Bill would let securities administrator set fees in the Kansas Register and remove 10% SGF transfer, agency says

The Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance heard testimony on Senate Bill 472, which would amend the Uniform Securities Act and related insurance statutes to let the securities administrator set certain fees (not to exceed statutorily prescribed maximums) and require the commissioner of insurance to publish fee amounts in the Kansas Register by Dec. 1 for the upcoming calendar year. The bill also would authorize the commissioner to set agent-licensure and public-adjuster fees and would eliminate a 10% credit to the state general fund from specified securities-fee receipts.

Eric Turek of the Department of Insurance said the change would let the department publish fee levels in the Kansas Register rather than go through the administrative-regulation process and would bring consistency to fee-setting across insurance and securities functions that are now administered under one roof. He gave examples: for 2026 the department published lower agent-licensure fees ($15 for resident agents and $40 for nonresident agents) and said the department expects the change to save industry more than $1,000,000 for the cited year. "We really would just like to publish these in the register, continue what we're doing, and making sure that our revenues are meeting our expenses," Turek said.

Turek and assistant commissioner Clay Johnson explained the bill removes a statutory transfer that required smaller agencies to deposit 10% (or up to $100,000) of certain receipts to the state general fund to pay for central services. Turek said the Office of the Securities Commissioner now operates with its own HR, payroll and legal services and that the transfer is a remnant of pre-merger arrangements; Johnson said most securities-registration exemptions carry no fee and that the historically cited $2,500 ceiling on certain exemptions has rarely been used.

Committee members questioned how the 10%/up-to-$100,000 transfer functioned and whether the Department of Administration still provided services; Turek said many agencies listed in the statute do not use outside services and the transfer is largely a legacy item the department believes should be stricken. The committee closed the hearing on SB 472; the transcript records no committee vote at that session.