Days after an annual federal survey sent state and local agencies to count the number of homeless Kansans across the state, legislators will hear a bill Wednesday to allow counties to step up enforcement on illegal camps along rivers.
The bill strikes previous language that limited criminal trespassing charges to non-navigable rivers. If passed, any individual found camping, dumping or using a vehicle along any river or dried channel is subject to a class B misdemeanor, which carries a minimum of 48 hours in jail.
Kayla Knier, the director of regional coordination at the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, said that HB 2495 was drafted in response to a growing homeless encampment along a riverbed in Garden City this past fall. She said concerned community members reached out to State Rep. Bob Lewis, a Garden City Republican, for help…