The 2020 Kansas Legislature adjourned Thursday, March 19, two weeks ahead of schedule. They passed a base budget, funded the transportation plan, and addressed unemployment insurance eligibility and other urgent issues. The Legislative Coordinating Council was given $50 million to address COVID-19 needs in the current fiscal-year budget.

The reality of the COVID—19 pandemic seriousness became apparent last Friday with the news that a member of the House of Representatives was being tested for the virus. The test was negative. Last Thursday, Gov. Laura Kelly’s emergency declaration underscored the situation, and it prompted a show of bipartisanship in the House Appropriations Committee last Friday when a base state budget was quickly approved with deferral of debate on many high-profile budget items until the veto session.

On Tuesday, Medicaid expansion advocates chanted for action on the issue around the third-floor railing for several hours. Some protesters blocked the entrance to the Senate and were removed from the Capitol but not arrested. The noise could be heard throughout the Statehouse. By Thursday evening, Kansas had the first confirmed death from COVID-19 in Wyandotte County, prompting Gov. Laura Kelly to issue an emergency declaration, which allows use of state resources to fight the spread of the dise

With the turnaround break on Monday and Tuesday, the Legislature met for three days this week with most committee activity limited to Wednesday and Thursday. The Senate debated four measures on Thursday, and the House did not have floor debate this week. The House Appropriations Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee continued working on the budget.

This week was devoted to floor debate ahead of the House of Origin deadline on Thursday. Monday was the last day for committees to meet to complete their work on non-exempt bills for possible consideration and floor debate.

This week House and Senate committees concentrated on completing their work before turnaround. Monday is the last day for non-exempt committees to consider their bills prior to the House of Origin deadline on Thursday, Feb. 27. It is also commonly referred to as turnaround day for non-exempt bills to pass from their originating chamber. This week the House and Senate both started debate on some relatively non-controversial bills to start clearing their calendars before turnaround.

Uncertainty marked week five of the 2020 Kansas Legislature. Last Friday, the House of Representatives was unable to muster the 84 votes necessary to place the abortion constitutional amendment on the August primary election ballot. Senate President Susan Wagle expressed her disappointment and frustration by saying that Medicaid expansion will not be considered in the Senate until the abortion issue is resolved. This week, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee delayed consideration of t

The Kansas Department of Revenue released the January Kansas-only revenue collections, which were above estimates. Both the House and Senate held floor debates this week on the abortion resolution and other matters. Also, the budget subcommittees in both chambers started review of state agency budget requests.

The 2018 Legislature returned for the 2018 Veto session April 26th for a truncated 8-day Veto Session due to a procedural vote taken just before the end of regular session that set May 4th as the “Sine Die” official end to the 2018 Legislative Session.

The final week of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session saw both chambers work beyond the original deadline in order to pass legislation to address the K-12 Finance issue. It turned out to be a dramatic end to what had been a relatively uneventful session.

The Kansas Legislature gaveled in for the 2019 Legislative Session at 2:00 p.m. on Monday and took off
running. Typically, the first few days are slow as legislators settle into their offices. This week, however, saw glimpses of fireworks that could set the tone for a complicated legislative session.

Week six of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session remained steady pace with the biggest event of the week is the announcement of the new Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday evening. The legislature is working towards next week’s “turnaround” deadline, the halfway point of the Kansas Legislative session, which comes on Thursday of next week.

Week four of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session continued with committee work. The main-focus of this
week was the swearing in of new Governor Jeff Colyer and Governor Brownback’s resignation.

Week 7 of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session saw a flurry of floor activity as the turnaround deadline approached. Both chambers worked to get bills out of their house of origin and across to the other body. The Senate finished late in the afternoon on Thursday as the House debated issues early into the evening before adjourning until next Wednesday.

The fifth week of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session included a joint address by the new Governor, Dr. Jeff Colyer, on Wednesday to the House and Senate. Around that address the business of the state began ramping up with several interesting bills being heard and previews of upcoming struggles over a number of issues.

The 10th week of the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session saw limited action. Legislators are awaiting the release of the K-12 School Finance Study scheduled for review this afternoon. The study’s release has been anticipated all session and its findings will determine the remainder of the session. Expect a follow up report once the details of that study become public.

The second half of the 2018 Kansas Legislative session began slow with only two days of work after the turnaround break and a pro forma (nonwork day) on Friday. With more than half of the session’s scheduled ninety-days complete much work still remains before First Adjournment, which is scheduled for Friday, April 6th.

The 2018 Legislature is two weeks away from first adjournment. This week committees wrapped up their work and more information was released about the K-12 School Finance Study. The House and Senate will be on the floor all week, working its way towards adjournment.

With the 2018 Kansas Legislative Session closing in on next Thursday’s Drop-Dead Day deadline, many measures were debated on the floor of the House and Senate. The Senate left around noon on Thursday and the House forgoing their budget debate and leaving late afternoon, the heavy lifting on K-12 School Funding and the state’s budget debate for next week.

The pace of the 2018 Kansas Legislative session picked up this week as many issues were discussed in committee and debated on the floor of the House and Senate. The shadow of K12 School Finance continues to hang over the statehouse while House and Senate member await the education study that is due next week.

The Kansas Legislature gaveled in for the 2019 Legislative Session at 2:00 p.m. on Monday and took off
running. Typically, the first few days are slow as legislators settle into their offices. This week, however, saw glimpses of fireworks that could set the tone for a complicated legislative session.

The third week of the 2018 Kansas Legislature continued the slow pace of the first two with committee work dominated by economic briefings, agency updates and a few bill hearings. In the next few weeks, the Legislature will begin the heavy lifting of the session, but that has yet to begin.