Conference committee accepts offer to place parts of SB 33 into shell bill 2535; agrees to remove ROS from SB 82

The conference committee on tax met and agreed to place selected elements of Senate Bill 33 into shell bill 2535, a conferee said, and to remove a ROS provision from Senate Bill 82 to improve its prospects for passage.

The committee’s chair opened the meeting by saying the group had an "offer for a shell 2535 with some Senate Bill 33 contents," and explained that conferees believed SB 33 "was not going to be successful ... as it is," so they proposed moving certain provisions into 2535. The chair identified a specific inclusion: language to extend a freeze on the apportionment of sales tax in Sedgwick County.

The chair listed three additional county authorizations the conferees said they would accept — Labette, Leavenworth and Butler — completing a four-item package to be incorporated into 2535. A conferee responded, "Mr. President, we'll accept your offer," indicating verbal acceptance of the proposed package; the transcript does not record a formal roll-call vote.

On Senate Bill 82, participants said the bill had been sent back to conference and that removing the ROS position from 82 was the change they believed would allow it to pass. The committee directed that the edits be made to 2535 and that the ROS provision be pulled from SB 82; conferees said they would be contacted to reconvene if any further issues surfaced.

The chair and other conferees did not expand on what the acronym "ROS" stands for in the transcript; that term was not defined in the recorded remarks. The committee adjourned after the procedural agreement to draft the changes and to follow up as needed.

Next steps: staff or counsel are to incorporate the agreed text into shell bill 2535 and to remove the ROS provision from SB 82; the committee said it would reconvene or call conferees back if additional issues arise. No formal vote or roll call was recorded in the transcript.