After over a year and two legislative sessions the Kansas Tenth Amendment Resolution (KTAR), SCR1615, was finally passed on March 29th. Some declared “victory” as the resolution was packaged and sent off to Washington D.C.
Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook, the resolution’s number one sponsor and champion, said, “SCR1615 was the first step in claiming state sovereignty and it sent a strong message that the federal government needs to recognize the limited nature of its power…”
There is a divide among some of the groups including the grass roots coalition, Coalition of Citizen Advocacy Groups – Supporting State Sovereignty (CCAG-SSS (“KEGS”))*, as to the implications of the passage of KTAR with language which only address future violations of the state’s soveirgnty and not those already on the books.
There is no difference of opinion that there has been a fury of citizen promoted and supported legislation asserting state sovereignty this session and more may be on deck for next session. Senator Pilcher-Cook observed “Now, to protect the liberty of Kansas citizens, the Kansas Legislature must begin the application. There are many areas and subjects where this could be done…”
The Kansas legislature has no fewer than three new state soveirgnty related resolutions and bills which were introduce this session and are working their way through the legislature. Most observers agree it is unlikely that any of the currently pending state sovereignty friendly legislation will actually make it out of the Kansas legislature this session. However, hope springs eternal and citizen enthusiasm flourishes.
The bogged down bills are the Health Care Freedom Amendment (HCFA) (a resolution to amend the state’s constitutional ) which was introduced by Sen. Pilcher-Cook, the Freedom Firearms Act (H.B.2650) (FFA) (introduce by Representative Ray Merrick et.al.) , and an Anti-Real ID bill (ARI) introduced by Representative Krieger. All of these were citizen promoted initiatives introduced by citizen friendly and Constitutional supportive legislators.
The Kansas Legislature’s regular session ended on March 31st, its veto session will start up on April 28th. Senator Pilcher-Cook is trying to rally the grass roots legions to give another final push during the veto session to get the HCFA pushed through.
Last year the grass roots group Wichita -South Central Kansas 9-12 Group, lead by Larry Halloran, organized a final and unsuccessful push during the veto session to get the KTAR through. Sen. Pilcher- Cook is certainly encouraging such a last minute action regarding HCFA to which the grass roots will no doubt respond.
According to Mr. Halloran “The Wichita 9-12 has already implemented actions in conjunction with other CCAG-SSS members to get the health care act through the legislature and to deal with problem legislators that were identified this session. Santa’s not the only one making a list this year.”
Stay tuned, be active.
- Apparent Tug-of-War in Topeka over State Sovereignty - April 2, 2010