Key Votes

This bill eliminates mandatory fire sprinkler systems in new townhouse construction of four units or fewer and prohibits cities and counties from requiring them locally. It directly reduces work hours for UA sprinkler fitters who install these systems, removing a key source of building trades employment in residential construction. The bill also strips local governments of the authority to set their own fire safety standards — the same preemption approach used to block local wage protections.

This bill eliminates mandatory fire sprinkler installation in new townhouse construction of four units or fewer and bars cities and counties from requiring sprinklers on their own. It directly reduces work hours for UA sprinkler fitters who install these systems, while removing a key fire safety protection for Kansas families. The bill also sets a troubling precedent by using state law to override local building and safety standards — the same preemption strategy that has been used to block local wage protections.

This bill creates a new exception to Kansas law that previously banned prison-made homes from competing with construction workers and manufactured home builders. While contractors must pay regional average wages, that money goes to the state — not the incarcerated workers doing the job — giving contractors a workforce that can't quit, organize, or file safety complaints. The bill undermines building trades workers by allowing a private company to use prison labor for home construction at the Hutchinson correctional facility, setting a dangerous precedent that could expand beyond this pilot program.

This bill creates statewide electrician licensing with an 8,000-hour experience requirement for journeyman electricians — a standard that matches union apprenticeship programs — and explicitly recognizes completion of a U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship as a qualification for licensure. It replaces the old patchwork of city and county licensing with a single portable state license, ensuring consistent quality standards and making it easier for skilled electricians to work across Kansas. A YEA vote supports strong training standards that protect both workers and consumers.

This bill repeals the 2013 state law that blocked Kansas cities and counties from setting wage and benefit standards on publicly funded construction projects. After Kansas eliminated its statewide prevailing wage law in 1987, local governments began adopting their own wage standards for public construction — until the legislature preempted that authority in 2013. This bill restores it. It also raises the threshold for competitive public bidding on county construction contracts from $25,000 to $100,000.

This bill makes it a criminal misdemeanor for public employees to use any government resources — including work time — to communicate about constitutional amendments or ballot questions. It removes an existing legal safe harbor that allowed public workers to respond to citizen inquiries and share neutral information, leaving school communications staff, city clerks, and agency employees exposed to prosecution for routine job duties. The bill also imposes new restrictions on how local governments can inform voters about bond issues, making it harder for school districts and cities to explain construction bond proposals — threatening the publicly funded building projects that put trades workers on the job.