TOPEKA — A laundry list of health-related legislation sought by everyone from pharmacist groups to proponents of health information technology is stalled because Kansas House leaders want the Senate to vote on a bill that would ban smoking in state-owned casinos.
Members of a House-Senate conference committee met this afternoon ostensibly to go over their respective chambers' differences on House Bill 2182, a catch-all bill that earlier this year was amended to include at least a half dozen other health-related measures.
But Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, chief House negotiator, quickly made it clear the real obstacle to agreement on HB 2182 was the Senate's refusal to vote on a separate House bill that would ban smoking on the floors of state-owned casinos.
Rep. Brenda Landwehr, the Wichita Republican who heads
the House Health and Human Services Committee.
"I want the ban – ban smoking in casinos," Landwehr told KHI News Service. "But the Senate leadership has said no, that that would hurt the casinos. So we’ll see."
Exemptions
The Legislature last year passed a statewide ban on smoking in most public places. The few exemptions in the law that became effective July 1, 2010 were some designated hotel rooms, some private clubs, tobacco shops and casino floors.
Landwehr, chair of the House Public Health and Welfare Committee, was one of the ban's staunchest opponents. And earlier this year, she sponsored an unsuccessful bill that would have allowed smoking in bars that sell state lottery tickets. She repeatedly has said it is hypocritical for the state to ban smoking in private businesses but allow it in state-owned casinos.
The state currently has one casino operating in Dodge City with others expected to open in Kansas City and Mulvane. Under state gaming law, the state will own the facilities but they will be developed and managed by private developers and contractors.
The conference committee last met for a negotiating round on March 29 and reached tentative agreement. But Landwehr said she wouldn't finalize that agreement because Senate leaders still hadn't scheduled a vote on the casino ban.
Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka
"The smoking issue is not in this committee," Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, told Landwehr, making her exasperation obvious. "I can't control that."
Schmidt chairs the Senate Public Health & Welfare Committee is and is lead negotiator for the Senate on HB 2182, which now includes the language for Senate bills 5, 14, 33, 76, 90, 100, 133, and 138.
Those bills included everything from new rules on pharmacy audits to new licensing provisions for perfusionists and mental health and substance abuse counselors.
Health information exchange
SB 133 would harmonize state law with federal medical privacy laws. Backers of a statewide digital health information exchange say the measure is needed to ease liability fears among doctors so they will join the exchange.
Jeff Ellis, the Kansas City attorney who helped write and lobby for the bill, said if SB 133 does not pass this year, "it would certainly hamper the operation of the health information exchange."
Ellis has been providing legal guidance to Kansas Health Information Exchange, Inc., a non-profit, public-private entity created to help launched a statewide exchange for medical records.
"It's the job of KHIE to establish the policy by which privacy and security will be maintained in the exchange of health information. The legislation sets the tone for that policy." Ellis said. Absent the legislation, "the policy would have to be more robust."
Ellis said he didn't think there was anything controversial about SB 133.
"It's just caught in the political morass of what's going on over there," he said.
Own agenda
Some House Democrats accused Landwehr of promoting her own agenda by holding up the conference committee.
“The underlying message in all this is that we have a committee chairman who’s pushing a personal agenda over the health concerns of Kansans as expressed by doctors, hospitals and pharmacists – the people who are on the front line,” said Rep. Jim Ward, D-Topeka, and a member of Landwehr's committee. “She’s a very frustrating chairman.”
“Years ago when I got into politics in Topeka, I learned that what we’re told is the issue is never really the issue,” said Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden. “So as we look at situation before us, I’d have to say there’s obviously an agenda in the minds of some people on the conference committee. What that agenda is, I don’t know. Is it disgruntlement over the ban? Is it wanting to create exceptions within the ban? Is it wanting smaller, less intrusive government? It could be any or all.”
Members of the Senate negotiating team were Schmidt and Sens. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, and Laura Kelly, D-Topeka.
Members of the House negotiating team were Landwehr and Reps. Owen Donohoe, R-Shawnee, and Geraldine Flaharty, D-Wichita.