Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Access And Homelessness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bill to let counties regulate activities on navigable rivers draws sharp debate over access and homelessness
Summary
House Bill 24-95 would authorize counties to regulate activities (camping, vehicle operation, disposal) on named navigable rivers and dry channels and expand the criminal trespass statute; proponents said counties need local authority to address dumping and encampments, while conservation groups and homelessness service providers warned it could criminalize homelessness and create a patchwork of restrictions; no vote was taken.
The Committee on Local Government heard extensive testimony on House Bill 24-95, which would authorize counties to regulate activities on navigable waters (the Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri rivers and their dry channels), and would expand the criminal trespass statute referenced in testimony as 21-5808 to include those waters.
The Revisor advised the committee that the bill as drafted places the new language in an incorrect statute and recommended creating a new authorizing statute for counties rather than amending a prohibitory statute. The Revisor also clarified the bill is authorizing (may), not mandatory (shall), language for counties.
Representative Bob Lewis, a proponent who described the measure as the "riverbed bill," said the bill grew from repeated trash dumping, unsafe encampments and a lack of state enforcement in parts of Finney County. "We had increasing dumping of trash...they were interfering with recreational use," Lewis said, recounting local cleanup efforts and a multi-stakeholder group called the Unmet Needs Community Led Empowerment Initiative.
Vicki German, chair of the Phenix County Commission, described constituent complaints about barbed wire hazards and unauthorized structures in a dry riverbed and urged allowing local enforcement paired with humanitarian outreach.
Opponents included river conservation groups and homelessness service providers. Dawn Buehler, Kansas Riverkeeper and executive director of Friends of the Kaw, said counties regulating navigable rivers could produce inconsistent rules across county lines and harm public access; she noted the Kansas River Water Trail designation and that the rivers supply drinking water for many Kansans. Jeff Hancock of the Kansas Outdoor Heritage Alliance warned that broad undefined "activities" authority and expanded trespass language could restrict lawful recreation. Homelessness providers (Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition and Kansas Interfaith Action) and people with lived experience said the bill risks criminalizing people experiencing homelessness in the absence of shelter capacity and housing-first services; several witnesses described outreach-driven resolutions in Finney County that housed people without arrests.
Committee members asked about federal preemption (for federally designated trails and waterways), liability if a dry channel later carries water, and whether local law enforcement already has authority to act on public-safety offenses. Proponents said federal law would preempt contrary local rules and that the bill does not alter Kansas Tort Claims Act provisions on liability.
The committee heard a mix of in-person and Webex testimony; the chair adjourned the hearing without a recorded committee vote.
