(Feb. 24, 2023) – Yesterday, the Senate Debated and Took Final Action on many health related bills including:
Senate Bill 5 prohibits the prescribing of drugs intended to cause an abortion using telemedicine and restricts the governor's power during a state of emergency to alter such prohibitions.
Passed on a vote of 27-12.
Senate Bill 6 restricts the authority of the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and local health officers to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious or contagious diseases; repeals the authority of the secretary to quarantine individuals and impose associated penalties.
Passed on a vote of 22-18.
Senate Bill 113 allows naturopathic doctors to engage in the corporate practice of medicine.
Passed on a vote of 38-1.
Senate Bill 180 establishes the Women's Bill of Rights to provide a meaning of biological sex for purposes of statutory construction.
Passed on a vote of 26-10.
Senate Bill 194 requires hospital district board members to be qualified electors of the county where the hospital is located or any adjacent county.
Passed on a vote of 38-2.
Senate Bill 219 designates certain health care providers as being ineligible to purchase professional liability insurance from the Health Care Stabilization Fund.
Passed on a vote of 26-12.
Senate Bill 233 creates a civil cause of action against a physician who performs childhood gender reassignment service and requires revocation of a physician's license who performs childhood gender reassignment service.
Passed on a vote of 26-11.
Senate Bill 228 modernizes statutes concerning county jails, removes the requirement that every county shall have a jail, modifies procedures used when district courts commit prisoners to jail in another county and when counties contract with city jails to keep prisoners; requires a medical examination before certain United States prisoners or city prisoners are taken into the custody of a county jail. The legislation was amended by Senator Baumgardner to get funding for mental health competency holds.
Passed on a vote of 34-3.
Substitute for Senate Bill 131 permits an out-of-state physician to receive a sports waiver to practice medicine in this state on a limited basis during certain sporting events and permits the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts to adopt procedures to allow other licensed and regulated health care professionals to be issued a sport waiver.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Senate Bill 98 authorizes medical students and residency loan assistance to encourage the practice of obstetrics and gynecology in medically underserved areas of the state.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Other bills voted on by the chamber included:
Senate Bill 3 designating Silvisaurus condrayi as the official state land fossil.
Passed on a vote of 40-0.
Senate Bill 27 authorizes the commissioner of insurance to set the amount of certain fees.
Passed on a vote of 38-2.
Senate Bill 28 discontinues payments to certain group-funded insurance pools, refunds existing balances thereof and abolishes such funds; establishes the Group-Funded Pools Refund Fund.
Passed on a vote of 39-1.
Senate Bill 34 expands the use and availability of rural housing incentive districts.
Passed on a vote of 30-6.
Senate Bill 49 requires new wind energy conversion systems to be constructed with light-mitigating technology systems.
Passed on a vote of 39-1.
Senate Bill 75 changes the legal rate of interest from a fixed rate to a variable rate based on the statutory rate provided for interest on judgments.
Passed on 38-0.
Senate Bill 119 updates certain obsolete statutory references in chapter 40 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated.
Passed on a vote of 40-0.
Senate Bill 120 authorizes the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to adopt rules and regulations for an annual certification program for the replacement of distribution systems segments and increases the amortization period on loans from the Kansas Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.
Passed on a vote of 37-3.
Senate Bill 123 deems military veterans and spouses or dependents of such veterans who were stationed in Kansas for at least 11 months as residents for purposes of tuition and fees at postsecondary educational institutions.
Passed on a vote of 40-0.
Senate Bill 174 increases criminal penalties for the crime of interference with law enforcement when the violation involves fleeing from a law enforcement officer.
Passed on a vote of 32-6.
Senate Bill 208 restricts the number of remote ballot boxes that may be used in each county and requires certain monitoring conditions for such use.
Passed on a vote of 21-19.
Senate Bill 209 requires all advance voting ballots be returned by 7 p.m. on election day.
Passed on a vote of 23-17.
Senate Bill 217 includes the conduct of utilizing any electronic tracking system or acquiring tracking information to determine the targeted person's location, movement or travel patterns in the crime of stalking when done as part of an unlawful course of conduct and authorizing orders to prohibit such conduct under the Kansas Family Law Code, the revised Kansas Code for Care of Children, the Protection from Abuse Act and the Protection from Stalking, Sexual Assault or Human Trafficking Act.
Passed on a vote of 40-0.
Senate Bill 221 requires affidavits of write-in candidacy for certain locally elected offices and provides requirements for counting write-in votes on ballots.
Passed on a vote of 29-7.
Senate Bill 229 provides for the City of Topeka distinctive license plates.
Passed on a vote of 38-2.
Senate Bill 205 authorizes certain water rights in a water bank to participate in multi-year flex accounts on a temporary basis.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Senate Bill 13 permits certain local broadcasters to provide broadcast services of a school's postseason activities notwithstanding if the state high school activities association enters into an exclusive broadcast agreement for postseason activities.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Senate Bill 24 changes the required number of employees contained in the definitions of "large employer" and "small employer" for purposes of coverage for autism spectrum disorder.
Passed on a vote of 38-1.
Senate Bill 243 provides requirements and procedures for settlement agreements involving a minor.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Senate Bill 232 establishes the Office of the Child Advocate within the office of the attorney general and the Joint Committee on Child Welfare System oversight.
Passed on a vote of 39-0.
Senate Bill 33 exempts all social security benefits from Kansas income tax.
Passed on a vote of 36-3.
Senate Bill 169 provides an income tax rate of 4.75 percent for individuals.
Passed on a vote of 22-17.
Senate Bill 83 provides additional student eligibility under the Tax Credit for Low-Income Students Scholarship Program and increases the amount of the tax credit for contributions made pursuant to such program.
Passed on a voice vote 22-16.
Senate Bill 248 provides a sales tax exemption for healthy food and repeals the state rate reduction for sales of certain food and food ingredients. The bill was amended to zero out food sales tax on all food in fiscal year 2024, including local taxes.
Passed on a voice vote 22-16.
Senate Bill 96 establishes an income, privilege and premium tax credit for contributions to eligible charitable organizations operating pregnancy centers or residential maternity facilities.
Passed on voice vote 28-11.
Senate Bill 91 enacts the Kansas Film and Digital Media Industry Production Development Act, provides a tax credit, sales tax exemption and loans and grants to incentivize film, video and digital media production in Kansas; establishes a program to be administered by the secretary of commerce for the purpose of developing such production in Kansas.
Passed on a voice vote 28-7.
Senate Bill 8 reduces penalties for the late filing of and the failure to file personal property renditions and the discovery of escaped personal property.
Passed on a voice vote 39-0.
Senate Bill 37 expands the transferability of income, privilege and premium tax credits issued under the Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit Act.
Passed on a voice vote 35-4.
These bills will now go to the House for further review.
The Senate also voted down Senate Bill 210. The legislation allows nonpartisan candidates for office to include such candidate's political party affiliation on the ballot with the candidate's name.
Failed on a vote of 16-24.
The Senate made a procedural move before adjourning to send the following bills to exempt committees:
Senate Bill 23 concerns retirement and pensions; relates to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System; Kansas Public Employees Retirement Fund; investment standards; eliminating the statutory 15 percent alternative investment percentage limit thereto; requires the Board of Trustees to set alternative investment percentage limit
Senate Bill 63 concerns elections; relates to the Campaign Finance Act; expands the scope of permitted uses of campaign contributions to include family caregiving services
Senate Bill 68 concerns electric transmission lines; relates to the construction and ownership of certain electric transmission lines; provides incumbent electric transmission owners a right of first refusal
Senate Bill 104 concerns financial institutions; relates to payments made with credit and debit cards; allows a surcharge for use of such cards; requires notification to consumers of such surcharge
Senate Bill 112 concerns health professions and practices; relates to the regulation of nursing; registered nurse anesthetists; authorizes independent practice and the prescribing of drugs; prohibits the performance or prescribing of drugs for an abortion
Senate Bill 114 concerns solid waste; relates to advanced recycling; creates definitions for "advanced recycling" and related terms; separates advanced recycling from the current solid waste management system
Senate Bill 163 creates the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center District Act; requires submission of the question of creating the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center district to the voters of Douglas county;
provides for the establishment of such district and the powers and duties of its board of directors
Senate Bill 166 concerning electric transmission lines; relates to the state corporation commission; requires public disclosure of any application submitted for a transmission line siting permit
Senate Bill 193 concerns crimes, punishment and criminal procedures; enacts the Reduce Armed Violence Act; increases criminal penalties for certain violations of criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon that
involve firearms
Senate Bill 204 concerns financial institutions; relates to the Technology-Enabled Fiduciary Financial Institutions Act; replaces the definition of "charitable beneficiaries" with "qualified charities" therein; expands
the definition of "qualified charities" for purposes of the income tax credit for certain qualified charitable distributions of fiduciary financial institutions
Senate Bill 238 concerns crimes, punishment and criminal procedure; relates to the aggravated endangerment of a child; increases the criminal penalties in certain environments where any person is distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, manufacturing or attempting to manufacture fentanyl-related controlled substances; relates to crimes involving controlled substances; adds the placing of controlled substances into pills into the definition of manufacture; increases the criminal penalties for manufacturing or distributing fentanyl-related controlled substances; creates a special sentencing rule for manufacturing or distributing fentanyl-related controlled substances and any controlled substances that are likely to be attractive to minors because of their appearance or packaging
Senate Bill 74 concerns the code of civil procedure; relates to litigation funding by third parties; provides for joint liability for costs and sanctions; requires certain discovery disclosures; payment of certain costs for nonparty subpoenas in third-party funded action
Senate Bill 244 concerns the attorney general; authorizes prosecution of any crime that is part of an alleged course of criminal conduct that occurred in two or more counties
Senate Bill 62 concerns securities; relates to financial exploitation and the protection of vulnerable adults therefrom; enacts the Protect Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation Act; requires reporting of instances of suspected financial exploitation under certain circumstances; provides civil and administrative immunity to individuals who report such instances
Senate Bill 20 concerns health and health care; relates to vaccine requirements; relates to child care facilities and elementary, secondary and public or private postsecondary educational institutions; prohibits an inquiry into the sincerity of a request for an exemption from vaccine requirements; repeals the meningitis vaccine requirement to live in student housing
Senate Bill 103 concerns health professions and practices; relates to the regulation of dentists; Kansas Dental Board; requires that treating dentist information be given to patients upon request; prohibits agreements that limit a patient's ability to file complaints; eliminates the minimum personal presence requirements of licensees in the dental office using a licensee's name
Senate Bill 139 concerns health and health care; relates to newborn screening; establishes an advance universal newborn screening program; provides for reimbursement of treatment services; authorizes the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to specify conditions included in screenings; increases transfers of money to the Kansas Newborn Screening Fund
Senate Bill 234 concerns public health and welfare; relates to a closed-loop referral system; requiring consent for an individual's information to be added to or transmitted by a closed-loop referral system