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Senate appoints new conference committees, agrees to "agree to disagree" on SB105
Summary
The Kansas Senate authorized new conference committees for several bills and adopted a motion to "agree to disagree" on Conference Committee Report for Senate Bill 105, allowing a new, smaller-signature conference report to be prepared.
The Kansas Senate on March 13 adopted motions to form new conference committees on multiple measures and approved an "agree to disagree" motion on the conference report for Senate Bill 105.
Senator Mark Masterson, identified on the floor as the senator from Butler, explained that an "agree to disagree" motion is used when a conference committee cannot obtain unanimous consent of its six members. "What that is is bringing a question before the whole body that says, we cannot attain unanimous consent for this," Masterson said, adding that an agreed disagree allows the committee report to proceed with four of six signatures. After his motion, the presiding officer announced the motion carried by voice vote and appointed conferees on the part of the Senate for SB105: Senator Masterson, Senator Blue, Senator Cedric, Senator Fausto and Senator Billinger.
Separately, senators moved to nonconcur with House amendments and request conference committees on several other measures. The Senate voted to nonconcur on House amendments to Senate Bill 18 and Senate Bill 98 and appointed conferees. Senator Dietrich moved that the Senate nonconcur on House amendments to Senate Bill 121 and requested a conference committee; the motion carried and conferees were appointed for that bill as well.
Senators briefly explained the conference committee process for newer members on the floor. Masterson described the committee makeup as "the chair, vice chair, the ranking minority of the committees" and reiterated that the conference committee report, if agreed on, is the version sent to the governor. Where a minority conferee declines to sign, the agree-to-disagree mechanism permits a report to move forward with fewer signatures.
The Senate scheduled at least one conference committee meeting on the floor: a conference committee for Senate Bill 14 was set for 2:45 p.m. in Room 212 North, and other conference meetings were arranged by the chair. No substantive policy changes or final policy language were adopted on the Senate floor during these motions; the actions were procedural steps to allow the chambers' conferees to negotiate differences.
The appointments and motions recorded on March 13 will lead to off-floor negotiations by the appointed conferees; the Senate did not vote on final substantive provisions for the bills identified at the March 13 session.
