City staff members are asking the Lawrence City Commission to pass a resolution saying the city will indefinitely suspend enforcement of its equal rights ordinances in hopes of maintaining federal funding.
The draft resolution in the commission’s agenda for its Tuesday, May 20 meeting, does not mention President Donald Trump by name but states that the executive branch of the federal government has “recently interpreted federal law to prohibit civil projects, programs, and activities that provide certain advantages to marginalized persons, based on a person’s class,” and said it will not provide funding to “subordinate governmental entities” that do not comply.
“Of course, a significant portion of the City’s budget comes from grants made by the United States Government, whether it be for road and highway projects, infrastructure projects, broadband projects, fair housing projects, CDBG grants, airport projects, and the like,” according to the memo to the commission. “Losing that funding would work an incredible hardship on all residents of the City.”
The resolution says the city is declaring a state of emergency.
Update:
• Resolution pledging Lawrence would comply with executive orders is no longer on commission agenda, May 19, 2025
“As the result of the declared emergency, the Governing Body hereby suspends enforcement of all portions of ordinances, resolutions, regulations, policies, practices, and customs that would provide assistance or preference to any person based on that person’s class,” the ordinance states. “While it pledges that it will continue to provide assistance to those in the community most in need, the Governing Body reiterates and reaffirms that the City will, in all City projects, programs, and activities, comply with federal law.”
The city in recent years has passed a sanctuary city ordinance, though the commission voted in 2022 to strike certain protections for immigrants after the Kansas Legislature passed a law essentially invalidating it.
More recently, the city has passed a “safe haven” law to expand protections for transgender people, and the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. That ordinance prohibits race-based hair discrimination.
Many other city ordinances are intended to protect people based on various classes, including status as a veteran or domestic violence survivor, disabilities and more.
The resolution states that “the Governing Body pledges to continue to fulfill the goal and mission of the City and to continue to provide assistance to those in the community who are the most in need, in order to create and maintain a community where all persons enjoy life and feel at home, because that is what makes America great.”
Executive orders are not laws, but they are binding, and they influence policy, funding and more at the federal level. They cannot override federal laws and statutes, according to the ACLU.
Here’s the full agenda item:
Agenda-Item-Report-25-280-PdfThe Lawrence city commissioners will vote on the resolution during their next meeting, set for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
The commission accepts written public comment emailed to ccagendas@lawrenceks.org until noon the day of meetings. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings, both in person and virtually. Register to join the Zoom meeting at this link.
Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@lawrenceksvideo and broadcast on Midco channel 25. See the complete agenda at this link.
Read more on how federal funding cuts and policy changes are directly affecting Lawrence and Douglas County community members in the articles linked below and on this page.
Contact information for the congressional delegation representing Lawrence and Douglas County is available at this link. The nonprofit 5 Calls, 5calls.org, has phone numbers and templates of scripts to help people make their voices heard on several federal issues.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
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