Senate Public Health and Welfare committee introduces multiple bills, including Abolish Abortion Act and naloxone statutory change

The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee introduced eight bills as committee bills during a meeting where members raised no objections, committee leaders said.

The most prominent items included RS0783, described in the meeting as the "Abolish Abortion Act" by Senator Murphy; a bill on annual newborn screening (25RS1017); and RS0852, a proposal to remove obsolete statutory requirements tied to naloxone use, introduced by law-enforcement associations. Ed Klump, representing the Kansas Sheriff's Association, the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kansas Peace Officers Association, said of naloxone: "When naloxone first came out you may remember it was by prescription only and in order for us to be able to use it in the field there had to be some statutory provisions that place some qualifications on us that are is continuing to cost us money that we don't need now that it's not a prescription drug." The committee introduced the naloxone bill as a committee bill after Klump’s explanation with no objections.

Other bills read in as committee bills included RS1013, submitted by Sean Miller on behalf of the Kansas Athletic Trainer Society to update the statutory definition of athletic trainers; RS0957, a massage-therapy licensing bill introduced by Kevin Barone of the Kansas Massage Therapy Association (Barone said it was "strictly a licensing bill for massage therapists. We're 1 of 3 states that don't license them in this country"); 25RS0161, described as concerning refills of eye drops; 25RS1062, addressing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and introduced by Senator Warren; and RS1015, regarding the "right to try." Committee members repeatedly asked if there were any objections; on each item the chair said none were raised and the bill was introduced as a committee bill.

All introductions were procedural: the bills were read in as committee bills and there were no recorded motions, roll-call votes or committee amendments during the introductions. Speakers who put bills forward included senators and outside representatives of professional and law-enforcement associations; where a speaker’s full name was not stated in the transcript, the committee proceeded without objection. The meeting adjourned after the bill introductions.

The committee did not provide further debate, fiscal notes, committee referrals, or detailed bill text during the read-ins; those details were not specified in the record provided.

Votes at a glance: each item was introduced as a committee bill with no objections and therefore was read in (no roll-call tallies were recorded).