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Topeka, KS
The legislature spent the week finalizing each chamber's positions and holding several conference committees. Next week, the conference committees will combine and pass large package bills. Anything that the legislature wants to pass in 2023 will need to be done next week. Some of the interesting things that passed this week, such as a chamber's negotiating policy position or a bargaining chip, are mentioned below. Everything is in flux and is constantly changing.
Conservative Offense
Born Alive. HB 2313 passed the Senate this week. The Senate amended the House bill by adding punishments for medical staff who ignore the mandate to try to save born-alive babies.
HB 2313
Abortion Pill Reversal Notice. HB 2439 would require that the chemical abortion prescription comes with a notice of how to possibly save the baby if a mother changes her mind after taking the first pill. Senator Haley voted for this this week.
HB 2439
Abortion Definition. The Senate passed SB 297 which would define abortion to mean the same definition across all state statutes and regulations. There has been confusion about what is and what is not an abortion; this would make the definition universal at the state level.
SB 297
Human Smuggling. The Senate amended and passed HB 2350, which is the human smuggling bill. The amendments mostly focus on keeping this law strictly about human smuggling. The Senate added language to keep these rules from bleeding over into other laws like illegal immigration.
HB 2350
Student Privacy. S Sub HB 2138, passed by the Senate this week, requires that the Kansas schools separate students according to their sex when providing accommodations for overnight trips–including athletic, club, and fundraising events. Students who complain about violations of this bill are protected from retaliation.
S Sub HB 2138
Child Sexual Assault Civil Suits. Passed by the Senate this week, S Sub HB 2127 is the latest attempt at child sexual assault civil suits. This latest iteration is a bi-partisan effort that worked with sexual assault survivors. If you are interested, please read the bill as there have been many versions.
S Sub HB 2127
Women's Bill of Rights. SB 180, passed by the House this week, defines what is woman/female and what is man/male.
SB 180
Foreign Adversary Land Ban. S Sub HB 2069, passed by the Senate this week, would prohibit foreign adversaries from owning land in Kansas. The land that they already own would have to be sold. The list of foreign adversaries would mirror the Fed's list.
S Sub HB 2069
ESG. SB 291 passed the Senate this week. It mirrors the House ESG bill, but with a little more teeth. In addition to preventing the state from discriminating based on ESG and KPERS making investments based solely on ESG, the Senate's version would require KPERS to divest its $150 million currently invested in foreign adversaries.
SB 291
Parent's Rights Bill. HB 2236 would allow parents to remove children from coursework that violates their beliefs. Students would have to complete other acceptable coursework to replace the skipped lesson. Students' records could also not be negatively affected by objecting to the material.
HB 2236
Tax Cuts. The House passed its tax cuts package in H Sub SB 169. The tax cuts would include a property tax deduction increase from $40k to $80k, food tax to 0% now, individual income deduction from $3500 to $4000, a flat tax of 5.25%, and corporate tax reduction from APEX now. We will see how this jives with the Senate and the Governor.
H Sub SB 169
Energy Independence. The House amended and passed a resolution calling on President Biden to restore the United State's energy independence.
SCR 1603
Election Day. The House passed the election-day bill that would require advanced ballots to be received by 7pm on election day.
SB 209
ABAWDs to 59. HB 2140 would increase the age requirement of working to receive SNAP tokens from 49 to 59. ABAWDs are able-bodied adults without dependents.
HB 2140
Conservative Defense
Gun control. House democrats tried to pass red flag laws, CHL bans, open carry bans, and "assault" weapons bans this week. The House rejected all of it.
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