Kansas Senate Considers Bill To End Remote Work For State Employees

Photo by Megan Burns on Unsplash

Lawmakers in Kansas are considering a bill that would end remote work for the state’s employees.

Senate Bill 256, also known as the ‘Back To Work Act,’ would if enacted “require all full-time state employees to perform such employees’ duties in their assigned office, facility or field location, provide for certain exceptions by agency heads and require certain reports regarding such exceptions.”

Exceptions would be given for “Employees with nonstandard work hours, including, evenings,
weekends or holidays; positions where in-office employment is deemed unreasonable; or office space constraints that would require additional expenditures of the state agency to accommodate employees.”

Agencies would have until August 1, 2025 to submit a report to the Department of Administration of exceptions granted under the law. In turn, the Department of Administration would be required to submit a report on the exceptions to the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency by October 1, 2025.

According to a state report from 2023, about 30% of state employees work in a fully remote or hybrid role. SB 256 would affect approximately 5,500 state employees. Smaller agencies with less than 100 employees tend to have higher rates of remote work. Per the Kansas Reflector, this includes the “Kansas Water Office, the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the state board of optometry examiners and the board of mortuary arts. It also includes the Kansas Board of Regents, the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.”

Currently the bill is still in committee in the state Senate, and has not been introduced in the House.