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Panel reviews plan to strike Substitute for SB 229 and reinstate existing statute; members raise technical concerns
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Summary
Staff told the committee the proposal for Substitute for Senate Bill 229 is to strike most of the bill and reinsert one section of current law (identified in the record as 'KSA 20 25 sup 44 7 10 a'), which would end an annual debt-relief provision for certain employers; staff and KLRD urged caution about related technical fixes and one member asked to delay while an absent senator recovers.
A committee member asked staff to summarize the current status of Substitute for Senate Bill 229. Adviser Reimer told the group the proposal "is to strike the entirety of, senate bill 229 and reinsert 1 section, that would be fresh current law." Reimer said the relevant text to be reinserted begins on page 101 of the materials and that the only substantive change would be to remove the highlighted provisions previously added to current law. In the record the statute was read as "KSA 20 25 sup 44 7 10 a."
Reimer explained that the struck language pertained to a program that provided debt relief for negative-rate employers. He said removing that language would stop the annual forgiveness of negative balances for those employers. KLRD staff warned that deleting the sentence could require additional edits (for example to rate tables) and asked the committee to allow leeway to make technical corrections.
Representative Clayton said she preferred delaying action until the senator who has been consulted on the union's requested fix (and who was out ill) had recovered so that lawmakers could confer with him; other members indicated they were comfortable proceeding but did not record a formal decision in the transcript.
Why it matters: the change would reverse a debt-relief provision for certain employers and could affect employer contribution calculations; staff cautioned the committee about downstream technical implications and requested authority to make any necessary edits.
Next steps: staff will prepare edits and may reconvene or report back; the transcript records discussion but no formal vote or final action on Substitute for SB 229.
