Kansas House Bill HB2238

Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/4/25
• Refer: 2/4/25
• Report Pass: 2/11/25
• Engrossed: 2/25/25
• Refer: 2/26/25
• Report Pass: 3/13/25
• Enrolled: 3/21/25
• Passed: 4/10/25

Caption

Directing legislative administrative services to prepare all committee minutes.

Summary

HB 2238 reorganizes responsibility for committee-minute preparation within the Kansas legislative branch. The bill amends two statutes governing legislative staff agencies so that the division of legislative administrative services, rather than the legislative research department, is expressly responsible for preparing minutes for special, select, joint, and standing committee meetings. It also updates related language about staff support, notices, and committee work to reflect that administrative services will handle these records for committees whether the legislature is in session or not. The bill preserves the existing structure of the legislative coordinating council’s oversight of both agencies, but reallocates a specific administrative function between them. Legislative research continues to provide research, agenda support, testimony coordination, interim and final reports, and fiscal analysis, while legislative administrative services takes on the minute-taking role and related notice support. The bill repeals the prior versions of K.S.A. 46-1210 and 46-1212a and replaces them with amended text, making this a statutory housekeeping and workflow change within legislative operations rather than a policy change affecting the public.

Impact

HB 2238 amends K.S.A. 46-1210 and 46-1212a to shift the duty of preparing committee minutes from the legislative research department to the division of legislative administrative services. This affects internal legislative procedures, staff assignments, and the official statutory description of duties for two legislative support agencies. It does not create new public programs or regulate private parties, but it does change how committee records are produced and maintained within the Kansas Legislature.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests broad bipartisan support and little controversy. The House passed the bill on emergency final action by a vote of 123-0, and the Senate later passed it on the consent calendar by a vote of 39-1. That pattern indicates the bill was generally viewed as a straightforward administrative adjustment with consensus support.

Contention

There is no committee transcript available showing detailed debate, and the overwhelming vote margins suggest minimal opposition. Any potential point of contention would likely have been limited to internal legislative workload and whether minute preparation should remain with legislative research or be centralized in legislative administrative services. The recorded votes, however, show that such concerns did not generate significant resistance in either chamber.