Kansas committee hears bill to boost state water-plan transfers, expand grant funds
Loading...
Summary
The Committee on Water heard House Bill 2558, which would raise annual State General Fund transfers to the State Water Plan Fund to $60 million for FY2027–FY2031, increase distributions to two water grant funds, raise threshold balances and extend their sunset to 07/01/2031; municipal, agricultural and groundwater district groups testified in support while agencies offered neutral fiscal context.
The Committee on Water heard testimony Monday on House Bill 2558, a proposal to increase annual transfers from the State General Fund to the State Water Plan Fund and expand how those funds are distributed to technical assistance and grant programs.
Reviser Chris told the committee the bill would set the SGF transfer to the State Water Plan Fund at $60,000,000 on July 1 of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 and would direct additional transfers from the State Water Plan Fund of $15,500,000 to the Water Technical Assistance Fund and $22,500,000 to the Water Projects Grant Fund. "The amount of the transfer from SGF to the state water plan fund would be $60,000,000," Chris said during his opening summary. The bill would also raise the unencumbered-balance thresholds that trigger additional appropriations and extend the planned abolishment date for the two recipient funds to July 1, 2031; the bill’s effective date would be July 1, 2026.
Fiscal staff Heather summarized the fiscal note, saying enactment would not immediately increase operational expenditures or require additional full-time positions for the Kansas Water Office, Department of Agriculture or Department of Health and Environment. She added that an exact split of how the added money would be expended among agencies "cannot be estimated" and that the Kansas Water Office may need additional staff in future years to administer increased grant funding but expects to use existing State Water Plan Fund resources in the near term.
Supporters told the committee the added funds would meet clear demand from municipalities and rural communities. "I am proud to stand here in support of bill 2558," said Katie Miller, director of water services for Kansas Municipal Utilities, who described long-standing shortfalls and said the transfers align with the water plan’s original intent to support engineering, technical assistance and infrastructure implementation.
Aaron Popelk of the Kansas Livestock Association said the bill builds on earlier work by the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Water and preserves smaller, fee-based programs such as the stock-water grant program for large feedlots. Popelk noted that stock-water fees are collected at about 3¢ per 1,000 gallons for qualifying livestock facilities and that fee receipts have fallen with herd size — he said the fee program yields roughly $450,000 but argued SGF support would help sustain and leverage that program for efficiency projects.
Representatives of Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1 and the League of Kansas Municipalities also testified in favor, citing demand from small and unincorporated communities. Wendy Stark of the League told lawmakers that in 2024–25, 219 municipalities applied for grants and 82 (about 37.4%) were awarded; for 2026 she said there were 281 applications requesting $272 million while only $18 million was available, underscoring unmet demand.
Connie Owen of the Kansas Water Office delivered joint neutral testimony on behalf of the Water Office, KDHE and the Department of Agriculture, calling the earlier 2023 grant program effective and saying agencies continue to hear requests for more funding. "We need more... keep it coming," Owen said, while cautioning that other states invest at far larger scales — citing Texas bond programs and Nebraska’s local natural resource districts as examples of different funding approaches.
Committee members dug into numeric details and broader comparisons. Representative Essex sought clarification on current threshold figures and Chris corrected an earlier misstatement, noting the current technical-assistance threshold is $15,000,000 and would rise to $36,000,000 under the bill. Lawmakers asked for updated award tables and distribution details; Wendy Stark offered to provide tables after 2026 awards are finalized.
The chair asked members to work quickly on any amendments with staff ("work with Chris or Kyle") and said the committee will take up the bill in a committee work session on Thursday. No final vote on HB2558 was taken at the hearing.
Next steps: the committee scheduled further work on the bill for Thursday and invited members to submit amendments promptly to staff.
