2017 LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP
The Kansas legislature completed its work , June 10 , 2017 . This session was the second longest in the history of the state-113 days . Traditionally , sessions are limited to 90 days . The combination of 43 new legislators , new leadership in both chambers , and large issues of school finance , budget shortfalls , and taxes drove debates into June .
In addition to the normal Republican and Democrat partisan politics , the philosophical differences between conservative Republicans and moderate Republicans in the House and Senate , many of whom were newly elected , made consensus building difficult . The political tension reached a high point on June 6 when the Governor vetoed the tax plan and the legislature quickly voted to override the veto .
With the passage of the budget , tax , and school finance pieces , the work of the legislature is essentially done . However , if the Governor vetoes the budget or school finance bills , the legislature must return to work . If the Governor vetoes the gun bill which exempts public hospitals and mental health centers from concealed carry laws , the legislature may seek to override the veto during sine die , the traditional ceremonial close of the session . In short , the session will not be over until sine die , June 26 , 2017 . Some are already speculating that a special session will be called if the Supreme Court does not approve of the new school finance formula .
K-12 INSURANCE As part of their budget , the legislature included a provision calling upon the Kansas Department of Administration to continue to study the consolidation of K-12 employee health insurance into a single statewide pool . The proviso merely directs the Department to continue study and does not create or force the creation of state pool . The KAIA Governmental Affairs Committee voted to oppose this measure . As part of that opposition , we activated our membership to contact their legislators and tell them to oppose the mandatory pool . The many calls , emails and personal outreach of KAIA members to legislators played an instrumental role in slowing down consideration of this policy . However , with this budget proviso in place , we expect the legislature will continue to consider this policy into next session . Finally , and fortunately , the legislature never formally considered this session another concept to force schools to consolidate their property and casualty coverage into a statewide pool .
SELF STORAGE INSURANCE Senate Bill 14 , which allows for self-storage facility employees to sell property insurance to customers , was signed into law this session . As introduced , the bill would have allowed non-licensed self storage employees to sell property insurance for the contents of the storage units . The KAIA testified in opposition to the measure in both the Senate and House Insurance Committees . We argued that this additional new insurance product would be duplicative for most applicants , as their renters or homeowners insurance likely covered the contents . Additionally , and most importantly , the KAIA fought on the principle that anyone selling an insurance product should be licensed and abide by the requirements of licensure . In spite of our opposition , the bill passed the full Senate and the House Insurance Committee . However , with the leadership of Rep . Dan Hawkins ( R-Wichita ) and the efforts of our members , we were successful in amending the bill on the House floor with a requirement that anyone selling this product apply for and maintain a limited lines licensure . Ultimately , the Senate agreed to the
10 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER | May - June 2017 |