(Updated to include comments from Olson about plans for medical marijuana bill and the spokesperson from the Senate president)
Sen. Rob Olson is out as chair of the Federal & State Affairs Committee.
And Sen. Mike Thompson’s days are over leading the utilities committee.
Senate President Ty Masterson on Wednesday shuffled committee assignments, moving Thompson over to Fed & State and moving Olson back to utilities.
The Senate president introduced new committee assignments after state Sen. Richard Hilderbrand of Baxter Springs announced he was resigning his position because of personal issues.
Republican state Sen. Beverly Gossage of Eudora will chair the health committee. The panel’s vice chair will be Sen. Renee Erickson of Wichita.
The new committee assignments raised immediate red flags with supporters of medical marijuana, a bill Olson had been trying to put together last year as he led a special committee addressing the issue.
A medical marijuana bill has already passed the House, but has not yet passed the Senate.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has advocated for passage of medical marijuana.
The Federal & State Affairs committee has been charged with vetting a medical marijuana bill and also has had oversight of election laws, two issues that will be watched carefully with Thompson as chair.
However, Masterson moved Thompson off the utilities committee where he pushed about a half dozen bills last year that were seen as threatening to the Kansas wind industry.
There was some feeling expressed privately that Thompson’s approach to dealing with the utility companies might have driven the change more than medical marijuana.
Olson chaired the utilities committee four years ago before he was uprooted by former Senate President Susan Wagle and moved to the banking committee.
In recent years, Olson also has chaired the Senate commerce committee as well as Federal & State Affairs.
Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher of Overland Park sat on the special legislative committee that held hours of hearings in recent months on what was needed to be included in a medical marijuana bill.
She’s worried about the fate of a medical marijuana bill that Olson said he regretted not getting out of his committee last year.
“It’s very concerning,” Holscher said. “I don’t believe that Thompson is a supporter from what he has commented in the past.
“My concern is that stops the bill,” Holscher said. “This allows Ty to stop the bill without doing it himself.”
She noted that Olson has expressed an intent to put together a medical marijuana bill. She questioned what would happen now.
“It’s very concerning about what happens at this point,” she said.
Masterson’s spokesperson dismissed the idea that the committee changes were related to the marijuana bill.
“The committee changes have nothing to do with marijuana,” Mike Pirner said. “It is simply a better fit for our agenda in this particular session.”
Olson said Wednesday afternoon that he’s finishing his work on a medical marijuana bill with the goal of introducing it in the Senate.
“I’ve spent the last year and a half working on this, and I think it should be introduced,” he said.
“You heard me in the interim (committee) say I would put this bill together, and I’m going to introduce it,” he said.
He said he didn’t know if the bill would go anywhere but plans to introduce it regardless.
Last year, a bill was drafted in the Senate, and it was similar in many ways to the one that passed in the House.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two bills.
While House and Senate negotiators agreed to many aspects of a broad bill, there was not enough time last year to work out any differences as the session came to an end.
Olson said last year it was difficult to find consensus on a bill.
“There are so many different groups,” he said at the time. “Every time you think you’re making progress, then these groups start fighting.”
Thompson said he has largely been focused on energy issues and has not spent a lot of time researching the medical marijuana issue.
“It’s something I need to study and do some research on before I make a decision on that,” Thompson said.
“Obviously, I have some concerns over what happens,” he said.
“Before I make any definitive statement one way or the other, I’d like to have a chance to think that over,” he said.
Meanwhile on elections, Thompson was supportive of efforts last year by a legislative committee to order an audit of the 2020 general election.
Thompson backed the audit, saying it was of the “utmost importance.”
“The only way that we’re going to restore faith in our election integrity is by taking this step,” he said.
Thompson has encouraged Kansans in a Facebook post to sign an online petition calling for a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election.
Last year, Thompson voted for legislation that would have limited one ballot drop box to every 30,000 voters, which would effectively have eliminated 80 out of 191 boxes statewide.
Kansas Appleseed, which advocates for voting rights at the Capitol, said it wants to work with Thompson on protecting access to the ballot box.
“As we prepare for the 2023 session, making sure Kansans have access to the ballot box is a key priority for Kansas Appleseed,” Campaign Director Caleb Smith said in an email.
“Our state is stronger and healthier when our communities are able to vote, and we hope to work with Sen, Mike Thompson to ensure Kansans are heard,” Smith said.
