Kansas lawmakers hear call for much shorter sessions

Lawmakers are still nursing bad memories of last year’s tumultuous and record-breaking 114-day legislative session, and a move is on to limit the number of days they spend at the Capitol each year, possibly to 60.

Rep. Marvin Kleeb, an Overland Park Republican, told fellow House Appropriations Committee members at a hearing Thursday that the state’s “citizen legislature” is in Topeka too long.

That’s not good for legislators who are business owners and parents, and it’s not good for the legislative process, he said. Only about 23 percent of bills make it to a final vote, and tighter deadlines would help legislators focus, he said.

“I think this would really have us prioritize what bills we have to look at,” Kleeb said. “I think we have a lot of people who need to be home with their kids.”

Several session-limiting bills have been proposed. A leading idea is to hold 60-day sessions in even-numbered years and 90-day sessions in odd-numbered years, when the state’s biennial budget is debated. The session starts each year in January.

Seventeen state legislatures meet for fewer days than the Kansas Legislature, Kleeb said. Every day it is in session costs about $66,000, he said.

Several committee members voiced strong support for the proposal, but Rep. Amanda Grosserode, a Lenexa Republican, said she would be concerned if the plan cut lawmakers’ time to examine and discuss the state budget.

“I already feel many times we are rubber-stamping what agencies put before us,” she said.

Grosserode also questioned whether a statute was needed because House and Senate leadership could manage the calendar for shorter sessions. She called it an “epic fail” that the 2015 session went on so long.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 10:22 AM with the headline "Kansas lawmakers hear call for much shorter sessions."