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Committee hears HB2332 to establish official seal for Kansas House of Representatives
Summary
A short hearing on HB2332 proposed establishing and codifying a seal for the Kansas House of Representatives, designating the Speaker’s office as custodian and limiting official use to members of the House, with sponsors vowing to provide design provenance before a vote.
The committee opened a hearing on HB2332, a bill to establish an official seal of the Kansas House of Representatives and to specify custody and authorized uses of that seal.
Mike Haim of the Revisor of Statutes’ office summarized the bill for the committee, saying it would define the seal, establish it as the official seal of the House and direct that the seal be kept in the office of the Speaker and used to attest official House documents and other purposes approved by the Speaker.
Representative Estes said he discovered the House had never formally adopted a seal in statute even though a seal appears on the chamber podium and on other House materials. Estes said he had requested an amendment to clarify that the seal “be able to be used by all members of the House and only members of the House.” He told the committee, “I promised you this would be the shortest testimony ever.”
Representative Clayton asked about the design’s origin and whether the committee could receive documentation on who designed the seal. Clayton said he had seen similar seals produced by a commercial vendor and wanted assurance the design was local to Kansas. Estes said his understanding was that a previous representative—he cited Representative Hutton—had used the seal on a podium and that he would look into the provenance and provide material to the committee before a vote.
Representative Reese asked whether authorization to use the seal would extend only to sitting members or be perpetual. Estes said he left that question to the committee’s will but indicated a preference that official letterhead and similar uses be limited to sitting members.
No written opponents or neutral positions were reported in the transcript excerpt. The committee did not record a vote on HB2332 in the provided transcript.
