Kansas GOP Supermajority Overrides Kelly on 17 Bills

Kansas Property Tax Relief Bill Dies Without Override Attempt

Kansas School Choice Expansion Dies Without Override Attempt

Kansas Shelves Public Benefits Ban for Unauthorized Immigrants

EPA Grants Kansas First Carbon Storage Permit Near Russell

Kansas GOP Supermajority Overrides Kelly on 17 Bills

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Legislature capped its 2026 session with the most sweeping rebuke of executive authority of Gov. Laura Kelly's tenure, overriding her vetoes on 17 of the 24 bills she rejected before adjourning Friday. The overrides touched immigration, with HB2372 forcing sheriffs to honor federal detainers and HB2004 compelling state agencies to share data with federal counterparts, and reproductive policy, with a three-bill package — HB2727, HB2729, and HB2635 — expanding liability for abortion providers and shielding crisis pregnancy centers. A quieter cluster of overrides shifted institutional power: SB30 requires legislative approval of new occupational licensing rules, HB2719 adds a legislative ratification step to agency rulemaking, SB375 creates a private right of action against proxy advisory firms, HB2593 restricts how local governments hire outside contingency lawyers, and SB462 channels cross-jurisdictional public nuisance suits through the attorney general. The legislature will not reconvene until Jan. 11, 2027 — without Kelly, who leaves office before the next session begins.

Kansas lawmakers cap 2026 session with flurry of veto overrides

The Republican supermajority muscled past Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto pen on seventeen bills across two days, but seven others died quietly

citizen journalGreg Loving

Kansas Property Tax Relief Bill Dies Without Override Attempt

TOPEKA, Kan. — A major Kansas property tax relief bill died quietly Friday after Republican House leaders declined to attempt an override of Gov. Laura Kelly's veto, letting the deadline expire without a vote. House Bill 2745 would have created a formal protest-petition process for residents to contest certain local property tax revenue increases and extended reimbursements from the state's taxpayer notification costs fund for another five years. Kelly vetoed the measure Thursday, one day before the session ended. The bill originally passed the House 63-59 and the Senate 22-18, and a later conference version cleared the House 76-45 — still short of the 84 votes required for an override. Rather than force a doomed vote that would have put Republicans on record siding with the Democratic governor ahead of August primaries, leadership let the bill die.

Kansas property tax relief bill dies after Republican leaders abandon veto override

House leadership declines to challenge governor’s veto to avoid forcing a divisive roll-call vote ahead of August primaries.

citizen journalGreg Loving

Kansas School Choice Expansion Dies Without Override Attempt

TOPEKA, Kan. — An effort to expand Kansas' private-school scholarship program for low-income students is dead for the year after Republican legislative leaders opted not to challenge Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of House Bill 2468. The measure would have raised the aggregate cap on the state's Low Income Students Scholarship Program, which provides tax credits for donations that fund private-school scholarships, and would have opted Kansas into a newly available federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations. Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed the bill April 9. The House had passed it 76-44 — eight votes shy of the two-thirds threshold — while the Senate cleared it 27-12, exactly meeting the supermajority there. Finding eight Republicans willing to flip proved too steep a climb in the session's final hours, with earlier procedural votes of 7-29 and 35-82 signaling cross-pressure within the majority.

Kansas school choice expansion dies without veto override attempt

The measure would have raised the cap on private-school scholarship tax credits and opted the state into a new federal program.

citizen journalGreg Loving

Kansas Shelves Public Benefits Ban for Unauthorized Immigrants

TOPEKA, Kan. — Unauthorized immigrants in Kansas will not face a sweeping ban on state and local public benefits after Republican lawmakers walked away from Senate Bill 254, allowing the Senate to adjourn April 10 without attempting to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto. The measure would have prohibited anyone unlawfully present in the U.S. from receiving state or local assistance, subject only to narrow federal exceptions. Opponents warned the policy would have required administrators to verify the legal status of everyone seeking help, threatening emergency medical care and food assistance for the U.S.-citizen children of unauthorized parents. SB254 had originally cleared the Senate 30-9 and the House 88-34 — comfortably above the two-thirds override threshold. The decision contrasted with the supermajority's actions a day earlier, when lawmakers swiftly overrode Kelly on companion immigration measures HB2372 and HB2004. Supporters will have to restart the process in the next biennium.

Kansas lawmakers abandon effort to cut public benefits for unauthorized immigrants

Despite holding a supermajority, the state Senate adjourned without attempting to override a veto from the Democratic governor.

citizen journalGreg Loving

EPA Grants Kansas First Carbon Storage Permit Near Russell

RUSSELL, Kan. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its first Class VI underground injection permit in Kansas, authorizing PureField Carbon Capture to store carbon dioxide deep underground near Russell. The approval is the first of its kind across EPA Region 7, which covers several central states, and marks a regional milestone for carbon storage development in the Midwest. Under the permit, PureField will capture CO2 from ethanol production and inject it into the Arbuckle formation — a deep saline reservoir more than 3,400 feet below ground — over a 12-year operational window, with an annual capacity of 150,000 metric tons and a lifetime storage limit of 1.8 million metric tons. Class VI wells are regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which requires the EPA to ensure such projects do not compromise underground drinking water sources. The permit imposes continuous monitoring during injection and 50 years of post-closure site oversight to confirm the stored CO2 remains contained. The project links Kansas' biofuel industry to an emerging national build-out of permanent carbon storage infrastructure.

Carbon Herald

Sources

1. Carbon Herald

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