Committee hears bill to require notice before agencies revoke rules, remove defunct agencies from five‑year review

The Committee on Government Efficiency heard Senate Bill 77, which would require state agencies to provide written notice to businesses, local governmental units and members of the public known to the agency before revoking administrative rules, the reviser said.

David Weese, the reviser who opened the hearing, said the bill “concerns some administrative rules and regulations” and would add a standard for agencies using an expedited repeal process so the public can be notified and request a hearing. “If an agency knows that someone's interested in the subject matter, they must notify them,” Weese said. He also told the committee the bill would remove abolished or inactive agencies from the statutory five‑year review list so agencies are not listed where they no longer exist.

The bill also amends the 2022 law that required a five‑year review of agency regulations. Weese described the earlier implementation: the 16 agencies listed in the Kansas administrative regulations table of contents were divided into five groups to review their regulations. He said the review included creating a spreadsheet for each agency listing regulations and whether a statute authorized them and asking whether the regulation “is necessary for the proper functioning of government.” Weese noted broader scale numbers to illustrate the context: “there's about 29,000 laws in Kansas. There's about 9,000 regulations,” he said, and observed that many regulations exist because the Legislature directed an agency to write them.

Clay Barker, deputy general counsel to the secretary of state, testified in support on behalf of state agencies and said the changes are largely technical fixes to the 2022 statute and to improve use of the expedited repeal tool. “The virtually identical bill was, given to the legislature last year, passed the house 120 to 0, went to the senate, 2 minor amendments from Senator Francisco passed 40 to 0, and then the bill number shell was repurposed so it didn't become law,” Barker said. He said agencies were hesitant to use the expedited repeal that shortens the time to remove regulations because the prior statute lacked a clear standard for notifying the public when a hearing is requested.

Weese told the committee the bill becomes effective upon publication in the Kansas Register, making its effective date earlier than some measures. Committee members asked no questions on the bill and the committee chair closed the hearing with no neutral or opponent testimony.

No formal motion or vote was taken at the hearing.

The committee moved next to a separate hearing on Senate Bill 85.