April 1, 2022
The legislature finished the 2022 regular session and will begin the 2022 veto session on April 25. There were several pieces of legislation passed by the legislature. Let’s hope the Governor doesn’t veto them.
Fairness in Women’s Sports, Conference Committee Report (CCR) 160, is to ensure participation in women’s sports is for biological women. The Senate vote was 25 to 13. The Senate would need 27 votes for a veto override. I voted Yes and will vote Yes on a veto override. Last year the Governor vetoed the legislation and there were not enough votes for an override.
Election Security was addressed in three CCRs, 2138, 2056, and 2252. CCR 2138 had several provisions like requiring watermarked paper for ballots starting in 2024, cleaning up voter rolls, and language for election audits in even-numbered years of four counties, different each election – one with a population greater than 90,000; one with a population between 20,000 and 90,000; and two under 20,000. It passed the Senate 28 to 8. CCR 2056 would limit the county election offices use of drop boxes to one for every 30,000 voters. There are currently no restrictions on these drop boxes, so this is an improvement. Twenty-seven Senators voted Yes and 12 voted No. CCR 2252 would block the Governor or Secretary of State from altering election law without approval by the legislature. It passed 27 to 12. I voted Yes on all three CCRs.
I’ve seen press releases that Mississippi passed a law to block Zuckerberg and other money from influencing elections. Last year, I introduced several amendments to protect our elections and they became law, including stopping Zuckerberg and other money being used in Kansas elections. It took a veto-override of 2/3 legislators to become law, but election security prevailed.
Redistricting map for the State Board of Education (name of the map: Apple 7) board members passed 31 to 8, Senate Bill (SB) 557. I voted Yes. The U.S. Congress map that passed the legislature early in session, has been challenged in court. We should hear the results of the court case before April 25. The Kansas Senate map (Liberty 3) and Kansas House map (Free State 3F) were put in CCR 563, along with Apple 7. The maps could have been drawn several different ways. As with most legislation, there was good and bad. The negative outweighed the positive on CCR 563 for Senate District 12 and other districts so I was a No vote. It passed 29 to 11.
Banned: Sanctuary Cities and Counties that restrict law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities and allow the use of municipal identification cards to satisfy proof of identity, including for voter identity, will be banned when House Bill (HB) 2717 becomes law. It passed the Senate 29 to 10 and the House 84 to 38. I voted Yes.
A proposed Constitutional Amendment will be on the November 2022 ballot, allowing voters to decide if the Kansas Constitution should be amended to require County Sheriffs to be elected, except for Riley County. Some counties were attempting to appoint a Sheriff like they have been doing in Riley County for years. A majority of legislators teamed with local Sheriffs to pass HCR 5022 allowing voters to decide. I was a part of that team and voted Yes supporting the Sheriffs. It passed the Senate 39 to 1.
More legislation that passed can be found at www.KSLegislature.org. I’ll include more items in a later update.
It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your 12th District State Senator.
Caryn