Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 629 prohibits the disclosure of the amount of franchise taxes paid to the Secretary of State by corporations and other business entities and amends the Kansas Open Records Act to clarify that these records are closed. Also deleted from the various business entity statutes is the current requirement that the annual reports contain a reconciliation of the capital accounts (balance sheet) for the preceding taxable year as reported on the federal income tax return.

The Senate Committee added limited partnerships to the bill and made the effective date January 1, 2001.

Background

The bill was requested by Senator Vratil. The 1997 Legislature eliminated the requirement that corporations include their balance sheets in their annual report. SB 629 eliminates similar financial disclosure requirements for other business entities in their annual reports. Further, the bill prohibits the disclosure of the amount of franchise taxes paid by business entities since the amount of this tax ($1 for every $1,000 of shareholder equity except that no tax shall be less than $20 nor more than $2,500) can be used to determine the financial status of many business entities.

The fiscal note is pending.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html