Top Kansas health officer says Legislature shouldn’t shut down as cancellations mount

Legislatures in some states are recessing or postponing work. The U.S. Capitol is closing to the public.

But Kansas lawmakers are pushing on, for now.

As businesses, organizations and public officials across the country take dramatic steps to fight the spread of the new coronavirus, the Legislature is proceeding normally. The state’s top health officer said Thursday it shouldn’t shut down.

Hundreds – likely thousands – of people come through the Kansas Capitol each day. Thursday morning looked like business as usual, with guides leading school children on tours and the rotunda full of business representatives for Aviation Day.

“We have people coming from all parts of Kansas every day. People from other states, people from across the world, even,” House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said. “We’re like a big petri dish, you know.”

As of Thursday, Kansas had four confirmed cases of COVID-19, all in Johnson County. Lee Norman, the secretary of the state Department of Health and Environment who is leading the state’s response, said bluntly at a news conference that “no, the Legislature should not shut down.” He didn’t elaborate.

Norman made the comment as the virus is beginning to alter the lives of thousands across the state and region.

The University of Kansas and Kansas State University both plan to move to online courses when classes resume after spring break. Across the border in Missouri, Kansas City called off its annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the city declared a state of emergency, canceling gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

Kansas House and Senate Republican leaders haven’t decided whether to send home lawmakers or take other measures, such as curtailing visitors to the Capitol.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said lawmakers are already coming up on a “natural break” in session because the Legislature takes most of April off.

“Kansas, with only one confirmed case, we’re not quite to the point where those other states are,” Ryckman said Thursday before the announcement of additional cases. “But we’re still monitoring every day. We’re trying to gather information.”

As Ryckman spoke, he pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted it into reporters’ hands.

Ryckman said he planned to call Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr on Thursday to see what factors he’s weighing to help make a decision. Parts of the Missouri Legislature don’t plan to meet next week.

Ryckman said decisions made by the NCAA to exclude fans and by the NBA to postpone its season “heightens some of the discussion.”

Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican who is also running for U.S. Senate, in a written statement Thursday morning noted Kansas has only one confirmed case at the current moment. A spokeswoman provided the statement before Kansas announced three additional cases.

“That’s a fact,” Wagle said. “Our economy coming to a complete standstill is extremely detrimental to all Kansans and we must not hit the panic button. That said: I will NOT risk Kansans’ lives just to avoid economic hardship.”

She said scientific evidence is changing minute by minute and said she has a meeting scheduled with Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman.

Wagle also urged people to get information from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization. Social media on its own “cannot be used as a credible news source,” she said.

But Sawyer said it’s time to pause the session.

“It’s not like we’re doing real important stuff now, anyway,” Sawyer said. “We put most of the big stuff off to the end normally. We certainly are this session, so I don’t think any harm in terms of the legislative process.”

The Legislature has been at a standstill for the past month over biggest issues: abortion and Medicaid expansion. Expansion is stalled in the Senate and an anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution doesn’t have the votes to pass the House. The state budget also isn’t typically finalized until late in session.

Sen. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Democrat and retired physician who is running for U.S. Senate, said “we don’t know yet how fast this is going to spread.

“We have people who could die who are legislators if they contact this virus. So it needs to be given every due consideration,” Bollier said.

Still, she emphasized that lawmakers should follow the lead of Norman.

Recessing the Legislature over virus concerns would likely be without precedent in the modern era.

Mark Tallman, a longtime lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards at the Kansas Capitol, said he can’t recall anything like it happening before.

“It would certainly be unprecedented in my thirty-plus year career,” Tallman said.

This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 1:34 PM.