Spending bill amendments terminate work-at-home option for some state workers
TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate’s budget committee wants to hold $4 million hostage from the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly until state agencies proved they eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion jobs and programs as well as ended use of gender-affirming pronouns in signature blocks of employee emails.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee has been working since February on amendments to the budget plan developed by the House Appropriations Committee and approved by the full House on a vote of 83-36.
In the process, senators responsible for the budget agreed to leverage $4 million in state funding to speed demise of DEI programs and staff within state government. A hold on the money would be lifted when the Kelly administration certified DEI had been terminated and when employees in the executive branch and universities in the Kansas Board of Regents system stopped listing preferred gender pronouns in email correspondence.
Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, said she was puzzled by the Senate budget committee’s approach to DEI.
“They’re eliminating all the positions? They’re eliminating all the programs?” said Ballard, who is Black and serves on the House budget committee. “Are they getting fired? Eliminate says it’s not there.”
Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican and colleague of Ballard’s on the House budget committee, said the Senate’s budget provision was intended to make certain state government agencies weren’t playing games with the Legislature’s directive to erase DEI.
“If they have DEI positions and they’ve just renamed those DEI positions, they really need to substantiate or verify that they’re not just changing titles,” Williams said.
Dylan Dear, a fiscal analyst with the Kansas Legislative Research Department, said the blueprint crafted by the Senate budget committee also would direct full-time executive branch employees under direction of the Democratic governor to “perform their duties in their assigned state office, facility or field location” except during periods of authorized travel.
He said the Senate committee didn’t want the no-work-at-home mandate to apply to staff of the legislative and judicial branches of state government nor to Republican-led offices of attorney general, insurance commissioner, secretary of state and state treasurer.
The Senate budget panel deleted from House Bill 2007 a provision that would rename the Docking State Office Building in Topeka in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kansas. The building across the street from Capitol was originally named for the late Democratic Gov. Robert Docking. The structure was partially demolished and the rebuilding project has been mostly completed. Dole has a U.S federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, named for him as well as structures at University of Kansas, Washburn University and Kansas State University.
Senators added to the House bill an appropriation of $21 million to be shared by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University and Pittsburg State University. The Senate’s version of the budget also would allocate $750,000 for a feasibility study of creating a dental school in partnership with FHSU.
The Senate amendments to the House budget would allow $23 million in bonding for KSU building projects for animal, agronomy and grain science research. KU would be authorized to issue $100 million in bonds for development of the 11th and Mississippi streets project next to the Jayhawks’ football stadium. And, Wichita State University would have access to $60 million in bonds for a campus stadium project.
In addition, the Kansas Highway Patrol would be allowed to devote $55 million to relocation of the Troop C headquarters in Salina, KHP would be allowed to enter into a contract on a build-to-lease aviation hangar in Wichita rather than follow the House’s idea of allocation $7 million to build the hangar.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation would be allowed to issue $100 million in bonds for construction of a new facility to replace the KBI headquarters in Topeka.
Amendments to the House bill included addition of $4 million to support the Kansas Pregnancy Compassion Awareness Program, which would provide women facing unplanned pregnancies incentive to avoid an abortion.
The Senate committee deleted $830,000 for renovation of a homeless shelter in Liberal, but added $2.5 million for a child care pilot program with Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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