KS - April 18 2025

Kansas Budget Faces $731 Million Deficit by 2029 After Tax Cuts, Spending

Kansas Legislature Passes 116 Laws, Second-Most Productive Session in Decades

New Kansas Law Boosts Local Investment of State Tax Dollars by 2026

Kansas Stays Fully Anti-Marijuana as Lawmakers Ignore Reform Bills

Recession Fears Threaten Chiefs, Royals Stadium Vote in Kansas City

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1. Kansas Budget Faces $731 Million Deficit by 2029 After Tax Cuts, Spending

Kansas politicians have a budget problem to figure out. New revenue projections show the state government budget faces a $731 million hole in four years, at the end of fiscal year 2029. The budget hole comes after a series of massive tax cuts in recent years, a limited appetite to reduce spending and a torrent of COVID-era federal funding that has dried up. The new estimates were released April 17, a week after lawmakers adjourned for the year.
Source: CJOnline

2. Kansas Legislature Passes 116 Laws, Second-Most Productive Session in Decades

Kansas lawmakers passed 116 new laws this legislative session, making it the second-most productive Legislature in the past two decades. The feat was achieved despite the relatively short legislative session and despite Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoing 18 bills, the second-highest total in her tenure as governor. "This has been a short session, and there has been a lot of comments about a short session in the press and in the public," said Kansas Sen. Chase Blasi, R-Wichita, said on the Senate Floor on April 11, "but despite this being a shorter session, this is one of the most productive sessions in our state's history." Blasi said the only legislative session to surpass this year's in total bills passed was 2021, when lawmakers worked on several bills that stalled due to COVID the prior year.

Editors note: its debatable whether passing more laws is ‘productive’
Source: CJOnline

3. New Kansas Law Boosts Local Investment of State Tax Dollars by 2026

Kansans can expect to see more of their tax dollars at work within local communities when new rules go into effect next year at the agency in charge of investing state funds. It’s a version of the “Shop Local” concept in the investment world, said Alex Orel, spokesman for the Kansas Bankers Association, one of the major backers of House Bill 2152, which makes multiple changes affecting banks statewide. The Pooled Money Investment Board is responsible for investing state general fund dollars and other money deposited with the state treasurer’s office. Among its programs is the Kansas Bank CD Program, which offers Kansas banks the opportunity to invest in certificates of deposit. Depending on the interest rate, which is set weekly, banks can determine whether they want to buy a CD and use those dollars to make loans in their local communities, said Mark Schifferdecker, chairman, president and CEO of GNBank in Girard. PMIB has been required to get the highest rate of return possible for its CDs, Orel said. While that makes good investment sense for state dollars, the CD rate was typically set using high-yielding investments, which are above U.S. treasuries, he said. That left Kansas banks no incentive to participate when they could get lower rates elsewhere. As a result, the Kansas Bank CD Program began to disappear from PMIB’s investment portfolio. As of March 31, it was only 0.48% of the $8.5 billion invested by PMIB, meaning that most of the state’s funds are being invested outside the state. Schifferdecker said a decade ago, the CD program investment was 10 to 15% of the portfolio. New regulations included in HB 2152, in effect Jan. 1, 2026, will allow PMIB to offer a more competitive rate, as much as 2% lower, which is expected to increase program participation and bring tax dollars to local banks, which will then distribute them through loans to their customers.
Source: Kansas Reflector

4. Kansas Stays Fully Anti-Marijuana as Lawmakers Ignore Reform Bills

Kansas is one of only four states where marijuana remains fully illegal and will stay that way for at least the next year after Kansas lawmakers failed to consider any legislation on marijuana. None of the bills relating to marijuana received a hearing or a vote at the Statehouse.
Source: CJOnline

5. Recession Fears Threaten Chiefs, Royals Stadium Vote in Kansas City

Fears of inflation are rising and J.P. Morgan, the country’s largest bank, places the probability of a recession in 2025 at 60%. Kansas City-area elected officials and civic leaders must now contend with this new, darker economic climate as they seek to secure the future of the Chiefs and Royals in the metro. Any potential second public vote later this year in Jackson County risks taking place amid a downturn or, at the very least, continued uncertainty. With or without a public vote, elected officials will confront high-stakes choices about how much public aid they’re willing to support for the teams, whether in the form of sales tax revenue or other incentives. A generous aid package for projects that would move one or both teams out of the Truman Sports Complex risks blowing up in the faces of elected officials if it comes during a sinking economy, with voters grappling with higher prices and shrunken 401k accounts. “For us, the idea of tearing down either one of them just to build another somewhere else is wasteful spending. It’s fiscally irresponsible,” said Becky Nace, a former Kansas City Council member who led a campaign against the 2024 sales tax proposal. “And then when you add to that economic uncertainty, cost of groceries going up, cost of goods and services – when you add that to it, it’s a failing proposition.” The Star interviewed a dozen elected officials, civic leaders, economists, academics and others this week about what a recession would mean for efforts to build new stadiums for one or both teams. Most agreed a downturn would make another public vote more difficult, but they were divided on whether it would pose an insurmountable obstacle to winning over a majority of voters.

Editors note: citizen journal isn’t in the economic recession prediction business and doesn’t endorse or refute this view, but it’s worth noting that forecasts don’t have a notable track record. That’s why we aren’t in the economic recession prediction business.
Source: Kansas City Star

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Sources

1. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2025/04/17/kansas-faces-budget-shortfall-after-cutting-taxes-while-spending-more/83140051007/
2. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/04/16/kansas-passes-high-number-of-laws-despite-short-legislative-session/83088492007/?tbref=hp
3. https://kansasreflector.com/2025/04/16/new-law-pushes-for-kansas-taxpayer-dollars-to-be-invested-within-local-communities/
4. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/04/18/marijuana-bills-wither-as-kansas-lawmakers-refuse-to-have-hearings/83121254007/
5. https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article304280436.html