(Feb. 18, 2026) – Today, the Kansas Senate is also likely to work well into the evening. They are scheduled to take final votes on the following bills:
Senate Bill 65 specifies when boards of directors for irrigation districts of 35,000 or more acres may conduct board member elections by mail ballot and establishes the terms for such members. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 317 provides additional requirements for applications to the Water Technical Assistance Fund and the Water Projects Grant Fund, includes the requirement that applicants demonstrate the availability of a 25-year water supply, prohibits grants for issues related to water rights that are impaired by another other water right, prioritizes applications based on various criteria and mandating annual submissions on Sept. 15. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 325 restricts the use of material or objects covering a license plate for motor vehicles. Passed 40-0.
Senate Bill 335 requires public construction contracts to include a mutual waiver of consequential damages. Passed 37-2.
Senate Bill 353 designates an official Kansas Railroad Hall of Fame and establishes the Kansas Railroad Hall of Fame Selection Committee. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 356 provides federal firearms licensees immunity from civil liability for returning a firearm to the firearm owner at the termination of a firearm hold agreement. Passed 40-0
Senate Bill 368 enacts the health care sharing ministries tax deduction act to provide a subtraction modification for qualified health care sharing expenses paid by a qualified individual and certain qualified health care shares received by a qualified individual. Passed as amended 33-7.
Senate Bill 372 enacts the App Store Accountability Act to regulate app store and developer operations with respect to minors, creates requirements for age verification and parental consent and provide for enforcement under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and through a private cause of action. Passed as amended 34-6.
Senate Bill 379 authorizes the Kansas 911 Board to establish a statewide program for emergency medical dispatch and telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation, medical direction and quality assurance services. Passed as amended 37-3.
Senate Bill 380 requires retail electric suppliers to provide nondiscriminatory rates and services to entities that provide electric vehicle charging services and prohibits any costs and expenses associated with a retail electric supplier's electric vehicle charging stations from being recovered in electric rates. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 390 prohibits certain additives in food provided by schools as part of certain food service programs and requires schools to certify that school facilities do not serve food that contains such food additives. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 391 prohibits cities and counties from adopting or enforcing any ordinance or resolution that requires landlords to lease housing to tenants receiving financial assistance from or through the housing choice voucher program or any other housing assistance program or that otherwise restricts a landlord's ability to consider the income source of a prospective tenant. Passed 31-9.
Senate Bill 392 prohibits the filling of a vacancy in the joint candidacy of the governor and lieutenant governor and provides for when a candidate may withdraw in city, school district and community college elections. Passed 40-0.
Senate Bill 408 excludes a child engaging in age-appropriate independent activities from the definition of a child in need of care in the revised Kansas Code for Care of Children. Passed 40-0.
Senate Bill 413 prohibits counsel from suggesting an amount of damages for noneconomic loss in civil actions. Passed 29-11.
Senate Bill 418 enacts the By-Right Housing Development Act to provide a streamlined permit approval process for by-right housing developments, allowd third-party review of new residential construction development documents and inspection of improvements, requires political subdivisions to allow certain building provisions for single-family residences of a certain size, excludes owner initiated rezoning to a single-family residential district from protest petition provisions and providrd for all land within the corporate limits of a city to be considered zoned for single-family residential use. Passed as amended 35-5.
Senate Bill 425 increases the maximum annual registration fee limit for seed retailers and wholesalers and authorizes a late fee for registrations renewed after the registration deadline. Passed as amended 37-3
Senate Bill 426 enacts the Kansas Transparency in Consumer Legal Funding Act. Passed as amended 39-1.
Senate Bill 427 clarifies that the chairperson and vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Confirmation Oversight shall have access to review tax information from the Kansas Department of Revenue and Kansas Bureau of Investigation background checks on persons appointed to state offices who are subject to Senate confirmation. Passed as amended 40-0.
Senate Bill 445 provides that the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Advisory Committee may receive requests for the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to provide temporary personal and other assistance in support of funeral services honoring law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty in the service of the state. Passed 40-0.
Senate Bill 448 permits the use of expedited partner therapy to treat a sexually transmitted disease. Passed 40-0.
Senate Bill 459 changes the membership of the Prisoner Review Board and requires parole hearings to be postponed if proper notice of the public comment session is not made to the victim. Passed as amended 33-7.
These bills will now go to the House for further review.
House Bill 2223 modifies certain provisions of the optometry law relating to scope of practice, definitions and credentialing requirements. Passed as amended 34-6
House Bill 2274 removes the active requirement from military service members for occupational licensure. Passed as amended 40-0.
House Bill 2329 provides for increased placement of juvenile offenders in non-foster home beds in youth residential facilities, requires the secretary of corrections to pay for the costs associated with such placements and authorizes the secretary to make expenditures from the Evidence-Based Programs Account of the State General Fund moneys to contract for such beds in youth residential facilities.
This bill will now go back to the House for a motion to concur or a motion to send it to a conference committee.
The Senate is slated to then debate into the evening the following bills, which will be up for final votes if they pass on the general orders:
Senate Bill 410 provides that earned wage access service registrants are subject to the Kansas Financial Institutions Information Security Act
Senate Bill 422 Reorganizes certain provisions that apply to foreign insurance companies seeking authorization to do business in Kansas, authorizes the suspension or revocation of a nonresident agent's license without notice and opportunity for a hearing following notification to the commissioner of insurance that such nonresident agent no longer holds a home state license and requiring agents and public adjusters to respond to inquiries from the commissioner.
Senate Bill 436 increases the cost threshold for when a county shall use the public bidding process in awarding a construction contract.
Senate Bill 407 authorizes the adoption of certain rules and regulations related to hazardous waste monitoring and permit application fees by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Senate Bill 463 prohibits certain persons from recovering damages in certain civil actions and creates requirements for actions involving negligent security.
Senate Bill 398 requires a proponent to demonstrate that it is more likely than not that certain specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand evidence before certain qualified witnesses may testify.
Senate Bill 451 requires campaign finance treasurer reports to include the products and services provided by vendors that are paid by an advertising agency, public relations firm or political consultant from a campaign account expenditure.
Senate Bill 462 prohibits certain public nuisance claims, requires the attorney general to bring nuisance actions that are not wholly contained in one political subdivision, requires special injury for certain public nuisance actions and provides an accrual period for the statute of limitations in public nuisance actions.
Senate Bill 362 requires the office of each state officer to keep and maintain records of information concerning all travel locations and expenses of the state officer that were paid or reimbursed by the state during each fiscal year and provide such records of information upon request by a member of the public.
Senate Bill 450 authorizes the secretary of administration to grant a monetary award to a state employee who reports activity that constitutes fraud, waste or abuse of funds in any program administered by a state agency.
Senate Bill 375 enacts the Proxy Advisor Transparency Act, requires proxy advisors to make certain disclosures when recommending an action against company management, authorizes the attorney general to investigate and take enforcement actions against violators and establishes a private right of action for a declaratory judgment or injunctive relief.
Senate Bill 480 revives repealed statutes related to estates of absentees.
Senate Bill 303 provides countywide retailers' sales tax authority for Labette County for the purpose of providing financial support to fire departments located in the county.
Senate Bill 271 updates income eligibility requirements for the Kansas Children's Health Insurance Program.
Senate Bill 431 establishes the remote practice of pharmacy, requires certain conditions for such practice and limits activities performed under such practice.
Senate Bill 412 imposes the duty to notify nonparties to a conservatorship of any court order commanding performance or safekeeping of the conservatee's estate assets.
Senate Bill 374 requires further consideration of evaluation and treatment during the course of competency proceedings for defendants charged with the most serious offenses.
Senate Bill 334 facilitates nursing workforce development by providing education levels for instructors at nursing schools as a requirement for state approval.
Senate Bill 430 permits licensed physical therapists to perform certain capillary blood tests.
Senate Bill 232 modifies investment standards of moneys of the Board of Trustees of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System certified by the state treasurer as equivalent to the aggregate net amount received for unclaimed property to authorize investment in certain foreign governments.
Senate Bill 360 enacts the Kansas Consumer Prescription Protection and Accountability Act and provides for regulation and registration of pharmacy benefits managers
Senate Bill 481 permits a municipal judge to initiate a psychiatric or psychological examination to determine competence and setting forth relevant procedures.
Senate Bill 321 designates the junction of I-35 and U.S. Highway 69 and 18th Street Expressway in Johnson County as the Representative Robert M. Tomlinson Memorial Interchange.
Senate Bill 487 requires the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to implement a statewide offender registration system for agencies who register offenders under the Offender Registration Act.
Senate Bill 55 prohibits the assignment of benefits under certain property and casualty insurance contracts and defines such assignment of benefits as an unfair method of competition and unfair or deceptive act or practice.
These bills will now go to the House for further review.
The Senate also is slated to take up HCR 5031, which ratifies and provides for the continuation of the state of disaster emergency declaration issued on Feb. 9, 2026, for Douglas, Johnson and Wyandotte Counties.