Second sunshine bill sent to Gov. Colyer to fix Kansas transparency issue

A bipartisan transparency bill is headed to Gov. Jeff Colyer’s desk.

The Kansas Senate voted 40-0 to pass Senate Bill 394, which would require people attempting to influence an executive branch official on contracts to register as a lobbyist.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, introduced the measure and have pushed for the bill’s passage.

The bill is the second transparency measure to make it to the governor this session.

"Clearly it allows the sun to shine on lobbyist spending and the amount of money and who is actually in communication with the executive branch and all our agencies," Wagle said.

Colyer said during a joint address to the Legislature in February that he supports the legislation.

The bill earlier passed the House on a 120-0 vote.

An investigation last year by The Star found that Kansas has one of the most secretive state governments in the nation. The Star’s series, “Why so secret, Kansas?” highlighted multiple examples of state and local agencies hiding information from the public eye.

Legislators have responded with a slew of transparency measures, though the bipartisan bill passed Wednesday is one of only a handful to make significant progress.

Hensley said he was happy to see his transparency measure pass.

"There was a lot of rhetoric at the beginning of the session about trying to pass legislation on transparency and it's all kind of fallen by the wayside," he said.

The Star’s Judy Thomas contributed to this report.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Second sunshine bill sent to Gov. Colyer to fix Kansas transparency issue."