---
type: "Bill"
title: "Requiring employers who impose COVID-19 vaccine requirements to allow medical and religious exemptions, providing for waiver requests, authorizing a complaint and investigation process with the secretary of labor for violations related to exemptions, enforcement actions by the attorney general and civil penalties to be imposed by a court for such violations and providing exceptions under the employment security law related to benefit eligibility conditions and disqualification conditions based on refusal to comply with COVID-19 vaccine requirements."
description: "Requiring employers who impose COVID-19 vaccine requirements to allow medical and religious exemptions, providing for waiver requests, authorizing a complaint and investigation process with the secretary of labor for violations related to exemptions, enforcement actions by the attorney general and civil penalties to be imposed by a court for such violations and providing exceptions under the employment security law related to benefit eligibility conditions and disqualification conditions based on refusal to comply with COVID-19 vaccine requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ks"
legislature: "Kansas Legislature"
session: "2021S1"
identifier: "HB 2001"
citation: "Kansas HB 2001 (2021S1)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barker", "Landwehr", "Owens", "Tarwater"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-11-22"
last_action: "2021-11-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d6b92c93-bea5-4b22-bc6c-00470413a59a"
source_url: "http://www.kslegislature.org/li/api/v11/rev-1/bill_status/hb2001"
source_hash: "0dffccdceb14eba6f7fceec52ae67dd8e1566a812f82f2d85b5fd0386e89101d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ks"]
---

# Kansas HB 2001 (2021S1) — Requiring employers who impose COVID-19 vaccine requirements to allow medical and religious exemptions, providing for waiver requests, authorizing a complaint and investigation process with the secretary of labor for violations related to exemptions, enforcement actions by the attorney general and civil penalties to be imposed by a court for such violations and providing exceptions under the employment security law related to benefit eligibility conditions and disqualification conditions based on refusal to comply with COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2021s/b2021s/measures/documents/hb2001_00_0000.pdf)
2. **{As Amended by House on Final Action}** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2021s/b2021s/measures/documents/hb2001_01_0000.pdf)
3. **{As Amended by Senate on Final Action}** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2021s/b2021s/measures/documents/hb2001_02_0000.pdf)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2021s/b2021s/measures/documents/hb2001_enrolled.pdf)

## Votes

- Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Senator Pyle was adopted — **28–7** (pass) · upper
- Emergency Final Action - Passed as amended; — **25–13** (pass) · upper
- Conference Committee Report was adopted; — **24–11** (pass) · upper
- Conference Committee Report was adopted; — **77–34** (pass) · lower
- Emergency Final Action - Passed as amended; — **78–40** (pass) · lower
- Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Senator Straub was adopted — **30–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Barker — primary (person)
- Landwehr — primary (person)
- Owens — primary (person)
- Tarwater — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-11-22** Introduced `introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Motion to move bill to Emergency Final Action Subject to Amendment and Debate, adopted by 2/3 majority.
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to refer to committee failed Committee on Federal and State Affairs
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Representative Jacobs `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Representative Jacobs was adopted `amendment-passage`
- **2021-11-22** Emergency Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea: 78 Nay: 40 `passage`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Handwritten Motion to Amend - Offered by Representative Jacobs
- **2021-11-22** Received and Introduced `introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Now working on
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Senator Masterson `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Senator Masterson was adopted `amendment-passage`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Senator Pyle `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Senator Pyle was adopted Yea: 28 Nay: 7 `amendment-passage`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Senator McGinn `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Senator Masterson raised a question of germaneness. The amendment was ruled not germane.
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Motion to Amend - Offered by Senator Straub `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-11-22** Committee of the Whole - Amendment by Senator Straub was adopted Yea: 30 Nay: 6 `amendment-passage`
- **2021-11-22** Emergency Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea: 25 Nay: 13 `passage`
- **2021-11-22** Nonconcurred with amendments; Conference Committee requested; appointed
- **2021-11-22** Motion to accede adopted; Senator Masterson, Senator Erickson and Senator Corson appointed as conferees
- **2021-11-22** Conference committee report now available
- **2021-11-22** Conference Committee Report agree to disagree adopted; Senator Masterson, Senator Erickson and Senator Corson appointed as second conferees
- **2021-11-22** Conference Committee Report agree to disagree adopted; Representative Barker, Representative Owens and Representative Miller appointed as second conferees
- **2021-11-22** Conference committee report now available
- **2021-11-22** Conference committee report now available
- **2021-11-22** Conference Committee Report was adopted; Yea: 24 Nay: 11 `passage`
- **2021-11-22** Conference Committee Report was adopted; Yea: 77 Nay: 34 `passage`
- **2021-11-22** Enrolled and presented to Governor on Tuesday, November 23, 2021 `executive-receipt`
- **2021-11-22** Approved by Governor on Tuesday, November 23, 2021 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d6b92c93-bea5-4b22-bc6c-00470413a59a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kansas legislature records).