The 2026 Kansas legislative session got off to a rapid start last week with committees beginning to meet and hear bills. Gov. Laura Kelly also delivered her final State of the State address Tuesday, January 13, where she announced that water once again would be a key policy area in 2026. She asked the Legislature to back the newly created Water Task Force, an initiative KLA supported during the 2025 legislative session. The governor’s budget was presented the next day and she again proposed fully funding the State Water Plan fund. She also proposed an additional $250,000 for the water resources cost-share program, $2.3 million to remediate chloride contamination of the Equus Bed Aquifer and $1.1 million for water planning and project development across watersheds. Her budget recommendations provide a state general fund (SGF) ending balance of $2.23 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2026 and $1.58 billion in FY27.
Additionally, KLA staff testified in opposition to SCR 1616, a proposed constitutional amendment that would cap property tax assessed valuation increases at 3% per year for real property. SCR 1616 would inequitably shift the local property tax burden, which, on average, comprises 83% of the mill levy, away from faster-growing subclasses of property like residential to slower-growing subclasses of property like commercial and agricultural land. KLA generally supports broad-based property tax relief efforts, such as reducing the statewide 20 mills the Legislature requires local school districts to levy and backfilling those funds with SGF.
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