By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office is continuing to advocate for legislative intent when it comes to Senate Bill 40, the bill that changed the state's emergency management act.
"The Legislature wrote the emergency management act, the legislature then amended the emergency management act," Schmidt said. "The court doesn't agree with the amendments and won't allow them to go into effect. We're going to appeal this decision to the Kansas Supreme Court, probably later this week. We think the legislature wrote the law and has the power to amend it."
Schmidt notes that his office doesn't know exactly how far Johnson County District Judge David Hauber's ruling really goes.
"One of the issues here is that there was only one provision in the changes to the emergency management act that was in dispute as part of this lawsuit," Schmidt said. "Yet, the court's decision appears to be sweeping. We're having a little bit of trouble understanding just how broad the decision is. We've read it, obviously, many times and we can't tell from the language whether the court invalidated only that one provision that the parents and the school district were fighting about, or whether the court invalidated the entire emergency management act or something in the middle."
The emergency management act covers many different kinds of emergencies, not just those related to COVID-19.
"Our first responders, our emergency responders, citizens in our communities need to know how much of that law is in effect, what tools they have in their toolbox," Schmidt said. "This court decision has really muddied the waters on that, so we're trying to get a fast clarification from the Supreme Court."
It's especially important for the state's school districts to know how much of the act is in effect, as school starts around the state in just a couple of weeks.