House and Senate Elect New Leadership- Legislative Update
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House and Senate Elect New Leadership- Legislative Update ________ December 9, 2020 When the 2021 Kansas Legislative Session convenes on the 2nd Monday in January it will be governed by the leadership elected this past Monday. The House and Senate Caucuses chose their leadership for the next two and four years, respectively. These key leadership seats determine the Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and the Ranking Minority members on all the Committees, as well as their respective parties’ members serving on the Committees. Legislative leadership also determine which bills reach the floor for debate and which committee they get referred to once introduced. Senate Leadership On the Republican side of the rotunda, the Senate elected Ty Masterson, Andover as the new Senate President. With the withdrawal of Jeff Longbine, Emporia from the race for President last week, the race was uncontested, and Masterson was elected by acclamation. Other key Senate Republican leadership posts, Senate Majority Leader and Senate Vice President, were also filled as Senator Rick Wilborn, McPherson won on a second ballot in a three-way contest edging out Senator Molly Baumgardner, Louisburg and Senator Dennis Pyle, Hiawatha for the Senate Vice Presidents seat. Senator Gene Suellentrop, Wichita, was elected to fill the Senate Majority Leaders seat over Senator Carolyn McGinn, Sedgwick, in a 20 – 7 vote. The Senate Majority Leader has control over the daily agenda setting out which bills will be discussed the following day. In other Republican leadership races in the Senate, Senator Larry Alley, Winfield, beat out Senator Rob Olson, Olathe, for the Assistant Senate Majority Leader and Senator Richard Hildebrand, Galena, won the office of Majority Whip over Senator Elaine Bowers, Concordia. Senate Democrats also elected leadership filling the Minority Leaders post for the first time since 1997 in the wake of Senator Anthony Hensley’s defeat this Fall. Hensley was the longest serving member of the Legislature whose defeat was this November elections “surprise” leaving his leadership post open. Senator Dinah Sykes, Lenexa, was elected to the Minority Leaders post over Marci Francisco, Lawrence in a close vote of 6 – 5. Senator Sykes is the first woman to fill the Senate Minority Leaders seat. The Senate Democrats filled out the rest of their roster with Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, Wichita, as Assistant Minority Leader, defeating Senator Tom Holland, Baldwin City, 7-4; Senator Pat Pettey, Kansas City, as Minority Whip; Senator Marci Francisco, Lawrence, as Agenda Chair; and Senator Jeff Pittman, Leavenworth, as Caucus Chair over Senator Tom Hawk, Manhattan, 6-5. House Leadership In the House, current Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. was elected to an unprecedented third term. Throughout the interim conventional wisdom was signaling that it was his intention to break with tradition and pursue the Speakers post for a third time. Ryckman was just reelected to a fifth legislative term having served House District 78 since 2012. The House Republican Leadership team has included House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, Wichita and House Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, Ottawa, in addition to Ryckman. Both Hawkins and Finch were reelected to their respective posts clinching a hat trick for the current House Republican Leadership. In other House Republican leadership races, Representative Les Mason, McPherson, maintained his post as Assistant Majority Leader; Representative Blake Carpenter, Derby, retained his seat as House Majority Whip and Representative Ken Rahjes, Agra, was elected House majority caucus chair. The House Democratic caucus reelected Representative Tom Sawyer as the House Minority Leader. Sawyer has served several stints in the House beginning in 1986 serving as the House Majority Leader in the 1991/1992 biennium, one of three times in the last century that the Democratic party held the majority in the Kansas House of Representatives. He also lost in a bid for governor against the popular Republican incumbent Bill Graves in 1998. Representative Jason Probst, Hutchinson, was elected House Assistant Minority leader over Representative Valdenia Winn, Kansas City as Assistant Minority leader and Representative Stephanie Clayton, Overland Park won her bid for Minority Whip against Representative Jarrod Ousley, Merriam by a two to one margin. Other House Democrat races saw veteran legislator Barbara Ballard, Lawrence reelected Caucus Chair, Representative Brandon Woodard, Lenexa as Agenda Chair and Representative Rui XU, Westwood as Policy Chair. What does this mean for IKE? With the leadership die cast, the spoils of committee chairs, vice-chairs, ranking Minority members and coveted committee assignments will be formalized by leadership in both chambers. Of particular importance to IKE is what effect this has on both chambers Transportation and Appropriations committees in terms of chairmanships and membership. Both the House and Senate Transportation committee chairs are returning for the upcoming term with sufficient gravitas that the odds of a change for them is unlikely. In our previous update we discussed the vacancies created on the current Senate Transportation committee by the primary and general elections numbering four of the nine-member committee including the Vice-chair. That makes it certain that regardless how the new Senate leadership decides to populate Senate Transportation, it will be a dramatically different makeup than the last four years. To a lesser degree House Transportation will have to be reconstructed with the loss of its current Vice-chair and three of its members running for Senate seats, two of which did so successfully. House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means are comparable in their analysis. House Appropriations leadership Chair Troy Waymaster, Bunker Hill, and Vice Chair Kyle Hoffman, Coldwater, are returning and with the House Leadership remaining the same it is safe bet that their seats on Appropriations are secure. The lion’s share of the Appropriations committee incumbent members are returning as well making any wholesale changes less likely. Senate Ways and Means on the other hand will require reconstruction having lost six of the thirteen-member committee during the election cycle. The Chair Carolyn McGinn, Sedgwick, is returning yet it is difficult to determine at this moment if her unsuccessful bid for Majority Leader will harm her chances of retaining her position with the prevailing candidates for Senate Leadership. Another BIG reason this is important Every ten years commencing in 1992, following the US Census, the Kansas Legislature is constitutionally bound to re-apportion all the legislative districts. That means that this is the legislative leadership and the legislators that will be re-drawing the maps for all legislative districts and the four Congressional districts to maintain an equilibrium of population and communities based on the number of Kansans determined to be living in those areas according to the US Census that just concluded. Discussions may begin this year with the next interim likely filled with all the varying maps being considered as the 2022 Session approaches. The only parties sure to be looking forward to this process are the map software developers and vendors, for everyone else it is typically a contentious time. More on this later as it starts to take shape but make no mistake the future representation of many parts of the state hangs in the balance. ________ OFFICE:(785) 233-4512 EMAIL: [email protected], ADDRESS: 825 S. Kansas Ave., Ste. 500, Topeka, KS 66612 .