Key Votes

This bill expands SNAP work requirements to cover workers up to age 64, strips food assistance exemptions for veterans and homeless individuals, and permanently blocks the Governor from restoring those protections during a recession without an act of the legislature. Workers aged 50-64 who lose their jobs — especially those in physically demanding trades — face a three-month cutoff on food assistance even when age discrimination and injury make finding new work difficult. Labor opposes this veto override because it punishes workers in legitimate job transitions and removes a critical safety net tool during economic downturns.

This bill expands SNAP work-requirement time limits to cover workers up to age 64, meaning a laid-off worker in their 50s could lose food assistance after just three months — even if they're actively looking for work. It also strips exemptions for veterans and homeless individuals and permanently blocks the Governor from restoring food assistance protections during a recession without a full act of the legislature. Workers in physically demanding trades who face longer job searches due to age discrimination are hit hardest.

This omnibus bill raises the age limit for SNAP work requirements from 49 to 64, meaning older workers between jobs could lose food assistance after just three months — even as they face age discrimination and longer job searches. It also eliminates exemptions from work requirements for veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youth, and bars the Governor from waiving work requirements during a recession without a full act of the legislature. These restrictions hit workers hardest during the exact moments they need a safety net most: layoffs, plant closures, and economic downturns.

This omnibus bill raises the age limit for strict SNAP work requirements from 49 to 64, meaning workers in their 50s and early 60s who lose a job could lose food assistance after just three months. It also strips exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youth, and prohibits the Governor from waiving work requirements during a recession without a vote of the full legislature. Workers in physically demanding trades who face longer job searches as they age would be hit hardest.

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.

SB 363 raises the age limit for SNAP work requirements from 49 to 64, forcing older displaced workers to meet strict work hour mandates or lose food assistance. It also requires quarterly Medicaid eligibility paperwork — a burden that causes eligible working families to lose health coverage through administrative red tape — and eliminates existing exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youth. The bill also bars the governor from issuing emergency waivers during recessions or plant closures, removing a critical safety net for workers when they need it most.

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.

SB 413 prohibits attorneys from suggesting a specific dollar amount for pain and suffering damages in civil cases — but only for the injured party's lawyer. Defense attorneys face no such restriction. This one-sided rule hurts workers who sue over workplace injuries, discrimination, or harassment by making it harder for juries to put a fair dollar figure on their suffering, while employers can freely argue damages should be minimal.

This bill requires legislative approval before any state agency can seek federal waivers to expand public assistance programs like Medicaid or make changes to services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It creates a new bureaucratic barrier that can block federal funding for healthcare coverage and delay rate increases for the roughly 10,000 direct support professionals who care for Kansans with disabilities — workers already among the lowest-paid in the state. By adding a legislative veto over routine program improvements, this law makes it harder to expand healthcare access for uninsured working families and harder to raise wages for direct care workers.

This bill gives the Inspector General sweeping new powers — including subpoenas, search warrants, and criminal jurisdiction — to investigate families who receive food assistance (SNAP), cash assistance (TANF), and Medicaid. Many working families rely on these programs to make ends meet when wages fall short, and this law creates a hostile, punitive environment around accessing benefits they've earned. It also allows the IG to compel healthcare and social service workers to turn over records and testify in fraud investigations of their own employers. The Governor vetoed this bill, and this vote was to override that veto.

This bill requires legislative approval before any state agency can seek federal waivers to expand Medicaid eligibility or make changes to services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It creates a major barrier to federal funding that could raise wages for Kansas's roughly 10,000 direct support professionals — chronically underpaid workers who provide daily care to some of our most vulnerable neighbors. By adding political hurdles to routine federal waiver requests, this law makes it harder for the state to bring home federal dollars that support healthcare jobs and working families' access to care.

This bill gives the Attorney General's inspector general sweeping new powers — including subpoenas, search warrants, and criminal jurisdiction — to investigate families who receive food assistance (SNAP), cash assistance (TANF), and Medicaid. Many union members in lower-wage jobs rely on these programs to make ends meet, and healthcare and social service workers at Medicaid-participating facilities could be compelled to turn over records or testify against their own employers. Labor opposes this bill because it builds a coercive enforcement apparatus targeting working families who depend on the safety net, while doing little to hold large contractors accountable.

SB 161 requires a full act of the legislature before any state agency can adjust Medicaid reimbursement rates for disability services or expand public assistance programs. For Kansas's roughly 30,000 direct support professionals — care workers already earning poverty-level wages of $13-15/hour — this hands a historically hostile legislature veto power over the only realistic path to pay increases. Labor opposes this bill because it freezes the administrative flexibility that agencies need to raise care worker wages and capture available federal matching dollars.