Legislative floodgates open: Dozens of bills swap chambers as deadline looms

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Capitol was a flurry of procedural activity as the House and Senate exchanged massive slates of legislation, signaling a pivotal shift in the 2026 session. With the turnaround deadline — the point by which most nonexempt bills must pass their chamber of origin — passed last week, both chambers spent significant floor time reading in bills from the opposite body.

In the House, Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, presided over the introduction of 20 Senate bills. The influx includes a wide range of policy proposals. The arrival of these measures sets the stage for House committees to begin the vetting process, where the Republican supermajority will decide which Senate priorities align with their caucus goals and which will stall before reaching the governor's desk.

Across the rotunda, the Senate received an even larger volume of legislation, reading in more than 35 House bills ranging from agriculture to tax policy, reflecting the House's heavy legislative output in recent days. Senate leadership will now assign these measures to committees, where Senate Republicans often take a more deliberative — and occasionally more conservative — approach to House-passed measures.