TOPEKA — A bill changing how courts impose jail time on consecutive sentences and limiting who will be released on bond passed the House despite concerns about how much it will increase costs and remove judicial discretion. House Bill 2444 addresses multiple issues, including limiting how days spent in custody while awaiting trial are applied toward consecutive sentences, limiting judicial discretion to release a person on their own recognizance, and requiring bonds of specific dollar amounts based on the crime the person allegedly committed. On Monday, the House passed the bill 85-37 along party lines, concurring with Senate amendments and sending…
Author: Kansas Reflector
Legislators share frustration with inaction on two bills tied to pricing of medicine By Tim Carpenter and Morgan Chilson TOPEKA — House Speaker Dan Hawkins intensified frustration among Republicans and Democrats by taking new steps to block legislation sought by hospitals and clinics to preserve integrity of a federal program restraining drug prices and generating revenue to care for indigent or uninsured patients in Kansas. The so-called 340B program compelled pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell drugs at a discount to eligible hospitals and clinics. It also required insurance companies to pay full cost for these prescriptions so the state’s health care…
Skeptics of legislation uneasy about broadening risk of DUI traffic accidents By Tim Carpenter TOPEKA — A bipartisan majority of the Kansas Senate made a legislatively tricky shot on goal before passing the ball to the team in the Kansas House. On a 21-19 vote Thursday, the Senate approved a bill allowing cities or counties to use a temporary law enabling licensed restaurants and liquor stores to sell alcoholic beverages 23 hours a day, seven days a week, during the FIFA 2026 World Cup extravaganza. If the House concurred with the legislation, the window for sales of beer, wine and…
By Morgan Chilson TOPEKA — A bill safeguarding protections for Kansas law enforcement agencies working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement advanced Wednesday in the Senate. House Bill 2372 sets rules for Kansas law enforcement agencies working officially or unofficially with ICE, defining specifics of enforcing immigration law and mandating insurance coverage. Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, called it a “public safety bill” and broke it into three sections. The first defines the legal authority of Kansas law enforcement to hold a person in jail on an ICE detainer or warrant, and the second requires insurance coverage from municipal insurance…
By Tim Carpenter TOPEKA — The Kansas House passed a bill Wednesday prohibiting utility companies from including in general rate increases the cost of building and operating electric vehicle charging stations. The original legislation was sought by businesses expressing interest in investing in EV infrastructure to serve vehicles requiring charging stations, but concerned electric utility companies had an unfair advantage in that market. More than a year of negotiations among lobbyists for fuel retailers, electric utilities and EV interests led to Senate Bill 380. Under the bill, utility companies wouldn’t be allowed to receive future consumer rate adjustments to cover costs…
By Anna Kaminski TOPEKA — In what founding document does the phrase “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” appear? Why did the United States enter the Persian Gulf War? Why do U.S. representatives serve shorter terms than U.S. senators? These are among the 128 questions on the U.S. citizenship test, and they could become study material for Kansas students. Under a bill that also mandates teaching students about the dangers of communism and socialism, high school freshmen would be required to take a 100-question exam based on the civics test that prospective U.S. citizens take during the American naturalization…
TOPEKA — The Kansas House on Tuesday passed a bill requiring criminals convicted of serious felonies to be held in county jails rather than be released on bond while awaiting sentencing. Senate Bill 358 is a direct response to a Manhattan case in which a judge released a man convicted of 46 counts of sex crimes, and he “left the court through the same doors as the victims,” said Rep. Jesse Borjon, a Topeka Republican. “As you can imagine, this creates a great deal of anxiety and fear for the victims,” he said. “This bill ensures that offenders convicted of serious crimes are…
TOPEKA — A banking official told lawmakers Monday about an elderly customer who was scammed into giving tens of thousands of dollars to what she believed would be a scholarship honoring her dead husband. Tony Weingartner, manager of the financial intelligence unit at Topeka-based Capitol Federal Savings Bank, said the bank engaged with the woman, and law enforcement and social workers met with her, but she “could not believe that that would occur illegitimately and that she was defrauded.” “She couldn’t accept it,” he said. “And now, my understanding is, even with a conservator over her finances, she still believes…
By Morgan Chilson LEAVENWORTH — CoreCivic will reopen its private prison in Leavenworth to house immigration detainees after city commissioners approved the company’s special use permit on Tuesday, the result of a process one commissioner called “agonizing.” Two people were arrested and multiple people were ejected as they shouted profanity during an hour of public comments and 30 minutes of discussion before the city commission voted 4 to 1 to approve the permit. CoreCivic and the city of Leavenworth have been fighting for a year as the company sought to reopen the prison it closed in 2021. With a $60 million U.S.…
TOPEKA — Kansas acquired land nearly a century ago that is home to some of the state’s oldest buildings, but the state now faces an ownership challenge from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, raising questions about how history is preserved and who is represented. The Shawnee Indian Mission State Historical Site was a Methodist boarding and manual labor school for hundreds of Native American children from across the country from 1839 to 1862. The site today hosts three historic buildings — one of which is a museum accessible to the public — surrounded by kept grounds, wooden benches, herb and…