Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does your office give legal advice to the general public?
How is legislation or an amendment introduced?
Who can I contact to determine the status of a bill currently being considered by the legislature?
How do I find out when a committee meeting is scheduled? Who do I contact if I would like to testify at the meeting?
Which attorneys in your office are assigned to each committee?
When is the legislature in session?
What is the difference between a bill, a resolution, and a session law?
How does a bill become law?
When do bills become effective? What is a delayed effective date?
How are new sections of law assigned K.S.A. numbers?
How do I find out which statutes were amended during the most recent legislative session? How do I find which statute number is assigned to a particular section of a bill?
Where can I go to use a set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.)?
Where can I purchase individual volumes or a complete set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.)?

Does your office give legal advice to the general public?
No. Attorneys in the Office of Revisor of Statutes work for the Kansas Legislature and are prohibited from providing legal advice to the general public. Kansas Legal Services provides civil legal advice and representation at no cost or at reduced fees to income eligible individuals. Please visit their website or call them toll-free at 1-800-723-6953 (Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.) to see if you are eligible for legal assistance.

How is legislation or an amendment introduced?
Only legislators and legislative committees may request that a bill or amendment be drafted by the Office of Revisor of Statutes and only legislators and legislative committees may introduce legislation or amendments. You must ask a legislator or committee to request our office to draft the legislation or amendment for you. You can then work with a member of the Office of Revisor of Statutes staff to draft the legislation or amendment.

Who can I contact to determine the status of a bill currently being considered by the legislature?
The Legislative Hotline (1-800-432-3924) is a toll free number that operates all year long within the state of Kansas. This hotline provides bill numbers, bill status and a way for constituents to contact their legislator.

How do I find out when a committee meeting is scheduled? Who do I contact if I would like to testify at the meeting?
Kansas has an open legislative process. All committee action on bills and amendments is conducted in open session. The public is invited to attend any of the meetings. Detailed information regarding legislative committees, including committee assignments, schedules, and minutes, is available on the Kansas Legislature website.

To testify at a hearing on any bill, you should contact the committee secretary whose name and telephone number also appear with the Committee Agenda. When making an appointment with the secretary, identify your concerns.

Which attorneys in your office are assigned to each committee?
The Office of Revisor of Statutes provides staff assistance for all standing and statutory committees as well as any special interim committees. At least one attorney from the Office of Revisor of Statutes is expected to staff each committee meeting during the legislative session. K.S.A. 46-1211 requires that the Office of Revisor of Statutes "provide a staff member in attendance at all meetings of all special committees, select committees and all standing committees when the legislature is not in session." A list of staff members and committee assignments can be found on the Office Staff page of this website.

When is the legislature in session?
The state Constitution provides that the Legislature shall convene on the second Monday in January. Regular sessions may not exceed ninety calendar days in even-numbered years, unless two-thirds of the members of each house vote for an extension. Although the Legislature may schedule an adjournment and allow for a "wrap-up" session, the regular session generally ends in late April or early May. Sine die, or final adjournment, is fixed at a convenient date at some time after the Governor has had the opportunity to act on all measures.

What is the difference between a bill, a resolution, and a session law?
According to the Kansas Constitution, no law may be enacted except by bill. Accordingly, proposed laws are introduced and passed in bill form and each is known as a "House Bill" or "Senate Bill."

In addition to bills, the Legislature uses two types of resolutions. Simple resolutions, or resolutions applying to business connected with only one house, are used to express a formal determination of one house, to adopt or amend rules of the house, or as a means to express the sentiment of the House or Senate upon a particular matter. Concurrent resolutions are used to express the formal determination or sentiment of both houses of the Legislature, and must be adopted by both the House and Senate.

The laws passed at each session of the Legislature are printed in an indexed volume known as the Session Laws. Each enactment is assigned a separate chapter number. The Session Laws volume contains the text of bills becoming laws and concurrent resolutions adopted. The Secretary of State determines the number of paper-bound copies of the Session Laws to be printed each year.

How does a bill become law?
Bills and concurrent resolutions may originate in either the House or Senate, but may be amended or rejected by the other. A majority of the members of each house is necessary to pass any bill. When a bill has been recommended for passage by the Committee of the Whole in the house of origin, the bill is subjected to engrossment OR the bill is engrossed.

When a bill has been finally passed by both houses, the Office of Revisor of Statutes completes the final engrossment, which shows the net result of all changes made in existing law and all new matter added.

When final engrossment is complete, the bill is returned to the house of origin, where it is inspected and transmitted to the Division of Printing for the printing of the enrolled version. The enrolled bill is presented to the Governor, who may approve or veto it. If the Governor approves the bill, he or she signs it, and it becomes law.

A diagram is available on the Kansas Department of Legislative Research website.

When do bills become effective? What is a delayed effective date?
There are three different options for a bill's effective date. The most common effective date is upon publication in the statute book. Statutes are published on July 1 in the year of the current legislative session. Bills may also become effective upon publication in the Kansas Register. The Kansas Register is the official state newspaper and is published on a weekly basis. Finally, a bill may designate a specific effective date which may take place at some time after the Legislature adjourns. This is referred to as a delayed effective date.

How are new sections of law assigned K.S.A. numbers?
All general laws enacted by the Legislature are arranged and published in the Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.) by the Office of Revisor of Statutes in accordance with a numbering system first adopted for the publication of the Revised Statutes of Kansas of 1923.

Each year after the close of the regular legislative session, all general laws passed by the Legislature during the session are integrated into the body of existing law and become a part of the K.S.A. New sections are assigned appropriate numbers and all such materials, both new and amendatory, are published by the Office of Revisor of Statutes either in revised and republished volumes of the K.S.A. or in the cumulative supplement to existing volumes of the K.S.A. The K.S.A. and annual supplements are indexed in a general index volume.

How do I find out which statutes were amended during the most recent legislative session? How do I find which statute number is assigned to a particular section of a bill?
For legislation enacted during the last session, refer to the Composite Listing of New, Amended and Repealed Statutes. For previous sessions, refer to the table of sections in the Constitutions volume of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and the supplement to that volume, where sections are listed by chapter and section of the Session Laws. If you do not know the chapter number, there is a table at the back of the session laws which tells the chapter number assigned to each bill.

Where can I go to use a set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.)?
A complete set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated is available in the State Library of Kansas, the Kansas Supreme Court Law Library, the Washburn University School of Law Library, the University of Kansas Wheat Law Library, and many other public libraries throughout the state.

An unofficial version of the K.S.A. is available online.

Where can I purchase individual volumes or a complete set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated (K.S.A.)
The official set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated is published by the Office of Revisor of Statutes but is distributed by the Kansas Secretary of State. K.S.A. 77-138 provides for the sale and distribution of the hardbound volume as well as paperback cumulative supplements by the Office of Secretary of State, First Floor, Memorial Hall, Topeka, Kansas 66612. To order individual volumes or a complete set of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, contact the Publications Division at (785) 296-BOOK (2665) or go to the order form available on the Kansas Secretary of State's website.

For answers to any other questions please contact our office at (785) 296-2321.

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