Committee hears supporters of No-Impact Home-Based Business bill, proponents cite regulatory burdens on small entrepreneurs

The Kansas Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony on House Bill 2343 on Feb. 20, 2025, the bill sponsor and several small-business advocates told the committee the measure would create a category of "no-impact" home-based businesses that local governments could not prohibit or require rezoning for, while preserving narrowly tailored public-health and safety rules.

Rep. Turk, the bill sponsor, told the committee the No-Impact Home-Based Business Fairness Act would define two categories — a "no impact home based business" and a "rural no impact home based business" — and declare those uses permitted in residential property if they meet conditions in the bill, such as limiting on-site employees and clients and not generating on-street parking or noticeable activity. "Anything that's licensed by the state continues to be licensed by the state," Rep. Turk said, and he described the bill as preserving municipal authority to enforce fire, building, health and sanitation rules narrowly tailored to protect safety.

Several proponents described municipal processes that they said impose financial and logistical burdens on small operators. Jennifer Freestone, who identified herself as co-owner of a small engine repair business, told the committee her home-occupation license was denied after she moved to her home in November 2023. She described paying fees, gathering neighborhood support and later receiving a temporary license. She said the city required screening around a trailer on her property as a condition for extending the temporary permit and that repeated applications and fees were financially and emotionally burdensome. "We require the required screening along with the possibility of additional future expectations create significant stress," she told the panel.

Advocacy groups and business organizations also supported the bill. Andrew Wiens of Opportunity Solutions Project said roughly half of businesses start at home and that inconsistent local rules make entrepreneurship unpredictable. Eric Stafford of the Kansas Chamber emphasized that many businesses begin small and that the bill, in his view, is sufficiently narrow to avoid expansive preemption of municipal safety rules.

Opponents in local governments and other stakeholders previously raised concerns that the bill could remove municipal tools to regulate activities important to community character, but Rep. Turk said the measure explicitly prohibits certain activities — for example, illegal drug sales, liquor sales, adult-oriented businesses and structured sober-living homes — and requires municipalities to retain narrowly tailored powers to protect health, safety and compliance with state and federal law. The bill also permits municipalities to treat rural nonimpact home-based businesses with less onerous rules based on parcel size and proximity to neighbors.

Committee members asked technical questions about how the bill would interact with existing municipal licensing regimes. A committee overview stated the bill passed the Kansas House on Feb. 20, 2025, by a vote of 74 to 49. The Senate Commerce Committee recessed the hearing on HB 2343 to continue testimony the next day.