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HB 2237 Kansas House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Authorizing hiring, recruitment and retention bonuses in state agencies' employee award and recognition program, increasing the limitation on such award or bonus to $10,000, eliminating the secretary of administration's authority to adopt rules and regulations and requiring such secretary to submit an annual report to certain legislative committees concerning such awards and bonuses.

HB 2237 increases the annual limit for state employee awards - including hiring, recruitment, and retention bonuses - from $3,500 to $10,000 per employee. It removes the secretary of administration’s authority to create program rules and instead requires an annual report to specific legislative committees about how these awards are used. This bill directly affects all state agencies and employees across Kansas’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The key changes simplify oversight by shifting from administrative rule-making to legislative transparency while raising the award cap.
Issues: ✓ Labor & EmploymentSupports Labor & EmploymentIncreases state employee bonus cap from $3,500 to $10,000, directly enhancing compensation benefits for workers in state agencies.95% confidence
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
Signed into Law
Apr 2026
Introduced Feb 4, 2025 Signed Apr 9, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Enrolled · 4 edits · Apr 9, 2026
MODERATE
The bill was reformatted from a committee draft to its final enrolled version, removing internal tracking marks while keeping the core policy intact. The substantive content remains the same, establishing a state employee award program with a $3,500 annual cap (except for specific suggestions), clarifying that awards are not retirement compensation, and requiring the Secretary of Administration to oversee the program and report to the legislature.
Scope change
No change in scope; the bill applies to all state agencies as originally drafted.
TECHNICAL

Removed internal legislative tracking numbers, committee headers, and draft annotations to finalize the bill text for enactment.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for the Secretary of Administration to submit an annual report to legislative committees regarding the employee award and recognition program.

Clarified the employee suggestion program by specifying that awards for cost-reducing innovations are nondiscretionary (10% of savings) and capped at $5,000 per employee.

Updated the reporting mechanism for employee suggestions to require agencies to submit data to the Division of the Budget for annual legislative review.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
13
Key actions
8
Committee
4
Apr 9, 2026
Signed into law
Approved by Governor on Monday, April 6, 2026
lower
Mar 19, 2026
Upper · Passed
Final Action - Passed; Yea 29, Nay 11
upper
Mar 18, 2026
Upper · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Be passed
upper
Mar 10, 2026
Upper · Passed
Committee Report recommending bill be passed by Senate Committee on Ways and Means
upper
Mar 21, 2025
Committee
Referred to Senate Committee on Ways and Means
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Introduced
Received and Introduced
upper
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
Emergency Final Action - Passed; Yea 122, Nay 1, Absent 2
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
Motion to advance to Emergency Final Action adopted
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Be passed
lower
Mar 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee Report recommending bill be passed by House Committee on Appropriations
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Committee
Referred to House Committee on Appropriations
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Introduced
Introduced
lower
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.