Why didn’t the Kansas Legislature fix property taxes? Because GOP leaders were too cheap.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, left, listens as Senate President Ty Masterson speaks during a Jan. 8, 2026, meeting of legislative leadership. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Surprise!

I’m back with an extra-special, bonus installment of Statehouse Scraps.

No, the Kansas Legislature didn’t come back into session for extra days of loosey-goosey lawmaking and overripe overrides. But we ended up having too many dangling threads of stories to neatly trim off last week. I’ll keep this column galumphing along for long enough to sort through remaining odds and ends.

Things happened, sure. But the things that didn’t happen matter, too. If that sounds too much like a riddle, keep reading.

Kansas Reflector editor-in-chief Sherman Smith even agreed to rejoin me for another episode of our weekly video series tracking laws and lawmakers. (We plan to keep making videos, but they won’t be so legislatively focused.)

 

No longer ‘brutally effective’

I have to officially rescind my nonexistent endorsement of Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Wichita. In case you missed the back-and-forth late last year, Masterson had started using my description of him as “brutally effective” to sell his candidacy for governor.

Kansas Reflector “went through everyone, and when they got to me, they said Masterson, although not the most cuddliest of candidates, had been brutally effective in the Legislature,” he told a Marion group in November.

I never intended my words — which weren’t especially complimentary in context — for such abuse.

Regardless, in the final days of the 2026 session, Masterson lost the right to use those words in any form. He deployed the brutality but lost any effectiveness. The Senate president forced the House to stay in session through the early morning hours of April 11, pressuring members to pass his pet property tax constitutional amendment.

The House didn’t budge, and several dozen members descended on the Senate chamber to stare daggers at their counterparts. Masterson yielded, and everyone went home.

I’m sorry, president, but that’s not effective. It does sound like something a discombobulated raccoon might do.

 

Rep. Adam Smith, R-Weskan, addresses the House during an April 10, 2025, session. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Chairman Smith explains

House Tax Committee chairman Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican, wrote one of the best analysis of recent Kansas property tax controversies I’ve seen.

Smith was reacting to a particularly vicious statement Masterson issued after the session ended.

At length and with great composure given the circumstances, Smith explained via Facebook why both House and Senate proposals for reducing property taxes fell short. The Senate’s proposal to cap valuations simply leads to higher mill levies. The House’s bid to slow local spending increases doesn’t offer immediate relief.

The chairman’s key point: “The only way to provide true property tax relief at the state level is to subsidize property taxes with income and sales tax revenue.”

Smith is absolutely correct. If you want lower local property taxes, the state has to put its money where its mouth is. It has to somehow pay down the taxes of local residents. This costs the state money, so of course neither House Speaker Dan Hawkins nor Masterson much wanted fix the problem.

We’re in the red as it is.

 

Former Emporia State University President Ken Hush was spotted at the Kansas Statehosue in January. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Whither Ken Hush?

Hey, do you remember when former Emporia State University president Ken Hush nabbed a cool consulting gig for the Kansas Legislature?

I do!

Republicans on the Legislative Coordinating Council outvoted Democrats in January to pay the worst college leader in Kansas history $50,000 for just five months of work. He was supposed to find “efficiencies” in higher education spending as lawmakers chewed over the budget.

“He has intimate insight into the higher ed budget arena, and certainly, as everybody knows, we have to be very careful and prudent with the dollars in our budget,” Hawkins said at the time.

So where were those efficiencies? For that matter, where was Hush?

Gargantuan cuts to universities didn’t materialize. Hush didn’t give interviews or steal the limelight during hearings. Except for occasional sightings at the Statehouse, the former ESU leader kept the lowest of profiles.

Oh, well. There’s still that Board of Regents CEO job coming open.

 

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, speaks to reporters on Sep. 25, 2025, after addressing at an agriculture forum in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)

Whither redistricting?

Speaking of missing in action …

Does anybody remember when Masterson and Hawkins tried to call a special session about redistricting? I sure do!

The Senate president managed to bully his chamber into submission, but the House speaker couldn’t secure enough support. They would likely have produced a plan to boot out Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids. She made noises about running for a U.S. Senate seat in response.

In November, both Masterson and Hawkins suggested that redistricting would be on the agenda this year. But the session came and went, and there was no redistricting. Perhaps Republicans looked at President Donald Trump’s approval ratings and thought better of the idea.

Regardless, the legislative leaders’ failure proves how both men lost much of their power and influence over the past few months. As Trump says: Sad!

 

Kansas Reflector staff, from left, Anna Kaminski, Clay Wirestone, Sherman Smith, Morgan Chilson and Tim Carpenter gather for a group portrait. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

Power plays

I hope all Kansas Reflector readers had the chance to read our series last week about the way legislative leaders have distorted the process by which bills become law at the Kansas Statehouse. Here’s a rundown of all the stories and columns, in case you missed any of them.

Editor Smith, senior reporters Tim Carpenter and Morgan Chilson, reporter Anna Kaminski, columnist Mark McCormick and yours truly present a comprehensive breakdown of why — and how — bills become law without proper (or any!) vetting.

Arrogance of power: Kansas legislative leaders obfuscate the process to pass shoddy policy (opinion)

Kansas Legislature’s GOP supermajority embraces rule that skirts debate, muffles dissent: A parliamentary move allows a chamber to cut off debate on a bill. When hotly contested legislation comes to the House or Senate floor, lawmakers can shut down further discussion.

Kansas lawmakers lean on rule against ‘impugning motives,’ stifling criticism: This rule forbids legislators from speaking ill of one another. While useful for decorum, it can be abused to shut down justifiable criticism of problematic legislation.

Kansas Republicans flout fiscal notes in rush to pass costly, contentious bills: Lawmakers increasingly disregard the painstakingly prepared reports that forecast how much legislation will cost.

‘Brazen offenses’: Kansas lawmakers undermine public input in legislative process: Committee chairs give advance warning about bill hearings to supporters, while keeping opponents in the dark. Testimony faces arbitrary limits while supermajorities work their will.

In rush to finish early, Kansas lawmakers jettison public input and risk poorly crafted bills: Last year and this, House and Senate leadership shortened the time that their chambers worked in Topeka. This increased backroom dealmaking, needless confusion and slapdash decision-making.

Apathy is costing us our democracy, in Kansas and the U.S. Participation is the necessary antidote. (opinion)

 

Voting booths stand side by side on July 29, 2022, at the Shawnee County Elections Office. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Elections on the way

So what’s the plan, sane Kansans?

All 125 House seats will be on the ballot this fall. Right now, Republicans hold an 88-37 majority in the chamber.

Anyone who has followed Kansas politics understands that better legislation and debate comes from an ideologically diverse body. That means a House that includes more Democrats and moderate Republicans. Historically, Kansas politics functioned as an almost three-party system — Democrats and moderate Republicans worked together at times, while Republicans united now and then.

The last time we went through House elections, a stunning 27 Republicans and 16 Democrats ran unchallenged. That meant that whoever won the Republican or Democratic primary for those seats was, essentially, elected automatically.

Allow me to speak a bit of truth: You can’t win seats if you don’t run.

If Democrats and moderate Republicans want to have a bigger voice in Kansas politics, they have to run aggressively for more seats. It’s just that simple. Over the years, I’ve spoken to both progressives and moderates with big plans for shifting the axis of power in Topeka. I was impressed by their dedication and vision.

Their efforts didn’t make a difference, likely for two reasons. First, they needed real money. Politics runs on it. Second, they needed a critical mass of people to believe in their goals and commit to running and voting.

All the folks who agree that the 2026 legislative session left Kansans worse off have the ability to do something about it.

Will they?

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.