By AUSTIN FISHER
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — Sen. David Haley (D-Kansas City) urged his colleagues on Thursday to pass a bill that would double the maximum prison sentence for hate crimes motivated by the victim’s race, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual orientation.

Testifying before the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, Haley asked the Senate to “send a stronger message to those that seek to cause pain and suffering upon citizens of our state for exercising their (the victims) God-given right of individuality.”

The bill comes nine months after a man identified as a white supremacist killed two people at a Jewish community center and a third at a nursing home in Overland Park — none of whom were Jewish. Senate Bill 1 calls for the Kansas Attorney General’s office to collect and publish data on hate crimes and to provide training for all law enforcement officers in identifying, responding to and reporting them.

The Attorney General’s office estimated that the new database and training would cost over $162,000 in fiscal year 2016, which includes an $18,000 vehicle and the hiring of two full-time positions. Haley said there was no need for the vehicle and the new positions, and called the Attorney General’s fiscal note “completely misleading and wholly inaccurate.”

Sen. Forrest Knox (R-Altoona), who serves as vice chair on the committee, questioned the purpose of the bill. Referring to the Johnson County shooting, he said “Is this the only instance where we’re saying ‘Because of what you believe or because of how you perceive, we’re going to make this a stiffer penalty?’ ”

Haley said the law would punish conduct and not belief.

“We’re not the thought police. These are actions,” Haley said. “These are people who act on a rational or irrational belief that there’s a distinction between them as an actor and the victim.”
Knox said the bill was unlikely to reach a vote.

“Apparently there was a lot of interest 11 or 15 years ago,” Knox said. “I personally don’t think it’s an issue but I think if you commit a crime you need to pay the price.”

Haley said he thinks the price for crime motivated by prejudice is too low.

Austin Fisher is a University of Kansas senior from Lawrence studying journalism.