Forbidding Abusive Child Transitions Act to head to Governor Kelly for likely veto

On Wednesday, Kansas lawmakers came together in both the Senate and House for a final vote to pass SB 233, the Forbidding Abusive Child Transitions Act. The House voted to pass the bill 82-39, and the Senate voted to pass the bill 27-13. The bill now heads to Gov. Laura Kelly where it will likely be vetoed and sent back to the chambers who will then have to vote to override the veto with a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

A number of Representatives have voted in favor of this bill when last year they voted in opposition of SB 26, a similar bill as this one, that received a vote of 70-52 in the House and 26-14 in the Senate during the vote that failed to override Gov. Kelly’s veto.

The large jump in votes in favor of this legislation is likely based on two things: Being better educated on the situation, and an amendment provided by Atchison Republican Rep. John Eplee, a physician who had voted against last year’s bill.

“While I voted against this bill last year—a similar bill—after education and more learning and more knowledge on this, I think it’s not unreasonable to do what this bill implies,” Rep. Eplee said during a committee meeting, “which is under age 18 to not allow surgery or hormone blockers because of the irreversibility, oftentimes, of those treatments.”

Under the newly amended bill, children who have already started their transitioning process would not have to stop receiving treatment immediately. With this new amendment, youth under active treatment will be given until the end of the calendar year to “help them complete or figure out what to do within nine months.”

All 12 Representatives that flip-flopped from last year’s bill were Republicans:

• Sen. Brenda Dietrich, R-Topeka.
• Rep. Jesse Borjon, R-Topeka.
• Rep. Nathan Butler, R-Junction City.
• Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit.
• Rep. Mike Dodson, R-Manhattan.
• Rep. John Eplee, R-Atchison.
• Rep. Dan Goddard, R-Parsons.
• Rep. Jim Minnix, R-Scott City.
• Rep. Sandy Pickert, R-Wichita.
• Rep. John Resman, R-Resman.
• Rep. Adam Smith, R-Weskan.
• Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill.

After Republican Fred Patton resigned from the Legislature, Republicans also picked up a ‘yes’ vote from his replacement, Rep. Kyle McNorton (R-Topeka).

Two Republicans in the House continued to side with Democrats on the issue: Rep. Mark Schreiber (R-Emporia), and Rep. David Younger (R-Ulysses). Rep. Marvin Robinson (D-Kansas City), who made news last year for siding with Republicans on the issue, continued to side with Republicans on the issue this year.

Sen. John Doll (R-Garden City), and Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick), who both regularly side with Democrats on policies, also voted against the bill.