SB 82

SB 82's conference committee report — gutted from a rural hospitals bill on the session's final day with no public hearing — would have capped local government property tax revenue growth at 3% annually and required an extraordinary 80% supermajority of any governing body to exceed it, meaning a single dissenter on a five-member county commission could block revenue needed to fund negotiated wage agreements, fill vacant positions, or keep pace with health insurance costs that routinely rise 6-10% per year. The bill's ASTRA Fund went further, stripping state funding from any jurisdiction that even held a vote on exceeding the cap — penalizing the act of democratic deliberation itself. Because personnel costs represent 60-80% of city and county budgets, this cap directly threatened the wages, benefits, and jobs of thousands of union-represented firefighters, law enforcement officers, public works crews, and county employees across Kansas. The House adopted the report 74-48, though the bill died when the Senate adjourned without voting on it.