Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

Kansas Senate Bill SB427

Introduced
1/29/26  
Refer
1/30/26  
Report Pass
2/10/26  
Engrossed
2/24/26  
Refer
2/24/26  
Report Pass
3/11/26  
Enrolled
3/20/26  

Caption

Clarifying that the chairperson and vice chairperson of the senate committee on confirmation oversight shall have access to review tax information from the department of revenue and Kansas bureau of investigation background checks on persons appointed to state offices who are subject to senate confirmation.

Summary

SB 427 revises Kansas law governing background checks and tax certification reviews for certain state appointees who are subject to Senate confirmation. The bill clarifies that the chairperson and vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Confirmation Oversight may review tax information from the Department of Revenue and Kansas Bureau of Investigation background check information for nominees to covered offices. It also updates the procedures for how appointing authorities, the legislative research director, and the committee handle nomination materials, including how information is forwarded, stored, reviewed, and ultimately destroyed or disposed of. The bill also makes broader technical and conforming changes to the criminal history record check statute, K.S.A. 22-4714, by listing a wide range of agencies and licensing boards that may receive specific categories of criminal history information for employment, licensure, certification, registration, or appointment decisions. It preserves confidentiality for most records, requires executive sessions when public bodies discuss the information, allows the KBI to charge a reasonable fee, and makes unauthorized disclosure or use a class A nonperson misdemeanor and grounds for removal from office.

Impact

SB 427 amends K.S.A. 22-4714, 75-712, and 75-4315d, expanding and clarifying who may access criminal history and tax certification information in connection with state appointments and other regulated positions. In practice, it strengthens the confirmation oversight process by expressly authorizing Senate confirmation leadership to review sensitive background and tax records for nominees, while also updating numerous state agencies, boards, and commissions that may request KBI background checks for hiring or licensing decisions. The bill also reinforces confidentiality rules and record-retention/destruction procedures for these materials.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It passed the Senate 40-0 and the House 123-0, indicating unanimous approval in both chambers. The absence of recorded committee testimony in the provided materials also suggests there was little visible opposition or public dispute around the measure.

Contention

No major points of contention are reflected in the available record. The main policy issue is access to sensitive tax and criminal history information for Senate confirmation oversight, which could raise privacy concerns in general, but the bill narrows access to specific legislative leaders and maintains confidentiality protections. Any potential concern would likely center on balancing transparency and oversight against privacy and record-security, rather than on the bill’s overall purpose or scope.

Companion Bills

No companion bills found.

Previously Filed As

KS SB3

Clarifying the procedures and restrictions on accepting a nomination for an elected office.

KS SB1

Modifying income tax rates for individuals, exempting all social security benefits from Kansas income tax, increasing the Kansas standard deduction and the Kansas personal exemption, increasing the income tax credit amount for household and dependent care expenses, decreasing the privilege tax normal tax, excluding internal revenue code section 1031 exchange transactions as indicators of fair market value for property tax valuation purposes, increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy, providing for certain transfers to the state school district finance fund and abolishing the local ad valorem tax reduction fund and the county and city revenue sharing fund.

KS SB7

Authorizing federally licensed firearm dealers, in addition to county sheriffs, to receive applications for concealed carry licenses and forward such applications to the attorney general, prohibiting sheriffs from assessing any fee related to application services and allowing dealers to assess a fee related to application services not to exceed $20.

KS SB8

Exempting the sale of firearms, firearms accessories, ammunition, firearm safes and firearm safety devices from the retatilers' sales tax.

KS HB2001

Authorizing the secretary of commerce to enter into agreements with major professional sports franchises to establish STAR bond projects for a major professional sports complex, providing for additional revenue sources, expanding the powers and discretion of the secretary and making other changes to the STAR bonds financing act to facilitate such projects, limiting the secretary’s authority to approve such projects to one year unless extended by the legislative coordinating council, authorizing the Kansas development finance authority to issue STAR bonds for such projects, transferring funds under certain circumstances from the state gaming revenues fund to the attracting professional sports to Kansas fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and, if approved by the legislative coordinating council, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.

KS SCR1604

Proposing to amend section 1 of article 11 of the constitution of the state of Kansas to limit property tax valuation increases for real property and personal property mobile homes.

KS HB2003

Establishing the veterans' valor property tax relief act providing for an income tax credit or refund for eligible individuals, modifying the definition of household income and increasing the appraised value threshold for eligibility of seniors and disabled veterans related to increased property tax claims and citing the section as the homeowners' property tax freeze program, providing property tax exemptions for certain personal property including watercraft, marine equipment, off-road vehicles, motorized bicycles and certain trailers, excluding internal revenue code section 1031 exchange transactions as indicators of fair market value, providing for certain exclusions from the prohibition of paying taxes under protest after a valuation notice appeal and providing four prior years' values on the annual valuation notice.

KS HB2002

Expanding medical assistance eligibility and enacting the cutting healthcare costs for all Kansans act.

KS SB2

Eliminating the income limit to qualify for the subtraction modification exempting social security benefits, increasing the income tax credit amount for household and dependent care expenses, establishing the veterans' valor property tax relief act providing for an income tax credit or refund for eligible individuals, citing the increased property tax homestead refund claim section as the homeowners' property tax freeze program, decreasing the normal privilege tax rate, increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy, decreasing the rate of ad valorem tax imposed by a school district; providing for certain transfers to the state school district finance fund, reducing the state rate of tax on sales of food and food ingredients and modifying the percent credited to the state highway fund from revenue collected.

KS SCR1603

Proposing to amend section 1 of article 11 of the constitution of the state of Kansas to limit property tax valuation increases for residential property.

Similar Bills

No similar bills found.