MEMBERS

When you are paying your dues to Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association (KARA) and/or Kansas Grain and Feed Association (KGFA), one of the many returns on your investment is the dedication of our associations’ government affairs team in Topeka.

In this issue of Seed to Silo, I am to pleased share how your association led the effort to revitalize a state costshare program allowing our membership financial access to enhance their rail infrastructure.

HB 2335, a bill your associations introduced and heavily advocated for this legislative session, was recently passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the Kansas House and Senate, and in late-April was signed into law by Governor Laura Kelly.

This bill will allow millions of transportation dollars to be utilized by our members for their short line rail infrastructure needs.

In recent history, during the 2020 legislative session, the legislature passed the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program which included a $15 million, three-year, cost-share grant program for qualified track maintenance and improvements to short line rail and rail siding. Kansas agribusinesses have greatly benefited from this program for the previous three years.

This year, in coordination with the Kansas Dept. of Transportation (KDOT), we jointly introduced HB 2335 to restructure the Short Line Rail Improvement Fund program and combine it with KDOT’s Rail Service Improvement Fund Program.

The bill dedicates $10 million annually from the state highway fund for the program.

Under the recently signed bill, grain shippers and other owners of rail siding adjacent to short line rail are able to apply for program funding.

Both chambers’ respective transportation committee chairmen, Representative Shannon Francis (R-Liberal) and Senator Mike Petersen (R-Wichita) were instrumental in this legislation being approved overwhelmingly. They should be commended for their support of our industry.

The measure passed the House 117-5, while the Senate passed it 38-2, with only Senators Alicia Straub (R- Ellinwood) and Mark Steffen (R-Hutchinson) standing in opposition.

We applaud Governor Kelly for swiftly signing the bill on April 20. We are also thrilled to report this law passed the entirety of the legislative process without receiving an expiration date. This is a big deal for the import and export needs of our industry and is a tool our members can take advantage of for the foreseeable future.

KDOT is in the midst of developing guidelines for applicants to apply for the funds and we will share the details as they become available.

In the meantime, please reach out to association staff if you have questions or suggestions on how we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Ronald Seeber President and CEO