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Minutes for SB2 - Committee on Local Government
Short Title
Validating the election results for the bond issuance question submitted by the board of education of USD 200, Greeley county, at a special election held on May 21, 2024.
Minutes Content for Wed, Mar 5, 2025
Jason Long, Revisor of Statutes, (Attachment 1) gave an overview of the bill. He explained that the bill would validate the election results for the bond issuance question submitted by the board of education of USD 200, Greely county, at a special election held on May 21, 2024
Representative Jim Minnix, (Attachment 2) testified as a proponent to the bill. He explained that the bill would ensure fairness and uniformity of access to bond funds for USD 200 as compared to other districts across Kansas and it would ensure that the will of voters in USD 200 be carried out regarding their bond issue vote in May 2024.
Senator William Clifford, (Attachment 3) testified as a proponent to the bill. He explained that the Attorney General nullified the $4.9 million USD 200 school bond election from May 2024 which would have funded a much needed gym and ADA accessible playground. The nullification hinged on the lack of a county website which was amended to be included in SB2.
Clay Barker, General Council, Secretary of States Office, (Attachment 4) testified as a proponent to the bill. He gave the following reasons for his support of the bill. (1) "Will of the People Doctrine", (2) the statutory provision was only intended to require counties to leverage all existing means of public communications, and (3) ratifying election results.
Shannon Kimball, Kansas Association of School Boards,(Attachment 5) testified as a proponent to the bill. She explained that what seems to be the unintended consequences of the inconsistent and overly strict application of the web publication statutes' language to the facts at hand, she asks the committee to prioritize fairness and good public policy by supporting the bill.
Christy Hopkins, Greely County Republican newspaper, (Attachment 6) testified as a proponent to the bill. She explained that her newspaper has significant reach. It is published on Wednesdays and has 530 subscribers with another 40 digital only subscribers.
John Niehues, Superintendent USD 200 Greely county schools, (Attachment 7) testified as a proponent. He believes an oversight, omission, or failure of one government entity should not overshadow another that took all the correct steps and did the right thing by self-reporting the issue.
The chairman closed the hearing on SB2.
Representative Blex moved, seconded by Representative Featherston to suspend the rules and pass out SB2 favorably. Motion carried.
