Hearing Highlights
Mon - HB2686 Removing felony violation of possession of marijuana
Turnaround Week
Tue-Thu - The entire Senate and House will be on the floor all day with no committees.
WEEK 6 VIDEO SCRIPT
Tobacco 21 HB2563
In December, Pres. Trump signed a federal law that raised the age for tobacco products from 18 to 21. A bill to bring state law into tobacco 21 compliance passed committee with expanded regulations on vaping. The bill could see all sorts of amendments on the floor as legislators debate how to respond to the surge in teen nicotine addiction.
Medicaid Expansion SB252
Thursday, the Senate Public Health committee added several amendments apparently aimed at sabotaging the bipartisan Medicaid expansion bill. This included making it so doctors can refuse to treat LGBTQ Kansans, and explicitly stating expansion would only go into effect if the abortion amendment was fully passed and put into the state constitution. After members such as Sen. Suellentrop and Masterson finished manipulating the bill the committee voted to kill the expansion plan that was originally cosponsored by over half the senate. Sen. Pres. Wagle claimed “this is exactly how democracy is supposed to work” with Maj. Led. Denning responding “this is no way to govern.” Although it was killed, there are still a variety of ways the original bipartisan expansion bill could re-emerge such as through a procedural move called gut-and-go that could turn another bill into expansion. However, this could become the 4th year in a row with the majority of the legislature supporting expansion and Republican leadership blocking it.
Plastic Bags HB2625
Some local governments are looking at banning or requiring a few cents fee for single use plastic grocery bags. The reason being that bags are a source of litter that can create various environmental problems. A bill passed committee that would undermine these efforts by stripping away local authority to regulate plastic bags and straws for 5 years.
Uncounted Votes SB351
Over 6,000 ballots from eligible Kansas voters were thrown out in 2018. A bill was introduced to ensure all eligible provisional votes are counted in the future, but it was amended in committee to only protect a class of Kansans who were previously registered, but moved across a county line. The narrower bill would result in thousands more ballots being counted, but still would leave many Kansans votes uncounted.
Mail Ballots SB412
Voting by mail has become increasingly popular in Kansas, but unless you have a disability you have to apply for a ballot before every election. A bill cleared committee to allow any Kansas voters to join the permanent mail voter list and get a mail ballot automatically every election unless they fail to return it for 2 consecutive elections.
Cyber Security
Through the Brownback years, the state legislature constantly cut budgets to fund tax breaks. This left the state with a web of wildly outdated technology and privatized IT services that are highly vulnerable to data breaches. A 3-year audit showed the depth of security flaws, but it’s unclear if there is the political will to invest the many millions of dollars needed to modernize the states technology infrastructure.
Turnaround
This coming week is turnaround which means most bills must pass either the House or the Senate to stay alive. There are entire committees like Federal and State affairs that are exempt from this deadline though and bills can be blessed which means the Speaker or President briefly passes them through an exempt committee to keep them alive. Both chambers should be on the floor Tuesday through Thursday and may be looking to get some bills passed despite Sen. Wagle’s Senate shutdown.
Outro
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