January 26, 2024
Topeka
Bills Introduced
This week is the third week of the 2024 legislative session and many more bills were introduced in the Kansas House of Representatives. Here is a look at some of those bills:
House Bill 2564 would establish a farm-to-food bank program that would expand Kansas agricultural food products to be used for the Kansas’ emergency food system. This bill would expand the availability of nutritious, locally grown, raised, or produced foods to be spread throughout the state of Kansas by requiring the program to use 75% of appropriated funds to acquire and distribute Kansas agriculture food products to every county of the state.
House Bill 2562 would protect vulnerable adults from being financially exploited by requiring reporting of any suspected exploitations and providing civil and administrative immunity to individuals who report that reasonably suspect financial exploitation has occurred, been attempted, or is being attempted.
House Bill 2168 would allow the use of fiber, grain, and seeds of industrial hemp for feeding livestock, poultry and pets. The bill would also relax current regulations on industrialized hemp, reduce license and registration fees while extending the license and registration period, and exempt certain providers from fingerprinting and background check requirements.
House Bill 2567 establishes the Kansas National Guard Educational Master’s for Enhanced Readiness and Global Excellence, also referred to as “EMERGE,” program and the program’s repayment fund. This is a bill that I have co-sponsored.
House Bill 2548 is also referred to as the “No Patient Left Alone Act" and requires hospitals, adult care homes, and hospice facilities to allow in-person visitations and authorizes these types of facilities to adopt visitation policies and procedures.
These are a handful of bills introduced and we will need to see if they will have a scheduled hearing in their committee.
Appropriations Committee
The House Appropriations Committee began its work on the Kansas state budget this week. We began the process of having budgets reported from the budget committees to the Appropriations Committee. Recommendations were heard regarding eleven agency budgets for the state budget.
The committee also had an informational hearing presented by Secretary Calvin Reed with the Kansas Department of Transportation. He updated us on the IKE Transportation Plan and the Build Kansas Program that was created during last session. We also conducted four bill hearings throughout the week.
House Bill 2468 – Disaster Recovery Bill
On Wednesday, January 24, the House Appropriations Committee conducted a hearing on the bill that I introduced last session on how the state plans and recovers from a natural weather-related disaster. This bill derives from the lax response from the state of Kansas after the devastating Four-County fire on December 15, 2021. After the events of this wildfire, the governor placed me on the Governor’s Wildfire Taskforce.
While serving on the Wildfire Taskforce and listening to the members of the taskforce in Crisis City, Kansas, I began crafting House Bill 2468. House Bill 2468 establishes a structured disaster response, for all disasters, not only wildfires, and has a single-point of contact with the Adjutant General and Kansas Department of Emergency Management. House Bill 2468 would create a systematic process of contacting other state agencies that may be utilized before, during, and after the disaster event. This bill also creates a Disaster Contingency Fund that local communities, affected by a natural disaster, can utilize to match federal dollars. Here is a link to an article that was posted this week: Rep. Waymaster: State needs structured response to wildfire, other natural disasters (hayspost.com)
Contact Information
Anytime that you would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, you can tune in by video or audio at www.kslegislature.org.
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me 785-296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, or email me at [email protected].
It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.
Rep. Troy Waymaster is the House Appropriations Committee chairman and representative of the Kansas House 109th District which includes Ellsworth, Lincoln, Osborne, Russell, and Smith counties.