Turnaround Day comes Saturday at the Capitol and House committees have brought a large amount of legislation to the House floor in anticipation of that deadline. This week the House had a flood of bills to consider including legislation on medical clinic inspections, DNA acquisition during booking, closing of old workman’s compensation claims, ignition interlock devices for repeat DUI offenders, strengthening sentences for sex offenders and the introduction of a school finance plan.

More DNA Tests

Arguing that many unsolved crimes have abundant DNA evidence that cannot be linked to the perpetrator, HB 2554 would require anyone arrested and booked for a felony, including a DUI, to provide an oral swab of their DNA. The DNA would then be examined to identify 13 neutral points and be processed against DNA already in criminal databases. The DNA would be used for identification purposes only and would be destroyed if the person was acquitted of the crime for which they were accused. Most violent felonies leave some DNA evidence behind and this method of investigation will help law enforcement match that evidence to a criminal who is arrested for a different crime in the future. I supported this legislation.

Penalties for Sex Offenders

House Bill 2576 would enact a penalty of life without the possibility of parole for aggravated persistent sex offenders. Among other penalties, a person convicted of three sexually violent crimes would face a penalty of 25 years to life for their first offense, 50 years to life for a second offense, and life without parole for a third offense. This is also known as Jessica’s Law.

Medical Clinic Inspections

After emotional debate on the House floor, a bill that would regulate abortion clinics for health and safety was expanded to include all offices that do surgical procedures was passed by the narrowest margin, 63-62. I supported action that would regulate abortion clinics for health and safety. The bill that passed to the Senate has no teeth and a big price tag. I opposed it.

School Finance

The House Education Committee has been working on addressing education funding. The new plan:

• Provides approximately $500 million in additional school funding which will be phased in over three years.
• Year one of the plan includes $175 million in additional monies and sets aside $500,000 for teachers who wish to become certified under English as a Second Language (ESL).
• The second and third years of the plan would distribute an additional $325 million and seeks to target poverty and at-risk students as identified by the LPA study.
• School districts will be responsible for determining their own budgets based on a needs assessment and specifying priorities within that budget. Each district will be required to make specific reports on their budget to the Kansas Board of Education.
• Failure by any school to meet AYP in the first year will be examined by the Kansas Board of Education and the school will be required to reallocate it’s resources in the following year(s) to address problem areas. A failure to meet AYP in subsequent years will be addressed with increasing intervention by state education officials.
• Base aid per pupil will increase by $50.
• Does not change the formula for low enrollment districts.