 4%.
Republican leaders say safeguards built into the law will prevent budget shortfalls.
Other changes in tax law include:
- An income tax exemption of $2,320 for parents of unborn children.
- A 1.5 mill reduction in the state property tax mill levy. The reduction will save the owner of the average Kansas home – valued at about $228,000 – about $40 a year.
- A sales tax exemption for data centers.
- Property tax exemptions for ATV’S, motorized bikes, dirt bikes and watercraft as well as the trailers used to haul them.
Governor Kelly and GOP lawmakers also tangled over legislation to give Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach more power.
Kelly opposed legislation to expand the power of the inspector general in the attorney general’s office to go after fraud in programs for low-income Kansans, but Republicans overrode her veto. So now, in addition to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the inspector general can audit cash and food assistance programs.
The new law also gives the inspector general more investigative tools – subpoena power and the authority to issue search warrants – as well as more staff.
Federal audits of so-called welfare programs show that most fraud is committed by vendors and service-providers, not by people receiving assistance.
Lawmakers also put Kobach in charge of a new program aimed at helping “innovative businesses” get off the ground. It gives the attorney general the authority to exempt qualifying business from state laws and regulations that could hinder their growth.
Not every issue was a pitched battle.
Gov. Kelly and Republican leaders were able to strike a compromise on legislation to streamline state services for children. At Kelly’s urging, lawmakers approved the creation of the Office of Early Childhood. The office will unite about 20 programs once scattered across state government in a single agency.
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