Kansas House member ridicules Legislature’s building committee as rubber stamp operation

Rep. Avery Anderson, R-Newton, says he's grown impatient with reluctance of a joint House-Senate committee to oppose state agency requests for spending on building renovation or construction. In this 2022 photo, Anderson peaks on the telephone from his desk on the floor of the Kansas House. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — State Rep. Avery Anderson says the Kansas Legislature’s committee on state building construction can’t be trusted to provide meaningful recommendations on which state agency capital improvement projects deserve to be in the budget.

Anderson, a Newton Republican elected to the House in 2020, said consideration should to be given to modifying the mission of the GOP-led Joint State Building Construction Committee. The panel focuses on proposals for repair, rehabilitation and construction over a five-year horizon.

“I’ve kind of not liked how this committee has been run for the last two years,” Anderson said. “We need to look at how this committee handles business. It’s just a rubber stamp committee.”

Anderson, who serves on the 10-member committee, said he was frustrated the panel endorsed 67 of 68 projects evaluated so far this session by the bipartisan group of House and Senate members. The committee’s vetting process led to one negative recommendation — a $4.7 million project to rebuild the Kansas Highway Patrol’s vehicle scale house on the southbound side of Interstate 35 in Olathe.

“I think we need to be very careful about putting stock in what this committee does, unless they kind of change their tune,” Anderson said. “If this was the appropriations committee, our state would be bankrupt.”

Sen. Rick Kloos, a Berryton Republican serving as chairman of the joint committee, said he was unaware of Anderson’s critique of the committee’s work on infrastructure recommendations. The committee’s reports go to the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee.

“I wonder why he didn’t mention anything to me,” Kloos said.

The previous chairman of the joint committee, Rep. Leo Delperdang, said it was difficult for legislators on the committee to know whether a government building needed to be renovated or replaced given the volume of requests under review.

He would like the building committee to make more site visits to state facilities so legislators acquired deeper insight into why funding requests were submitted.

“I’m not going to say it’s a waste of time, but it does frustrate me,” said Delperdang, R-Wichita. “It needs to be more thought-provoking.”

Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, defended the joint committee’s role in providing on behalf of taxpayers a layer of oversight regarding agency requests.

“We spend an extraordinary amount of taxpayers’ money on leases and construction,” said Francisco, the ranking Democrat on the building committee. “There needs to be oversight from the Legislature.”

The joint committee met three times during the 2026 legislative session. It endorsed projects that included $6.4 million for the Kansas National Guard’s energy resilience program, $1.9 million for maintenance at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson and $1.6 million for construction of a Great Bend office building for the Kansas Department of Transportation.

In addition, the committee endorsed $400,000 for land purchases by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and $300,000 for building repairs for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Rep. Ken Rahjes, a Republican from Agra and not a member of the joint building committee, said recommendations forwarded to the House’s full budget committee ought to contain more information about the location of proposed infrastructure improvements.

For example, he said, the joint committee endorsed allocation of $225,000 in the 2027 state budget for development of lake cabins by the Department of Wildlife and Parks. He also noted the joint committee supported the agency’s $400,000 request to purchase land.

“Where are those projects being done?” Rahjes said. “I want to make sure we’re getting some even distribution and not all staying east of Highway 81.”

U.S. Highway 81 runs north and south through central Kansas, while Agra is west of that highway in north-central Kansas.

The joint building committee hasn’t issued recommendations on more than 50 proposals. That roster included $3.5 million to remodel an acute care unit at Osawatomie State Hospital, $13.7 million for a state veterans’ home in Topeka, $1.8 million for building demolition at the Kansas State School for the Deaf, $418,000 for rehabilitation of Shawnee Indian Mission by the Kansas State Historical Society and $100,000 for replacing doors at a Topeka office of the Kansas Department of Labor.

Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat serving on the building committee, said he appreciated opportunities for the legislators to visit state government buildings that might require replacement or repair. More personal inspections could help members understand details of spending requests, he said.

He said the list of expensive renovation or construction projects might not be as lengthy if the state invested more in maintenance of its building portfolio.

“Deferred maintenance turns into capital improvements,” Ousley said. “We need to avoid that.”