Whether new or tenured, lawmakers agree the pace of the 2025 legislative session thus far has been incredibly quick.
At least that was the consensus from local lawmakers new and seasoned at the first legislative dialogue of the year on the Flint Hills Technical College campus Saturday morning. Lawmakers in attendance included 60th District Representative Mark Schreiber who is into his fifth term at the statehouse.
During his opening remarks, Schreiber noted this has been a very quick session adding the pace is largely to do with a change in schedule structure from years past.
While new to the statehouse this year, both 17th District Senator Mike Argabright and 76th District Representative Brad Barrett agreed the pace has been a bit faster than they expected, however, both say they have enjoyed it thus far. Argabright tells KVOE News he enjoys staying busy, however, trying to absorb all of the information coming at them has been a bit challenging at times.
One of the reasons so much information has been coming at lawmakers so quickly is due to the introduction of around 500 different bills in the last month alone according to Schreiber. While all of the lawmakers in attendance are no doubt focusing on many of the same matters, all had specific areas that are garnering their respective attention.
This includes Senate Bill 63, also known as the “Help Not Harm Act,” which bans gender-affirming care for children, a piece of legislation that Schreiber openly spoke against and voted down last week. Despite his words and actions, the bill made it through the House 32-8 last Friday following passage in the Senate Wednesday by a vote of 83-35.
Even with the passage, Schreiber says the fight is not over, however, it will be an uphill battle from a legislative standpoint. With that in mind, Schreiber says it is important for Kansans to continue the battle on an individual front.
For Barrett, two pieces of legislation have his full attention, both of which deal with sex-related crimes. The first is Senate Bill 71 which seeks to increase criminal penalties for buying sexual relations and upgrading the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony.
The other item, which Barrett introduced, is House Bill 2183 which seeks to include punishments and criminal procedure in AI laws for complete or partial AI-generated child sex abuse materials. Many may argue the materials are not harming or depicting any real individual, however, Barrett says that could not be further from the truth.
Barrett would refer to AI-generated materials as a “gateway material” to more physical actions against children in the future.
For Argabright, “the number one topic” remains property taxes.
Saturday’s dialogue was once again hosted in partnership between the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Government Matters Committee and Emporia League of Women Voters and was held on the Flint Hills Technical College main campus. The next dialogue is scheduled for Saturday, March 8.
