The Kansas legislature spent the week working through bills on the floor of each chamber. Only a few committee meetings were held to advance specific pieces of legislation.

One of those bills was House Substitute for Senate Bill 88. This bill was written in response to the recent energy crises. Several Kansas cities operate their own utility to supply natural gas and electricity to their citizens. Skyrocketing prices forced them to either pay the price or shut off heat and power during the plunging temperatures.

While many energy companies can borrow or use other financing to help smooth out customer bills from the price jumps, the cities cannot. The bill creates a low interest loan fund from state reserves for the cities. This should help over 100 cities to lessen the impact on customer bills.

Further, some were pushed to consider bankruptcy and deincorporating. This will allow them more options and to continue to provide needed utility services.

This bill began in the House Rural Revitalization committee on Wednesday morning, passed the House and Senate and was signed by the governor Wednesday evening.

Credit is due to Blaine Finch, the House Speaker Pro Tem, for leading the bill through the process. It is really remarkable for a concept to make it into law in that amount of time. It was good to see that we could work together to accomplish needed solutions.

The vote in the House was unanimous for the measure. Perhaps this could demonstrate how to work together effectively during non-crisis events!

House Bill 2196 provides needed reforms to our state’s unemployment system. It includes provisions to modernize the IT infrastructure to help prevent fraud, speed benefits to Kansans in need and make the system more user-friendly. This bill passed the House with a vote of 87 (yea) — 36 (nay).

House Bill 2416 came from the Judiciary Committee and remakes our Kansas Emergency Management Act.

This bill keeps flexibility for a governor to act but allows for checks and balances from the legislative branch.

If a citizen is harmed by an executive order, it gives them due process in a Kansas court.

Should the governor overreach, the courts may dismiss their orders. The bill advanced on a vote of 80 — 40.

House Bill 2405 authorizes the state to issue up to $1 billion in bonds to refinance the KPERS debt at a lower interest rate. This bill passed 117 — 6.

My next committee work will be with my Senate counterpart to plan how to take action on Senate bills and accomplish what we need through the end of session. We are also working on issues with the Healthcare Stabilization Fund and our Pharmacy supply chain.

Thank you for reading and for your interest in state issues.

Please contact me at steven.johnson@house.ks.gov or call my office at (785) 296-7696 with your thoughts or questions.

Have a great week!