Kansas, also known as the Sunflower State, is known for more than just the Great Plains and The Wizard of Oz. This year, the state has shown the rest of the country how to promote innovation.
After two years of effort, in 2025, Representative Patrick Penn introduced House Bill 2291, which passed the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate with bipartisan support but was later vetoed by Governor Laura Kelly. The House and Senate then moved to override the veto with an eighty-eight to thirty-seven and thirty to ten vote, respectively.
Unlike most states with universal sandboxes, and Missouri being the other exception, Kansas didn’t start with any industry-targeted sandboxes before going for a universal sandbox. Thus, Kansas is the second state to go straight from no sandbox to a universal sandbox.
What Regulatory Sandboxes Do
A regulatory sandbox allows businesses, under the observation of regulators, to develop and offer new products, services, and business models while receiving a temporary waiver from regulations inapplicable to their ideas. Kansas’ universal sandbox applies to any and all industries, including those that haven’t been thought of yet.
The sandbox:
- Allows a company to temporarily offer its products and services in a controlled environment for up to three years;
- Requires that a company remain transparent to consumers to inform them of the services they’re exploring;
- Provides a process for entering and exiting the sandbox so consumers aren’t left high and dry;
- And establishes the universal sandbox in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.
If the trial is a success, the sandbox offers a pathway forward for the company to enter the open market while also guiding the Kansas Attorney General’s Office on which regulations require reform or even repeal.
The sandbox doesn’t just benefit new companies, but also existing ones
The sandbox benefits both new and existing businesses. By providing businesses–both big and small, old and new–the opportunity to innovate in all industries, it’ll be interesting to see what “next big thing” will come as a result of Kansas’ universal sandbox.
Americans for Prosperity Kansas and Kansas Policy Institute proved instrumental in ushering House Bill 2291 through their state before passing it into law. Kansas continues to invite and promote innovation in their state while helping innovative businesses avoid problematic, and often outdated, regulations. The Sunflower State joins Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, and Utah in operating a universal sandbox.
Regulatory sandboxes are an issue that Libertas Institute has researched extensively, and we stand ready to help your state pursue this opportunity as we have with Kansas. For groups or legislators in other states looking to work on this issue, we’d love to help!
