TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson announced on Thursday that three other state senators, all Republicans, would be removed from their committees or demoted.
Senator Mark Steffen was removed from the Taxation Committee and demoted from Vice Chair of the Commerce Committee, though he will still serve on the committee.
Senator Dennis Pyle was removed from Transportation and Utilities committees.
Senator Alicia Straub has been removed from the Transparency & Ethics and Local Government Committees. She was also stripped of her Vice Chair on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, but will remain a member.
All three of those members initially voted against the Ad Astra 2 Congressional Map override of Gov. Laura Kelly's veto. Steffen and Straub changed their votes on a second try, Pyle voted pass.
Steffen appeared to have tied the change of vote on the map to getting a bill that would have required off-label filling of prescriptions like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in Kansas out of committee. That bill was also re-referred back to committee.
The override on the congressional map was successful, but Democrats plan to challenge the map in state court.