Login Join

Newsroom

15 Feb

Posted at 19:36h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Inclement weather in the middle of the week forced the legislature to postpone committee meetings, work later into the evenings and, in a rare occurrence, hold hearings on Friday afternoon ahead of the session’s first major deadline next week. Lawmakers have one remaining day of committee work next Monday before spending long hours on the floor of their respective chambers, prior to ‘Turnaround,” or the mid-point of the session where most bills must be passed out of their house of origin to stay alive for the year. A bill is subject to the ‘Turnaround’ deadline unless it is blessed...

07 Feb

Posted at 18:55h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Kansas legislative committees worked rapidly throughout the session’s fourth week, holding more than 75 hearings as the ‘Turnaround’ week quickly approaches on February 20. ‘Turnaround’ refers to the mid-point of the session where most bills must be passed out of their house of origin for hearings to begin in the opposite chamber. A bill is subject to the ‘Turnaround’ deadline unless it is “blessed” by legislative leadership or resides in an exempt committee (Federal and State Affairs, Appropriations, Tax and Ways and Means). Lawmakers and advocates work to have their interests advanced through the committee process, and several bills...

31 Jan

Posted at 16:09h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Schools from around the state brought students to the statehouse this week to celebrate Kansas Day as lawmakers scrambled against the clock to get their bills introduced in this truncated 2025 legislative session. Social issues including gender affirming care dominated the headlines this week. Meanwhile, the first major piece of property tax legislation cleared the Senate chamber eliminating the state’s 1.5 mill property tax levy. With the legislature’s, “Turnaround,” scheduled for Feb. 20, a date by which all non-exempt bills must be passed out of their house of origin, committee chairs have scheduled numerous pieces of legislation for hearing and...

24 Jan

Posted at 16:18h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Following Monday’s holiday, lawmakers took advantage of the short work week and quickly introduced a flurry of bills ahead of the Jan. 27 deadline concluding the window for individual bill drafts. In all, nearly 170 pieces of legislation have been introduced in the 2025 Kansas legislative session, with many more ideas still in the drafting queue. The House of Representatives passed its resolution of the joint rules for the 2025-2026 biennium to the Senate for consideration, however, most of the heavy-lifting was conducted in committees during the legislature’s second week in Topeka. Leadership in both the House and Senate are...

17 Jan

Posted at 14:48h in Advocacy
0 Likes

As your eyes and ears at the capitol, we were in attendance to welcome legislators into the new biennium on your behalf on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Following the election in November, where all 125 House of Representatives seats and 40 Senate seats were open, more than 30 new lawmakers were sworn in to represent their districts’ interests. Governor Laura Kelly delivered the annual State of the State address on Wednesday where she focused on economic development initiatives, a new strategic plan to conserve water and her disagreement toward republican leadership’s plans to cut corporate income and property taxes. Quickly...

06 Jan

Posted at 08:26h in Industry News
0 Likes

The selection committee for the Tomorrow’s Agribusiness Leaders (TAL) program met in early-December to review applications and select five members of the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association and five members of the Kansas Grain and Feed Association to comprise the 27th class of agribusiness’ premier leadership development course. The selection committee of TAL alumni chose: Justin Aude (Frontier Farm Credit); Byron Bina (MKC); Bryant Blank (Lockton Companies); Jordan Burris (Cornerstone Ag, LLC); Casey Carlson (Producer Ag, LLC); Courtney Crawford (ProValue Insurance); Jeff Krehbiel (Kanza Cooperative Association); John O'Leary (Pride Ag Resources); Sarah Shepherd (ADM) and Rilee Spresser (Hi-Plains Cooperative Association) to complete the 27th class. “I want to offer my sincerest congratulations to...

30 Dec

Posted at 09:33h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Kansas Grain and Feed Association (KGFA) has joined a letter of support addressed to the United States Senate Agriculture Committee leadership supporting Brooke Rollins nomination as the 33rd Secretary of Agriculture. The letter, signed by more than 20 national and state agribusiness organizations, urged the committee and United States senate in its entirety to promptly confirm Rollins as the next United States Dept. of Agriculture secretary due to the many difficulties facing the country's farmers and rural America. The organizations representing farmers, ranchers, hunters, forest owners, conservationists, cooperatives, state departments of...

18 Dec

Posted at 12:52h in Advocacy
0 Likes

Under the newly-restructured Rail Service Improvement Fund Program Kansas Grain and Feed Association (KGFA) introduced and led the charge on passing legislatively in 2023, Governor Laura Kelly announced $13 million toward 14 rail expansion and rehabilitation projects on Dec. 18, 2024. As it has the since the program's inception, KGFA will immediately send the application information for 2026 to its membership when Kansas Dept. of Transportation opens the application window. “We are incredibly pleased to see our state legislature and administration authorize $13 million in support of our members and their need for reliable, safe and enhanced rail transportation,” KGFA President and CEO...

06 Nov

Posted at 09:33h in Advocacy
0 Likes

2024 Election Report The 2024 election was full of surprises. Below is an initial overview. Mail in ballots will continue to be counted until Friday, meaning a couple of close races may still change. The final votes will be certified sometime next week. All unofficial election results can be found on the Kansas Secretary of State’s website. President of the United States Former president Donald Trump won 57 percent of the vote in Kansas, roughly the same as in 2016 and 2020. United States Congress District 1: Incumbent Republican Tracey Mann won reelection in the...

25 Oct

Posted at 09:56h in Industry News, Regulatory
0 Likes

Last year, Kansas Grain and Feed Association (KGFA) worked with the Property Valuation Division (PVD) of the Kansas Dept. of Revenue to make certain changes to PVD’s grain elevator valuation guide. The updated guide for 2025 will be released by the end of the year. Below are some of the notable updates, which include a few important items that were requested by KGFA and our industry partners: 2025 Grain Elevator Guide: The 2025 guide will include new sales data and updated cost tables from Marshall and Swift. Going forward, these cost tables will be...

X
X