January 25, 2021
A top priority in the opening week of the legislative session was continuing the protections within the Kansas Emergency Management Act as adopted in the Special Session in June of 2020, which were set to expire on January 26th.
SB 14 accomplished this by extending the limitations on the governor’s executive powers until March 31st, thus maintaining and strengthening the protections for Kansans families and businesses. This provides the Kansas Legislature the time necessary to take a deeper dive into the many statutes surrounding the Kansas Emergency Management Act (KEMA) and craft legislation that will address the myriad of issues within it on a long-term basis.
While KEMA was largely designed to deal with localized disasters such as floods and tornadoes, this time will allow the legislature to ensure our laws envision similar statewide situations, such as pandemics, in the future.
Here are the key aspects of the legislation:
- The bill would amend the statute ratifying and continuing the COVID-19-related state of disaster emergency declared by the Governor on March 12, 2020, to reflect the September 15, 2020, ratification and continuation of the state of disaster emergency by 2020 Special Session HB 2016 and subsequent extensions and continuations by the State Finance Council and would ratify and continue in existence the state of disaster emergency until March 31, 2021. The bill also would amend this statute to extend from 2020 through 2021 a provision prohibiting the Governor from proclaiming any new state of disaster emergency related to the COVID-19 health emergency without approval by at least six legislative members of the State Finance Council.
- The bill extends the expiration date for several provisions to March 31st, including:
o Removal of alcohol from premises of a licensed club or drinking establishment (Section 1)
o Provisions governing declaration of a state of disaster emergency, including when the legislature is not in session and applications to the State Finance Council; the bill includes permitting this procedure when the legislature is adjourned during session for more than three days. (Section 2)
o Provisions regarding the powers of the Governor and boards of county commissioners enacted in 2020 Special Session HB 2016 (Section 4)
o Telemedicine (Section 7)
o Temporary emergency licensure by the State Board of Healing Arts (Section 8);
o Temporary licensure measures for additional health care providers (Section 9);
o Business immunity from liability for a COVID-19 claim (Section 10).
- The bill would amend the KEMA statute limiting the Governor’s ability to issue an order that substantially burdens or inhibits the gathering or movement of individuals or operation of any religious, civic business or commercial activity, whether for-profit or not-for-profit. This is a significantly stronger position than the original HB 2016 language, which allowed the governor to close businesses for up to 15 days before requiring approval from six members of the State Finance Council.
It is an honor and pleasure to serve the 40th Senate District of Kansas Please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail at [email protected]. You may also call me with your questions or concerns. My office number is 785 296-7399 or my cell number is 785 899-4700.
Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, is the 40th District senator.