SB 34 – Prohibits mask mandates

Political Deep Dive

Most people are more aware of who is in Washington D.C. controlling the federal government; however, those at the state level are lesser known, and yet they have more control over the lives of Kansans. Through our Political Deep Dives (PDD), you can see how YOUR representatives have voted on bills that affect your day-to-day life. In this PDD, we will be focusing on Substitute for SB 34 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Prohibiting governmental entities and public officials from taking certain actions related to a contagious or infectious disease, limiting powers of the governor and other governmental entities under the Kansas emergency management act to require face masks, requiring judicial review of certain emergency actions to occur without unreasonable delay and limiting powers of the secretary of health and environment related to enforcement of quarantine and student inoculation requirements.

This information is available thanks to kslegislature.org; ballotpedia.org; and votesmart.org

Kansas Senate Bill 34 has the short title: Substitute for SB 34 by Committee on Federal and State Affairs - Prohibiting governmental entities and public officials from taking certain actions related to a contagious or infectious disease, limiting powers of the governor and other governmental entities under the Kansas emergency management act to require face masks, requiring judicial review of certain emergency actions to occur without unreasonable delay and limiting powers of the secretary of health and environment related to enforcement of quarantine and student inoculation requirements.

According to VoteSmart, the main highlights of this bill include:

• Specifies that any state agency not listed in subsection b2 that adopts rules and regulations that become effective on or after July 1, 2022, such state agency shall submit a report to the joint committee on administrative rules and regulations (Sec. 1).

• Requires such rule to have an identifiable public purpose to support state law (Sec. 1).

A full text of the bill can be found here.

This bill was first introduced on Thursday, January 14, 2021, and was replaced by a substitute on Wednesday, February 23, 2022. The bill passed the House 88-34 on Monday, March 21. However, after a Conference Committee Report was adopted, the House voted again on Thursday, April 28, passing 64-53. This is how our Kansas House of Representatives voted on the bill.

(Political Party, District number, Voted Yes/No/Did not vote)—Names that are crossed out are politicians that voted on these issues but, for one reason or another, are no longer in the seat they occupied during this vote.

**If you are unsure what district you are in, you can click here to find out.

Michael Houser (R,1,Y), Kenneth Collins (R,2,Y), Charles “Chuck” Smith (R,3,N), Trevor Jacobs (R,4,Y), Mark Samsel (R,5,N),  Samantha M. Poetter Parshall (R,6,DNV), Richard J. Proehl (R,7,Y), Chris Croft (R,8,Y), Kent L. Thompson (R,9,N), Christina Haswood (D,10,N), Jim Kelly (R,11,N), Doug Blex (R,12,Y), Joe Newland (R,13,N), Charlotte Esau (R,14,Y), John M. Toplikar (R,15,Y), Linda Featherston (D,16,N), Jo Ella Hoye (D,17,N), Cindy Neighbor (D,18,N), Stephanie Sawyer Clayton (D,19,N), Mari-Lynn Poskin (D,20,N), Jerry Stogsdill (D,21,N), Lindsay Vaughn (D,22,DNV), Susan Ruiz (D,23,N), Jarrod Ousley (D,24,N), Rui Xu (D,25,N), Adam Thomas (R,26,Y), Sean E. Tarwater Sr. (R,27,Y), Carl Turner (R,28,Y), Heather Meyer (D,29,N), Brandon T. Woodard (D,30,N), Louis E. Ruiz (D,31,DNV), Pam Curtis (D,32,N), Tom Burroughs (D,33,DNV), Valdenia Camille Winn (D,34,N), Broderick T. Henderson (D,35,N), Kathy Wolfe Moore (D,36,N), Aaron Coleman (D,37,N), Timothy Johnson (R, 38,Y), Owen Donohoe (R,39,N), David W. French (R,40,Y), Pat Proctor (R,41,Y), Lance Neelly (R,42,Y), William “Bill” Sutton (R,43,DNV), Barbara W. Ballard (D,44,N), Mike Amyx (D,45,N), Dennis J. Highberger (D,46,N), Ronald B. Ellis (R,47,Y), Dan Osman (D,48,N), Megan Lynn (R,49,N), Fred C. Patton (R,50,Y), Ron L. Highland (R,51,DNV), Jesse Borjon (R,52,N), Jim Gartner (D,53,N), Ken Corbet (R,54,Y), Annie Kuether (D,55,N), Virgil Weigel (D,56,N), John Alcala (D,57,N), Vic Miller (D,58,N), Blaine Finch (R,59,Y), Mark Schreiber (R,60,N), Francis Awerkamp (R,61,Y), Randy Garber (R,62,Y), John R. Eplee (R,63,N), Susan L. Carlson (R,64,N), Lonnie G. Clark (R,65,Y), Sydney Carlin (D,66,N), Mike Dodson (R,67,N), Dave Baker (R,68,N), Clarke Sanders (R,69,Y), John E. Barker (R,70,Y), Steven K. Howe (R,71,Y), Avery Anderson (R,72,Y), Les Mason (R,73,Y), Stephen Owens (R,74,Y), Will Carpenter (R,75,Y), Eric L. Smith (R,76,Y), Kristey S. Williams (R,77,Y), Ron Ryckman Jr. (R,78,Y), Cheryl Helmer (R,79,DNV), Bill Rhiley (R,80,Y), Leah Howell (R,81,Y), Jesse Burris (R,82,Y), Henry M. Helgerson Jr. (D,83,N), Gail Finney (D,84,N), Patrick Penn (R,85,Y), Stephanie Byers (D,86,N), Susan Oliver Estes (R,87,Y), Elizabeth B. Bishop (D,88,N), Kelechi “KC” Ohaebosim (D,89,N), Steve Huebert (R,90,Y), Emil M. Bergquist (R,91,Y), John Carmichael (D,92,N), Brian Bergkamp (R,93,Y), Leo G. Delperdang (R,94,Y), Tom Sawyer (D,95,N), Tom Kessler II (R,96,Y), Nick J. Hoheisel (R,97,Y), Cyndi Howerton (R,98,Y), Susan Humphries (R,99,Y), Daniel R. Hawkins (R,100,Y), Joe Seiwert (R,101,Y), Jason Probst (D,102,N), Ponka-We Victors (D,103,DNV), Paul Waggoner (R,104,Y), Brenda K. Landwehr (R,105,Y), Lisa M. Moser (R,106,Y), Susan L. Concannon (R,107,N), Steven C. Johnson (R,108,Y), Troy L. Waymaster (R,109,Y), Ken Rahjes (R,110,Y), Barbara K. Wasinger (R,111,Y), Tory Marie Arnberger (R,112,Y), Brett Fairchild (R,113,Y), Michael Murphy (R,114,Y), Boyd Orr (R,115,N), Kyle Hoffman (R,116,Y), Tatum Lee (R,117,Y), James “Jim” Minnix (R,118,Y), Bradley Ralph (R,119,Y), Adam C. Smith (R,120,Y), John Resman (R,121,Y), Bill Clifford (R,122,N), John P. Wheeler Jr. (R,123,N), Martin Long (R,124,Y), Shannon Francis (R,125,N)

SB 34 passed the Kansas House of Representatives with 64 votes. The 64 yea votes were by Republicans while the 53 nay votes belonged to 35 Democrats and 18 Republicans. Eight Representatives did not vote, four of which were Democrats and four of which were Republicans.

This bill that would prohibit mask mandates then went to the Senate to be voted on, on Thursday, April 28. The bill passed 23-17.

Dennis D. Pyle (R,1,Y), Marci A. Francisco (D,2,N), Tom Holland (D,3,N), David Haley (D,4,N), Jeff Pittman (D,5,N), Pat Huggins Pettey (D,6,N), Ethan Corson (D,7,N), Cindy Holscher (D,8,N), Beverly Gossage (R,9,Y), Mike Thompson (R,10,Y), Kellie Warren (R,11,Y), Caryn Tyson (R,12,Y), Richard Hilderbrand (R,13,Y), Michael A. Fagg (R,14,Y), Virgil Peck Jr. (R,15,Y), Ty Masterson (R,16,Y), Jeff Longbine (R,17,N), Kristen O’Shea (R,18,Y), Rick Kloos (R,19,Y), Brenda S. Dietrich (R,20,N), Dinah H. Sykes (D,21,N), Tom Hawk (D,22,N), Robert S. Olson (R,23,Y), Jeremy Ryan Claeys (R,24,Y), Mary Ware (D,25,N), Dan Kerschen (R,26,N), Gene Suellentrop (R,27,Y), Mike Petersen (R,28,Y), Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D,29,N), Renee Erickson (R,30,Y), Carolyn McGinn (R,31,N), Larry W. Alley (R,32,Y), Alicia Straub (R,33,Y), Mark B. Steffen (R,34,Y), Richard Wilborn (R,35,Y), Elain S. Bowers (R,36,N), Molly Baumgardner (R,37,Y), Ronald Ryckman (R,38,Y), John Doll (R,39,N), Rick Billinger (R,40,Y)

SB 34 passed the Kansas Senate with 23-17. All 23 yea votes belonged to Republicans. The 17 nay votes belonged to 6 Republicans and all 11 Democratic Senators.

After the Senate vote, it was presented to Democrat Governor Laura Kelly on Friday, May 6. Governor Kelly vetoed the bill, and it was returned to the Senate on Friday, May 13. There was no motion to reconsider the vetoed bill and the veto was sustained.