Kansas Legislature Opens 2026 Session With Water and Budget at the Top
Lawmakers returned to the Statehouse in Topeka this week facing a crowded agenda led by a long-term water plan for the drying Ogallala Aquifer and a projected budget surplus.
Kansas lawmakers gaveled in the 2026 legislative session Monday, opening a 90-day stretch that leaders say will be defined by two words: water and money.
The state enters the year with a projected surplus of roughly $1.6 billion, according to figures released by the Legislative Research Department, and both chambers have signaled interest in a mix of tax relief and one-time investments. But the sharpest debate is expected over a proposed multi-decade plan to slow the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, the vast underground reservoir that irrigates much of western Kansas.
"We are not going to solve a hundred years of water use in one session, but we can stop pretending the problem will fix itself," said the chair of the House Agriculture Committee during a Monday briefing. A draft framework would offer incentives to producers who voluntarily reduce pumping, paired with new metering requirements.
A packed calendar
Beyond water, committees are expected to take up school funding formulas, a rewrite of the state's property tax lid, and a package aimed at rural hospitals, several of which have warned they may not survive another lean year. Leadership in both parties said they hope to adjourn on schedule in early April.
Public hearings begin next week, and organizers of several agricultural groups have already scheduled bus trips to the capital.
