Kansas Panel Backs Bill To Limit Government Officials' Authority Over Masking, Religion

By Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

March 9, 2022

TOPEKA — A measure imposing new restrictions on the actions cities, counties, state government school boards and more can take in a health emergency is headed to the Senate floor after committee approval Wednesday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plowed into Senate Bill 541, which limits cities, counties and school districts to 30-day directives and prevents colleges and K-12 schools from requiring anyone to carry proof of vaccination. The bill would also reinstate a ban on contact tracing and prohibit child care facilities from refusing service due to suspicion of disease infection.

The panel added a prohibition against government officials, including school districts, from requiring anyone to wear a face mask in response to a contagious disease. Sen. Mike Thompson said the amendment would allow Kansans to exercise personal preferences.

“This allows the governmental entities to provide advice, and if someone decides the mask is appropriate for them, they can do it,” the Shawnee Republican said. “But this also gives us the personal freedom and options not to do that and we can’t force people into that situation.”

The committee approved the measure, advancing it to the Senate for further consideration. The Senate Judiciary panel also pulled business-related elements from Senate Bill 541 and put them into a separate pandemic-related bill, which they later approved.

In approving the measure, the committee dismissed concerns voiced by opponents of the bill during a hearing earlier this week that these restrictions did not consider the full scope of risk Kansans may face. They said counties would no longer have a role in determining how schools in the area respond to contagious diseases, leaving county health officers with important context and knowledge out of the decision-making process.

Another amendment tacked onto the bill by Sen. Beverly Gossage, R-Eudora, would prohibit the governor from affecting the exercise of religion under the Kansas Emergency Management Act.

Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, said while he understands the need for protocols in place to quell the pandemic, many churches in his district expressed concern with their ability to worship. Still, he questioned how the amendment changed the rights granted under the First Amendment.

“If people want to gather in a place and subject themselves to a potentially deadly pandemic and exercise of religion, let them do that, but how is this different from the right to assemble and certainly the right to practice one’s religion freely,” Haley said.

A representative of the office of revisor of statutes said the amendment would seek to clarify an ongoing debate over the governor’s rights under KEMA to impose certain restrictions on religion.

During the hearing, opponents worried the bill would transform the definition of “religious beliefs” to ensure Kansans can deny COVID-19 health precautions on this faith basis.

So far, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports 768,422 COVID-19 cases and 8,003 deaths. That includes 522 new cases and 15 new deaths reported since Monday.

Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood, created a new bill dealing more narrowly with business restrictions by pulling provisions from Senate Bill 541 relating to business and inserting them into House Bill 2416. The contents of the measure modifying the governor’s powers during a state of emergency, approved and codified last year, were removed.

This new legislation would affirm businesses can seek compensation from the government if they are forced to close. It would also provide businesses closed due to a public emergency a property tax break.

“We are not intending to remove that from being codified into law and from moving forward, ” Warren said. “It was just procedurally, if we put it in a different bill, we can address both issues in an appropriate way moving forward.”

This story was originally published by Kansas Reflector For more stories from the Kansas Reflector visit Kansas Reflector.