'Legislative committees'

Each year the Kansas Legislative Research Department publishes a report (or reports) for the upcoming legislative session with summaries of the activities and recommendations of legislative standing committees, special committees, joint committees and other committees, commissions and task forces.  These reports cover key issues for the session ahead.

The Committee Reports are prepared primarily for the use of the Legislature.  Coordination of the reports and appointment of the special committees is done by the Legislative Coordinating Council.  The reports are also known as Interim Reports as they are the outcome of work done during the "interim"... that time between legislative sessions... about May to December. 

Though initially for the use of the Legislature the Committee Reports serve as an excellent "barometer" in gauging topics and issues important in the session to come.  Older Reports can serve as an auxiliary tool in historical research on the activities of state government as well.

The State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library has scanned many of the Committee Reports back to 1978 so far with the goal of providing these reports back to the 1930s. 

You can view the reports online at the KGI Online Library website and see current and past issues being worked through and presented to legislative sessions.... all from the comfort of your computer!

For more information on legislative committees check out the online booklet, "Legislative Procedure in Kansas" (2006).  Information on committees starts on page 20 of this booklet.

It was mid October, 1888, in a hotly contested election year.  A package, being stored at a private residence in Coffeyville, Kansas, destined to be shipped by train exploded killing two women..  The tragic event sent shock waves throughout the state.  Politicians blamed different groups in opposing camps.

Eventually a legislative committee was created to investigate the explosion.  The Committee heard testimonies, reviewed exhibits and letters and issued its report in 1891.

The State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library recently add this 1891 report to our collection:

Proceedings of the Joint Committee of the Legislature of the State of Kansas, appointed at the Session of 1891, to investigate the explosion which occurred at Coffeyville, Kansas, October 18, 1888

Want more?  The Kansas Historical Society has a digitized copy of a pamphlet issued by Populists on the Coffeyville explosion:

"The Coffeyville Dynamite Outrage"
A Populist perspective on the explosion