
The traditional ceremonial Sine Die, final day of adjournment, was anything but traditional the year of the covid-19 pandemic. We began at 7:30 AM on May 21, 2020, and concluded almost 24 hours later. Though our legislative Sine Die was intense with action, the bulk of the legislation we passed had been vetted for weeks. That one sine die day was the end of a great deal of hard work by many legislative committees that met virtually to review information, take public testimony, and develop ideas to help our State. Here are some of the highlights:
Highlights of Veto Session
The legislature returned for a one day wrap up session to help address issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
HB 2054 Covid-19 Response
Legislators worked independently during the stay at home order on ideas for how to best respond the state’s needs in the wake of Covid-19. Those ideas, coupled with the work of committees that met virtually leading up to the wrap-up session, came together in the form of HB 2054. This legislation is a comprehensive attempt to secure our state’s disaster declaration, lay the foundation for our state’s recovery, modernize our emergency powers laws, and help Kansans in need.
Securing Unemployment Benefits
· Both our workforce and our business owners need resources to maneuver this tough time. HB 2054 helps provide those resources so Kansans who are enduring layoffs have some financial stability to fall back on, and so businesses will be equipped to rehire and ramp back up as soon as it is safe and practical to do so.
· First, the bill secures unemployment compensation for Kansans by extending benefits from 16 weeks to 26 weeks and waiving the one-week waiting period. Kansans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own in this pandemic deserve quick and reliable access to the unemployment benefits they’ve paid into the system.
· Second, the bill protects employers from large increases in unemployment insurance premiums through 2021 so they are not hit harder by the high rate of unemployment resulting from the pandemic.
· Third, the bill permits shared working arrangements where employees might be able to share time at a job to reduce contact among workers while keeping both employees working some of the time. This helps reduce the use of unemployment benefits and keeps more Kansans working.
Modernizing our Emergency Management Laws
· For every state, Covid-19 has created new challenges.
· But, in Kansas, we were faced with the added challenge of outdated emergency disaster laws.
· Our laws were written in 1975, long before anyone had anticipated the questions and challenges that might arise during a statewide health emergency like this one.
· Although states had faced the Spanish flu a century ago, emergency disaster laws largely didn’t exist at that time.
· Prior to now, our emergency disaster laws had not been tested through a human health emergency or for an extended amount of time. Our laws were written primarily to deal with short-term disasters affecting a handful of counties at a time, like damage caused by flooding or tornadoes, or to deal with animal pandemics when livestock were affected by a virus.
· The Attorney General provided testimony to the Legislature, and then released a formal opinion the night before the wrap-up session, in which he highlighted the need for modernization of this area of the law.
· In HB 2054, the Legislature worked to address these concerns, modernizing our emergency disaster laws so they would provide a solid framework for our state to weather the continued impact of this pandemic as well as future pandemics.
Preserving Local Control
· Part of the modernization included making changes that protect local control.
· Our county commissioners and local health officials are the boots on the ground during this and any emergency disaster. They see firsthand what’s happening in their county and what resources are needed – and we need them to have a voice in the process.
· With a state that encompasses urban, suburban and rural areas, what works in one area may not work or may not be necessary in another.
· Under the updated law, local governments have the flexibility to work with their local health officials to take steps to preserve the health and safety of their community while not being bound by a one-size-fits-all approach from Topeka.
Ensuring Checks and Balances
· Our system of government is built on checks and balances. Each branch checks the other and no one person or institution gets to exercise unfettered power. The updated law reiterates the importance of that system of checks and balances in three ways:
· Clarifies that any governor’s use of executive power should be done within the bounds of the Constitution and existing state law. Put simply: no one, no matter what their title is, should be permitted to violate our Constitutional rights or break the law while exercising the powers of the position they’ve been entrusted with. These guardrails will allow governors to take swift action on an emergency response, but doesn’t allow a governor to trade liberty for security and leave us with neither.
· Clarifies the legislature’s duty to oversee budgeting. Our state constitution clearly defines that the budgeting of funds is the job of the legislative branch. Just as we cannot issue legal opinions like the courts or enforce the law like the governor, the other branches cannot appropriate money. That has been defined as the responsibility of the legislature. HB 2054 returns oversight of the budgeting and spending of the federal stimulus funds to the legislative branch, allowing the governor to propose a plan for those moneys and for the legislature to approve or amend that plan. This is the same process used in the budgeting and appropriation of other funds coming into the state. These funds should be handled no differently.
· Clarifies enforcement provisions. One of the biggest challenges during this pandemic has been enforcement of over 30 different executive orders by local law enforcement agencies. The outdated law allowed for certain violations to be punishable by up to a year in jail or a $2,500 fine. The updated law converts violations of all executive orders from carrying a criminal penalty to instead carry a civil penalty. This means any orders would still have teeth, but local law enforcement would have more options to stop violations, and Kansans would not face jail time over executive orders.
Extending Tax Payment Relief during the Pandemic
· HB 2054 extending the deadline for tax payments, and waived late payment penalties and interest for those struggling to pay on time during this pandemic.
Protecting Frontline Workers with Covid-Related Immunity
· Our healthcare workers are just one group of local heroes stepping up to help people through these times. But the risks they assume are great in the name of helping the sick to recover. HB 2054 grants our healthcare workers immunity from Covid-related lawsuits. Trial lawyers are already advertising for cases so they can sue doctors, nurses, and first responders. We can’t let our local heroes risk their lives only to be faced with a lawsuit for doing so.
· Our businesses also face unprecedented challenges in keeping the public safe. Some have changed their business lines to produce hand sanitizer, face masks, or ventilators, while many have had to change they way they operate to comply with new public health guidelines. HB 2054 grants immunity from Covid-19 related claims to businesses that are following the guidelines of local, state or federal health officials.
Increasing Safety in our Nursing Homes
· Nearly half of all Covid-related deaths in Kansas have occurred in nursing homes. Our parents, grandparents and loved ones in these facilities deserve extra protection during this disaster.
· HB 2054 requires monthly inspections of nursing homes during the pandemic, makes protective equipment and testing available to these facilities, and requires the use of current best practices for infection control.
Health Care
In addition to protecting our health care workers from lawsuits, HB 2054 adopted several important measures to protect the health and safety of all Kansans, including:
· Places telehealth measures in statute, allowing doctors to see patients remotely, to see patients via video when the doctor may be in quarantine, and to allow for doctors from other states to see Kansas patients remotely when approved by the State Board of Healing Arts.
· Gives flexibility to Kansas hospitals to “flex up” the number of beds and number of patients they could care for in a disaster.
· Increases options for physicians’ assistants (PA) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) to provide healthcare for those suffering from the virus.
· Allows healthcare providers to give information about Covid-positive individuals to 911 systems so first responders know when they are dispatched on a call to a place where infection is possible. No other use of this information is permitted.
Preserving Access to our Courts
· HB 2054 implemented flexibility for our courts to safely operate as needed, including allowing the use of video conferencing during the pandemic to keep cases moving forward and to ensure the continued administration of justice during the pandemic.
· HB 2054 also granted flexibility in our notary system so that notaries may utilize audio-visual alternatives in order to continue to allow for certain business, such as the sale of a home or a vehicle, to continue during the pandemic.
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