Newsletter - March 3, 2019
I want to thank USD #480 and educators Daniel Minde, Mariah Way and Cody Hickox for bringing 6 Eisenhower Middle School students to serve as pages at the Capitol. My pages were Kortni Kapp, Mackenzie Mansell and Kyler Sheldon. Mana Chanthasone, Tommy McClure and Ella Friederich served as pages in the Senate.
Maria Dennison and I had a chance to visit with Lt. Governor Lynn Rogers and Commerce Secretary David Toland this week about economic development.
LHS and SCCC graduate Obdulia Covarrubias talked to me about her doctorate dissertation on cancer detection for pancreatic cancer. Obdulia attends K-State. Her project searches for specific genes present with pancreatic cancer and was published in the Journal of Nanomedicine. She is also working on a process to locate and destroy the cancer cells. I hope someday we can get Ms. Covarrubias to come home to Liberal High School and share her journey from LHS to a Doctorate in Chemistry.
This Week in the House
On Thursday, the Legislature reached the halfway point, known as Turnaround Day. Turnaround is the last day for non-exempt bills to be considered in their house of origin. After turnaround we will shift our focus primarily to working bills that were passed by the Senate during the first half of session, while the Senate takes up bills that were passed by the House
This week was exclusively devoted to debating bills on the floor. 34 bills were approved by the House this week. They will now go to the Senate for consideration
Below is a list of the bills that were passed out of the house. If you are receiving this by my newsletter and want more information you can click on the bill number and go straight to its page on the legislature’s website. I recommend reading the SN (supplemental note) of the final amended version of the bill to get an explanation of the bill. If you are receiving this by newspaper go to
http://kslegislature.org/li/b2019_20/measures/bills/house/ and search on the right for the bill number for more information.
Floor Votes
HB 2006— Requiring the department of commerce to create a database of economic development incentive program information.
HB 2031— Amending the definition of "service-connected" in the Kansas police and firemen's retirement system.
HB 2048 – Clarifying the definition of comparable offense under the Kansas criminal code.
HB 2084— Amending the Kansas 911 act.
HB 2103— Amending the revised Kansas code for care of children to provide requirements for placement of a child in a qualified residential treatment program.
HB 2126— Regulating the operation of electric-assisted scooters on roads and highways.
HB 2140— Allowing agents of the KBI to participate in the Kansas DROP act and extending the sunset date for the act.
HB 2144 – Concerning community colleges; relating to publication of financial information; identification of transferable credits.
HB 2147— Increasing bond maturity limitations in the Kansas rural housing incentive district act.
HB 2167— Establishing a system for the transfer of certain deer hunting permits to nonresidents.
HB 2168— Authorizing the state board of regents to sell and convey certain real property in Cherokee, Riley, Saline and Douglas counties on behalf of Kansas state university and the university of Kansas.
HB 2174— Extending the sunset date of the state use law for five years.
HB 2177— Pertaining to the accounting treatment of certain derivative instruments of fixed index annuities.
HB 2178— Amending the Kansas underground utility damage prevention act.
HB 2185— Clarifying the naturopathic medicine scope of practice to include diagnostic imaging.
HB 2191— Amending the procedure for execution of a search warrant for electronically stored information.
HB 2198— Allowing the use of expedited partner therapy to treat a sexually transmitted disease.
HB 2203 – Exempting individuals employed by the Kansas academies of U.S. department of defense STARBASE program from KPERS working after retirement requirements and authorizing reimbursement of suspended retirement benefits for certain retirees.
HB 2206— Changing the bonding and cost requirements for animals taken into custody under a violation of cruelty to animals.
HB 2209— Authorizing the state board of regents to purchase cybersecurity insurance.
HB 2211— Allowing judges to waive or reduce driver's license reinstatement fees.
HB 2214— Changing the definition of school bus for purposes of the motor-fuel tax law.
HB 2215— Kansas state fair board is authorized to create a nonprofit corporation for the benefit of the state fair.
HB 2223 – Concerning alcoholic beverages; relating to producer permits licenses.
HB 2225— Adding on-track train equipment to the circumstances that a vehicle driver must stop at railroad crossings.
HB 2239— Liquor sales by licensees in common consumption areas.
HB 2243— Exempting animal shelters from registration requirements as a charitable organization.
HB 2246 – Changing the requirements to begin production on distinctive license plates.
HB 2248— Allowing all-terrain vehicles to cross federal or state highways.
HB 2279 – Concerning crimes, punishment and criminal procedure; relating to domestic violence calls; providing information to victim on arrest.
HB 2290— Creating a crime victims compensation division within the attorney general's office.
HB 2336 – Clarifying when offenders under supervision of the secretary of corrections are awarded jail credit.
HB 2346 – Relating to schools; vision screenings.
HB 2360 – Concerning criminal history record checks; relating to entities providing care to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities; the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
HB 2365— Providing for confidential communications of Kansas national guard members in peer support counseling sessions.
"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people who have a right … and a desire to know." John Adams
Constituent Services
Please reach out to me any time I can assist you with a state agency concern. I do ask that you send the request to me by email. This ensures that I get the information correctly to the agency we are working with. Contact me anytime with your questions, ideas or concerns. You can reach me when I’m in Topeka by email
Shannon.francis@house.ks.gov, by phone (785) 296-7466, or by mail at 300 SW 10
th Avenue, 274-W, Topeka, KS 66612. My office at the Capitol is 274W, second floor west wing.
