Kansans are facing a rash of bills in the state legislature that will greatly affect hunters and anglers. It should be noted that all these bills originated from the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget, which is led by Representative Ken Corbet of Topeka. Below is a synopsis of each bill and its status. Please follow Kansas BHA on Instagram as well as the Kansas BHA Podcast for up-to-date information on these bills.

If you are a Kansas hunter or angler, please reach out to your House of Representative legislators immediately to express your opposition to these bills. If you don’t have time to call or write an email, Kansas BHA will have Action Alerts that you can use to notify your legislators on the chapter page.

A list of Representatives who voted to pass these bills out of Committee is included at the end of this blog. Feel free to include them in your outreach to your legislators.

Click HERE to find your legislators or use our bill-specific Action Alerts below to quickly send a message to your representatives.

UPDATE -February 23, 2024

Thanks to hunters contacting legislators, bills HB 2671 & HB 2672 are dead. 

Please continue to contact your legislators regarding HB 2582 & SB 347.  Thanks!

Kansas HB 2582:

Click here to Take Action on this bill

Synopsis:

This bill would add two (2) members to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) Commission and require the following:

•       Three (3) Members appointed by the Governor
•       Two (2) Members appointed by the Speaker of the House
•       Two (2) Members appointed by the President of the Senate
•       Two (2) Members appointed by the Attorney General

This bill is a result of two things:

1)      Last year the KDWP commission weighed the idea of banning baiting for deer to combat disease transmission. Some legislators in our state didn’t like that idea at all. (See here; the legislators against banning baiting are the ones now leading this bill)

2)      The Game Commissions in Washington and Colorado starting to have a flavor of anti-hunting.

As a state that is mostly rural and conservative, Kansas is not currently threatened by an anti-hunter takeover of the commission.  Currently the governor appoints the members of the Commission.  The makeup of the Commission is such that there be no more than 1 member over a majority party lean.  This system allows for members to be quickly added if someone is removed from the commission for any reason. 

The new system would slow the process of appointing members.  It would also allow politics to bleed further into our wildlife management, which as we know is in direct violation of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. 

Link to the Bill: HB 2582

Status:

This bill has passed the committee. 

It will now head to the House of Representatives for consideration of a vote on the house floor.  

Kansas HB 2672: (Removed from calendar)

Synopsis:

This bill would allow a landowner (resident or nonresident) to receive one (1) deer permit for every 80 acres of Kansas land they own, up to two (2) tags total for a cost of $25 per tag. The permits can be transferred or sold to any resident or nonresident. This bill also does away with all previous landowner permits that could be purchased.

This bill has obvious contradictions to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.  The bill would flood the state with tags that were not prescribed by biologists, making it nearly impossible for the state to manage its deer herds. KDWP estimates that this could result in up to 170,000 tags issued. Last year, KDWP issued 105,000 any sex deer permits.  Due to exceeding the biologists recommended permit allocations (without regard for specific units), KDWP estimates at best it's residents will be put into a draw for permits that are currently available to residents over the counter.  The worst-case scenario spelled out by KDWP would result in all permits being issued directly to landowners, leaving no tag allocation for residents or for a nonresident draw. Residents would be forced to purchase permits directly from a landowner.

To reiterate, Kansas residents who don't own 80 acres would be forced to purchase permits from 80 acre owning residents, or at best be entered into a drawing for deer permits. While it would be painful for residents who no longer can get a permit, imagine the residents who own 60 acres (or any number less than 80 acres) and being told you can't hunt deer this year because you didn't draw.  

Those residents who do own 80-160+ acres will only get one or two permits per year. Nonresidents will likely be left out of Kansas deer hunting unless they purchase permits from landowners.

Additionally, this bill would result in KDWP losing out on the $477.50 nonresident deer permit.  KDWP estimates an annual budget impact of $25 million (1/4 of the KDWP budget).

Link to the Bill Language: HB 2672

KDWP's verbal opposition to this bill can be viewed here for the original bill and here for the amended bill.

BHA's verbal opposition to this bill can be viewed here.

Status:

Dead. This bill passed the committee, but was removed from the calendar. 

Kansas HB 2671 (Removed from calendar)

Synopsis:

As is usual for most western states, Kansas requires nonresidents to purchase a hunting license when applying for a deer permit. This bill requires that nonresidents be refunded the license fee if they don't draw a deer permit Thus, in theory, a person could apply for a deer permit, not get drawn, hunt anything that isn't a deer (Turkey, Pheasant, Ducks, etc.), and still be refunded on their hunting license.

KDWP estimates it would lose, at a minimum, $10 million annually if this bill is passed.

Link to the Bill: HB 2671

Status:

DEAD. This bill passed the committee, but was removed from the calendar. 

Below is the contact information for the committee members who voted to pass these bills if you would like to reach out to them and discuss your opinions:

Rep. Ken Corbet, Committee Chair - [email protected]
Rep Joe Seiwert - [email protected]
Lewis Bloom - [email protected]
Randy Garber - [email protected]
Trevor Jacobs - [email protected]