Turnaround Report: We’ve Reached the Middle!
The legislature adjourned Thursday evening, after reaching its first major deadline of the session, commonly known as “Turnaround”. All bills must have passed out of their chamber of origin by adjournment on February 22nd. The only exception is for bills sitting in “exempt” committees. The exempt committees which do not have to heed the deadline are Appropriations, Federal and State Affairs, Calendar and Printing and Taxation on the House side, and Ways and Means and Federal and State Affairs on the Senate side.
It is a common tactic to “bless” a bill in a non-exempt committee to save it from the Turnaround deadline. In order for a bill to be blessed, the Senate President or Speaker of the House will withdraw it from its committee, refer it to an exempt committee, and then refer it back again to its original committee. Because the bill has now touched an exempt committee, it can be discussed at any point during the session.
Keep reading for the Turnaround status of the bills we have been tracking this session. See which bills failed to make the deadline — and which ones were blessed to see another day.
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Out of Chamber of Origin
The following bills were passed out of the chamber (House or Senate) where they originated. They will not be killed by the Turnaround deadline, and will be worked on in the opposite chamber for possible passage.
SB 312 Licensure of dental therapists
HB 2458 Expands the type of crimes that qualify as mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person
HB 2465 Allows drug screening for employees of Veteran’s Homes
HB 2496 Nurse licensure compact establishing a multi-state license category
HB 2590 Changes to the long term care ombudsman program
HB 2674 Kansas Telemedicine Act
Exempt Bills
The following bills were introduced through one of the exempt legislative committees. They are not subject to the Turnaround deadline, and may be discussed and passed through at any point before adjournment.
HB 2427 Amends background checks in adult care homes to require fingerprinting, increases fees, and adds various new misdemeanor and felonies to the exclusion list
Sub for SB 195 Requires KDHE to suspend (rather than terminate) medicaid eligibility for persons in a state hospital, nursing facility for mental health, or a correctional facility
SB 300 Prohibits major changes to the Medicaid program without the consent of the legislature, instructs KDHE to withdraw its KanCare 2.0 application to CMS, and instead apply for a one year extension of current KanCare
Blessed
The following bills were “blessed” by Legislative leadership in order to save them from the turnaround deadline. The Speaker of the House/Senate President withdrew it from its committee, referred it to an exempt committee, and then referred it back again to its original committee. Because the bill has now touched an exempt committee, it can be discussed at any point during the session.
HB 2704 Informed consent requirements for antipsychotic drugs
Dead (Probably) (Maybe) (Who Knows, Really?
The following bills were not introduced by exempt committees or blessed by legislative leadership. They failed to pass out of their chamber of origin, and are assumed to be dead for the remainder of the 2018 session. However, there are many fun procedural moves that can be used to revive bills by the end of the session, and we are always prepared for a surprise.
HB 2507 Prohibits major changes to the Medicaid program without the consent of the legislature, instructs KDHE to withdraw its KanCare 2.0 application to CMS, and instead apply for a one year extension of current KanCare
HB 2508 Requires KDHE to suspend (rather than terminate) medicaid eligibility for persons in a state hospital, nursing facility for mental health, or a correctional facility
Passed Both Chambers
The following bill has made it through both the House and Senate during the two year bill cycle. The bill is awaitng a Motion to Concur or Non-Concur. If the chamber votes to concur, the bill will go to the Governor. If the vote is to non-concur, the bill will be negotiated in a Conference Committee at some point before the end of the session.
HB 2232 Electronic monitoring in adult care homes
