A strange thing happened on the way to freedom today when a handful of Kansas Senators pulled out every trick to prevent the COS resolution, SCR1604, from moving forward to final passage. After a 4-year sunset amendment was defeated and another Senator questioned how the convention would prevent the adoption of amendments outside the three subjects in the resolution the room was stunned when a Johnson County Senator attempted to add language to require a term limits for Kansas legislators.
The resolution carrier Senator Mike Thompson, also from Johnson County, was quick to ask for a ruling on whether the amendment was germane. After a brief huddle of the Rules Committee the amendment was ruled to be not germane. The Senator bringing the amendment then shared a long recitation of perceived dangers of an Article V convention based on the scholarship of the experts of the John Birch Society.
Senator Thompson was quick to point to the germaneness ruling and said that what the Senate had just witnessed is the kind of guardrails the convention would use to limit the convention to the three subjects.
Next a Senator from Wyandotte County introduced an amendment that gut the complete language of the resolution and replaced it with a resolution condemning President Trump's pardons of those convicted of offenses relating to the events of January 6, 2021. This amendment was again ruled to be not germane to the subject resolution.
Senators Clifford, Masterson, Owens, Tyson, and Murphy all supported Senator Thompson in answering the questions and misinformation thrown out by opponents. At the conclusion of the debate the Kansas Senate voted to move the resolution forward for final action, expected on Thursday, February 27.
