photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Kansas Statehouse in Topeka is pictured on Dec. 20, 2023.

A Lawrence ordinance designed to stop landlords from denying an apartment to an individual because they would pay the rent with money from public assistance programs has been dealt a likely fatal blow by the Kansas Legislature.

The Republican-controlled Legislature overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Senate Bill 391 as part of its final actions in Topeka before adjourning early Saturday morning.

The override vote will allow Senate Bill 391 to become law. It takes aim at cities and counties that pass ordinances prohibiting landlords from denying a lease to an individual because the individual would use public assistance programs — like Section 8 housing vouchers — to pay their rent.

Lawrence has had such an ordinance on the books since 2023, as City Hall leaders have contended such regulation was needed to address the city’s affordable housing issues. The new state law essentially will prohibit Lawrence from taking enforcement action against landlords who defy the ordinance.

Lawrence officials were among the many leaders from local governments across the state who testified in opposition to the bill earlier this session. Lawrence officials, though, had more at stake than most. Lawrence Mayor Brad Finkeldei told lawmakers via written testimony that approval of SB 391 would invalidate the city’s 2023 “source of income discrimination ordinance.”

That city law made it illegal for landlords to deny a lease to an individual simply because the individual would be paying for the lease through Section 8 housing vouchers or other similar public assistance programs. Lawrence officials argued the city law was an important attempt to address affordable housing issues in the city, and was an effort that already had been affirmed as legal by one court.

“SB 391 would invalidate this ordinance and others like it despite clear judicial guidance confirming their legality,” Finkeldei testified earlier this session. “The bill would also prohibit Lawrence from adopting future renter protections tailored to local conditions, including limits on excessive security deposits, restrictions on the use of expunged or irrelevant records in rental decisions, or policies that promote tenant stability during ownership transitions.”

But the fact SB 391 would invalidate the Lawrence ordinance wasn’t a drawback but rather a selling point for most legislators. Lawmakers heard multiple pieces of testimony decrying the Lawrence ordinance as a piece of government overreach.

“It is inappropriate for a local government to require us to involuntarily become embroiled in federal regulations controlling how we do business, making us change how we have to maintain our records in order to start using mandatory forms that we do not otherwise use and forcing us to suffer a delay in re-renting an apartment while we go through the HUD approval process for the specific dwelling unit each time someone wants to pay rent using a Housing Choice Voucher,” Stan Weber, president and CEO of Overland Park-based Tower properties, said in testimony earlier this session.

The legislation easily passed both the Kansas House and Senate, but Kelly vetoed the legislation last week.

“At a time when Kansans are facing ever-increasing costs and sky-high rents, the Legislature chose to pass a bill that will make it harder for Kansas renters to find an affordable place to live,” Kelly said in her veto message. “This bill also takes away the discretion of local elected officials to formulate housing policy that’s best for their community. I encourage the Legislature to focus on policy that respects the authority of local officials and that makes it easier, not harder, for Kansans to afford basic necessities.”

Lawmakers in both chambers, though, had the needed votes — two-thirds of all members — to override Kelly’s veto. Both chambers overrode the veto on largely party line votes.