Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has dismissed an open meetings complaint filed by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, Kansas Press Association and the Sunshine Coalition for Open Government after members of the media were removed from a Kansas Senate hearing in late May.
Medicaid expansion protestors were cleared from the meeting after disrupting proceedings before the media was also removed.
Senate President Susan Wagle has said the move to clear reporters was made because they were giving the protestors publicity. The media groups filing the protest with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt disagreed, saying that action was “clearly an unconstitutional breach of both the Kansas Constitution’s and US Constitution’s right to liberty of the press.” The media coalition also says the step to clear media from the hearing violates the Kansas Senate’s own rules on meetings being open to the public and press.
This is the second ruling where Schmidt sided with Wagle in this case. In the first ruling, Schmidt said his office did not have the jurisdiction to “enforce constitutional challenges under the provision of the Kansas Open Meetings Act.” With the second ruling this week, Schmidt dismissed concerns about whether the Senate conducted business during recess and whether public rights were violated by the Senate’s actions in this instance. Schmidt says the Senate has adopted rules which let it depart from general open meetings rules — so the chamber did have the right to close the galleries. Schmidt cautioned other governmental entities they may not have the same authority.
