Key Votes

Nine senators voted to force SB 218 — a minimum wage increase — out of committee for a floor vote. Kansas has been stuck at the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour since 2009, one of the lowest in the nation. Thirty senators voted to keep the bill buried in committee, blocking any debate on raising wages for the lowest-paid workers in the state.

SB 241 rewrites Kansas law to make employer non-solicitation agreements "conclusively presumed enforceable" against workers — with no income floor — flipping the burden so employees must hire a lawyer and go to court to challenge restrictions on where they can work. The bill also strips judges of the power to throw out overreaching agreements, instead requiring courts to save them by trimming them down, removing any incentive for employers to write fair contracts. The broad language covering anyone who "interferes with the employment relationship" could even be used to threaten former employees who help their old coworkers organize a union.