By NATE KING
Salina Post
Whether Kansas lawmakers are "getting anything done" during the legislative session may be in the eye of the beholder. That is the word from Clarke Sanders, state representative of the 69th Kansas House District.
Sanders sat down for an interview with Salina Post to reflect on and explain pieces of legislation that are making their way through the chambers of the capitol.
Sanders talked about the failed attempt to legalize medical marijuana, legislation surrounding the rights of transgender athletes, the Sunflower Equity Act, the Infant Born Alive Act and the opioid crisis.
In Topeka, nothing really dies
Kansas is one of only 13 states that does not have a comprehensive medical cannabis law and one of only 19 states that still punishes simple possession of cannabis with jail time.
Back in 2021, the Kansas House passed legislation that would allow medical cannabis, however the Senate failed to pass the legislation in both 2021 and 2022.
"There is no future this year, I can tell you that medical marijuana is dead," Sanders said.
Sanders said due to the legislation failing in the Kansas Senate, members of the House did not have the opportunity to vote on medical cannabis legislation.
"Now, if a bill had come over, and I have some queasiness with the creation of dispensaries because I think that when medical marijuana comes, in which I think eventually it will, those prescriptions need to come from pharmacies, it needs to be prescribed by a licensed medical doctor," Sanders said.
Sanders also said that he supports medical cannabis that comes in an edible form or something that can be injected, but not smoked or inhaled.
Sanders shared his view on why medical cannabis legislation failed to be passed this year by the Senate.
"The complete problem is there are some on the Senate side who are supportive of it. But there are some who are not. And they hold key positions in the Senate," Sanders said.
"One thing that you'll learn up here, and you'll learn this pretty quick, is that nothing ever really dies," Sanders said. "It [legislation] maybe takes a nap, it maybe takes a lengthy nap, but nothing ever really dies, so I'm sure this will be come back next year and if it doesn't make it next year, I'm sure it'll come back a year after that because nothing in Topeka ever really dies."
Transgender students in sports; A veto overridden
On March 31, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly vetoed legislation pertaining to regulations on transgender youth participating in school teams and club sport. This year marks the third year in a row that Kelly has vetoed the legislation.
Then, on April 5, the Republican controlled House secured enough votes to override Kelly's veto.
"We voted to pass it in the house with 82 affirmative votes, and in order to override the governor's veto, we needed 84," Sanders said. "Now, we had two Republicans absent the day that we voted it out of the House, and I know for a fact those two will vote to override the veto. However, we also had one Democrat on board. I'm sure that Democrat is under enormous pressure to not override the veto."
So far 19 other states have put in place legislation that would prohibit transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ teams starting in kindergarten, even though sports and other extra-curricular activities aren’t overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association until a student reaches the seventh grade.
When asked whether this legislation would in effect ban transgender students from participating in sports, Sanders said there is no mention of transgender students in the bill.
"This bill says that biological males cannot participate on the biological female teams. That's what it says," Sanders said.
The law will go into effect on July 1 and is one of more than a hundred proposed pieces of legislation Republican-controlled statehouses across the U.S. have supported in regard to regulating youth sports.
In the early morning hours of April 7, Kansas lawmakers pushed through legislation that would prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming care for Kansans under the age of 18. Any physicians who do will have their licenses revoked.
The bill passed with a 70-52 margin in the House and 23-12 in the Senate. Legislators worked through the daytime hours and into the night, with the vote taking place at 1:27 a.m.
Kevin Beagley, president of North Central Kansas Pride, who was asked to comment on the recent legislative moves to limit the rights of transgender students, as well prohibiting gender reaffirming care for minors in the state of Kansas, said it sickened him.
"It's sickening. Knowing that some politician, who probably has a person in their life who is part of the LGBTQ+ Community, they refuse to have any sort of compassion or open mindedness. This is 2023. Young people are watching this. The community is facing a situation similar to Stonewall."
Beasley also said that members of North Central Kansas Pride would be traveling to the capitol building in Topeka on April 18 to participate in a nationwide peaceful protest to "demand action on LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, equal wages and women's rights."
Sunflower Equity Act
Two of most controversial bills pertaining to K-12 education this legislative session are House Bill 2218 and Senate Bill 83. Both pieces of legislation have text in them that has been referred to as "The Sunflower Equity Act."
House Bill 2218 would allow Kansas families to use taxpayer dollars to pay for non-public educational expenses, such as private school, academic services and materials.
"There would be tax dollars available to send kids to private schools. Right now the money follows the kid into public school because what their budget is based on is how many kids they have," Sanders said. "Depending on who you want to believe, it's somewhere between $17,000 and $19,000 per kid, now that's what the public schools would get. The private schools wouldn't get anywhere near that, it would be $5,000. So there would be public money, public tax dollars that would go into what's called an ESA, an educational savings account."
The families would receive 95 percent of the per-pupil funding their student would have otherwise receive if they had attended public school, with the other 5 percent reserved for program administration.
"There would be public money, public tax dollars that would go into what's called an ESA, an educational savings account, and then the parents would have the ability to direct those funds to any school, any private school, they wish," Sanders said. "There would be no sense of them directing it to a public school, because it's already going there anyway."
The price tag to fully fund the bill is estimated to be at least $151.9 million, According to the Kansas State Department of Education. That number is based on all accredited private schools and 1 percent of Kansas' 484,000 public school students participating.
HB2218 narrowly passed on a procedural floor vote, 64-61, with a necessary 84 votes needed to override the potential veto from Kelly. When the bill was voted on in the Senate, it failed 17-20
Senate Bill 83
Senate Bill 83 would appropriate $592.7 million from the State General Fund (SGF) for special education for fiscal year 2024 and create a task force for special education topics. The bill would also provide for a salary increase for all school district licensed teachers and amend school finance law to allow certain school districts to use total enrollment.
"Politics 101, you give me something I want, and then I give you something you want. The governor obviously, wants this special education funding. We want we as Republicans want the school choice. I would think that the governor would be supportive of raises for public school teachers and supportive of the money follows the kid. That's the reason those things are in the bill. We give you something you want. Governor, Governor, you give us something we want," Sanders said.
Back in March, lawmakers on the K-12 Education Budget Committee advanced SB 83 out of committee for a vote. On April 7, The bill failed to gain the necessary votes to be adopted, with a final vote of 17-20.
Infant born alive act
For the first time since Kansas voters sent a clear message to Topeka regarding the issue of abortion, Kansas lawmakers sent The Infant Born Alive Act to Kelly’s desk.
Sanders, who is pro-life, created the bill in partnership with the Revisers Office and Kansans for Life. Sanders said 58 of his colleagues joined his cause and cosigned the bill.
"What the bill says is this, if there is a failed abortion, and the baby is completely out of the mother's womb, is breathing on its own and has a heartbeat, then it is entitled to medical care,"Sanders said. "But there are no legal penalties for the mother at any point in the process."
Sanders said doctors who do nothing to save the baby would face a Class 10 felony.
"Of course, this would have to be proven in a court of law, and the penalty would for a first time offense would be a sentence of five months with presumed probation. Now, on the other hand, if you do something to intentionally kill the baby, so then would be a Level One felony, you'd definitely be doing jail time. And maybe a whole lot of jail time," Sanders said.
Late-term abortions are rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1.3 percent of abortions in the U.S. were performed after 21 weeks gestational time, according to 2015 data. The CDC’s report also showed that 65 percent of abortions in 2015 occurred in the first eight weeks of pregnancy.
The CDC also issued a report on death certificates for infants from 2003 to 2014. The data showed “143 deaths involving induced terminations” of pregnancies during that 12-year period. Ninety seven of the 143 involved "a maternal complication or, one or more congenital anomalies.” The data “only include deaths occurring to those infants born alive; fetal deaths (stillbirths) are not included.”
On April 4, the House voted 86 to 36 to pass a bill which requires physicians to provide care to infants “born alive” during an abortion. The bill also requires physicians to report data to the state when it happens, even as abortion providers and medical experts say it does not happen.
Both the House and Senate approved the legislation with more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto from Kelly.
Fentanyl crisis
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, for the first time in U.S. history, there were more than 100,00 overdose deaths in 2021.
The Kansas Office of Vital Statistics identified 678 drug overdose deaths among Kansas residents in 2021. This is a 42 percent increase in deaths compared to the 477 drug overdose deaths identified in 2020.
Clandestine, illegally produced, fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
The illegal forms of fentanyl are often times disquised as drugs most people are familiar with if they have had to undergo any type of extreme pain management. The DEA has found fentanyl pills disguised as prescription drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam.
Between the years of 2013-2021, the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. involving synthetic opioids, excluding methadone, was greater than 258,000.
"I think you're accurate to describe it as a crisis," Sanders said. "Because it is a crisis. I mean, it's such a hideous drug, it comes in many different forms, people can inadvertently take it, you might be a one and done, it's a really tough thing."
Last month, the Kansas Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee reshaped a bill to remove a provision that would legalize the use of fentanyl strips, in order to help people avoid overdose deaths.
Those who are advocates for the use of fentanyl test strips, argue that they can be effective when testing for whether or not drugs are laced with clandestine fentanyl.
In February, the House voted 121-0 to approve legislation that would drop fentanyl test strips from the state’s list of prohibited drug paraphernalia.
Sine Die
Latin for-indefinitely, Sine die, or final adjournment, is fixed at a convenient date at some time after the governor has had the opportunity to act on all legislation from the session. Typically this falls in late April or early May.
Sanders said he would be back for an interview with Salina Post following sine die for a wrap up conversation regarding the legislative session.