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Minutes for SB474 - Committee on Federal and State Affairs
Short Title
Eliminating the administrative ordinance restriction in the city initiative statute.
Minutes Content for Tue, Feb 20, 2024
Mike Heim, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, gave an overview of the bill. He stated SB474 would delete a provision in statute that restricts administrative ordinances by petition. Under the bill, administrative ordinances could be proposed by initiative petition in accordance with the statute. (Attachment 1)
After a period of questions and answers, the Chairman called for proponent testimony.
Proponent oral testimony
Eric Rucker, private citizen, spoke as a proponent of the bill. He stated he's grateful that for 65 years, Kansas has allowed citizens to submit petition ordinances, which has worked exceedingly well. Ordinances have been proposed to address public policy issues such as where to build a public building, to purchase a racetrack, and how city residents will be taxed. If a city council rejects a valid petition, an election is held on the proposed ordinance. He said some city administrators consider these petitions to be an intrusion on their power, and will deem them to be "administrative", rather than "legislative", which disqualified the ordinance. He said SB474 eliminates the prohibition of enacting administrative ordinances while recognizing the courts will always determine the constitutionality of an ordinance. (Attachment 2)
Lori Sharp, private citizen, spoke as a proponent of the bill. She stated she was involved in a petition in Prairie Village last year, and wanted to explain how time consuming and difficult the process is. She said after all the work is put in on these petitions, many times cities claim "administrative" reasons or use other loopholes to cast the resident's work and opinions away. The city of Prairie Village sued the citizens for filing the petition, and they are still hung up in court. (Attachment 3)
Lanell Griffith, private citizen, spoke as a proponent of the bill. She stated she is in favor of striking the administrative restriction because it is very subjective, and a petition can be struck down by a judge by merely ruling the ordinance is administrative as opposed to legislative. She said any petitioned ordinance should be subject to the God-given and constitutional rights of the individual. (Attachment 4)
Mike Sullinger, private citizen, spoke as a proponent of the bill. He stated he is from Prairie Village, is a small business owner, and was part of the petition against the rezoning of single family homes, which make up 90% of the city. He said they gathered the 3,700 required signatures for a petition for the citizens to be able to vote on the rezoning, and were sued by the city with their own tax dollars. The city's defense was that they were following an administrative process, therefore the petition was invalid. (Attachment 5)
Earl McIntosh, private citizen, spoke as a proponent of the bill. He stated he believes attorneys and judges have struck down many petitions that could have been argued with merit that they are legislative in nature, not administrative, and this subverts the spirit of the law. He said these administrative laws can really hurt people, for example, by using eminent domain to condemn properties for commercial development. He stated ruling a petition ordinance as invalid under the administrative restriction fails to give registered voters a voice. (Attachment 6)
Proponent written only testimony
Brett Bitner, private citizen (Attachment 7)
Todd and Jan Bleakley, private citizen (Attachment 8)
Mary Burger, private citizen (Attachment 9)
John Hauer, private citizen (Attachment 10)
Jennifer Junod, private citizen (Attachment 11)
Roger Lomshek, private citizen (Attachment 12)
Benjamin Moore, private citizen (Attachment 13)
Desree Pettera, private citizen (Attachment 14)
Al Pisterzi, private citizen (Attachment 15)
Stephen Platt, private citizen (Attachment 16)
Dan Runion, private citizen (Attachment 17)
Brenda Satterlee, private citizen (Attachment 18)
Rex Sharp, private citizen (Attachment 19)
Toni Stewart, private citizen (Attachment 20)
Al Terwelp, private citizen (Attachment 21)
James McGrath, private citizen (Attachment 22)
After a period of questions and answers, the Chairman called for opponent testimony.
Opponent oral testimony
Nathan Eberline, League of Kansas Municipalities, spoke as an opponent of the bill. He stated the Kansas Supreme Court framed the issue this way: An ordinance that makes new law is legislative; while an ordinance that executes an existing law is "administrative". He said decisions which require specialized training and experience in municipal government and intimate knowledge of the fiscal and other affairs of a city in order to make a rational choice may be characterized as administrative. He said if citizens don't like what cities or counties are doing, they can vote the elected officials out. He said such petitions could allow citizens to vote to de-fund the police or legalize marijuana. (Attachment 23)
Amanda Stanley, City Attorney, City of Topeka, spoke as an opponent of the bill. She stated the statute has been around a long time and she understands why the proponents of the bill are upset about rezoning. But, she said there are practical realities of a technical nature that a city goes through every day, such as fixing potholes, and rarely do the people who sign the petitions have a complete understanding of the effect of the ordinance. She said ordinances can't be changed for 10 years, so a city would be stuck with the decision for a long period of time. (Attachment 24)
Kimberly Svaty, Kansas Municipal Utilities, spoke as an opponent of the bill. She stated the municipal utilities are typically operated under administrative structures, and it would not be helpful to have their decisions subjected to petition, and potentially delayed for extended periods pending a special election. They need the ability to make real time decisions to maintain overall grid stability. (Attachment 25)
Opponent written only testimony
Jim Benage, Mayor, City of Bel Aire (Attachment 26)
City of Overland Park (Attachment 27)
Sharon Dickgraf, City of Wichita (Attachment 28)
Ron Fehr, City Manager, City of Manhattan (Attachment 29)
Randy Frazer, City Manager, City of Arkansas City (Attachment 30)
Cole Herder, City Administrator, City of Humboldt (Attachment 31)
Leah House, Mayor of Paola, private citizen (Attachment 32)
Amy Lange, City Manager, City of Concordia (Attachment 33)
Stuart Little, Cities of Prairie Village, Mission, Merriam, Roeland Park and Westwood Hills (Attachment 34)
Kiel Mangus, City Manager, City of Derby (Attachment 35)
Aaron Murphy, Mayor, City of Cunningham (Attachment 36)
David E. Waters, Mayor, City of Westwood (Attachment 37)
Travis Wilson, City Manager, City of Garnett (Attachment 38)
After a period of questions and answers, the Chairman closed the hearing on SB474.
