TOPEKA — Kansas would increase its vehicle registration fees to help its Highway Patrol put more troopers on the state’s highways under a bill the state Senate approved.
The Senate on Tuesday voted 24-14 for a measure that boosts the fee for each vehicle’s registration by $3.25. The measure goes next to the House.
Of the increase, $2 will go to the patrol and $1.25 to the state’s center in Hutchinson for training law enforcement officers.
The measure would allow the patrol to hire an additional 75 troopers.
Thirty-five of the state’s 105 counties have no assigned trooper, and the patrol has about 80 fewer troopers than it did a decade ago.
Critics of the bill said the state should use general tax dollars to pay for public safety needs.
