The Kansas Senate remains busy as the end of the regular legislative session draws closer.
This week, the Senate passed a bill to remove a three-day grace period for mail-in ballots to be accepted, meaning advance ballots must be received by 7 pm on a given Election Day.
The chamber also passed a bill removing some authority from the state’s Health Secretary, specifically when it comes to pandemic policy. Under the bill, unvaccinated people age 18 and up would not have to isolate or quarantine, regardless of virus levels. The Health Secretary also could not mandate the halt of public gatherings as a control measure. Separately, the Senate passed a bill allowing alternate COVID-19 treatments like ivermectin while letting parents refuse any child vaccination requirements for their children. 17th District Senator Jeff Longbine voted against.
Earlier this week, the Senate passed SB 484, also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, effectively barring transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. Longbine voted in favor.
This now goes to the House for a vote. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly vetoed a similar bill last year.
The Senate also passed SB 496, also called the Parents Bill of Rights, on education matters. This bill gives parents a chance to inspect curriculum and other teaching materials. It also gives parents a right to challenge materials they believe are not suited for education, which could lead to those materials being removed. Longbine voted against it, calling the bill bad policy.
Two bills needing supermajority support in the Kansas Senate passed, but not by the margins needed for adoption. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1620 would require two-thirds approval of the Legislature to raise taxes, while Senate Concurrent Resolution 1621 would have changed the process for selecting Supreme Court justices from the nomination-confirmation model to a straight public vote. Longbine voted for the selection change for the Supreme Court but voted against the tax bill.
