Kansas Week 8 Recap: medical marijuana, swatting sprees, the gut-n-go and more❗️
Video Script
Intro [02/27-03/05]
I’m Davis Hammet with Loud Light! Here’s what happened in the 8th week of the 2023 Kansas legislative session.
Medical Marijuana
The Kansas House passed a medical marijuana bill in 2021 and last Fall the Senate held an interim committee to study the topic. This week a Senate Committee held a surprise two day briefing where only opponents of medical marijuana were allowed to speak. Many speakers were law enforcement with one likening medical marijuana supporters to communists. Polls show most Kansans support marijuana legalization and Kansas is one of only 3 states that have not addressed the topic, yet Republican Chair Thompson who orchestrated the one-sided opposition briefing said his hand picked witnesses raised questions and the state shouldn’t be hasty.
School Shooting SWATtings
Over 15 schools across Kansas received calls with warnings of either an armed shooter, gunshots, or injured students in their buildings this week. All calls were found to be hoaxes. This appears to be part of a nationwide weeklong swatting spree. “Swatting” is when false threats are called in so that law enforcement storms an address. A similar incident in Kansas ended fatally when a local unarmed Wichita man Andrew Finch was killed by police in a raid triggered by a fake report.
State Credit Upgrade
Kansas had an AA+ credit rating until the Brownback years when the legislature passed unfunded tax breaks and used accounting tricks to cover up yearly budget deficits. The fiscal irresponsibility sent the states credit rating into a freefall making it more expensive for the government to secure loans for big infrastructure projects. This week S&P announced that the outlook for investing in Kansas has improved under Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and the state’s rating will likely increase soon, but warned this progress would change if the legislature enacted new unbalanced tax cuts.
Anti-Homelessness bill (HB 2430)
A bill criminalizing Kansans experiencing homelessness had a hearing this week. The bill is being pushed by the Cicero Institute, a Texas organization created in 2018 to advance the beliefs of venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale who is an outspoken supporter of private prisons. The bill would make sleeping on any public land a crime and take away state funds from local governments if they aren’t actively enforcing the new law. While Cicero Institute was the only supporter, over 50 Kansans gave testimony opposing the bill.
Gut-n-Go Drama (SB 83)
Drama within the House K-12 Budget Committee escalated this week as Republican Chair Williams gave only one-day notice of a hearing on a school voucher bill passed by the Senate. Then when Kansans showed up to testify she declared there would be no hearing on the bill because she plans to use it as a shell for a gut-n-go. A controversial maneuver allowing her to completely replace the contents of a bill while keeping the bill history meaning on paper it will look like the Senate already approved a bill they’ve never actually seen.
Coming Up
This week will have hearings on multiple abortion, education, and election bills. On Monday there will be a Bodily Autonomy advocacy day as two bills targeting transgender Kansans are heard simultaneously in separate committees. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time, thank you so much Kansas!