Letters

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson April 25, 2023 The Governor’s Veto Pen is in overdrive again this year.  Besides the fairness in women’s sports bill (which was successfully overridden) and the born-alive bill, she vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 180, defining a biological sex for the protection of women.  It takes a supermajority…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson April 7, 2023 Final Action on Conference Committee Reports (CCR) sent many pieces of legislation to the Governor last week.  Work was intense the past week, with leadership finally shutting down business after 4 am Friday morning.  The legislature returns in late April.  Property, Income and Sales…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson March 24, 2023 Session 2023 is quickly coming to an end.  There are a few more days of regular session, then conference committees will be the focus.  Conference committees are six member committees, three from each chamber, that negotiate the differences in legislation that has…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson March 17, 2023 A State Budget, Senate Bill (SB) 155 was debated on the floor and it passed to advance to final action after many amendments and attempts at amendments.  Final action is usually taken the day after or the day of debate.  However, there are several senators…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson March 10, 2023 Property Tax is on many Kansans minds as the valuation notices were recently mailed.  Many will be protesting the increase.  The directions for protest are on the valuation letter.  Previously when property evaluations were increased your property taxes automatically increased – not anymore.   In 2021, the…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson March 3, 2023 The Senate did not work any bills on the floor this week.  Hopefully, that will not be the case next week.  The floor schedule is not made available until the evening before – so stay tuned.  Here are a few more highlights from the…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson February 24, 2023 What a difference a week makes?  In the two days before turnaround, the halfway point in session, 42 bills were scheduled for debate on the Senate floor, 3 of them were pulled for various reasons.  The list of bills is not made available to…

February 24, 2023 Removing Kansas Public Employee Retirement System (KPERS) 15% limit on alternative investments, Senate Bill (SB) 23, was scheduled for debate on the Senate floor.  Just before the bill was to be debated, it was pulled from the schedule because several of us questioned removing the limit.  We were told the…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson February 10, 2023 Committee Work continues to be the major focus. The Senate Tax Committee that I chair, passed out several bills. Some of the bills that passed included exempting Social Security from income tax, increasing income tax standard deductions, and repealing the…

Legislative Update by State Senator Caryn Tyson February 03, 2023 Committee Work was still the main focus during the fourth week of session.  A record number of bills, including tax bills, have been introduced this year.  There have been several hearings.  Most likely, bills will be worked in the next week or so.  “Working” a bill…

Legislative Update By State Senator Caryn Tyson January 27, 2023 Committee Work continues in the third week of session.  It appears that session is off to a slow start, however, there are reports and hearings being conducted in committees.  Bills, schedules, and recordings of the meetings can be found at http://www.kslegislature.org/li/.  Government Picking Winners and…

Legislative Update By State Senator Caryn Tyson January 20, 2023 Property Tax Relief  Just a reminder from my update last week about tax relief programs passed by the legislature last year that the applications are now available.  The link for the application for property tax relief for low income seniors and disabled veterans…

2023 SESSION BEGINS The Legislature convened for its first day of session for the year on Monday, January 9th. Committees also began reviewing proposed legislation and to hear presentations from associated agencies to inform legislators on topics related to issues the Legislature faces. This year, I am serving on the…