This bill prohibits the development or operation of new large load data centers in Kansas counties that have experienced a drought emergency within the last three years. It directly affects county governments, which would be required to deny applications for such facilities during the three-year period following a drought declaration. The law defines a large load data center as a facility with a monthly electrical demand of 10 megawatts or more and allows counties to issue moratoriums on these projects until the three-year period ends. Existing data centers authorized or permitted before July 1, 2026, are exempt from these restrictions, and the bill does not prevent local governments from adopting even stricter land use regulations.
This bill introduces two new taxes on large wind farms and solar facilities in Kansas, targeting those with a capacity of at least 5,000 kilowatts. The first tax is a $4 annual fee per kilowatt of capacity, while the second is a $0.001 per kilowatt-hour tax on electricity produced, both payable by the year 2027. Revenue from these taxes will be placed in a new state fund designated for property tax relief, which will then be transferred to support school district financing. The legislation also amends existing school tax laws to allow for a reduction in the statewide property tax levy for schools using these funds.
HB 2775 creates a three-year exemption from Kansas' 8% severance tax for all new oil and gas wells. This directly affects operators who drill new wells by eliminating their initial tax burden on production. The exemption applies to the standard 8% tax rate on the gross value of oil or gas produced, covering all new wells regardless of size or location during their first three years of operation. It amends existing tax law (K.S.A. 79-4217) to add this temporary relief for new well operators.
HB 2435 allows Kansas natural gas utilities to defer depreciation and carrying costs for new infrastructure (like pipelines or equipment) into a regulatory asset instead of immediately recovering them through customer rates. The bill establishes a temporary "interim rate adjustment" mechanism, letting utilities recover these deferred costs over 20 years via customer bills, with a 60-month limit unless a new rate case is filed. Utilities must notify the State Corporation Commission before deferring costs and can only recover amounts that don’t exceed 20% of their base revenue. This directly affects Kansas natural gas utilities operating under the State Corporation Commission’s oversight, changing how they account for and recover investments in new infrastructure.
HB 2441 amends Kansas' income tax code to include compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as eligible alternative fuels for a tax credit program. This change directly affects Kansas taxpayers who purchase qualified alternative-fueled vehicles (like CNG trucks) or build fueling stations for these fuels, expanding the existing credit to cover CNG/LNG vehicles and infrastructure. The bill updates the legal definition of "alternative fuel" (Section e(1)(B)) to explicitly include CNG and LNG, allowing taxpayers to claim the same credit percentages (40% for post-2005 vehicles) previously available for other alternative fuels like ethanol blends. The credit applies to incremental vehicle costs or fueling station expenditures, with limits based on vehicle weight categories, and follows the existing carryover rules for unused credits.
HB 2440 amends Kansas property tax law to exempt owners of oil leases from the requirement to file for property tax exemptions with the Board of Tax Appeals. Currently, property owners must submit exemption requests to the Board, but this bill removes oil lease owners from that process. The key change is that oil lease owners will no longer need to complete the formal exemption application and review procedure with the Board of Tax Appeals. This directly affects oil lease owners in Kansas by simplifying their property tax filing obligations.
SB 16 prohibits financial services companies from using social credit scores to discriminate against consumers. It also requires registered investment advisers to obtain written client consent before investing funds in mutual funds, equity funds, or companies that boycott businesses based on ideological reasons (such as fossil fuel production, agriculture, gun manufacturing, or environmental policies). The bill defines "ideological boycott" as actions taken without a legitimate business purpose to penalize companies for their industry, environmental stance, or social policies. This directly affects investment advisers, financial institutions, and their clients by changing how investments are managed and disclosed.
SB 266 requires electric utilities to obtain legislative approval before building "high-impact" electric transmission lines (defined as 10+ miles long, carrying 340+ kilovolts of electricity). It directly affects utilities planning such projects and landowners near proposed routes, as utilities must submit detailed proposals to the legislature within 30 days of receiving a commission siting permit. The key mechanism adds a new step: the legislature must adopt a concurrent resolution approving the project, with no automatic approval if they fail to act within a timeframe. This bill changes the process by giving Kansas legislators a formal vote on major transmission line projects, beyond the existing commission review.
SB 173 requires county commissioners to approve commercial wind or solar energy projects before any related lease or easement agreement becomes binding. It directly affects facility owners (those developing projects with at least one megawatt capacity for sale) and landowners, as these agreements cannot take effect until county approval is secured. The bill mandates that counties with zoning regulations must issue a building or development permit, while counties without such regulations must enter a development agreement. This requirement applies to all new agreements filed on or after July 1, 2025, and does not affect leases recorded before July 1, 2011.
HB 2148 prohibits Kansas' state corporation commission from approving permits for new electric transmission lines in areas designated by the U.S. Department of Energy as national interest electric transmission corridors. It also blocks electric utilities from using eminent domain to acquire land for these lines in such corridors, except for projects approved before the corridor designation. The bill amends state law to enforce these restrictions and repeals existing permitting processes for these areas. This directly affects utilities planning new transmission infrastructure in designated corridors and landowners within those zones.
