Spanking bill dies in Kansas House committee

A bill designed to ease restrictions on how Kansas parents spank their children has died in a state House committee, officials said. The proposal would define corporal punishment as "up to 10 forceful applications in succession of a bare, open-hand palm against the clothed buttocks of a child," the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle reported. State Rep. John Rubin is chairman of the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee. A Rubin aide said the bill "will not get a hearing" in the panel. The bill by state Rep. Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat, would have let parents hit children hard enough to leave redness or bruising, and pass on permission to caregivers or teachers to do the same thing, the Eagle reported. "Parental corporal discipline in Kansas, along with 49 other states, has always been permitted," Finney said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Kansas has never affirmatively, expressly defined corporal discipline in Kansas statute, leaving the interpretation of that matter to administrative officials in the executive branch, law enforcement personnel, and the judicial branch." Kansas law already allows spanking, but it does not say whether a parent can leave red marks or bruise a child, or use a belt, wooden paddle or other implement, the Eagle reported