Week of March 1 to March 3, 2023

It was a short week in Topeka, but still packed with drama.

The House K-12 Education Budget committee continues to go rogue, seeks to defund public schools and disrespects teachers. Bills on alcohol and tobacco kept lawmakers busy on the floor. A bill to penalize homeless Kansans brought out dozens of upset people and groups.

A special thank you to Eve and Audi for serving as Legislative Pages this week. They were there on the day that we debated and passed several bills including the T-21 bill. So glad they were able to spend the day with me at the Capitol.

It was an honor to join Representative Kirk Haskins and Kansas Thespians on the House Floor to celebrate Theatre in Our Schools Day at the Capitol! The Kansas Thespians is a chapter of the Educational Theatre Association and the International Theatre Society.

The Kansas Thespians chapter joined The International Thespian Society in 1933, making them the oldest troupe in the western half of the USA. Every January, the Kansas Thespians hold its Thespian Festival. Theatre in our schools help students develop self-confidence, creative problem solving, the ability to communicate their thoughts and feelings and work better with others.

It is important that we continue to support arts education and public investment in the arts that enrich our communities.

Governor Laura Kelly’s economic development efforts continue to bring businesses and stability to Kansas. Kansas was Ranked #1 in Private Investment Per Capita for the second straight year winning the 2022 Site Selection Magazine’s Governor’s Cup. More below about the Governor’s leadership that has paved the way for this remarkable economic recovery. 

A Medicaid expansion rally is planned for March 15th. Hopefully the show of support will help move Medicaid expansion forward this session. Details for the rally are included below.

It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and appreciate your input on issues facing state government.  Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions.  My office address is Room 452-S, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612.  You can reach me at (785) 296-7430 or call the legislative hotline at (800) 432-3924 to leave a message for me. You can also e-mail me at pam.curtis@house.ks.gov

The K-12 Education Budget Committee

In the House K-12 Education Budget Committee there are efforts to expand voucher programs and school choice. The committee was supposed to hear from the public on Thursday afternoon, but the meeting is at the center of controversy after the chairwoman prohibited questions, dismissed concerns about transparency brought forward by representatives on the committee, and openly admitted to gutting the bill. 

In a whirlwind 17-minute meeting, the Chair declared the day’s agenda null and void despite the attendance of numerous conferees and frustration among committee members. The committee was prepared to hear input from the public on SB 83 -- another voucher bill – however the Chair, Rep. Williams, announced the bill’s contents would be stripped and entirely new language would be inserted by Monday. This timeline prohibits the public from submitting testimony.

Chair Williams’ new version of the bill will be unveiled in the next committee meeting on Monday at 3:30 P.M., which can be watched live here. 

Criminalizing Homelessness

In a packed Welfare Reform committee hearing on Thursday afternoon, lawmakers discussed HB 2430. The legislation would criminalize sleeping on state and local land. Violators of the law would be faced with a class C nonperson misdemeanor charge and up to 30 days in jail, a controversial approach to tackling the state’s homelessness situation.

In another series of attacks on home rule, the bill also prohibits local officials, such as law enforcement and prosecutors, from refusing to enforce the law. The attorney general would be allowed to bring civil action against any violators. Furthermore, the bill strips cities of state funds to combat homelessness if the city has a higher-than-average rate of homelessness. 

Opponents called the bill dehumanizing and ineffective in nearly 60 pieces of testimony. The 2022 Advocates’ Guide from the National Homelessness Law Center says, “Criminalization is the most expensive and least effective way of addressing homelessness,” and explains the consequences of arrests on an individual’s ability to rise out of poverty when weighed down by unaffordable tickets and criminal convictions. Additionally, a 2022 court opinion in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that civil and criminal punishments for homelessness are “cruel and unusual.”

Rep. Brian Bergkamp, the bill’s sponsor, advocates weighing “compassion for people in that situation,” against the complications they present to surrounding communities. He introduced the legislation on behalf a conservative, Texas-based think tank, the Cicero Institute. The sole proponent of the bill was a representative from the institute.

The committee’s chair gave the single proponent thirty minutes to present testimony but opponents were given two minutes each. Significant differences in time allotted to conferees is a growing pattern in the legislature.

Raising the Tobacco Age Limit

The House voted 68-53 on Thursday to raise the legal age to buy tobacco to 21. Failing to raise the legal age would cost the state an annual estimated $1.2 million in federal funding. The bill would bring the state into federal compliance and allow the state to continue receiving those funds. 

In 2019, President Trump signed legislation to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and raise the federal minimum age for sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years. This legislation (known as “Tobacco 21” or “T21”) became effective immediately and without exception.

Across the Rotunda

In the days leading up to the turnaround deadline, the Kansas Senate debated nearly 50 pieces of legislation. All but one reached the constitutional majority required to pass.

These include bills to prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes entirely in the state; eliminating the three-day grace period on advance ballots by mail that was adopted unanimously just 6 years ago; banning a safe, common access point for medication abortion; eliminating access to gender-affirming care (in all its forms) for trans Kansans; prohibiting communities’ ability to prevent future pandemics; expanding voucher programs that will defund our schools; and slashing taxes so drastically that our economy would be hit worse than under Brownback’s failed tax experiment. 

Back on Track After Brownback

Governor Laura Kelly’s predictable, stable leadership paved the way for economic recovery. Check out the recent highlights:

• S&P Global Improves Kansas Credit Outlook Under Governor Kelly: “S&P Global, a worldwide credit rating agency, announced it has improved its credit outlook for the State of Kansas to ‘positive’ from ‘stable,’ citing Governor Laura Kelly’s efforts to close the Bank of KDOT, balance the state budget, pay off KPERS debt, and achieve record-low unemployment rates. This increases the likelihood that within the next two years the agency will improve Kansas’ credit rating, which dropped during Governor Sam Brownback’s administration due to his failed tax experiment. S&P affirmed Kansas’ credit rating as AA.” Read the full press release here.

• Governor Kelly Announces February Total Tax Collections Exceed Estimates by Nearly $37 Million: “Total tax-only collections for February were $549.8 million. That is $36.8 million, or 7.2%, more than the monthly estimate. Those collections were also $47.3 million, or 9.4%, more than in February 2022.”
  
  “‘Revenues have exceeded estimates for 30 out of the last 31 months – a clear sign that our efforts to make Kansas a place where businesses and families want to call home is paying off,’ Governor Laura Kelly said. ‘These revenues will continue to grow our historic budget surplus, making it possible for our legislature to pass responsible tax cuts that help every Kansan, like my ‘Axing Your Taxes’ plan.’” Read the full press release here. 

• Governor Kelly Announces Kansas Ranked #1 in Private Investment Per Capita for Second Straight Year: “Kansas attracted the most private business investment per capita of any state in the country in 2022 and will receive the nation’s foremost economic development award, the Governor’s Cup from Site Selection magazine, for the second year in a row.” Read the full press release here.

• Governor Kelly Celebrates Second Straight Governor’s Cup Win: “Governor Laura Kelly was joined by Lieutenant Governor David Toland and Kansas business leaders to celebrate the announcement that the state has won the 2022 Site Selection Magazine’s Governor’s Cup. In 2022, Kansas ranked first in the nation in private investment per capita for the second straight year.”  Read the full press release here.

Rally for KanCare Expansion

Join Alliance for a Healthy Kansas and other Medicaid expansion advocates for a rally in the Capitol building on March 15th! RSVP here. 

Views From the House Floor

• HB 2269: Amending the Kansas cigarette and tobacco products act to raise the minimum age to 21 years old for the sale, purchase or possession of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes or tobacco products. Final Action, passed 68-53. 

• HB 2058: Requiring monthly remittance of gallonage taxes on wine to the secretary of revenue by the holder of a special order shipping license. Emergency Final Action, passed 112-10. 

• HB 2059: Amending the alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage common consumption area law to permit rather than require the city ordinance or county resolution creating such an area to block public streets or roadways from motorized traffic and to allow the boundaries to be designated by signage. Emergency Final Action, passed as amended 116-6.

• HB 2170: Providing sampling rules for alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages for spirits distributors, wine distributors and beer distributors in regard to the amount of products used for samples for distributors, retailers and club and drinking establishment licensees. Emergency Final Action, passed as amended 115-7. 

• HB 2124: Allowing businesses to sell cereal malt beverage by the drink on Sundays without requiring that 30% of such businesses’ gross receipts be derived from the sale of food. Emergency Final Action, passed 97 to 25. 

• SB 39: Directing the capitol preservation committee to develop and approve plans for a mural honoring the 1st Kansas (Colored) Voluntary Infantry regiment. Final Action, passed 122-0. 

• HB 2290: Authorizing the affiliation of northwest Kansas technical college and north central Kansas technical college with Fort Hays state university. Final Action, passed 121-1. 

• HB 2176: Creating the Arkansas city area public library district act, requiring an election for the creation of such district and authorizing unified school district No. 470 to levy a tax on behalf of the library district. Final Action, Passed as amended 110-12.