The following bills of law enforcement interest become effective on May 1, 2008, upon publication in the Kansas Register.

This bill adds Salvia Divinorum to the list of Schedule I drugs. Salvia is a plant primarily grown in Mexico and sold in head shops (yes, even in Kansas) and over the internet.

It also adds Datura Stramonium to the list of Schedule I drugs. Datura Stramonium is gypsum weed, or jimson weed. This is a weed commonly seen growing wild in Kansas.

The crime violations and the penalties for both are the same as those for marihuana.

This bill changes the penalty for aggravated criminal threat from varying severity levels based on dollar loss to a straight level 5 person felony in all cases regardless of dollar loss. The elements of the crime, other than dollar values, have not changed.

Sections 1 and 2 of this bill corrects a problem with a bill passed last year which was found to conflict with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

This bill is the fix for that problem. The conflict centered on the requirement added last year for schools to report a suspension or expulsion of a student from school for certain reasons to be reported to law enforcement. This bill fixes that by returning to the process where the school is required to notify law enforcement of certain acts, therefore they are not reporting an administrative action to law enforcement. Those acts to be reported include having certain weapons at school, possessing illegal drugs at school, or engaging in conduct which is substantially likely to cause great bodily harm to another person at school. The term “at school” includes school activities or any time on school property.

The schools must report such incidents to law enforcement within 10 working days of the violation. Law enforcement is then required to investigate and forward a report of the incident to the Department of Motor Vehicles within 10 working days of their receipt of the notice from the school. The DMV will send notice to the student that their driver’s license will be suspended and advise them of their appeal rights. If the student appeals, the DMV will hold a hearing to determine if reasonable grounds exists to believe the violation occurred.

Section 3 of the bill changes the criminal acts which prohibit the licensing of a teacher. It now lists specific violations instead of simply referring to KSA 21-4619. The purpose is to exclude misdemeanor DUI convictions from the list of offenses affecting teacher licensing.

Section 4 is administrative and deals with the cancellation of teacher’s contracts.

The text of the bill is also located at: http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/470.pdf

The Conference Committee Report explaining the bill is located at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/2008ConfCommRpts/Ccrb470_001_26.pdf

This bill is purely administrative and pertains only to the state juvenile corrections system. What might be of interest of law enforcement is a provision that changes the name of the “Topeka Juvenile Corrections Facility” to the “Kansas Juvenile Corrections Complex.” This is the facility that used to be the Boys Industrial School, then the Youth Center at Topeka. It includes the old facilities and the newer facility opened several years ago.

The text of the bill is also located at: http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/410.pdf

The Conference Committee Report explaining the bill is located at: http://www.kslegislature.org/supplemental/2008/SN410.pdf