Gov. Laura Kelly has signed legislation passed during a special session Monday, clearing the way for unvaccinated workers to keep their jobs in the face of federal mandates.
The Kansas Legislature completed a 14-hour special session Monday night by sending Gov. Laura Kelly a bill packed with generous medical, religious and philosophical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and the potential of state unemployment benefits to people fired for refusing to be inoculated.
Anti-vaxxers packed the gallery overlooking the House chamber for this historic special session debate, and were repeatedly admonished for jeering, applauding or coughing on the lawmakers below.
The Kansas Senate struggled with a series of amendments Monday before passing a bill defining wide religious and medical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and extending state unemployment assistance to people fired for refusing inoculations.
On the to-do list for the Kansas Legislature’s special session will be laws making it easier for a person to claim a religious exemption to vaccination mandates, and they’ll likely consider granting unemployment benefits to anyone fired for refusing to be vaccinated or to undergo regular testing.
Kansas legislative staff released details Wednesday about how to participate in upcoming public meetings on redistricting.
Aaron Coleman For Kansas / Contributed Photo
Coleman tried to “shame” his brother for wanting to get baptized, according to an affidavit. Coleman then pushed his brother backwards, hit him in the chest and spit on him, the document says.
While guidelines for testimony and the redistricting process remain up in the air, advocates for fair maps in Kansas are advising residents to look at past frameworks when speaking to lawmakers at upcoming town halls.
August Rudisell / The Lawrence Times
Bipartisan proposals to cut or reduce the state sales tax on groceries will help Kansans who are forced to choose between food and other basic needs, an advocate says.
Eric Stafford, lobbyist for the Kansas Chamber, wants legislators to understand that businesses don’t want mandates “from either side.”
