Concerning tax preferences for clean energy manufacturers.

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by Stephanie Barnard and 3 co-sponsors

Authorizes the State Board of Regents to sell KSU and KSU VMC real property in Manhattan and Omaha; proceeds are kept in restricted fee funds, reducing future maintenance costs.

By resolution, returned to House Rules Committee for third reading.

Summary — HB 2120 (2025): Sale of KSU and KSU Veterinary Medical Center Real Property

Status
- Approved by the Governor: April 1, 2025.
- Became effective upon publication in the Kansas Register (enrolled law caption notes effect after publication; enrolled law dated April 17, 2025).
- Introduced January 27, 2025; passed both chambers with amendments.

Purpose
- Authorizes the State Board of Regents, acting for Kansas State University (KSU) and the KSU Veterinary Medical Center (KSU VMC), to sell specified real property in Manhattan (Riley County, KS) and Omaha (Douglas County, NE), and to retain the proceeds for the institutions’ restricted fee funds.

Key provisions
- Property descriptions:
- Omaha (KSU VMC): 9706 Mockingbird Drive (described as a portion of Lot 555, Mockingbird Hills West — sometimes Parcel 15A).
- Manhattan (KSU): the Unger Complex — described by surveyed legal descriptions (totaling 6.54 acres, with enacted language subdividing the tract into a 5.17-acre tract plus additional lots totaling 1.37 acres).
- Conveyance mechanics: deeds executed in the name of the State Board of Regents by its chairperson and executive officer.
- Attorney General review: no sale or acceptance of conveyance may occur until deeds, titles, and conveyances are reviewed and approved by the Attorney General; if legal descriptions are corrected, the corrected deed remains subject to AG approval.
- Funds and use of proceeds: all sale proceeds are retained by the selling institution and credited to its Restricted Fee Fund(s) — KSU VMC fund (36800-2590-5530) and KSU fund (36700-2520-2080). Institutions will no longer incur maintenance costs for the sold properties.
- Exemptions: the statute removes these specific conveyances from certain statutory appraisal and state surplus property requirements (notably not subject to K.S.A. 75-6609 and related provisions).

Who is affected
- Kansas State University and the Kansas State University Veterinary Medical Center (as sellers and recipients of proceeds).
- State Board of Regents (authorized to execute conveyances).
- Local governments and potential buyers of the properties (subject to standard transaction and title review). Fiscal and administrative effect on the Board of Regents is described as negligible.

Fiscal impact
- Fiscal note (Division of the Budget): estimated one-time revenue from the sales credited to institutional fee funds — KSU VMC ≈ $1.1 million; KSU ≈ $3.5 million; total ≈ $4.6 million in FY2025. Ongoing savings to KSU/KSU VMC via avoided maintenance/deferred-maintenance costs.

Procedure / Legislative history (high level)
- Introduced by Representative Roeser; committee hearings included KSU proponents who cited lowered deferred maintenance as a rationale.
- House Committee of the Whole and Senate Committee on Education amended the bill (technical edits and a Senate amendment allowing the Manhattan property to be divided and sold as separate parcels).
- Passed both chambers (unanimous recorded votes in House and Senate actions); enrolled and presented to Governor late March 2025.

Notes
- The bill contains detailed metes-and-bounds legal descriptions of the parcels; prospective buyers or title counsel should rely on recorded deeds and the Attorney General–approved conveyance language.