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This week marked the second of two interim weeks the Kansas Legislature took off between the end of the 2023 regular session and what is likely to be a short veto session beginning Wednesday, April 26. During the veto session, the legislature will take final action on a few remaining bills, pass an omnibus budget bill for the remainder of fiscal year ’23 and fiscal year ’24, and possibly attempt to override a few bills vetoed by Governor Laura Kelly. Please find below, action on some bills over the last...

Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association (KARA) commends Kansas Governor Laura Kelly's signature on Senate Substitute for HB 2302 as the association successfully worked throughout the 2023 Kansas legislative session to secure increased funding for the State Water Plan and agricultural water conservation projects. “As one of the main proponents behind the final form of this legislation, our membership, board of directors and water subcommittee are appreciative Governor Kelly and a bipartisan majority of our state's elected officials recognize the importance of dedicated funding to address water quantity and quality issues,” KARA President...

Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association’s (KARA) legislative efforts in 2023 have resulted in Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signing House Bill 2335, a bipartisan bill resulting in an annually dedicated $10 million from the state highway fund for maintenance and improvement of short line rail infrastructure. “We are incredibly pleased Governor Kelly and the overwhelming majority of our state legislature supports our members and their need for reliable, safe and enhanced rail transportation,” KARA President and CEO Ron Seeber said. “As it already has in its previous iterations, this critical legislation will bring...

The primary purpose of this Compliance Advisory is to explain what custom blending is to producers of feed-through livestock products used to control pests, such as flies. It has come to the attention to states’ departments of agriculture and EPA Region 7 that there is some confusion among producers and distributors of what constitutes “custom blending” and its associated regulations. Failure to follow the regulations regarding custom blending is a violation of FIFRA and may result in the issuance of penalties, orders such as Stop Sale, Use or Removals, and/or further...

April 3 – 6 was the final week of the regular portion of the 2023 Kansas legislative session. It was a busy four days of winding down legislative business with dozens of bills to monitor, punctuated by a marathon session of House and Senate floor debate on bills beginning in the morning on Thursday, April 6 and running overnight before adjourning around 4:45 a.m., on Friday, April 7. The legislature passed an adjournment resolution calling them back to Topeka on April 26 to begin a short Veto Session, where it...

The House and Senate debated dozens of bills over three days this week at the Kansas statehouse. A few bills received final approval from both chambers and are on their way to the Governor, but most of the bills still being debated will be referred to conference committees next week to discuss their potential content and passage. The legislature will continue its work through Thursday, April 6, before taking its first adjournment. Also, this week, the Governor signed four mostly non-controversial bills. There is much work left to be done...

There was frenzied committee activity inside the Kansas statehouse this week as the 2023 legislature reached its March 24 deadline for committees to meet and evaluate bills. Next week will include hours of floor debate in the House and Senate. With the legislature’s first adjournment scheduled for April 6, lawmakers contemplated numerous bills concerning rail infrastructure, personal and commercial tax policy, the state budget, public health, and much more. Water Bank Participation in MYFA Senate Bill 205 would amend the Kansas water banking act to authorize certain water rights in a water...

As the number of available days for committee work winds down in the 2023 Kansas legislative session, lawmakers put in extra hours this week ushering bills out of their respective committees and spending more time on the House and Senate floor to pass preliminary state agency budgets for fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026. With little more than a week remaining before extended floor debate to close the session, numerous bills are being considered. Senate Advances Budget Bill On Thursday evening, the Senate advanced its initial budget bill (Sen Sub for Senate...

This week, the legislature continued its consideration of bills that had passed in the opposite chamber and began finalizing work on general agency budget bills for fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026. Most committees only have two weeks remaining this session to meet and consider bills before the full House and Senate begin deliberation. Water Bank Participation in MYFA Senate Bill 205 would amend the Kansas water banking act to authorize certain water rights in a water bank to temporarily participate in multi-year flex accounts. In a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Big...

Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association Association (KARA) joined like-minded agribusiness trade associations on both the state and national level to sign a federal coalition letter to congressional leaders aimed at providing sufficient budgetary resources to write a new bipartisan, multi-year, comprehensive, and meaningful piece of legislation. Among other things, the letter stressed the need for protecting and enhancing crop insurance to assist with volatile weather and crop loss, improving access to voluntary conservation incentives, addressing rural development needs, investing in research for innovation and competitiveness, providing opportunities to help the nation become...

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