Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 60 would repeal a section of law that requires county appraisers to make certain agricultural reports to the Statistics Division of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The agency was then to compile the data for publication in the biennial reports of the agency. Boards of county commissioners were required to furnish employees to the county appraisers in order to collect the data.

Background

At the hearing on the bill, the only conferee was a spokesperson from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The spokesperson stated that at the time this statute was adopted in 1978, agricultural producers were required to provide information for tax purposes on all agricultural machinery, livestock, and production on hand. The Committee was told it was common for an individual to go to the county appraiser's office to provide this information. Tax law changes made the collection of this information more difficult because producers were not routinely in the appraiser's office. The Committee was told that the Statistics Division still supplies each county appraiser's office with survey forms and mailing labels for all known producers in that county. In order to collect the same kind of statistical data, the Statistics Division intends to expand some of its end-of-year mailings and to send special criteria mailings to producers who have not been selected recently on any of the Division's sample surveys.

Written comments supporting the bill were received by the Kansas County Appraiser's Association and the Kansas Association of Counties. There were no opponents to the bill.

The fiscal note indicates no impact.

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/fulltext.cgi