By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA – A Republican-led Senate committee declined Monday to take action on a bill that would prohibit people in Kansas without permanent legal status from receiving public benefits, including in-state tuition, and permit higher bond prices for those charged with crimes.
The committee’s chair, Shawnee Republican Sen. Mike Thompson, told the overflowing committee room that Senate Bill 254 would not be discussed as scheduled. Last Thursday, he booted the bill’s opponents out of the same room following 12 minutes of testimony among the 24 opponents who signed up to speak. One proponent, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, also spoke for 12 minutes.
“I think it’s just very convenient that they’re not going to work it,” said Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat and one of several House Democrats who attended the Monday meeting in hopes of hearing Senators discuss the bill.
“The other piece is, you know, I don’t trust ’em,” Ruiz said.
The bill would bar people who are in the United States without permanent legal status from receiving federal, state and local public benefits, excluding government-issued identification cards.
It also contained a provision that would require courts to conduct an immigration status check with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for anyone charged with a crime before setting a bond. That enables courts to set a higher bond for people believed to be in the country without permanent legal status, which could increase the likelihood of longer detentions before a determination of a criminal conviction.
Two committee members were absent Monday from the 11-member committee, which Thompson cited as the reason for not taking action on the bill.
