Members of the Kansas Legislature will begin the 2021 session on Monday. Priorities this year include dealing with how the Legislature will function during the pandemic and passing a constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to restrict abortion in Kansas.

The “Value Them Both” amendment refers to women and their unborn babies. The amendment won the approval of the majority of the House last February with an 80-43 vote, but fell short of the 84 votes needed for a two-thirds majority, which was needed for the amendment to be on the ballot in the August primary election.

Rep. Tory Marie Arnberger (R-Great Bend) said she believes “Value Them Both” will be one of the first bills to be voted on in the House.

Arnberger will serve of the Federal and State Affairs committee, of which she is the vice chair; as well as Health and Human Services, and General Government Budget. 

In addition to “Value Them Both,” Arnberger said the House needs to revisit HB 2016, the COVID-19 relief bill that was passed during the special session in June. It ends on Jan. 26, so either an extension or a completely new bill will be introduced. 

“This upcoming session is going to be interesting, to say the least,” Arnberger said. “The leadership team is currently working to make sure that the Capitol building is safe for legislators and staff to be able to work as we normally would. The difference is going to be that now committee members and conferees can attend virtually. The committee rooms are being revamped to allow members to sit 6 feet apart. The capitol IT system needs to be upgraded and ready for this session. I have had interim committees during our break and there has been lots of hiccups with technology. Hopefully we all can be patient as this is a huge learning curve for all of us.”

Members of the House will be in groups of 12-13 people when the swearing in starts at 2 p.m. Monday, Arnberger said. Representative have been asked to stay in their offices until it is their turn to be sworn in, and to return to their offices afterwards.

“There is some official business, so once everyone is sworn in, we have assigned seats, but it will be different than before,” she said. “Not everyone can sit on the House floor and maintain 6 feet apart, so some members will be assigned to the Gallery. Again, this is a completely different year, and hopefully we can all work together and stay patient, but be productive with our time in Topeka.”