Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would take authority away from local health officials with regard to public gatherings during health emergencies and disease outbreaks.
Senate Bill 29 would remove the authority for public health officials to ban public gatherings and issue quarantines to control an infectious or contagious disease outbreak.
In her veto message, the governor said the bill “directly contradicts effective, evidence-based health intervention advice and would put the health and safety of Kansans at unnecessary risk. While this legislation is likely motivated by the politics coming out of the recent pandemic, it would cause actual harm in efforts to mitigate current outbreaks related to measles, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.”
Senate president Ty Masterson of Andover and House Speaker Dan Hawkins of Wichita issued a joint statement saying the bill “protects the right to assemble — think churches, funerals and weddings — while enhancing core due process rights.”
State lawmakers will be back in Topeka for the wrap-up session starting Thursday, and Republican leaders have announced their intent to override the governor’s recent vetoes of several bills.
