(Feb. 17, 2026) – Today, the House took final votes on the following bills:

House Bill 2540 exempts contingent deferred annuities from certain requirements of the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Individual Deferred Annuities Act and authorizes the commissioner of insurance to establish nonforfeiture benefits for such contingent deferred annuities through rules and regulations. The bill passed on a vote of 122-0.

House Bill 2622 modifies the municipal lease-purchase protest petition requirements. The bill passed on a vote of 121-1.

House Bill 2711 modifies and updates procedures for dissolution of cities of the third class. The bill passed on a vote of 122-0.

House Bill 2733 requires any person who is candidate or who has been elected to certain offices shall be and must remain a resident of the state or the appropriate district. The bill passed on a vote of 122-0.

House Bill 2615 designates a portion of U.S. highway 75 as the Brigadier General George H. Wark Memorial Highway and redesignates a current portion of the Purple Heart/Combat Wounded Veterans Highway for U.S. Highway 75. The bill passed on a vote of 123-0.

These bills will now go to the Senate.

House Sub for Senate Bill 281 requiring school districts to prohibit the use of personal electronic communication devices during school hours, prohibits any employee of a school district from using social media to directly communicate with any student for official school purposes. The bill passed on a vote of 75-48. This bill will now go back to the Senate for a motion to concur, which would make it law, or a motion to non-concur, which would send it to a conference committee.

HCR 5031 ratifies and provides for the continuation of the state of disaster emergency declaration issued on Feb. 9, 2026, for Douglas, Johnson and Wyandotte counties. The resolution was adopted on a vote of 121-2.

Today, the House is schedule to debate late into the evening, on the following bills:

House Bill 2605 designates a portion of U.S. Highway 36 as the Deputy Sheriff Brandon Gaede Memorial Highway.

House Bill 2491 requires state agencies to make quarterly reports to the secretary of state with the names and addresses of noncitizens receiving public benefits.

House Bill 2451 prohibits the use of public assets by government officers and employees to advocate for or against proposed amendments to the Constitution of the State of Kansas and ballot questions submitted to qualified electors.

House Bill 2453 requires applications for advance voting ballots be filed by the 14th day prior to election day, that advance voting in person be completed by 12:00 p.m. on the Sunday prior to election day, extends the time for transmittal of advance voting ballots to 22 days prior to an election and ends the time for voter registration at 23 days prior to election day.

House Bill 2214 enacts the Safeguarding American Veteran Empowerment (SAVE) Act to limit compensation for assisting in veterans benefits matters.

House Bill 2220 permits local authorities with jurisdiction over city residence districts to reduce the maximum speed limit to 25 miles per hour without an engineering and traffic investigation.

House Bill 2412 increases the criminal penalties for endangering a child if the child is less than six years of age.

House Bill 2364 prohibits certain health insurers from requiring cost-sharing for nonopioid prescription drugs or provides less favorable coverage for such drug than that for opioid or narcotic prescription drugs for the treatment of pain.

House Bill 2393 authorizes the Supreme Court to impose a charge to fund the costs of non-judicial personnel through June 30, 2030.

House Bill 2444 provides that jail credit when consecutive sentences are imposed shall not apply to more than one case, creates special sentencing rules when a felony is committed by certain offenders while on probation, parole or postrelease supervision for a prior felony and requires secured minimum bonds for certain defendants who commit a new felony while on probation, parole, postrelease supervision or bond for a prior felony unless the court makes certain findings.

House Bill 2610 limits the use of a summons instead of a warrant for the arrest of a defendant to misdemeanor crimes and requires that any bond set on a warrant issued after a failure to appear in response to a summons shall not allow release on the defendant's own recognizance.

House Bill 2537 increasing the penalties for the crime of sexual extortion when an offender is 18 years of age or older and the victim is less than 18 years of age or a dependent adult, creates the crimes of aggravated sexual extortion causing great bodily harm and aggravated sexual extortion causing death and requires the attorney general to prepare and provide educational materials and information concerning such crimes.

House Bill 2613 provides for the Crime Victims Compensation Board to establish fees chargeable for conducting examinations of persons who may be victims of sexual assault and authorizes the board to adopt rules and regulations to administer such fees and to use moneys in the Crime Victims Compensation Fund for the payment of such fees.

House Bill 2518 increases the criminal penalties for certain violations of the crime of breach of privacy and modifies the culpable mental state required to commit such crime.

House Bill 2747 specifies that courts shall consider certain factors in determining whether a prior violation of law is comparable to any act described in certain driving under the influence crimes when calculating a person's criminal history score under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act. Further amended and recommended for final vote.

House Bill 2614 allows certain exceptions to the confidentiality of records and information given to the Crime Victims Compensation Board.

House Bill 2536 requires proposed guardians for certain adults who have a cognitive impairment or are diagnosed with a neurological condition to complete training approved by the secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services prior to appointment as a guardian.

House Bill 2501 provides for immunity from civil liability to federal firearms licensees for returning a firearm to the firearm owner at the termination of a firearm hold agreement.

House Bill 2504 prohibits cities and counties from restricting the discretion of landlords not to rent residential or commercial property on grounds, including prospective tenants receipt of housing assistance or eviction or criminal history, and permits cities and counties to prohibit discrimination by landlords on the basis of receipt of veterans benefits.

House Bill 2560 authorizes the Kansas Board of Regents to sell and convey certain real property in the city of Manhattan, Riley County, Kansas, on behalf of the Kansas State University.

House Bill 2374 creates the Specialty Practice Student Loan Program and the Specialty Practice Student Loan Repayment Fund, allows for the transfer of funds from the OB-GYN and Psychiatry Medical Student Loan Repayment Funds to the Specialty Practice Student Loan Repayment Fund and abolishes the OB-GYN and Psychiatry Medical Student Loan Repayment Funds.

House Bill 2604 includes gross vehicle weight in the definitions for classes of commercial motor vehicles for drivers' license purposes and modifies the definition of commercial motor vehicle and creates a definition of air mile and gross vehicle weight in the Kansas Uniform Commercial Drivers' License Act.

House Bill 2594 modifies the elements of the crime of blackmail related to threatened dissemination of any videotape, photograph, film or image of another identifiable person who is nude or engaged in sexual activity by removing the connection to breach of privacy and describing the content of the videotape, photograph, film or image.

House Bill 2591 authorizes financial institutions to report suspected financial exploitation of an adult account holder to a designated agency, notifies any adult designated as a trusted contact by such account holder of suspected financial exploitation and places a temporary hold on certain transactions or disbursements.

House Bill 2497 prohibits the assessment of a prepayment penalty against any party more than six months after the execution of a note evidencing a home loan made primarily for personal, family or household purposes secured by a real estate mortgage.

House Bill 2590 enacts the Kansas Community Property Trust Act to authorize the use of community property trusts during the marriage of settlor spouses and amends the Kansas Uniform Trust Code to allow trustees to reimburse settlors of grantor trusts, authorize the use of designated representatives for trusts and permit the terms of a governing instrument to expand, restrict or eliminate certain general rules applicable to fiduciaries, trusts and trust administration.

House Bill 2606 modifies the definition of conviction in the Kansas Uniform Commercial Drivers' License Act.

House Bill 2408 provides that leased ground owned by a county-recognized community land trust shall be considered as a factor in determining fair market value for property tax purposes.

House Bill 2437 authorizes the use of additional resources for verifying voter registration records, removes individuals disqualified for voting from such records and provides an open records request exemption for certain information related to such records.

House Bill 2477 requires the Kansas Department of Agriculture to publish a map on the department's official website that shows the location of all applied for diversions of water, includes requested changes in the point of diversion by more than 300 feet, and expands the current individual notice requirement to apply to all landowners that are within half a mile of such applied for diversions or changes.

House Bill 2462 requires the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to adopt rules and regulations that allow for the direct and indirect potable reuse of treated wastewater.

House Bill 2460 provides an exception to the Kansas Open Records Act that authorizes members of the legislature to have identifying information restricted from public access on public websites that identify home addresses or home ownership. The bill was further amended and recommended for final vote.

House Bill 2511 permits moneys received from agricultural production on a state-owned property to be used for the management of all state-owned properties.

House Bill 2489 requires school districts to provide fentanyl abuse education programs and maintain supplies of naloxone in each school.

House Bill 2485 authorizes the chief executive officer of the Kansas Board of Regents to negotiate and settle any repayment obligations arising under any scholarship, grant or other financial aid program administered by the board and prohibits the payment of additional funds to any student who is subject to repayment obligations under such financial aid programs.

House Bill 2663 modifies the requirements for student cohorts and achievement goals for School District At-Risk Accountability Plans.

Sub for House Bill 2530 provides for the transferability of credentials earned through ACT Workkeys Career Readiness Assessments toward a degree.

House Bill 2555 requires grant applications, expenditure information, reports and other documentation concerning the Rural Health Transformation Program to be presented and provided to the State Finance Council, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Legislative Budget Committee.

House Bill 2368 provides for the licensure of anesthesiologist assistants. The bill was not recommended favorably for passage on a vote of 53-63.

House Bill 2562 permits the issuance of a special license plate or permanent or temporary placard for a person with a disability based on documentation of satisfactory proof of disability from a physical therapist.

House Bill 2672 removes certain terms relating to individuals with intellectual disabilities.

House Bill 2737 enacts the Taxpayer Agreement Act to provide for an alternative method of tax increment financing of municipal economic development projects through taxpayer agreements.

House Bill 2700 establishes the Kansas Right-to-Repair Act to provide the right for persons who purchase or lease digital electronic equipment to obtain the legal authorization and necessary documentation and parts from original equipment manufacturers to diagnose, maintain and repair such equipment.

House Bill 2481 removes the two-bedroom requirement to qualify as a hotel, motel or tourist court requiring the collection of tax from all such qualifying rentals.

House Bill 2602 establishes requirements for a portable benefit plan for independent contractors, determines types of contributions to such plans and provides a subtraction modification for Kansas income tax purposes.

House Bill 2603 prohibits the regulation of battery-charged security fences by municipalities.

House Bill 2507 removes the requirement for migratory waterfowl stamps to be validated by a signature across the face of each such stamp and increases the fees for such stamps.

House Bill 2505 provides an exception for Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks records in regards to the location of any species that is threatened, endangered or in need of conservation from the disclosure requirements of the Kansas Open Records Act.

House Bill 2729 requires the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to provide forms and notices to physicians pursuant to the Woman's-Right-to Know Act.

House Bill 2727 provides for the plaintiff to elect to limit recovery in claims brought for violations of the Woman's-Right-to-Know Act and makes the laws providing for medical malpractice screening inapplicable when such election is made.

House Bill 2635 enacts the Pregnancy Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression Act to protect the ability of private pregnancy centers to provide life-affirming care.

House Bill 2553 provides for the Public Broadcasting System Kansas distinctive license plate.

House Bill 2585 provides for the delta waterfowl distinctive license plate.