Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504 larry.campbell@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612 Division of the Budget http://budget.kansas.gov
Larry L. Campbell, Director Laura Kelly, Governor


March 13, 2019


The Honorable Elaine Bowers, Chairperson
Senate Committee on Ethics, Elections and Local Government
Statehouse, Room 223-E
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Senator Bowers:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for SB 149 by Senator Miller
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning SB 149 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
Current law requires a person registering to vote to check a box to indicate whether that
person is or is not a citizen of the United States. SB 149 would amend that law to add language to
the voter registration form explaining that proof of U.S. citizenship is required by Kansas law and
failure to provide proof of citizenship while registering to vote would constitute consent for the
county election officer or the chief state election official to obtain the person’s birth certificate
from the State Registrar of Vital Statistics or from the appropriate agency of another state for the
purpose of establishing citizenship. There would be no cost associated with obtaining the birth
certificate to the election officials or the person who did not provide proof of citizenship.

Estimated State Fiscal Effect
FY 2019 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2020
SGF All Funds SGF All Funds
Revenue -- -- -- ($459,000)
Expenditure -- -- $135,668 $135,668
FTE Pos. -- -- -- 2.00
According to the Office of Vital Statistics in the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment, enactment of SB 149 would result in additional expenditures of $135,668 in FY
2020 to pay for 2.00 Customer Service Representative FTE positions who would respond to
requests for birth certificates made by county election offices or the chief state election official.
Costs associated with these positions would be $58,834 each for salaries and wages, $10,000 for
equipment and furniture, $2,000 for supplies, and $6,000 for in-state and out-of-state travel. The
The Honorable Elaine Bowers, Chairperson
Page 2—SB 149

costs in the out years would be approximately $128,000, with $60,000 each for salaries and wages,
$2,000 for supplies, and $6,000 for in-state and out-of-state travel.
The agency reports that between 2014 and 2017, approximately 158,000 voter registration
applications were submitted by the Secretary of State for birth certificate matching to identify
Kansas-born applications. Of that number, over 62,000 were matched. If those certificates had
been issued free of charge, the Office of Vital Statistics would have lost more than $936,000 in
revenue or an average of $234,000 annually. In addition to lost revenue for issuing birth
certificates associated with voter registration, the agency believes that there might be a risk of lost
revenue for individuals successful in acquiring their birth certificate under the guise of needing it
for voter registration but using it for other needs. If the agency estimates a 15.0 percent loss due
to this behavior and applies it to the estimated 100,000 birth certificates issued annually, an
additional loss of $225,000 in revenue at $15 per certificate could be experienced, for a total loss
of $459,000.
The Secretary of State was not able to provide information on the fiscal effect of enactment
of the bill on the agency. Any fiscal effect associated with SB 149 is not reflected in The FY 2020
Governor’s Budget Report.


Sincerely,

Larry L. Campbell
Division of the Budget


cc: Bryan Caskey, Office of the Secretary of State
Dan Thimmesch, Health & Environment
Jay Hall, Association of Counties


Statutes affected:
As introduced: 65-2422d, 25-2309