Legislative Procedure in Kansas
A comprehensive reference guide to the lawmaking process in the Kansas Legislature, based on legislative rules, practices, statutes, constitutional provisions, and court decisions. Prepared and maintained by the Kansas Legislative Research Department.
This publication describes the lawmaking process in the Kansas Legislature. It is intended as a general reference guide for both legislators and the public, covering the procedural rules, constitutional requirements, and customary practices that shape how bills become law. Topics include the structure and function of the Legislature, committee work, floor procedure, final passage, conference committees, gubernatorial action, and the publication and distribution of enacted laws.
The content below summarizes the major sections of the manual. Download the full PDF above for complete text, figures, and examples.
Introducing the Legislature
Structure, organization, and operation of the Kansas House and Senate.
The Two Houses
The Kansas Legislature is bicameral, consisting of the 125-member House of Representatives and the 40-member Senate.
Leadership & Officers
The Speaker of the House and President of the Senate serve as presiding officers. Each chamber elects its own leadership at a preorganizational meeting.
Rules
Each house adopts its own operating rules, supplemented by joint rules that govern interactions between the chambers.
Committees
Standing, select, and statutory committees carry out the detailed work of the Legislature. The House has 24 standing committees and the Senate 16.
Legislative Session
The Legislature meets annually. Odd-year sessions are unlimited in duration; even-year sessions are limited to 90 calendar days unless extended by two-thirds vote.
Types and Structure of Acts
How legislative acts are classified and structured.
Types of Acts
Acts may be new, amendatory, or repealing. A new act establishes a topic or makes a fundamental change; an amendatory act modifies existing law; a repealing act rescinds prior law.
Structural Parts
Every act includes a title, enacting clause, body (in numbered sections), repeal section when applicable, and an effective date provision.
Bill Introduction & Committee Action
How bills enter the Legislature and move through committee consideration.
Introduction & Reference
Bills may be introduced by individual members or committees. Each bill is read by title, assigned a number, and referred by the presiding officer to a standing committee.
Committee Meetings
Standing committees hold public meetings, hear testimony, and deliberate on assigned bills. Meetings are announced in advance and open to the public.
Committee Reports
After consideration, the committee reports the bill back to the full chamber with a recommendation: pass, pass as amended, pass as substitute, or not pass.
Floor Consideration & Final Action
The stages of debate, amendment, and voting in the house of origin.
Committee of the Whole
The full chamber convenes as a committee to debate and amend the bill. Members may offer amendments, and the committee reports its recommendations back to the chamber.
Consent Calendar
Noncontroversial bills may be placed on the Consent Calendar for expedited final action without floor debate. Any member may object and remove a bill from this calendar.
Engrossment
After passage, amendments are incorporated into the bill through engrossment—the official updating of the bill's text to reflect all adopted changes.
Final Action
A majority vote of the elected membership of each house is required for passage—63 votes in the House and 21 votes in the Senate. The vote is recorded in the journal.
Second House & Return to Origin
How bills move between chambers and how differences are resolved.
Transmission & Second House Action
After passage in the house of origin, the bill is certified and messaged to the second house, where it repeats the committee and floor process.
Concurrence
If the second house amends the bill, it returns to the house of origin. The original chamber may concur (accept) or nonconcur (reject) in the amendments.
Conference Committees
When the two chambers cannot agree, a conference committee of three members from each house meets to negotiate a compromise. Both chambers must adopt the conference committee report.
Deadlines & Enrollment
Statutory deadlines and the preparation of bills for the Governor.
Legislative Deadlines
Joint rules establish deadlines for bill drafting requests, introduction, and consideration to ensure orderly business throughout the session.
Enrollment & Presentation
After final passage, the bill is enrolled into its final form, signed by the presiding officers and clerks of both chambers, and presented to the Governor within ten days.
Governor’s Action
The Governor’s constitutional options for acting on enrolled bills.
Sign
The Governor may approve the bill by signing it. Signed bills become law on the effective date specified in the act.
No Action
If the Governor takes no action within ten days of receiving the bill, it becomes law without a signature.
Veto
The Governor may veto the bill and return it to the house of origin with written objections. The Legislature has 30 calendar days to reconsider.
Veto Override
A two-thirds vote of the membership of both houses (84 in the House, 27 in the Senate) is required to override a Governor's veto. If either chamber fails to override, the veto is sustained. For appropriation bills, the Governor may also exercise a line-item veto, and individual items can be overridden by the same two-thirds process.
Printing & Distribution of Acts
How enacted laws are published, codified, and made available to the public.
Session Laws
Each year’s enacted laws are compiled and published in the Session Laws, an indexed volume containing the full text of every bill that became law during the session.
Kansas Statutes Annotated
General laws are integrated into the Kansas Statutes Annotated (KSA), the permanent codification of Kansas law maintained by the Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
Get the Complete Manual
The full 152-page manual contains figures, examples, and detailed discussion of each topic above, plus additional sections not summarized here.
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