Topeka senator calls for security as frustrations flare at Kansas anti-vaccine hearing

Frustrations flared Tuesday morning during an anti-vaccine hearing, culminating in a Topeka senator asking for security before walking out.

The perceived threat came from Lauren Shiffman, of Lenexa, during a hearing on anti-vaccine Senate 315 in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.

"I speak to the Republicans in this room, especially one over here, please follow your party," said Lauren Schiffman as she stared down Sen. Kristen O'Shea, R-Topeka.

"Let's not do that," said Sen. Beverly Gossage, R-Eudora and the committee chair. "No clapping, please."

Sen. Kristen O'Shea leaves meeting after witness calls her out

O'Shea then told Gossage she didn't feel comfortable, prompting what appeared to be laughter from attendees, before O'Shea requested security.

"I'm sorry, we just don't have time for that," Gossage said, though she added that security could be invited in since they were already outside the room.

A few minutes later, O'Shea left the meeting.

"There essentially was a threat from someone at the podium towards me, her staring at me, and then her husband said something towards me staring at me, both on the front row," O'Shea told reporters afterward. "And then Sen. (Mark) Steffen telling them good job for threatening me, and then the crowd cheering at their statements."

The man said "she's talking about you" and pointed at her, O'Shea said.

"This same woman has come up to me after committee before and been somewhat threatening, like she's kind of chasing me down," O'Shea said. "I also just had the thought that this is not at all a Republican issue, and so her making it partisan was inappropriate. I also was like, why is this being allowed in committee? This shouldn't be allowed, this isn't decorum, and then when I asked for security twice, I was ignored and told that we didn't have time for that."

Senate chairwoman says witness apologized for losing her cool

Gossage told reporters that Shiffman apologized to her afterward.

"The person who made that, they may came up to me afterwards — I don't know if you saw — in tears and said: 'I lost my cool. I'm sorry. I should not have done that. I'm not like that,'" Gossage said. "And I said, 'You need to go say that to Sen. O'Shea.'"

The tension came as Kansas Legislature committees enter crunch time, with Gossage's committee struggling to get through all its bills on deadline. This week has seen bill hearings where some people were not allowed to testify, and the ones who did faced stricter time limits than is usual. One bill on Tuesday was only allowed to have one person testify for all of 30 seconds.

At other points, discussion was limited and senators were not allowed to ask questions.

Gossage had asked that some supporters of SB 315 give up their chance to speak due to limited time. The committee ultimately spent about 37 minutes on the bill, with testimony limited to one minute per person.

The bill would be a major public health policy change, weakening vaccination requirements in workplaces, university housing, schools and day cares.

The 2021 special session law mandating that employers offer religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccine mandates would be broadened to cover any vaccine. The wellness vaccine schedule for schools and child care would include an expanded religious exemption that also covers non-religious opposition to vaccines. A state law requiring meningitis vaccination for university housing would be repealed.

More:Anti-vaccine politics return to Kansas Legislature. This time, it's more than COVID-19.

Topeka senator one of few GOP legislators opposing anti-vaccine bills

O'Shea has been one of the few Republican legislators to oppose anti-vaccine politics.

"This community is maybe 1% of the Kansas population," she said. "I don't know why we're even hearing bills like this because they're not conservative, they're not Republican. Anti-vaccination is this populist fad, and I truly believe more than 90% of my constituents would say we support regularly scheduled vaccinations."

O'Shea said she expects the rhetoric to continue with future anti-vaccination hearings under current committee and Senate leadership. While she has raised her concerns to leadership, she said, "Let's just say I haven't felt heard."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas Republican senator calls security during anti-vaccine hearing