SESSION OF 2025
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2016
As Recommended by House Committee on
Education
Brief*
HB 2016 would require a county election officer to
remove the name of a registered voter from the registration
books and party affiliation lists when an obituary for such
voter is published online by a funeral home located in the
county.
[Note: Continuing law requires a county election officer
to remove a registered voter from the registration books and
party affiliation lists when an obituary notice reporting the
death of such voter appears in a newspaper having general
circulation in the county.]
Background
The bill was introduced by the House Committee on
Elections at the request of Representative Waggoner.
House Committee on Elections
In the House Committee hearing, proponent testimony
was provided by representatives of the Office of the Secretary
of State and the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials
Association. The proponents generally stated the bill would
allow county election officers to use multiple sources to
confirm the death of a registered voter and ensure that voter
registration rolls are up-to-date.
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*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
https://klrd.gov/ Written-only proponent testimony was provided by two
private citizens.
Written-only opponent testimony was provided by a
representative of the ACLU of Kansas.
No other testimony was provided.
Fiscal Information
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the Budget on the bill, the Secretary of State indicates it
would use existing resources to update training materials for
local election officials and update educational and
promotional materials for the public regarding the provisions
of the bill.
The Kansas Association of Counties indicates
enactment of the bill would have a fiscal effect associated
with investigating the legitimacy of private obituaries which
would increase the election officers’ workload.
Any fiscal effect associated with the bill is not reflected
in The FY 2026 Governor’s Budget Report.
Elections; voter registration; registration books; party affiliation lists
2- 2016