SB 541 – Prohibits Government 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 our lives. Through our Political Deep Dives (PDD), you can see how YOUR Kansas representatives have voted on bills that affect your day-to-day life. In this PDD, we will be focusing on SB 541—Prohibiting a governmental entity or public official from ordering or otherwise requiring a person to wear a face mask as a response to a contagious or infectious disease and from restricting worship services or activities; providing that orders and similar actions by public officials relating to gathering limitations and business restrictions shall not exceed 30 days in duration at a time before being renewed or allowed to expire; prohibiting school officials from issuing or requiring use of a COVID-19 vaccination passport or discriminating against a student based upon COVID-19 vaccination status; requiring schools to recognize exemptions from vaccination requirements; prescribing powers, duties and functions of the board of education of each school district, the governing body of each community college and the governing body of each technical college related to contagious or infectious disease and modifying judicial review provisions related thereto; and removing the sunset provision in the COVID-19 contact tracing privacy act.
This bill is similar to SB 34 which you can learn more about here.
This information is available thanks to kslegislature.org; ballotpedia.org; and votesmart.org
Highlights of this bill include:
Prohibits COVID-19 vaccination “passport” requirements in schools (Sec. 1, Pg. 4).
Prohibits government mask mandates (Sec. 1, Pg. 5).
Prohibits restriction of religious services (Sec. 1, Pg. 6).
Requires speedy court rulings on public health restrictions (Sec. 1, Pg. 8).
Repeals sunset provision of COVID-19 Contract Tracing Privacy Act (Sec. 1, Pg. 17).
Limits emergency powers of the Governor and other entities (Sec. 1, Pg. 22).
A full text of the bill can be found here.
This bill was first introduced to the Kansas Senate on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. It passed the Senate 24-14 on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. This is how the Kansas Senate voted on this bill:
(Political Party, District number, Voted Yes/No/Did not vote)
**If you are unsure what district you are in, you can click here to find out.
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,DNV), 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,Y), 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,DNV), 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,Y), Molly Baumgardner (R,37,Y), Ronald Ryckman (R,38,Y), John Doll (R,39,N), Rick Billinger (R,40,Y)
SB 541 passed the Senate 24-14. The 24 that voted in favor of the bill were all Republican. Of the 14 that voted against the bill, 11 were Democrats and 3 were Republicans. A total of two Senators did not vote, both of whom were Republicans.
This bill was received and introduced to the House on Monday, March 28, 2022, where it was referred to Committee on Judiciary. This committee is made up of 12 Republicans and 5 Democrats including Committee Chair Fred Patton (R), Vice Chair Bradley Ralph (R), Ranking Minority Member John Carmichael (D), and Members Jesse Burris (R), Susan Concannon (R), Pam Curtis (D), Dennis Highberger (D), Nick Hoheisel (R), Susan Humphries (R), Annie Kuether (D), Marty Long (R), Lance W. Neelly (R), KC Ohaebosim (D), Stephen Owens (R), Mark Samsel (R), Mark Schreiber (R), and John Wheeler (R).
This bill died in House Committee on Monday, May 23, 2022 and the House of Representatives did not vote on it.