Kansas Week 12 Recap: guns in schools, investigations, Medicaid renewal, and more❗️
Video Script
Intro [03/27-04/02]
Hey I’m Davis Hammet with Loud Light! In the 12th week of the 2023 Kansas legislative session the legislature sent 20 mostly uncontroversial bills to the Governor, but the House and Senate still haven’t agreed on the biggest items like tax cuts, school funding, and the overall state budget.
Eddie Eagle (HB 2304) [Floor Debate Time]
A day after another deadly school shooting, The Senate passed a mandate that elementary schools wanting to teach gun safety must use the National Rifle Association’s program Eddie Eagle which is not evidence-based and has never been shown to be effective. Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes attempted to amend the bill to also allow schools to provide information to parents about safe gun storage practices, but the amendment was shot down by Republican Senators who argued that it shouldn’t be allowed because the curriculum was designed by Everytown for Gun Safety which they called political & argued that the NRA, which spent over $50 million in 2016 electing Republican candidates, is not political. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk, who has vetoed the NRA in Schools mandate in the past.
Women's “Bill of Rights” (SB 180)
A Senate bill titled the “Women's Bill of Rights” that defines women as those that produce ova and bans the government from recognizing that transgender Kansans exist passed the House this week. House Representatives amended the bill in an attempt to address complex differences in sex development like girls with naturally elevated testosterone levels by declaring any such Kansan to be disabled, not allow them in mens or womens facilities, and instead provide isolated accommodations. The Attorney General’s office flagged for legislators that if enacted into law the policy would likely immediately be challenged in Court. The bill now goes back to the Senate to agree or disagree with the amendment.
Campaign Finance (Sub SB208)
A Senate bill was gutted and replaced with a bill making changes to the Kansas Ethics Commission which enforces campaign finance laws. The new language creates a 5 year statute of limitations for violating ethics laws and creates a variety of new restrictions on subpoenas and other enforcement actions the Ethics commission may take. The bill is considered a compromise and was largely driven by Republican Attorney’s who are in legal battles with the commission and comes during an ongoing investigation into potential money laundering by top Republican officials and their political consultants. The bill ran into bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition in the Senate, but ultimately passed and now heads to the Governor’s desk.
Medicaid Renewal
The state’s annual renewals for Medicaid and CHIP have been paused since 2020, but started back up on April 1st. This means many Kansans are at risk of accidentally losing coverage. If you or a loved one relies on KanCare or CHIP you must renew to verify eligibility or will lose the health insurance benefit.
Coming Up
This coming week may be short and fast or drag into late nights as the House and Senate negotiate their differences on the biggest issues before April 6th when the legislators go on April break before returning for a wrap up session at the end of April. Thanks for liking, commenting, and sharing. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time, thank you so much Kansas!