Efficiency Bills Proposed by Secretary of State to Become Law
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
TOPEKA – Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab introduced several bills this year as part of his ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of state government and the agency. The bills are as follows:
SB 13: Repealed multiple outdated statutes that required filings and licenses that no longer provided any public benefit. Many of the repealed filings were redundant copies of records already produced and maintained by other government agencies, including reciprocal university agreements, lists of tax abatements and appeals, and streambank easements in navigable rivers. Additional repealed requirements included filings and licenses for bonded warehouses and for unions and other employee organizations.
HB 2117: Repealed five statutory provisions related to filings handled by the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division. These provisions were unnecessary and caused filings to be rejected. Their repeal will simplify the filing process and reduce the number of rejections, improving efficiency for both filers and the office.
HB 2092: Standardized the deadline for annual reports submitted by Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs). This change streamlined the filing process for PEOs and improved processing efficiency within the office.
SB 77: Added a provision to streamline the regulatory expedited repeal process, making it more accessible and practical for state agencies seeking to promptly remove outdated regulations.
These bills reflect the Secretary of State’s commitment to identifying and eliminating unnecessary, outdated, and ineffective statutory mandates. Other recent reforms include eliminating the costly and time-consuming state adjustment to the U.S. Census, ending the requirement to file blanket music licenses, discontinuing printed versions of the Kansas Administrative Regulations and the Kansas Register, and transitioning from annual to biennial business report filings with fixed deadlines—an improvement for Kansas businesses.
“Government efficiency has been a primary focus of mine for decades,” Schwab said. “Next on the agenda is modernizing the regulatory process to ensure greater transparency and efficiency. Kansans should not be hearing about a new regulation after they have already taken effect and is too late to have a say.”
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