The roster of 77 laws that became effective Saturday delve into abortion, concealed guns, elections, clergy abuse, public health, retirement investments, food stamps, transgender rights, water, smoking, utilities and sports.
Gov. Laura Kelly had the late Cooper Davis and Sebastain Sheahan in mind Thursday when signing into law bipartisan legislation designed to save lives by decriminalizing in Kansas use of test strips capable of detecting presence of fentanyl in drugs.
Crystal Tucker’s 22-year-old son suffered chronic back and chest pain from an old skateboarding accident and decided to buy four oxycodone pills on the black market in an attempt to find temporary relief.
Republicans in the Kansas Senate undercut a plan for responding to the crisis in opioid overdose deaths by gutting a bill unanimously passed by the Kansas House and converting it into a vehicle to blunt authority of officials to issue public health directives during disease outbreaks.
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee reshaped a bill Monday to remove a provision legalizing use of fentanyl strips to help people avoid overdose deaths.
Kansas lawmakers are again trying to legalize fentanyl test strips to keep people alive amid a pandemic of soaring overdoses.
Paula Mitchell, a mother and an advocate for sexual assault victims, said there’s a need for protections against the date rape drug. She said her own daughter recently was in danger.
