2026 Kansas legislative session

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2026 Kansas legislative session
General information
Scheduled session start:    Jan. 12, 2026 Scheduled session end:    April 10, 2026
Leadership
Senate President Ty Masterson (R) House Speaker Daniel Hawkins (R) Majority Leader Senate: Chase Blasi (R) House: Chris Croft (R) Minority Leader Senate: Dinah Sykes (D) House: Brandon Woodard (D)
Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026 Last Election:    November 5, 2024
Previous legislative sessions
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2026 legislative sessions
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In 2026, the Kansas State Legislature is scheduled to convene on January 12, 2026, and adjourn on April 10, 2026.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 31-9 majority in the Senate and an 88-37 majority in the House. The Democratic Party controlled the governorship, creating a divided state government. At the start of the 2026 session, Kansas was one of 19 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session:

Republicans held a majority in the Kansas state House and state Senate.

Kansas was one of 11 divided state governments.

Kansas' governor was Democrat Laura Kelly.

Leadership in 2026

See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

Kansas State Senate

• Senate president: Ty Masterson (R)
• Majority leader: Chase Blasi (R)
• Minority leader: Dinah Sykes (D)

Kansas House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Daniel Hawkins (R)
• Majority leader: Chris Croft (R)
• Minority leader: Brandon Woodard (D)

Partisan control in 2026

See also: State government trifectas

Kansas was one of 11 states with a divided state government at the start of 2026 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

Kansas was also one of 19 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Kansas State Legislature in the 2026 legislative session.

Kansas State Senate

Partisan composition, Kansas State Senate

As of January 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	9
Republican	31
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	40

Kansas House of Representatives

Partisan composition, Kansas House of Representatives

As of January 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	37
Republican	88
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	125

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2026 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2026. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Kansas state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session, there were 60 standing committees in Kansas' state government, including 14 joint legislative committees, 16 state Senate committees, and 30 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Administrative Rules and Regulations Committee
• Child Welfare System Oversight Committee
• Fiduciary Financial Institutions Oversight Committee
• Information Technology Committee
• J. Russell (Russ) Jennings Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee
• Kansas Security Committee
• Legislative Budget Committee
• Legislative Coordinating Council Committee
• Legislative Post Audit Committee
• Pensions, Investments and Benefits Committee
• Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight
• Special Claims Against the State Committee
• State Building Construction Committee
• State-Tribal Relations Committee

Senate committees

• Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
• Assessment and Taxation Committee
• Commerce Committee
• Confirmation Oversight Committee
• Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee
• Government Efficiency Committee
• Organization, Calendar and Rules Committee
• Public Health and Welfare Committee
• Senate Education Committee
• Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee
• Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Local Government Committee
• Senate Transportation Committee
• Utilities Committee
• Ways and Means Committee

House committees

• Agriculture Committee
• Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Committee
• Appropriations Committee
• Calendar and Printing Committee
• Child Welfare and Foster Care Committee
• Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee
• Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee
• Elections Committee
• Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications Committee
• Financial Institutions and Pensions Committee
• General Government Budget Committee
• Health and Human Services Committee
• Higher Education Budget Committee
• House Education Committee
• House Federal and State Affairs Committee
• House Interstate Cooperation Committee
• House Judiciary Committee
• House Legislative Budget Committee
• House Local Government Committee
• House Transportation Committee
• Insurance Committee
• K-12 Education Budget Committee
• Legislative Modernization Committee
• Rules and Journal Committee
• Social Services Budget Committee
• Taxation Committee
• Transportation and Public Safety Budget Committee
• Veterans and Military Committee
• Water Committee
• Welfare Reform Committee

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Kansas Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article 14 of the Kansas Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Kansas

Kansas Constitution
Articles
Ordinance • Preamble • Bill of Rights 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15

Article 14 of the Kansas Constitution governs the ways in which the state's constitution can be changed over time.

• One path is the legislatively referred constitutional amendment. Either house of the Kansas State Legislature can propose an amendment to the state's constitution. Two-thirds of the members of each chamber must approve the resolution. If they do, the proposed amendment goes on either the next statewide ballot during which members of the state legislature are elected or on a special election ballot if the legislature agrees to have a special election for this purpose.

• If a simple majority of the electors of the state who vote on the proposition agree with it, it becomes part of the constitution.
• The legislature must say what the measure's ballot title will be in their resolution authorizing it.
• If there is more than one proposed amendment, voters must be able to vote on them separately.
• At most, five amendments can be proposed for one election.
• An amendment is allowed to revise one entire article of the constitution "except the article on general provisions."

• Another path to amend the state constitution is through a constitutional convention. If two-thirds of the members of each house of the state legislature vote in favor, the question "Shall there be a convention to amend or revise the constitution of the state of Kansas?" or "Shall there be a convention limited to revision of article(s) ________ of the constitution of the state of Kansas?" shall be placed on a statewide ballot.

• If a simple majority of those voting on that question say "yes," a convention is held.
• Any amendments or revisions that come out of the convention must go before the state's voters.

Kansas does not feature the power of citizen initiative for either initiated constitutional amendments or initiated state statutes.

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Kansas.

Kansas Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas  •  Sixteen years of Republican trifectas

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Historical Senate control

Republicans won control of the Kansas State Senate in 1916. In 2024, they won a 29-11 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Kansas Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Kansas State Senate election results: 1992-2024

Party	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	24
Democrats	14	13	10	10	9	9	9	11	9
Republicans	26	27	30	30	31	31	31	29	31

Historical House control

Republicans won control of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1992. In 2024, they won a 88-37 majority. The table below shows the partisan history of the Kansas House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Kansas House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	59	45	48	48	46	45	42	47	48	33	35	28	40	40	39	40	37
Republicans	66	80	77	77	79	80	83	78	77	92	90	97	85	85	86	85	88

Analysis

Adopted legislation, 2011-2024

See also: The State Legislative Decade - Kansas

In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

See also

Elections	Kansas State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Kansas House of Representatives elections, 2026	Kansas State Legislature Kansas House of Representatives Kansas State Senate Governor of Kansas Kansas Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2026 State legislative special elections, 2026 State legislative elections, 2024 State legislative elections, 2022	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Kansas State Legislature homepage

Footnotes

State legislatures

Legislatures

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2026

State legislative elections (2026) • State legislative special elections (2026) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2026 Session Dates

2025

State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates

Historical elections

2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

Features of state legislatures

How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections

State senates

Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected

State houses

Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected

Leadership positions

President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House

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