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Committee advances bill to limit use of federal funds for election activities
Summary
The Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 5, which would bar election officials from accepting federal funds for conducting elections or related activities unless authorized and appropriated by the Legislature. A proposed amendment to exclude election-security expenditures failed.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 5 to the Senate floor after debate over whether the measure should exclude election-security funding from its prohibitions.
Jason, a committee staff member, summarized the bill and said it would amend KSA 25-2436, which currently prohibits election officials from accepting money from individuals or organizations for conducting elections. "The bill would also add a prohibition on accepting any federal monies for not only conducting elections, but also conducting election related activities such as voter registration and voter assistance," Jason said.
Under the bill as described, federal funds could be used only if they are approved by the Legislature or authorized by other state law and spent only for the federal purpose for which they were appropriated. The committee discussed how some federal or federal-adjacent grants are handled through agency special funds and later appropriations.
Senator Francisco offered a conceptual amendment to explicitly exclude expenditures on election security from the ban. Supporters of the amendment said specifying an exclusion would reassure officials that cybersecurity and other security-related uses would still be allowed; opponents said the amendment was unnecessary or should be written and vetted in advance. Committee staff said the conceptual amendment would not change the bill's underlying intent but that some law-enforcement grants sometimes allocate a small share of funds for election-security purposes.
The committee rejected the conceptual amendment on a voice vote; the chair stated, "No. I think the noes have it. So we're back on the bill." Senator Murphy then moved to pass the bill favorably out of committee; Senator Blue seconded. The committee approved the motion and the chair announced Senate Bill 5 will advance to the Senate floor.
The debate cited recent controversies around private funding for election administration and noted the bill was intended to prevent use of outside monies to influence election administration. Committee members asked staff about the mechanics by which federal monies are routed into state special funds and then appropriated.
The statute referenced in testimony is KSA 25-2436; the committee did not finalize any statutory language on exclusions for election security during this meeting.
