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KANSAN.COM
House hears proposed sexting bill
Contributed Photo
House committee chair Rep. John Rubin (R-Shawnee) questions a testifier in a meeting on Feb. 1.
JAMES HOYT
KT! Wire
TOPEKA - The House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee heard testimony Monday on a bill designed to change penalties for teen sexting.
HB 2018 would close a gap in state law regarding the electronic transmission of sexually-explicit photos of minors.
Currently, state law says minors convicted of retaining and sharing nude photos can be charged with a felony.
State law also requires those convicted to register as sex offenders.
HB 2018 would change the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. The change would apply to minors who are 12 to 19 years old and are less than six years older than the recipient of texts.
Ed Klumpp, a proponent of the bill, said the proposed legislation would allow law enforcement to better deal with sexting cases without resorting to child pornography charges and stigmatization for those involved.
"Today the tools that we
have [for enforcement] are a sledgehammer or nothing," said Klumpp, who lobbies for law enforcement associations in Kansas. "We don't think children engaged in this activity deserved to be a registered [sex] offender."
In December 2015, CNN reported hundreds of students exchanging nude photos in Cañon City, Colo., avoided criminal charges because Colorado lacks specific laws regarding sexting. Kansas is one of 20 other states currently lacking these laws, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center.
Committee Chair Rep. John Rubin (R-Shawnee) said while felony charges are too much, doing nothing can lead to significant emotional harm to those involved, a point Klump also made.
"We found instances where they [the photos] had been shared throughout multiple counties and multiple school districts. And it's just devastating to these young people who have made this stupid mistake of taking that type of a photo and sharing it with people," Klumpp said.
Alex Mathew, a resident of Kansas City, Kan., and a
chaplain for family courts in Jackson County, Mo., said he favors all mercy legislation. He said he supports the spirit of the bill, but he doesn't favor a misdemeanor statute for all convicted offenders.
"When it's involved in blackmailing or coercion or other serious offenses that are almost evil in nature, then I believe - yes, let's get the misdemeanor involved - but if it's because of stupidity or naiveness or not understanding boundaries, there needs to be more of a diversion program or an education program involved,"
Mathew said.
Discussions on the bill will continue this week. HB 2018 was introduced in 2015, but legislators said it needed additional work. New amendments drafted by Rep. Blaine Finch (R-Ottawa) are meant to patch holes in the legislation that the committee found when the bill was discussed previously.
The Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee also introduced a similar bill Monday.
"We want to make sure that we get this topic addressed this year," Rubin said.
State universities not likely to see drastic budget cuts in 2016 fiscal year despite projected budget shortfalls
JOSHUA ROBINSON KUWire
TOPEKA - The state's six public universities will not likely see dramatic budget cuts this year.
Lawmakers plan to take money from the state's general fund and allocate it to a special education fund, reducing the impact of state budget shortfalls on higher education.
On Monday, the House Education Budget Committee, chaired by Rep. Amanda Grosserode (R-Lenexa),
discussed the financial welfare of the Board of Regents' schools in fiscal year 2016.
Lawmakers plan to transfer money from the state's General Fund and earmark it for the Education Building Fund. Usually, building
funds are used for rehabilitation and repair costs, but Gov. Sam Brownback has recommended those funds be spent on information technology systems at universities.
This process of funding information technology systems will happen for all six Board of Regents schools. The funding also will be provided to the institutions' satellite campuses, which include the University of Kansas Medical Center and Kansas State University Extension Systems and
Agricultural Research Programs.
The University of Kansas will receive the largest amount — $1.8 million.
The budget plans will go to Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
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