HB2433 – Key Concerns for Counties
• Erodes County Home Rule
Kansas law grants counties broad home-rule authority to address local affairs. HB2433 restricts those powers by preventing counties from addressing local impacts of large water transfer projects. This legislation attempts to resolve a single regional dispute by changing law statewide, without fully considering the unintended consequences for counties across Kansas.
• Transfers Local Decision-Making to Topeka
HB2433 shifts decision-making authority away from locally elected officials and places it with state regulators in Topeka who may not be familiar with local infrastructure, land use considerations, or economic conditions within affected communities.
• Limits Counties’ Ability to Protect Local Infrastructure
Counties are responsible for maintaining roads, rights-of-way, and other infrastructure that may be used by large projects. HB2433 limits counties’ ability to review or address impacts that could damage infrastructure funded and maintained by local taxpayers.
• Reduces Local Accountability
County commissioners are directly accountable to the taxpayers who fund county services and infrastructure. HB2433 shifts decisions affecting rural communities to regulators who are further removed from the local impacts and fiscal responsibilities.
• Creates a Precedent for Expanding State Preemption
By resolving a specific dispute through statewide legislation, HB2433 sets a precedent for limiting county authority in other areas of local governance in the future.
Link to HB2433
https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/hb2433_00_0000.pdf
KNRC House Testimony
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxTaYhCJOX8HEYlo2OLmrrw06yu4Wo62/view?usp=share_link
KNRC Senate Testimony
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bcfuweHAs4cioTpjKfmCmyPFePFj4J5y/view?usp=share_link
