Committee on Transportation hears briefing on Senate Bill 119 to reallocate motor-vehicle fees to counties

The Committee on Transportation held an informational briefing on Senate Bill 119, which would increase the portion of motor-vehicle license and certificate-of-title fees that county treasurers, the Division of Vehicles or its contractors may retain and would reallocate a portion of commercial vehicle fees, committee members and witnesses said.

Supporters of the bill, including county treasurers and representatives of the Kansas Contractors Association and Kansas Department of Transportation, said the bill would shift existing fee revenue to better cover the local cost of state-mandated title and registration work that county treasurers now perform.

Senate Bill 119 would amend KSA 8-145 to raise the amount a county treasurer, the Division of Vehicles or a contractor may retain for processing motor-vehicle license applications from $0.75 to $5.75, and the amount retained for certificate-of-title applications from $2.00 to $3.50, according to testimony in the briefing. The bill’s provisions were described as taking effect July 1, 2025. The fiscal note included with the briefing shows the bill, as originally written, would reduce annual receipts to the State Highway Fund by about $16,200,000.

Riley County Treasurer Shiloh Hager, legislative chair of the Kansas County Treasurers Association, told the committee that the retained fees “no longer covers the cost of the operations, and almost every county in the state are having to sub subsidize this work with ad valorem tax dollars.” Hager said that since the state’s MVS (motor-vehicle system) rollout in 2012, title approval and related work shifted to counties, driving up local costs for staff, equipment and scanning. Hager said a 2024 survey of county treasurers found an estimated statewide shortfall of about $11,000,000 in 2024, and that shortfall could grow to roughly $13,000,000 by 2029. She said the proposed reallocation would make “about 70% of the counties … made whole,” while about 30% would remain underfunded, including Riley County.

Johnson County Treasurer Tom Franzen said the proposal “enhances revenue at the local level where the vast majority of the work is being performed,” and that the change would provide property-tax relief “by reducing ad valorem tax revenues currently needed to subsidize the operations.” Franzen said Johnson County’s own gap in 2024 was about $2,300,000. He and other treasurers noted that some statutory fees that support county treasurer operations have not changed in decades: the county service fee ($5) was last changed in 2007 and a primary titling-related fee has remained at $2 (county portion $2 of a $10 title fee) since 1982.

Senator Elaine Bowers described a proposed amendment she planned to offer on the Senate floor that would reduce the impact on the State Highway Fund by redirecting roughly $11–12 million a year in commercial motor-vehicle fees currently credited to the State General Fund into the State Highway Fund. Bowers said the amendment would lower the original $16 million Highway Fund reduction in the bill to about $12 million and stressed the measure would not increase fees charged to customers.

Kansas Contractors Association Executive Director Michael White and Kansas Department of Transportation policy director Joel Skelly said they were neutral on the underlying bill but supported the concept of the amendment, noting concern about any reduction in the highway fund’s ability to deliver projects. Skelly said the $16 million annual shift, if unchanged, would amount to an approximately $80 million impact over the remaining IKE program period and could force delays or reprioritization of highway projects.

Ted Smith, chief counsel for the Kansas Department of Revenue, provided historical context, explaining that title-review responsibilities migrated from the Department of Revenue to county treasurers after the modernization effort that went into production in February 2012. Smith said that change increased county workload because treasurers now must resolve title questions before customers receive plates, and they handle complex private-party and dealer transactions, security-interest filings and other work that can be time-consuming.

Across the briefing, witnesses emphasized the policy trade-offs: county treasurers said current retained fees do not cover their costs and that counties subsidize motor-vehicle operations from property-tax (ad valorem) revenue; KDOT and contractors warned that shifting funds away from the Highway Fund has consequences for road projects. Several committee members asked for audited county-level cost data; treasurers said they relied on a statewide survey of county treasurers and county-specific calculations rather than a single audited statewide accounting.

No formal action or vote was taken in the Committee on Transportation during the session. Senator Bowers said she would present her amendment on the Senate floor and continue conversations with treasurers and the Department of Revenue. The committee adjourned after the informational briefing.