Kansas House bans reporting from floor, mirroring move in Senate

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins banned reporting from the chamber’s floor at the Statehouse in Topeka on Jan. 10, 2025, overturning longstanding practice in a move that journalists in the state said was retaliatory.

Payton Lacey, director of communications for Hawkins, sent the revised rules to reporters three days before the legislative session was scheduled to begin Jan. 13. In a copy of the email shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Lacey directed members of the press to “review this document carefully as there have been significant changes made compared to past sessions’ rules.”

During the 2024 session, journalists were generally advised to remain in the “press box” — a table with six chairs in a corner of the chamber — during the session, according to rules reviewed by the Tracker. Photographs were only to be taken from the back wall of the chamber or the press box.

The new rules, however, eliminate press box access, instead directing members of the press to remain in a gallery above the back of the chamber. Photographs may still be taken from along the back and side walls, with filming allowed only from the back wall or the gallery above.

Hawkins, who did not respond to a request for comment, posted a copy of the new rules on the social platform X, adding, “As you can see, despite false reports, reporters are still allowed on the North, East, and South walls on the floor of the House.”

Sherman Smith, editor of the Kansas Reflector, told the Tracker that there has already been confusion with the new rules concerning whether journalists are allowed to take notes from the floor and if there are any limits on how long they can be in the chamber.

“Payton Lacey kind of had shifting explanations as to whether we could stand there for long periods of time during a lengthy session,” Smith said, “or whether, as she suggested at one point, ‘Can’t you just take two photos and go back out?’”

Lacey told the Reflector that the rule change was based on “congestion” in the area previously allotted to the press. The new rule also mirrors changes made in the Senate, which barred journalists from the chamber floor in 2022, citing space concerns. Multiple Republican-controlled state legislatures, including Iowa and Utah, also limited press access to their chamber floors in 2022.

Smith questioned the speaker’s rationale and said that there have been few occasions when the press box was overcrowded.

“It’s not about this kind of shifting and incoherent rationale that they’ve given us since that story published,” he said. “It’s really about getting people that they don’t like off the floor because they don’t like what we report.”

Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, told the Tracker that the change will have an immediate impact on journalists and the information they’re able to provide the public.

“Reporting from the floor is important because there are a lot of conversations that don’t happen behind the mic,” Bradbury said. “Sometimes we are the only source of information between the people of Kansas and their representatives. And by giving reporters access and being able to overhear those conversations, we’re able to report on what’s happening in real time, which also helps those public servants get their message out accurately.”

The Reflector’s Smith told the Tracker that he can’t recall how many times a legislator has approached him with a comment or explanation on the floor about why they voted a particular way or their hopes for a particular bill.

“With these changes, it means that we have to work a little bit harder to do this, and we’ll lose some of that context for the stories. We’re just going to have to continue to raise stories that hold people accountable,” Smith said.

Bradbury told the Tracker that while the press association was not consulted before the rules were changed, they are ready and willing to discuss solutions with the speaker that would be mutually agreeable.