KS Legislature adjourns with no property tax amendment; revives local spending limit
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Legislature adjourned around 1:30 a.m. after constitutional amendment resolution failed.
- The bill limits budget growth to 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
- The bill exempts school districts and excludes new construction and growth from limits.
A last-ditch effort by Kansas lawmakers to pass property tax legislation before leaving Topeka for the year resulted in the adoption of another protest petition bill designed to limit local government spending. It wasn’t everything legislators were hoping for.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday, the other piece of property tax legislation that GOP supermajorities vowed to pass — a constitutional amendment proposal aimed at limiting year-over-year valuation increases — flamed out in spectacular fashion.
A resolution asking voters to grant lawmakers the authority to finalize the details of a tax relief plan next year failed 59-62 in the House — a far cry from the two-thirds support that would have been required to place a question on the November ballot.
“Kansans deserve better than a last-minute, half-baked constitutional amendment that we didn’t even have the language on before we came on the floor at 11:45 p.m.,” said Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, before the resolution was sent to the House. “If this is good policy, why are we pushing it to pass in the dead of the night?”
It cleared the Senate 27-12 without a vote to spare as House lawmakers who had expected to gavel out hours earlier crowded into the chamber to watch the action from the walls.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins told The Star after adjournment that the first he heard about Senate President Ty Masterson reviving the constitutional amendment proposal was around 11:30 p.m. An open-ended compromise amendment proposal died in the House on Thursday, as did a motion on Friday to reopen debate on the Senate’s preferred three-percent cap for annual appraisal increases.
“I know this body wanted to get a property tax constitutional amendment done, but the Senate and the House just couldn’t agree,” said Hawkins, who previously said on Friday that he was “disappointed beyond belief” not to get a tax question on the ballot.
Lawmakers of both parties have repeatedly claimed over the last two years that the number-one issue they hear about from constituents is soaring tax bills that are straining families’ budgets and threatening to price people on fixed incomes out of their homes.
GOP infighting over the best approach to delivering property tax relief also scuttled reform efforts in 2025, when each chamber killed the other’s constitutional amendment proposals.
Protest petition specifics
As it stands, the only major piece of property tax legislation that could become law now is the new version of the protest petition bill that Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed earlier in the week.
The version that passed the Legislature late Friday evening would still allow a fraction of voters in cities, counties and other local taxing jurisdictions to reject budgets that call for collecting more property tax revenue than the year before. But school districts would be exempt.
It includes several other key differences from the previous version of the protest petition bill, which local government officials widely criticized for creating a system that could force the defunding of infrastructure and public safety priorities.
The new bill passed the Senate 27-13 and the House 87-35. It received a less-than-ringing endorsement from Masterson before the vote in his chamber.
“We cannot honestly say to our constituents we’re passing meaningful property tax relief,” said Masterson, an Andover Republican who is running for governor. “But it is starting to set a lid (on local spending) that I hope in the near, near future we are able to turn back and make it a real meaningful lid in the future.”
Hawkins struck a different tone in a news release shortly after the bill’s passage.
“Voters have made clear that they want a seat at the table when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent,” he said. “If local governments want to continue driving up property taxes on Kansas families faster than inflation, they should be able to step in and say ‘enough.’ HB 2043 gives taxpayers a chance to stand up and fight back against runaway property taxes.”
The legislation would only allow local budgets to grow by 3% or the rate of inflation — whichever is lower — from one year to the next without risking a protest petition challenge.
If 10% of the number of voters who cast a ballot in the most recent secretary of state election signed a protest petition, local officials would be forced to adopt a new budget that limits spending to the previous year’s level, accounting for an inflationary adjustment.
‘Good enough for now’
Unlike the previous bill that Kelly vetoed, this version includes exemptions that allow local governments to tax new construction and growth without counting against their spending limits.
Rep. Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat and the ranking minority member on the House tax committee, opposed the first version on the grounds that it was too harsh on local governments. He urged his colleagues to vote for the new bill.
“This is property tax relief,” Sawyer said. “We need to encourage local governments to hold down spending, and this does that.”
His assessment was not shared by Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat and gubernatorial candidate, who serves as the ranking minority member on the Senate tax committee. Corson derided the bill as “not a serious piece of legislation.”
He noted that under Kansas law, protest petitions are normally used to trigger elections — not to automatically override elected officials’ decisions. He asked senators to consider how the protest petition mechanism could play out in small communities.
“Let’s say forty-five out of a hundred people in that municipality voted (in the last secretary of state election),” Corson said. “Under this bill... you could have five people block a budget that is supported by ninety-five percent of the community.”
Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican who chairs the Senate tax committee, wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the bill either. She voted for it anyway.
“Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Is it good enough for now? Yes,” Tyson said.
The Legislature did not take up the three-pronged tax relief proposal that Kelly rolled out in tandem with her veto of the first protest petition bill. If she vetoes the new bill, it will automatically die.
All 125 House seats are on the ballot this year. Campaigning with little to show for two years of negotiations on voters’ top issue won’t be easy, acknowledged Rep. Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican who chairs the House tax committee.
“It’s going to be a struggle this year for members, especially in those districts that are very close, because I don’t feel like we got a lot accomplished — especially if (the protest petition) does get vetoed,” Smith said from the empty House floor after the amendment proposal failed and the chamber adjourned around 1:30 a.m.
This story was originally published April 11, 2026 at 7:54 AM.
