Kansas lawmakers pass bill to limit governor’s authority, extend emergency declaration
Kansas lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to extend the state’s emergency declaration while limiting Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.
After a week of negotiations, House and Senate Republicans sent a compromise bill to Kelly’s desk for approval. It was approved with bipartisan support, signaling a higher likelihood it will receive Kelly’s signature. The measure passed the House 118-5 and the Senate 31-8.
The new bill will extend the state of emergency declaration through the end of May, allowing Kansas to continue receiving federal aid. The existing declaration expires March 31.
Kelly’s executive orders will also expire on March 31, including the statewide mask mandate and gathering restrictions. Any new orders from the governor would be reviewed by the Legislative Coordinating Council — made up of four representatives and four senators — with the chance of being revoked.
“The conference committee report is a good reflection of the House and the Senate coming together to put into place the core values that we as the legislature hold to be important, such as due process, such as checks and balances,” said Sen. Kellie Warren, a Leawood Republican who presented the bill to senators Tuesday.
The bill would further restrict the governor’s power to close businesses and limit the sale, purchase or ownership of firearms during a state of emergency declaration. It also gives the Legislature authority to revoke orders issued by the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
County Commissioners would still have the authority to put mandates in place like wearing masks or limiting gatherings.
House and Senate versions of the bills were introduced in February.
House lawmakers opted for broad changes to policy while the Senate sought specific restrictions on what the Governor and local health officers could and couldn’t do during public health emergencies. Lawmakers from both parties said they were pleased with the results.
“This is probably the most extreme example of compromise that I’ve seen in my seven years on the conference committee in judiciary, and I say that in a complimentary way,” said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita.
But the measure goes further than some would want. Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, said he believed the conversation would look much different if a Republican were in the Governor’s office and called the legislation “pure politics.”
The bill provides for elected school boards to make decisions regarding school closures. It is intended to prevent a recurrence of the state’s March 2020 decision to shut down K-12 schools for the remainder of the academic year.
Those who feel they were harmed by local government or school board decisions can contest the decision or file a civil action in district court.
The bill also gives the power to extend an emergency declaration to the Legislative Coordinating Council, rather than the State Finance Council.
Some legislators said the bill didn’t go far enough in restricting Kelly. A few Republican Senators voted no on the report bill because it still allowed for some executive power.
“This ultimately for me is an individual freedom situation,” said Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson. “We lost individual freedoms that we shouldn’t have lost because we had the wrong people, from unelected officials making decisions to administrations that flat did not know what they were doing and then tried to con us in to following along.”
Both chambers passed the report in a bipartisan vote, conceding to the fact that the compromise made during the conference committee meeting — which Warren described as a “lively debate” — wouldn’t satisfy everyone but was the best option lawmakers had seen this session.
“I think all of us would agree that this is not the bill that we want. The only problem is we each want something different,” said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita.