State News

Kansas secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach visited Independence Thursday with his lieutenant governor candidate Wink Hartman, a Wichita businessman. The two spoke on their vision for Kansas should they win the 2018 gubernatorial election. 

The Kansas Telemedicine Act came about during the 2018 legislative session and was approved by Gov. Jeff Colyer in May. 

During the busy 2018 Legislative session, one of the bills passed by the Legislature was Senate Bill 263 (SB 263), which created a program to research the use of industrial hemp in Kansas. 

The question is no longer who is running for office in Kansas - the question is who is going to win. With countless names tossed about for the last six months, the list of candidates became final as of noon Friday, June 1. 

Faced with a $600 million school funding question mark and divided Legislature, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer was sworn in as Kansas' 47th governor Wednesday afternoon after the departure of former Gov. Sam Brownback, who accepted a position as ambassador at-large for international religious freedom under the Trump administration. 

The big news of Tuesday's State of the State address was not just that it was given by Gov. Sam Brownback, who began relinquishing responsibilities to Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer after announcing more than six months ago he had been nominated for ambassador of religious freedom by the Trump administration, but that he spoke of an additional $600 million over five years into school funding without a tax increase to pay for it.

Both the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas Supreme Court are reaching out to the public for input on items under consideration by both parties. KDOT is seeking public input for its Coordinated Public Transit - Human Services Transportation Plan (CPT-HSTP) and the Kansas Supreme Court is accepting comment on proposed amendments to Rule 502, affecting continuing education requirements for municipal court judges.

Governor Sam Brownback signed SB 19, the newest school finance legislation put forward by the Kansas Legislature, June 15 and the appellees (school districts) and appellants (State) of the Gannon v. Kansas lawsuit have filed their briefs prior to oral arguments which will take place Tuesday, July 18. IDR detailed major portions of the appellees' brief in the Wednesday edition and today will go into the State brief.