Last week was turn around for the legislator. We spent most of our time on the Senate floor passing bills that will now go to the House for consideration. A few bills passed are as follows:
SB 272 would increase transfers from the State Highway Fund to the Public Use General Aviation Airport Development Fund from $5.0 million to $15.0 million annually, starting July 1, 2024. Continuing law authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to use these funds to provide grants to public use general aviation airports for planning, constructing, reconstructing, or rehabilitating facilities.
SB 339 would amend the effective date specified in the Insurance Code for the risk-based capital instructions promulgated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for property and casualty companies and for life insurance companies. The instructions currently specified became effective on December 31, 2022. The bill would update the effective date of the RBC instructions to December 31, 2023.
SB 345 would create the Commercial Financing Disclosure Act, pertaining to certain commercial financing transactions between a provider and a business. The bill would require the disclosure of certain commercial financing product transaction information, provide for civil penalties for violations of the Act, and authorize the Attorney General to enforce the Act.
SB 352 would establish who may visit a patient in a medical care facility, require medical care facilities to provide for in-person visitation, and include parameters for medical care facilities as to restrictions regarding infection control protocols that may be placed on visitors. This legislation would ensure that patients in hospitals do not suffer and die alone.
SB 462 would authorize the Director of Vehicles to waive the knowledge and skills test for driving a commercial motor vehicle for an applicant who qualifies for a waiver under the military Even Exchange Program authorized by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
SB 458 reforms the Kansas Standard Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Act. As National Review wrote in this article, “Civil forfeiture allows state and federal authorities to take your hard-earned cash without cause and keep it. The practice must be reformed.” The bill removes certain offenses from the list of conduct and offenses giving rise to forfeiture under the Act, whether there is a prosecution or conviction related to the offense.
SB420 would amend the crime of breach of privacy when the crime involves installing or using a device to photograph or record another person under or through their clothing, or a person who is nude or in a state of undress. Current law provides it is a crime to do the above actions using a concealed device, in a secret manner. Testimony was provided that this created a loophole where someone using a non-concealed device couldn’t be prosecuted. The bill will remove the elements of concealment and secrecy from the crime and simply make it a crime in all circumstances.
SB 431 would require the Capitol Preservation Committee to approve plans to place a permanent memorial honoring the life of Emil Joseph Kapaun. Father Emil Joseph Kapaun was born in Pilsen, Kansas and served as a U.S. Army Chaplain in World War II and the Korean War, where he became a prisoner of war. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2013.
SB 359 would authorize issuance of five license plates on and after January 1, 2025: Kansas City Chiefs, Sporting Kansas City, Sedgwick County Zoo, Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Current.
SB 190 would amend the Kansas Code of Criminal Procedure to require a magistrate to order, as a condition of release for any person charged with a felony, that the person execute a waiver of extradition.
SB 455 would promote sound energy policy by adding and amending law regarding electric public utilities, coal-fired electric generating facilities, and the Kansas Corporation Commission. It outlines new requirements that the KCC must consider when deciding whether to close a coal plant, including: The utility will replace the retired plant with new electric generating capacity that is dispatchable and maintains or improves the reliability and resilience of the grid. Closure of the plant will not harm the utility’s ratepayers or decrease the utility’s regional rate competitiveness. Retirement of the plan must be for economic purposes and for the benefit of ratepayers and not solely based on achieving environmental, social, or governmental goals. Utility customers will have to save money when the plant is closed.