Week 4 in the Kansas Statehouse:
📜 Amendment Fails 🚫
🤬 Wagle’s Wrath ⁉️
👨🏾 Lamonte’s Justice 💵
❌ Spousal Battery 🚨
🌪 Tornado Tax 👠
🌎 Climate Change 💧
💉 Insulin Cap 🎢
🎆 Fireworks 🧨
Advocacy Opportunities
Mon - 2020 Wealth Day at the Capitol
Tue - Justice for All Lobby Day 2020
Wed - KCSDV Advocacy Day 2020
Thur - League of Women Voters Day of Action
Thur - Statehouse Rally for Kancare Expansion
Upcoming Hearing Highlights
Mon - SB 252 Medicaid expansion
Mon - HB 2532 School bus cameras.
Mon - HB 2530 Restricting at-risk student funding expenses
Mon - HB 2484 Increasing good time credits for certain offenders.
Tue - SB 242 Property tax abatement for agriculture destroyed by a natural disaster.
Tue - SB 283 Sports wagering
Tue - ERO 44 Creating the Kansas department of human services
Tue - HB 2516 Enacting the first-time home buyer savings account act.
Wed - HB 2473 Modifying the penalties for sexual contact between certain juveniles
Wed - SB 300 Prohibiting the sale of unpasteurized milk for human consumption.
Wed - HB 2005 Decoupling state and federal taxes
Wed - HB 2550 Increasing reimbursement rates for providers of home and community-based services
Wed - SB 310 Requiring all voting systems to use voter-verified paper ballots.
Wed - HB2557 $100 maximum per month of insulin.
Thur - SB 362 Allow retail sales of fireworks all year
Thur - HB 2563 Tobacco 21
Week 4 Video Script
Intro
Sup, I’m Davis Hammet. Here’s what happened week 4 in the Kansas Statehouse.
Amendment SCR1613
Republican House Leadership used procedural pressure tactics to drag out the vote on the abortion constitutional amendment for 7 hours including over 5 hours of a Call of the House where legislators must sit in their seats as they wait for missing legislators to return. The catch is that the Speaker is the one who’s both hiding the legislators and determines when to stop looking for them. In the end, these tactics by leadership accomplished nothing. 4 Republicans and all Democrats voted NO. The amendment failed to reach the 2/3rds majority required by 4 votes which is a sizable margin in a chamber where controversial laws are often decided by 1 vote. There is still an identical constitutional amendment in the House and many key leaders are basing their political futures on its passage.
Retaliation
Kansans for Life the group that wrote the abortion amendment stated that they would actively work to block Medicaid expansion to poor Kansans as retribution until their abortion amendment passed. Then Sen. Pres. Wagle began retaliation saying “This vote just completely changed the course of the 2020 legislative session” and then gaveled into an empty Senate chamber to move bills back to committee to block the Senate from voting on anything originating from the House and anything related to Healthcare. Sen. Maj. Leader Denning responded saying Wagle is obstructive to the legislative process and that he will continue with his plans for the session.
Lamonte
In 2018, Gov. Colyer signed the wrongful conviction compensation act with Lamonte McIntyre by his side. After 2 years of delays, Attorney General Derek Schmidt has finally agreed to stop blocking payment of $1.5 million to Lamonte who was wrongfully incarcerated for a quarter century for murders he did not commit when he was 17.
Battery HB 2467
The bill to remove spousal exemptions from sexual battery was amended to also have domestic violence offenders get a mandatory assessment the first time they are charged instead of only after repeated domestic violence charges. The assessment results in services and treatments to prevent future violence. The amended bill passed the House 105-15.
Tornado SB 242
Last year a mile-wide EF-4 tornado destroyed parts of Douglas and Leavenworth counties. Kansas law allows property taxes on homes destroyed by natural disasters to be lessened or canceled for up to 3 years as people rebuild. On Tuesday, there will be a hearing to extend this property tax abatement to barns and other agricultural outbuildings destroyed in natural disasters.
WEALTH
Monday, is environmental WEALTH advocacy day which stands for Water, Energy, Air, Land, Transportation, and Health. Kansas Legislative Leadership has never allowed a hearing on climate change and Speaker Ryckman abolished the Water and Environment Committee last year, but Monday’s WEALTH Day will include the first ever Comprehensive Climate Hearing. Although it’s not officially sanctioned by leadership, it will consist of a bipartisan bicameral slate of legislators hearing expert testimony.
Insulin HB2557
Wednesday, there’s a hearing on a bill to create an out-of-pocket maximum of $100 per month's supply of insulin.
Fireworks SB362
Thursday, there may be an explosive hearing on allowing fireworks to be sold year round in Kansas.
Outro
Thanks for liking and sharing. Your donations make these videos possible. Be the first to see weekly videos by subscribing to our email list at loudlight.org. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time thank you so much Kansas!