The Full Breakdown of Legislation in 2026
Public Education
Scholarship Vouchers – The main bill, HB 2468, which would have expanded Kansas’ state program offering tax credits for donations to private school scholarship programs, was vetoed and was not overridden. 👍 But the provision which opted Kansas into a similar federal program was split off into a standalone bill, SB 361, and on that one the governor’s veto was overridden. 👎
SB 2333 – The “KIRK Act” – restricts the ability of post-secondary educational institutions to limit hate speech such as that made famous by the late rightwing provocateur Charlie Kirk. We can see how partisan and hypocritical this bill is because the legislature overrode the governor’s line-item veto on a budget item that penalizes school districts for not stopping student walkouts, such as those we’ve seen recently in support of immigrants. As KIFA said in our testimony against the KIRK bill, it was clearly intended as “Free speech for me and not for thee.” 👎
Immigration
SB 254 - Ban on "public benefits" (including in-state tuition) for undocumented immigrants. This bill would have taken away from "dreamers" who graduated from Kansas high schools, the right to in-state tuition, and also would limit access to "public benefits" like food banks and senior centers. The governor vetoed the bill, and the legislature did not run an override vote. 👍
HB 2372 – The ICE bill – allows county sheriffs to hold undocumented people in jails without a warrant signed by a judge,and expands qualified immunity for untrained ICE agents, making it harder for Kansans to take them to court. It also includes a 25-foot buffer zone around immigration actions, limiting protests and press coverage. The governor’s veto was overridden. 👎
Voting Rights
HB 2437- Voter Registration restrictions and Voter file removal - allows voters to be removed from the rolls from inactivity; limits on-line voter registration, including the KSVotes website we've been using; and mandates quarterly reporting on non-citizens receiving benefits to the Secretary of State (and is therefore anti-immigrant as well). The governor’s veto of this bill was overridden. 👎
HB 2569- Overhauling Mail Voting, whichcould have ended all mail-in voting if a court finds the state denied citizens right to due process to fix ballot issues, and would have forced any election-related lawsuits into Shawnee County courts, was vetoed by the governor and was not overridden. 👍
HB 2587- Overhauling Voter ID (Conference Committee Report here)would have made state IDs, like driver's licenses, follow stricter rules than REAL ID by requiring documents to prove citizenship, which would be listed on their license. There was no effort to override the governor’s veto. 👍
Housing
HB 2357 – This was our eviction expungement bill, allowing people to get their previous evictions expunged after 3 years if they have paid off their arrears and have no further housing court actions, and including the opportunity for mediation in eviction proceedings. It passed during the regular session and the governor signed it. 👍
SB 391 - Prohibits cities and counties from protecting renters. This was a response to an ordinance in Lawrence prohibiting landlords from using source-of-income as the sole reason to deny someone rental housing. As usual in such cases, when landlords and realtors couldn’t get it overturned locally, they ran to the state legislature to preempt the ordinance, which they dutifully did. Originally it didn’t pass by a veto proof majority, but there was a full-court press on legislators by the realtors’ lobbyists, and in the end the veto was overridden. 👎
Public Assistance
HB 2731 – This one was originally called SB 363, and was a much broader bill, including requiring quarterly recertifications of eligibility for public assistance. The bill was significantly slimmed down, but it still codifies restrictive elements of the Big Bad Bill (HR1) into Kansas law, including expanded SNAP work requirements and more red tape for food and medical assistance. It also requires DCF and KDHE to enter into data-matching agreements with state agencies, putting Kansans’ data privacy in danger. We opposed it in its modified form, but the legislature overrode the governor’s veto. 👎