Committee removes Senate confirmations from HB 246, keeps KBI background checks

The committee chair told members that the amendment to House Bill 246 — the star bond and stadium authority bill — would "take out all senate confirmations of all members" while retaining background checks conducted by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI). The chair said those KBI reports "would stay at the KBI" but "could be viewed by the appointing authority and, the minority and majority members of both chambers."

Committee staff clarified how mayoral appointments would be handled: if a mayor appoints themselves, a council member would review the background check on the appointee rather than the mayor reviewing their own check. After the explanations, a member said, "We accept," and the chair confirmed the committee was "good on that," indicating acceptance of the amendment with no roll-call vote recorded in the record.

Why it matters: removing Senate confirmation changes who formally approves appointees, while preserving KBI checks keeps a law-enforcement background-screening step and limits custody of reports to KBI. Committee staff estimated implementing the text changes could take up to two hours and noted an additional statute would need to be added and amended in the bill materials.

Next steps: staff said they would prepare the necessary edits and continue work on the amendment; no formal roll-call vote appears in the transcript, and the committee moved on after accepting the amendment.