Kansas Senate committee hears debate on ‘Back to Work’ bill requiring most state employees to work on-site

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency, legislators heard competing testimony for and against Senate Bill 256, the Back to Work Act, which would require full‑time employees of state agencies to perform their duties at an assigned office, facility or field location unless an agency head grants an exception.

The bill, as described to the committee, includes exceptions for employees with nonstandard work hours (evenings, weekends or holidays), positions where in‑office work would be “deemed unreasonable,” and situations in which providing office space would require additional expenditures by an agency. Agencies would be required to submit the number of exceptions granted and other information to the Department of Administration by Aug. 1, 2025; the Department would then file a report to the committee by Oct. 1, 2025. The bill’s effective date would be upon publication in the state register.

Supporters said bringing more state workers back downtown would aid local businesses. Seth Wagner, chief executive officer of AIM Strategies LLC, told the committee that downtown Topeka’s restaurants and hotels have not fully recovered since the COVID‑19 pandemic and that fewer state workers downtown has reduced lunchtime and weekday business. “If we could recover the workers who were downtown before the pandemic, the downtown core would be set to take off once again,” Wagner said, citing AIM’s private investments downtown.

Department of Administratio…