Kansas lawmakers debated past midnight before leaving with unresolved issues. Here's where each stands.
Jason Alatidd
Kansas lawmakers left Topeka Saturday morning after advancing a rash of bills but without acting on some major pieces of legislation.
The night was shaping up to go into the wee hours. Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, moved at around 10 p.m. to suspend the midnight rule to allow the House to work into the morning. Rep. Dennis Highberger, D-Lawrence, objected.
Highberger referenced a previous comment by a lawmaker about whether the schoolchildren who championed HB 2644 to make the sandhill plum the state fruit were awake to see it.
"No, they're not, because it's past their bedtime," he said. "We should do our work when the people who sent us here are watching us. It's not a good idea to make laws when the people who make the laws are tired and grumpy and just want to go home."
The House and Senate continued working until the chambers abruptly adjourned at around 1:30 a.m., leaving major policy issues unresolved.
Legislators are now home for a spring break. Issues that weren't resolved are expected be taken up during the veto session, which starts April 25.
More:Kansas doesn't have a state fruit. These fourth- and fifth-graders have a big idea to fix that.
No budget for education but a parents' bill of rights
Legislators failed to pass the K-12 budget, opting to save the bill for when they return for veto session. Two other education bills passed, but not with veto-proof majorities.
Lawmakers passed SB 58, a so-called parents' bill of rights. The legislation is intended to increase transparency by allowing parents to inspect and review classroom curriculum, but opponents say it would be overly burdensome for educators and is unnecessary.
Public school districts would be required to develop policies allowing parents to be informed of what is being taught in their child's classroom and letting them examine lesson plans, tests, textbooks and other course materials. Parents could challenge library books and pull their child from participation in activities or materials they object to.
More:Kansas Legislature send parents' bill of rights to Gov. Laura Kelly after heated debate
The Legislature also approved SB 160, a ban on transgender girls and women from competing in sports, the day after the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Proponents argue that the bill protects girls and women.
"This is not hate. This is fair sport," said Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays. "Crossing category lines in sports has always been considered cheating."
The debate featured an impassioned speech by Rep. Stephanie Byers, D-Wichita, who is first transgender lawmaker in state history and a former band teacher.
"When this is over, when we go on break, I will go to my house and there will be families who come to my porch and look at me and say, 'Can you tell us it is going to be OK?'" Byers said.
More:Transgender athletes ban sent to Gov. Laura Kelly without a veto-proof majority
Kelly vetoed similar legislation a year ago.
The trans sports bill and the parents' bill of rights joined an election bill as the final three Senate actions early Saturday morning. That came amid a brief lockdown to force lawmakers to vote aye or nay instead of opting out of taking a position on the controversial legislation.
Taxes and budgets
As the votes were tallied on the final slate of bills, Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, took issue with the Legislature not advancing two major tax cut bills.
"We have had a surplus of over $3 billion, and we are not making it a priority to pass this tax money back to the Kansas taxpayers," Tyson said. "I'm extremely disappointed. Politics should not get in the way of providing for Kansas citizens, especially in this economy. Mister president, we are setting a priority by the bills that we are passing in this chamber, and I pray that we will make Kansas taxpayers a priority."
Tax policymakers repackaged dozens of proposals into three bills: one just on the food sales tax (HB 2106), another with smaller or less controversial tax cuts (HB 2239) and a third with larger or more controversial positions (HB 2597).
Only HB 2239, a compilation of 29 different bills, was taken up by both chambers. It passed with bipartisan support. It would cut taxes by an estimated $91 million in fiscal year 2023, $100 million in 2024 and $120 million in 2025.
The new food sales tax plan is not as aggressive as Kelly and fellow Democrats have pushed for. They wanted to axe the state's 6.5% sales tax on groceries to zero, starting July 1. The plan negotiated by Republicans would gradually cut the rate to zero over three years, with the first cut to 4% not coming until Jan. 1.
More:$90 million in tax cuts approved by Kansas Legislature — but no axe the food sales tax
Lawmakers signed off on a nearly $22 billion budget plan. The budget includes $145 million for a 5% pay increase for state workers — the first raise since 2018.
"We understand we need to make sure we get all the state employees a better wage so they can afford to deal with inflation alone, much less just making a good living," said Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland. "I think the big difference is we realize we need to take care of our people."
A separate bill would send $854 million to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to shore up the state's pension fund.
More:Kansas legislators approve 5% pay raise for state workers in budget, increases KPERS funding
Ivermectin and other COVID-inspired bills
The Legislature didn't act on four pandemic-inspired bills rewriting public health laws: SB 489, SB 541, HB 2280 and HB 2416. The Senate previously passed the bills, but the House hasn't been receptive to taking up the issues.
While senators succeeded in getting an anti-vaccine provision tacked on to SB 286 during the conference committee process, a similar attempt to add an anti-quarantine provision to an unrelated bill blocked it from advancing.
That bill, SB 12, never made it out of conference committee. Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, R-Baxter Springs, first requested adding the entirety of the anti-quarantine SB 489 into SB 12, which dealt with the Department for Children and Families, not public health.
When House members rejected the idea, Hilderbrand demanded just one piece of SB 489 that would eliminate statutory authority for health officers to compel sheriffs to assist with quarantines.
"Unless that piece gets put in, I don't see Senate Bill 12 moving forward," Hilderbrand said.
The bill never moved forward.
The anti-vaccine provision was added to a bill that extends COVID-related liability immunity for businesses and hospitals, among other things. The language, which never had a public hearing, would bar hospitals from discriminating based on COVID-19 vaccination status.
Opponents raised concerns that it could affect organ transplants, which typically have vaccine requirements to increase the chances the procedure is successful, as well as other settings, such as cancer centers where patients are at high-risk of severe disease and death.
More:COVID liability bill passes in Kansas over objections from Democrats, pro-ivermectin Republicans
The legislation to promote ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as off-label drugs to treat COVID-19 has been the most controversial of the four public health bills. Hilderbrand tried to push for that bill, HB 2280, during a Friday evening health conference committee meeting. Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, said no.
"I thought we had settled on some potential new language, and then discovered yesterday that we had not," Landwehr said. "At this stage that we're at, we're not willing to move on that with what you're offering."
Sports betting
A proposal to legalize wagering on sporting events was perhaps the most prominent victim of the Legislature's adjournment.
The legislation, SB 84, was pulled to the House floor after a committee rejected a lengthy amendment proposed by leadership. It then went to a conference committee before heading back to the House floor Friday night.
The bill passed 63-49 — the absolute slimmest of margins in the 125-member House. The Senate didn't take up the bill.
What made the legislation more controversial than expected was a provision added late in the negotiations that could attempt to lure the Kansas City Chiefs to move to from the Missouri side of the metro to Kansas.
The mechanism would direct a majority of state revenues from sports betting to the "Attracting Professional Sports to Kansas Fund" in an apparent attempt to capitalize on recent rumors that the NFL team could be interested in moving.
Kansas Lottery projections show the state could expect $10 million a year in new revenue — hardly a major windfall when compared to the cost of a new football stadium.
More:Sports betting clears big hurdle. But an attempt to lure the Kansas City Chiefs almost backfires.
Elections, ethics and signed bills
Lawmakers approved a freeze on the state's Medicaid contracts after a tense debate featuring corruption allegations. They also passed a bill targeting food stamp work and training requirements at a time of record-low unemployment.
While the Senate barely passed HB 2056, the House didn't take up the legislation. The election bill would limit the use of ballot drop boxes.
Legislators walked back an effort to oust Mark Skoglund, director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, amid an apparent inquiry into the chamber of commerce and possibly Republican legislators.
Before adjourning, the Senate announced that Gov. Laura Kelly had signed a dozen bills. The bills — SB 141, SB 300, SB 330, SB 336, SB 367, SB 417, SB 419, SB 440, SB 448, SB 450, SB 483 and SB 506 — previously passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.
Andrew Bahl of The Capital-Journal contributed reporting.