The 2017 Legislative Session is all but over. While we did not see either of our bills passed into law this year, progress was still made. Here is a recap of the events that took place.
Jan 6- HB148, our House bill, was filed
Jan 7- SB105, our Senate bill, was filed and sent to the Senate Health & Welfare committee.
Feb 7- HB148 was sent to the House Health & Family Services Committee. KHBC leadership met with Rep. Addia Wuchner, the chair of the committee, where Rep. Wuchner shared that she was working on a “replacement” version of HB148 with all new language.
Feb. 10- We received the language from Rep. Wuchner’s replacement bill. (This bill was identical to a floor amendment later filed in the Sentate, which you can read here.)
Feb. 13- KHBC leadership met with Rep. Wuchner for 20 minutes to discuss concerns about the replacement language, and were told that certain items were not open for discussion. Rep. Wuchner indicated she would place the bill on the Health & Family Services agenda for that Thursday, Feb. 16. Later that evening, we held an online group meeting to discuss Rep. Wuchner’s replacement bill. KHBC supporters almost unanimously decided that they were not comfortable with some aspects of the replacement
Feb. 14- Our HUGE Lobby Day. Our lobby day was a huge success. Nearly 200 people attended if you count adults and children. Group meetings took place with over 50 legislators, and homemade Valentine’s day cookies were delivered to all 138 legislators.
Feb. 15- KHBC supporters continued phone calls, e-mails, tweets, and more to members of the House Health & Family Services Committee to let them know that they did NOT support the version that would be proposed by Rep. Wuchner.
Feb. 16- HB148 was scheduled to heard in the House Health & Family Services Committee. However, it was removed from the agenda that morning. Later that afternoon, we received word that SB105 was moved from the Senate Health & Welfare committee to the Licensing & Occupations committee, and would be heard the following Tuesday.
Feb 21- SB105 was heard before the Senate Licensing & Occupations Committee. Testimony was given both for and against the bill, but the final result was that the chair of the committee, Sen. Schickel, did not entertain a motion for a vote on the bill. Instead, he vowed to work with us during the interim period. Also on this day, Sen. Alvarado filed a proposed floor amendment to SB105. However, the floor amendment never had the opportunity for a vote since SB105 did not pass out of committee. You can read the proposed floor amendment here.