Here’s an example of another “ingenious” bill in the Great State of Kansas. From my Topeka Buzz email, where there’s lots of similarly ingenious work. I post these because I’ve read that this stuff is being brought up in almost every state, so do all you can to keep track in yours.

Senate Passes Mail Voting Bill With Built-In Self-Destruct Clause

SB 394 passed the Senate 26-11 Thursday with one senator voting present and two absent. The bill adds signature requirements to mail ballot envelopes — spaces for the voter, any helper, and anyone signing on a voter’s behalf, plus a perjury-warning affidavit. But the headline provision is the court-triggered repeal: if any court issues a final, non-appealable order blocking the signature-check rule in K.S.A. 25-1124(h), the Secretary of State must publish notice in the Kansas Register and most state laws authorizing mail voting automatically void, except where federal law requires it. Three Republicans—Mike Argabright (R), Joseph Claeys (R), and Brenda Dietrich (R)—voted no alongside the Democratic caucus, while Ronald Ryckman (R) and Pat Pettey (D) were absent. The bill effectively tells the courts: strike down our signature rules and we’ll take mail voting with them. It now heads to the House.

Medicaid and SNAP Eligibility Overhaul Clears Senate

SB 363 — the Medicaid and SNAP eligibility-tightening bill we flagged when it came out of the Government Efficiency Committee — passed the Senate 25-12 Thursday with one present vote and two absent. The bill requires cross-agency data matching for eligibility verification, cuts retroactive Medicaid from three months to two, limits self-attestation, raises the SNAP work requirement age to 64, and mandates quarterly legislative reporting starting in 2027. One provision cuts the other direction: KDHE must seek federal approval for continuous Medicaid coverage for people with permanent intellectual or developmental disabilities who receive home services. The bill now heads to the House, where anti-hunger advocates and disability groups are likely to press their case that the eligibility barriers will cause coverage losses that outweigh any savings from reduced improper payments.

Identical Constitutional Amendments Filed in Both Chambers to Eliminate State Taxes

Legislators introduced matching constitutional amendments Thursday — SCR 1624 in the Senate and HCR 5034 in the House — proposing a “Freedom from Taxes Fund” in the Kansas Constitution. The plan would repeal certain sales and use tax exemptions and deposit the added revenue as untouchable principal in a state investment fund; only the interest earnings could be spent, and only to replace revenue from taxes being eliminated. The phased sequence: motor vehicle property taxes and registration fees first, then certain state-mandated property taxes, then state income and privilege taxes. A temporary Kansas Citizens Freedom Review Board would review exemptions, and each tax elimination would require the State Treasurer to certify sufficient interest earnings and the Legislature to approve by concurrent resolution. The dual filing signals serious intent, but both resolutions would need two-thirds votes in each chamber to reach the ballot — a high bar for a proposal that critics will argue relies on investment returns to replace billions in tax revenue.