The Guardian of Public Money. What the Kansas Treasurer Does and Why It Matters in Your Community
Kansas | October 23, 2026
By Claudia Amaro | Planeta Venus
During elections, most people focus on the most well-known government positions. However, another role on the state ballot often goes unnoticed but affects the finances of families, schools, and local businesses every day: the Treasurer of the State of Kansas.
Many people call the treasurer the "chief banker" and think of them as the person who manages the state's money. But voters should know the treasurer does not create the state budget or set taxes. The Legislature and the governor make those decisions through laws and appropriations. The treasurer's job is to manage, protect, and use public resources following the rules set by law.
With the general election coming up on November 3, 2026, when voters will choose this official for a four-year term, Planeta Venus in Wichita, Kansas, interviewed Democratic candidate Juan Luengo. The goal was to learn more about what the office does and hear his personal vision for the role.
What does the State Treasurer's Office actually do?
To understand how this position impacts the community, let's look at its main tasks:
Safeguarding money and paying state bills: The treasury collects all public revenue for Kansas and keeps it in approved banks. It also pays and processes all checks the state issues, making sure payments and legal transfers reach the right place.
Distributing funds to local governments: The office figures out and sends important payments to cities and counties, following formulas set by law.
Protecting public bank deposits: Through the Kansas Collateral Pool, started in 2026, the treasury makes sure banks hold collateral worth at least 102% of public deposits not covered by the federal government. This keeps the money of schools, counties, and cities safe.
Returning unclaimed property: The office handles forgotten financial assets like uncashed paychecks, refunds, dormant bank accounts, or insurance policies, and works to return them to their owners for free. In fiscal year 2025, the program processed 30,625 claims and gave back nearly $21.7 million to citizens.
Family Savings and Investment Programs: The office oversees college and technical savings programs like Quest529, which gives KIDS scholarships of up to $600 for low-income families, and Kansas ABLE accounts, which help cover expenses for people with disabilities.
Linked Deposit Credit Programs: The office puts state funds in participating banks at lower rates so that these banks can offer cheaper loans to farmers, housing developers, and small businesses.
Investment and pension oversight: The treasurer is a member of the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB), which invests state funds, and also holds one of nine seats on the board of KPERS, the retirement system for Kansas public employees.
From Caracas to Kansas: "Finance is my love language"
During the interview on Planeta Venus, Juan Luengo shared his story as an immigrant. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to the United States in 1989. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1999 and has lived here for 37 years.
"I feel American, obviously with my Venezuelan roots," Luengo said. He graduated from Penn State with a degree in communications and earned certifications at Dartmouth, Wharton (UPenn), and through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. He moved to Kansas in 2005. For the past 20 years, he has worked in risk management and insurance for construction companies, machine shops, and real estate.
His professional experience strengthened his love for numbers: "Finance is my love language." The idea of running for state treasurer started at home, when his 10-year-old son said he wanted to be an investment banker: "When he told me that, I knew I had to start gathering a lot."
For Luengo, switching from the private sector to public service feels like a natural way to keep helping people: "I've been working for clients for 20 years... and now I want to work for constituents. There's not a big difference between the two. I don't know at what point in politics the idea of the candidate or the politician working for their constituents was lost. But I want to go back to that, where I'm working for them, listening to what the problems are and providing solutions."
A wake-up call: how the treasury affects daily life
When discussing the treasury's work, Luengo pointed out that this office is usually not very visible, even though it manages a lot of money: "For every dollar that comes in taxes, it goes through this office. That is very important... It is a branch that has been very quiet. So I decided to go in and ring a bell so that people understand."
The candidate criticized his Republican rival, current state treasurer Steven Johnson: "The opponent is very comfortable sitting behind a desk all day. That's not doing the work. Doing the work means going out and understanding what's going on in each community. You can't put a shoe on everybody, because western communities are very different than Johnson County, and Johnson County is very different than Liberal or Garden City. I have to go out; my team has to go out and listen and get to the office to make a plan."
The proposals and the five pillars of the campaign
Luengo outlined the main points of his campaign proposal:
School Partnerships for College Savings (Quest529): He proposes working directly with elementary and middle school districts to teach parents and grandparents about 529 accounts. "If I put $50 in this 529 account and the grandparents each put $50, that's already $150 a month, plus what the program adds. Over 15 years, that's a lot of money," he said, stressing the need to help young people avoid heavy student debt.
Activate Linked Loan Funds (Linked Deposits): He pointed out that these programs, meant to support Kansas' economy, are underused. For example, $60 million is available for home purchases, but no loans were made in the last period. Of the $55 million for farms, only $23 million was used, even though many farms closed because of high gas and fertilizer costs. He also noted that, of the $60 million set aside for small businesses, only $27 million was loaned.
Creation of a nonpartisan Economic Council: He proposes bringing together people from government, the private sector, small businesses, women, immigrants, and labor unions to advise the Department of Commerce and the governor. The goal is to create tax incentives for small businesses to grow, not just for large corporations.
Property tax relief for seniors: He said it's important to protect seniors who have lived in their homes for 20 or 30 years, so they don't lose them if they can't afford high taxes. "I don't look at it with good eyes ... that people who have worked 20, 30 or 40 years reach a certain age and then, because they can't pay taxes, they get kicked out of their home. That's not the American dream," he said.
Bilingual office and technology modernization: In the first 90 days, he plans to improve the state's website and hire Spanish-speaking customer service staff, so procedures are easier, and people don't have to understand technical language. "You need a translator, especially if you don't know what they're talking about... I want to have those resources and people who speak Spanish and are bilingual."
Community, representation and voting
Luengo talked about the challenges that minority and immigrant communities face in Kansas, like the difficulties in certifying small businesses owned by women and minorities who don't have full citizenship, and the need to support education and state tuition for DACA youth.
Looking ahead to the November election, where Kansas voters will choose between Steven Johnson, Juan C. Luengo, and Libertarian candidate Eric Lund, Luengo ended with a direct message for Latino families:
"I'm going to ask you to vote, not because I'm Latino, but because I have a plan that I want to execute... I'm asking you to go out and vote. If you want to make the night before a 'taco' party', grab 5 or 10 friends who are already registered to vote, and the next day, you'll be ready to go to the polls. With everything that's going on right now, this is the time to get out and vote."
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