Topeka ? Abolishing the death penalty, making racial profiling a crime and setting up government health insurance for all Kansans are among a wide range of proposals already in the Legislature’s in-basket.

Lawmakers have started filing measures in preparation for the 2005 legislative session, which starts Jan. 10.

Most bills in the Kansas Legislature are filed by committee after the session starts, but some lawmakers say they individually file bills early because they have strong personal feelings about certain proposals.

Kansas’ death penalty leaped to the forefront after the Kansas Supreme Court earlier this month ruled unconstitutional the state’s capital punishment law, saying the way juries weighed different factors in sentencing was unfair to the defendant. Atty. Gen. Phill Kline has said he will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Several lawmakers have indicated the law can be amended during the session to comply with the court’s ruling in future cases, but others have said the whole issue of the death penalty will be under review, especially since the state recently established a law that provides life in prison without the possibility of parole. Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1994 in Kansas, seven men have been sentenced to die, but none has been executed as their appeals continue.

State Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, has filed a bill that would abolish the death penalty. He said Monday that he filed it before the state Supreme Court decision

He said he was personally opposed to the death penalty, but added that even some lawmakers who favored it were having second thoughts because of the high cost of death penalty cases.

“We have to look at how much it is costing these strapped budgets to prosecute these cases and the appeals,” Haley said.

A state audit found the median cost of a case resulting in a death sentence was $1.2 million, compared with $740,000 in a case in which a death sentence wasn’t pursued.

Death penalty debate likely broader than response to court (12-25-04) More in Dealth Penalty Agencies take steps to end racial profiling (05-17-04) Health plan could put Sebelius on national stage (12-24-04) More in Kansas Legislature

Another criminal justice matter focuses on law enforcement.

A bill by state Sen. Donald Betts, D-Wichita, would make racial profiling a misdemeanor.

The bill also would require that law enforcement agencies put policies into effect that prevent officers from stopping people solely based on their race or ethnicity.

Health care is also on the minds of some.

State Rep. Dale Swenson, R-Wichita, has a measure to set up government health insurance for Kansans.

“We need to start the debate. Soon Iraq will have national health care and the United States won’t,” Swenson said.

But Swenson concedes his plan’s chances of advancing in the Legislature are “not good.”

Another bill pre-filed by a lawmaker would make it illegal to bring people in from other countries to be slaves.

State Rep. Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee, said she has attended several conferences, one where President Bush spoke, about the increased trafficking of humans, including in the United States.

“This is something that anyone who cares about human beings should care about,” she said.

Repeal efforts

Some proposals in the legislative hopper are aimed at repealing laws that were approved during the 2004 session.

Three Democrats have filed a bill to remove a controversial sales tax law for used automobiles.

“The change in the used car sales tax law has created more uproar than any other piece of legislation passed last session,” said state Rep. Harold Lane, D-Topeka.

The law now in place requires that on sales of vehicles between individuals, the sales tax will be assessed on whichever is greater, the stated selling price or the valuation as determined by the state’s property code. The law was passed because an audit found that some people were cheating on paying sales taxes on vehicle purchases by simply stating they bought the vehicle for less than they did.

But many have complained that the new law was penalizing people who were getting good deals on used cars, or paying little for late-model vehicles that may be damaged or have high miles.

Lane said he hoped the bill could sail through the Legislature by the second day of the session and then lawmakers could work on a plan to refund tax dollars to those who may have been shortchanged by the law.