Marshall Vows Ballot Run, Rules Out Trump Post

124 New Kansas Laws Take Effect July 1

Southwest Kansas Weighs Steep Water Cuts to Save Aquifer

Kansas Steps Up Citizenship Checks of Voter Rolls

Schwab Says Kansas Will Reject Late Mail Ballots

Marshall Vows Ballot Run, Rules Out Trump Post

TOPEKA, Kan. — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said June 28 on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he will appear on the November general-election ballot and will rule out any appointment in the Trump administration for at least the next two or three years. The statement addressed speculation tied to a 2025 Kansas law that lets a governor-appointed replacement serve roughly two years without facing voters if a U.S. Senate seat becomes vacant by resignation after May 1 and before Oct. 2 of an election year. Critics said the provision could let Republicans hand the seat to a successor and skip a competitive 2026 election. Marshall is seeking a second term and is among several Kansas incumbents facing a crowded field, with 25 challengers running across the state's congressional delegation. By foreclosing an appointment, Marshall sought to end questions about whether the law would be used to avoid an election.

KMUW · Kansas Reflector · HPPR

124 New Kansas Laws Take Effect July 1

TOPEKA, Kan. — About 124 of the 157 laws passed during the Kansas Legislature's 2026 session take effect Wednesday, July 1, the year's largest single batch. House Bill 2733 requires candidates for and holders of certain offices to remain residents of their state or district, and House Bill 2274 designates Kansas a "Purple Heart State" and lets homeless veterans use alternative proof of identity and residency to obtain nondriver IDs. House Bill 2223 expands optometrists' scope of practice, and House Bill 2635, the Pregnancy Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression Act, shields private pregnancy centers. A statewide ban on the herbal supplement kratom and the kratom-derived compound 7-OH takes effect the same day. Eighteen of the laws became effective only after the Republican-led Legislature overrode vetoes by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. July 1 is the standard start of the state fiscal year, when most non-emergency Kansas laws take effect.

KSNT · WIBW · KLRD

Southwest Kansas Weighs Steep Water Cuts to Save Aquifer

GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Groundwater Management District 3, which covers a 12-county stretch of southwest Kansas around Garden City, is weighing a plan to sharply curb irrigation pumping ahead of a state deadline this July. The proposal would create a Local Enhanced Management Area, a farmer-driven, legally binding conservation plan that would cut water use by about 5% a year and roughly 27.7% over two decades. Parts of the Ogallala, or High Plains, Aquifer beneath the district are dropping two to four feet a year, and the state has told groundwater districts to produce conservation plans or risk having Kansas impose cuts itself. Districts in northwest Kansas have run successful management areas for years, but GMD3, the state's largest irrigator, has resisted mandatory limits until now. The aquifer makes irrigated farming possible across the High Plains and can take centuries to recharge once drained.

KSN · HPPR · KGS

Kansas Steps Up Citizenship Checks of Voter Rolls

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas has intensified efforts in 2026 to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls, using new federal data-sharing to cross-check registered voters against lists of noncitizens. Secretary of State Scott Schwab has used the federal SAVE immigration database to flag possible noncitizen voters and refer them to Attorney General Kris Kobach, whose office says it has prosecuted three noncitizens who cast ballots, including a sitting mayor. The push follows President Trump's March 31 executive order directing federal agencies to compile "state citizenship lists" for election officials, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun sharing data on noncitizens in each state. The U.S. Justice Department has said Kansas already turned over voters' Social Security information, while state officials insist they shared no such data.

Kansas SOS · HPPR · Kansas Reflector

Schwab Says Kansas Will Reject Late Mail Ballots

TOPEKA, Kan. — Secretary of State Scott Schwab said June 29 that Kansas will not count mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day, responding to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states may accept such ballots. Schwab said the ruling leaves the decision to state legislatures, and that the Kansas Legislature did not authorize a grace period for late-arriving ballots in 2025. As a result, mailed ballots in Kansas must reach election offices by Election Day to be counted. The Supreme Court decision allows other states to set their own deadlines but does not require Kansas to change its rules. Schwab's statement comes ahead of the 2026 midterm congressional elections. The position aligns with other moves by his office, which has also stepped up checks of the state's voter rolls.

WIBW

Sources

1. KMUW / Kansas Reflector / HPPR
2. KSNT / WIBW / KLRD
3. KSN / HPPR / KGS
4. Kansas SOS / HPPR / Kansas Reflector
5. WIBW

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