New Laws

The Governor recently signed several bills. Despite common belief, that does not mean that a bill goes into effect as a law right away. A bill becomes law upon its effective date. There are two clauses in a bill that declare its effective date: either the bill declares it is effective upon publication in the statute book, or it declares it’s effective upon publication in the Kansas Register.

If a bill states that it will become effective “upon publication in the statute book,” that means it will be effective July 1, 2011. If the bill states that it will be effective “upon publication in the Kansas Register,” that means it will be effective upon the next publication of the statewide weekly newspaper, the Kansas Register. The Legislature’s website is now listing the date bills have been published in the Kansas Register when you search through to a bill’s history. In order to find the bill history, go to www.kslegislature.org and click on “bills and laws” from the tabs along the top. Then type in the bill number you wish to search for in the “filter” box at the right. If you do not know the bill number to a bill, call the Legislative Hotline at 800-432-3924. Our staff can look it up for you and walk you through the search.

You can find the Kansas Register at the Secretary of State’s website at:
http://www.kssos.org/pubs/pubs_kansas_register.asp.

See the news releases from Governor Brownback’s office regarding bill signings:
https://governor.ks.gov/home

See the full list of bills that have been signed by the Governor:
http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/measures/reports/laws_fr/

See a list of the bills still awaiting the Governor’s signature at:
http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2011_12/year1/measures/reports/gov_fr/

See a short summary of bills either passed or soon-to-be signed in the 2011 Preliminary Summary of Legislation - Supplement II:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/Publications/2011-supplement-2.pdf

Article contact: Kim Harp