By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
Many items were brought up and discussed during the legislative process according to Sen. Scott Hill (R-Kansas, 24th district).
Hill provided legislative updates as to what is happening in Topeka, which included items such as:
- Convention of States.
- Property tax appraisal cap being discussed.
- Cellphone ban in schools hearing held.
- House voted to codify that the World Health Organization has no standing in KS.
- Hearing to require 30 minutes of recess in schools.
- Hearing to standardize post-secondary classes in secondary schools.
- Limiting the power of Pharmacy Benefit Managers.
- Improving pre-authorization for medical insurance.
- Replacing property tax with a transaction fee.
Convention of States
Hill stated he has consistently supported the idea of a Convention of States to reign in the growth of the Federal government, as well as establish term limits for federal delegation.
Convention of States allows state legislatures, not Congress to propose constitutional amendments, as per Article V of the U.S. Constitution.
According to Hill, the Kansas House voted to call for a Convention, joining 19 other states to discuss issues within the federal government. In order for it to pass, it requires 34 states to pass resolutions .
"It is my desire that 14 more states will join and Kansas will be the jumping point for other states," said Hill.
Cell phone ban in schools
One of the big items and topics of discussions in the legislature is banning cell phone usage during instructional time in public schools.
Hill thinks Senate Bill 302 (SB 302), will pass and that the support is "overwhelming" among the legislative body.
SB 302 states, "requiring school districts to prohibit the use of personal electronic communication devices during instructional time and prohibiting any employee of a school district from using social media to directly communicate with any student for official school purposes."
Many reasons for the push of this ban is for the concerns of mental health and learning capabilities within students.
"Local school districts know this is destructive to mental health and to the learning aspect for students," said Hill.
Hill added cell phones with the access to social media, are one of the many reasons of high suicide rates in Kansas.
According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the suicide death rate increased 75% from 2001 to 2018. In 2015-2019, suicide was the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-44 in Kansas.
He further stated there is a decline in student performance with the usage of cell phones during instructional time as well.
Researchers from Ohio University, indicated U.S. students who were not using their mobile phones wrote down 62% more information in their notes, took more detailed notes, were able to recall more detailed information from the lecture and scored a full letter grade and a half higher on a multiple choice test than those students who were actively using their mobile phones.
"There is damage being done to students by social media," Hill said.
Lastly, Hill said he spoke with Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) about about cell phone usage if there were to ever be a lockdown for an emergency situation. According to Hill, he stated LEO told him that it would make operations better for them if cell phones were not used during that time.
Some main points LEO told Hill were that it would "clog up cell phone towers" as well as students "would not be listening to instructions from their administrators or teachers, because they would be too busy calling their parents."
Among other things
During the time Salina Post had with Hill, he also went over property tax appraisal caps and limiting the power Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have when establishing prices for prescription drugs.
With the appraisal caps, Hill said he has spoken with many people who have stated their property taxes have "skyrocketed," as some have seen even a 400% increase in property tax.
Hill called it "unfair marketing" when PBMs initiate the pricing for prescription drugs. The big three PBMs include CVS Caremark, Express Scripts (Cigna), and OptumRx (UnitedHealth), as they control roughly 80-90% of of U.S. prescription drug claims.
He would like to see more of a fair market for local independent pharmacies.