Lawmakers introduce 'Kirk Act' for higher ed and 'SPEAK Act' for K‑12

At the start of the session, President Masterson introduced two bills on free‑speech topics. He said he would "introduce, RS 26 33, which is the Kansas Intellectual Rights and Knowledge Act," adding that "People call it the Kirk Act, where I deal with free speech on our college campuses," and that he was also introducing "RS 3 0 4 1... the SPEAK Act, which is a Safeguarding Personal Expression at K 12 Schools Act." The sponsor described RS 26 33 as focused on higher education and RS 3041 as focused on K‑12.

The chair asked if there were objections to the introductions; seeing none, the bills were formally introduced to the committee for future consideration. No debate or amendments were offered in this hearing; subsequent committee action or hearings were not recorded in the transcript.