Week 10 Summary March 17-21

Major Topics with Action This Week

• SB178 issues, the bill mandating every law enforcement agency in the state to join the ICE 287(g) program: We continued discussions with the Attorney General’s Office on this bill. The scheduled hearing was cancelled and we do not anticipate any further action on it this year.
• SB9 Drones: The contents of HB2293 are now in SB9 in Sections 12 and 13 starting on page 10, line 27. The House passed it with amendments 104-18. It is now officially in conference. The Senate Judiciary Committee held an “Informational Briefing” on the bill contents in preparation of dealing with it in conference committee since it did not get a hearing in the Senate. It appears the drone provisions are exactly what was in HB2293 relating to drones (Sections 1 and 3 of HB2293) with the exception of a change in the definition of “critical component” on page 11, lines 41-43. Section 2 of HB2293, relating to state purchases of any finished goods or services from a foreign principal was not included. There are several behind the scene going on to modify the bill in conference, but it is not clear yet what those modifications will be.
  The amended bill can be seen at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/sb9_02_0000.pdf
  The bill summary is at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_sb9_02_0000.pdf
• PTSD: We are continuing to work with Committee Chairs in both the House and Senate to get an informational hearing on the need for PTSD coverage in work comp. We had a phone call with a doctor with extensive experience in treating first responders to be the main presenter if we can get a hearing scheduled. More to come on that as it develops.
• HB2109 Pole Cameras:
  The Senate Committee on Utilities recommended this bill to the full Senate with an amendment adding a sunset clause to it. The full Senate completely changed the bill by deleting the current contents completely and replacing it with a simple immunity from liability for the utilities. It passed 29-9 with the amendment and now goes back to the full House where they will decide whether to accept the amendment by the Senate or send it to conference.
  The amended bill can be seen at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/hb2109_02_0000.pdf  
  The bill summary is at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2109_02_0000.pdf
• HB2376 CMB Licensing:
  This bill does not appear to be advancing in this session. This bill was requested by ABC after consultation with the Kansas Association of Counties and Kansas League of Municipalities and representatives of the industry. It transfers the licensing authority for cereal malt beverage retailers from cities and counties to the state's alcoholic beverage control division within the Department of Revenue. While the state would become the primary licensing authority, cities and counties would retain the ability to require additional local licenses.
• HB2134 Open Records, Charges for Preparing Documents:
  HB2134 has passed the House 123-0 and the Senate 40-0. Was amended in the Senate and is now in conference. The bill makes significant changes in the open records request procedures and how we can charge for costs.
  The amended bill can be seen at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/hb2134_02_0000.pdf
  The bill summary is at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2134_02_0000.pdf
  The major changes are found on Page 2 line 3 through page 3 line 25.
  
  A related bill is SB70. It includes amendments to both the Open Records Act and the Open Meetings Act. It passed the Senate 26-14 and the House Judiciary Committee further amended it and sent it to the full House for consideration where it was not debated and died on general orders.
  The amended SB70 can be seen at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/sb70_03_0000.pdf
  The bill summary is at this link:
  https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_sb70_03_0000.pdf  
  The Open Meetings changes are probably not of huge interest to us, however, the changes to the Open Records fees in this bill are different from those in HB2134. Those changes are found on page 2, lines 25-31. We anticipate the open meetings portion of SB79 will be added to HB2134 in conference.

LAST WEEK (Week 8) March 10-14  

We provided testimony on the following bills.

HB 2378	Establishing a procedure to remove a squatter from a dwelling unit, requiring owners or agents of dwelling units to provide an affidavit to law enforcement, requiring notice to vacate, establishing the crime of providing a false affidavit. Supported
HB 2052	Updating the personal and family protection act. Prohibiting the collection of personal information of an off-duty law enforcement officer entering buildings while armed or requiring such officer to wear any item identifying such person as a law enforcement officer or being armed. Supported
SB 116	Requiring prosecutors to disclose their intent to introduce testimony from a jailhouse witness and to forward related information to the Kansas bureau of investigation. Opposed
HB 2404	Prohibiting certain sex offenders from entering onto school property or attending school activities and creating criminal penalties for violation thereof. Supported

 

NEXT WEEK (Week 10) March 24-28

Next week will be the last week of the regular session. It is followed by a break and then a short veto session to consider any overrides of a governor’s veto.

There are no regular committee meetings scheduled for this week. However, there will be a large number of conference committee meetings to work out differences between bills already passed by both the Senate and House.