News from Kansas Senator Elaine Bowers
Week 10
It may seem hard to believe, but the legislature is now fully ten weeks into its session and has just two weeks remaining prior to “first adjournment.” This week, the Kansas Senate accomplished its two primary constitutional responsibilities—adopting a budget and passing a new map for the Kansas Senate to cover the next decade. In addition, the Senate passed several other bills, including two bills addressing election security. Next week, the legislature will meet for three days and debate several important bills that have been making their way through the committee process and now will be up for a vote. Then, the legislature will adjourn briefly before returning to wrap up the regular part of the session.
SENATE FLOOR ACTION
SB 444 - the Senate adopted a budget that includes $22.8 billion in total spending for FY 2023, with a little over $9.0 billion coming from the state general fund. It retires substantial amounts of debt including paying off the $253.9 million for the KPERS layering payments, provides state employees a 5% pay increase, puts away $600.0 million into the rainy-day fund, and leaves the state general fund with a healthy ending balance of nearly $360.0 million at the end of FY 2023.
The budget, contained within SB 444, passed by a vote of 23-14.
SB 563 - Liberty contains the Kansas Senate map for the next decade. All 40 districts fell well within 5% deviation, and only two of the districts went beyond 3% deviation. There was a growth of 120,000 people within cities, requiring the collapsing of two districts. Following the Redistricting Guidelines. This was accomplished by preserving communities of interests and using easy-to-understand boundaries, such as highways and rivers and traditional political boundaries. Ninety-two counties are whole and almost all small cities are kept whole. In addition, the core of districts was preserved wherever possible. Using the 2020 Kansas Senate results, the map would preserve the current partisan split within the Kansas Senate of 29 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Marshall County remains divided with four townships moving to Senate District 1 represented by Senator Dennis Pyle who will continue to share Marshall County with me in Senate District #36. Sub for SB 563 passed the Senate by a bi-partisan vote of 28-8.
SB 389 would require all voting systems in Kansas to use a paper ballot with a distinctive watermark as established by the Secretary of State for elections on and after January 1, 2024. The bill would require a sample hand-counted audit of the paper ballots conducted for each precinct if the paper ballots are read by vote-tabulating equipment and would require the voting system to provide the voter an opportunity to correct any error on the paper ballot before it is secured and preserved. Finally, it would prohibit the use of poll books not requiring a hand-written signature. SB 389 passed 27-11.
SB 390 would require the Secretary of State, in consultation with county election officers, to develop an affidavit system to be utilized for the handling of ballots. The bill would require each person who handles ballots to sign an affidavit listing, if applicable, the number of blank ballots, spoiled ballots, provisional ballots, counted ballots, the name of the person from whom such ballots were received, and the Location of where the ballots were received. SB 390 passed 27-10.
HB 2540 would require the Capitol Preservation Committee to approve plans to place a permanent memorial honoring Kansas Gold Star families on the Statehouse grounds. “Gold Star families” are families who have lost a family member in the line of military duty. HB 2540 passed 38-0.
HB 2508 clarifies and codifies requirements for participation in and usage of the state and federal Rap Back programs. Rap (stands for Record of Arrest and Prosecutions) Back is an optional FBI service that will allow authorized government agencies to receive notification of subsequent activity on individuals who hold positions of trust (e.g. school teachers, daycare workers) or who are under criminal justice supervision or investigation. HB 2508 passed 38-0.
SB 529 would require the Secretary of Revenue to permit electronic online renewal of nondriver’s identification cards under certain circumstances. SB 529 passed 38-0.
HB 2478 would designate two portions of highway in honor of deceased military service members. The bill would designate a portion of United States highway 166 as the SGT Evan S Parker memorial highway and would designate a portion of U.S. highway 56 as the PFC Shane Austin memorial highway. HB 2478 passed 38-0.
SCR 1623 is a resolution urging the President of the United States to stop importing oil and gas from Russia and restore energy independence in the United States. SCR 1623 passed 37-0.
SB 494 would prohibit the deployment, implementation, or use of a motor carrier safety improvement by, or as required by, a motor carrier from affecting, impacting, or changing the worker status of a driver. SB 494 passed 39-0.
Full texts of the bills and supplemental notes as well as the Final Action vote on these measures can be found at www.kslegislature.org.
ADDITIONAL LINKS FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Kansas Legislature YouTube – Here you can follow the legislature live as it happens, or access archives of past sessions and committee meetings.
Kansas Legislature Audio – Here you can listen in on session or committees when they are in session, or access prior committee meetings, as well.
UPDATE FROM KANSAS INSURANCE COMMISSIONER VICKI SCHMIDT
If you or someone you know has an issue with their insurance, we are happy to help! We may not always like the answers we get, but we will do our best to get you an answer. Please use the contact information below to reach out to us if we can be of assistance.
Main Line: (785) 296-3071
Consumer Assistance Hotline: 1-800-432-2484
Consumer Complaint: kid.webcomplaints@ks.gov
Producer Licensing: kid.licensing@ks.gov
Email: KID.Commissioner@ks.gov
Website: Insurance.kansas.gov
Thank you for the honor of serving you!
Senator Elaine Bowers
Kansas State Capitol Building
Room 223-E
300 SW 10th St.
Topeka, KS 66612
785 296-7389
