News from Kansas State Representative Ken Rahjes

Hello from Topeka. The end of the week is "turnaround," the first major legislative deadline of the session. It signifies the movement of bills from their originating chamber to the other side of the rotunda. The House is scheduled for three days this week, full of debate on the House floor. "Turnaround" is the term used in the Kansas legislature to describe when all bills must be out of their House of origin, so all House bills must pass the House and be on their way to the Senate and vice versa to be considered during the remainder of the session. So we will be off for a few days and then back at it next Wednesday. Usually, we would have a series of town hall meetings on these days but are postponing them a few days, so watch this column and other media outlets, as it looks like we will be holding these on an upcoming Saturday in the coming weeks.

Things have been speeding up this past week as we have been working on getting bills out of committees. Here are some bills passed on the house floor:

HB 2021 is a comprehensive fix to issues we have identified since our last overhaul of juvenile justice statutes. This bill expands juvenile justice funds to involve more youth, requires increased communication amongst state agencies, extends case and probation length limits, and creates a structured detention mechanism for violations.

HB 2027 creates a procedure to prevent the distribution of a decedent's assets to a person charged with the felonious killing of the decedent until criminal proceedings are completed. District 111 Representative Barb Wassinger championed this bill. Suppose a person is charged with felony murder and is also a beneficiary of the victim's estate. In that case, the alleged offender can no longer claim those assets to post bail or defend themselves against the alleged crime.

HB 2060 establishes the special education and related services funding task force. This bill establishes the Special Education Funding Task Force. The task force will examine our current special education funding formula and hold hearings to listen to the needs of experts and the public to recommend changes. I am proud to support this as a good step forward that allows us to carefully examine the issue and find solutions that will provide meaningful change.

HB 2125 provides for charitable event permits and demonstration permits for body art services, authorizing cease and desist orders against unlicensed providers of body art services, and requiring related administrative actions to be under the Kansas administrative procedure act and reviewable under the Kansas judicial review act. Under this bill, the Kansas State Board of Cosmetology can create and issue charitable event permits and demonstration permits for "tattooing, cosmetic tattooing, and body piercing." This allows for hosting events that can bring in revenue to localities and makes it easier for charitable events to occur. However, the board can only send cease and desist orders to current licensees if someone violates regulations. This law also allows them to send these orders to unlicensed individuals who are in violation.  

HB 2214 changes the name of the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility to the Larned State Correctional Facility. Since they are closed, it removes references to Osawatomie Correctional Facility and Toronto Correctional Work Facility. The Kansas Department of Corrections believes this new facility's name more accurately represents its mission.  

HB 2314 prohibits using the social media platform TikTok on state-owned devices and any state network. This legislation aligns us with many states nationwide and the federal government, which banned TikTok on their devices last year due to security concerns. In addition, this bill enacted what was temporarily done by Executive Order when the legislature was out of session. This formalizes a ban on ByteDance and its subsidiaries, including TikTok, from government devices.

HCR 5004 - Urging the U.S. Congress to fully fund the federal government's original funding promise under the individuals with disabilities education act. This resolution sends a message to our congressional delegation, telling them we want the federal government to provide the funds promised for Special Education. In 2022, the federal government still needed to provide $3300 million of promised funding.

You can follow along on happenings in the legislature online at kslegislature.org, and when the House and Senate are on the floor or in committees, you can see all of them on the Kansas Legislature's YouTube channel.

I have moved offices and am now located at 186-W, the northwest corner of the capital. My assistant again this year is Terry Benitis. If you would like to contact me, my email is: ken.rahjes@house.ks.gov, phone during the session at (785) 296-7463, or you can always try my cell number at (785) 302-8416. Also, if you have a young person who would like to come and spend the day as a Legislative Page, please let me know as soon as possible, and we will work on what is a good day for that to happen.

Thanks for reading. It is my honor to serve you.