Speaker: Ten Republicans in House refuse to sign petition to change U.S. House boundaries
TOPEKA — Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins stripped three Republicans of committee chairmanships for refusing to sign a petition calling for a special legislative session to redraw congressional boundaries in a bid to block reelection of Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids and to tackle a handful of unrelated bills.
Hawkins relied on his unilateral power as the House’s top leader to alter committee assignments and remove as chairmen GOP Reps. Steven Howe of Salina, Nathan Butler of Junction City and Jesse Borjon of Topeka. At least one committee vice chairman, Rep. Clarke Sanders of Salina, also was removed from the position by Hawkins.
Sanders, who was vice chair of the House Higher Education Budget Committee, said Hawkins called him Friday with the news. Sanders said Republicans in committee leadership positions who wouldn’t sign the special session petition were targeted.
“Those of us who were chairs and vice chairs … have been relieved because we didn’t agree to sign on for a special session,” Sanders said. “I understand it. I knew that not signing it came with a risk. I just didn’t think it was the right thing to do. I hope to maintain a good relationship with the speaker, but this was something he felt he had to do.”
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It’s likely additional committee vice chairs could be removed from leadership positions by the House speaker. Rank-and-file members of the House also could face sanctions in terms of committee assignments ahead of the 2026 legislative session in January.
The committee leaders demoted by Hawkins were among 10 Republican House members who declined to sign the petition for the special session. Neither Howe, Butler nor Borjon could be immediately reached for comment.
“I’m not shocked. It wasn’t too much of a surprise to me,” said Rep. Mark Schreiber, an Emporia Republican who was among the GOP representatives who didn’t sign the petition. “I’ve been there quite a long time as a lobbyist and legislator. I’ve seen that from leadership.”
He said the Republicans who lost committee assignments wouldn’t be deprived of an opportunity to represent their constituents in the House.
“They still have votes on the floor and can speak from the (House) well,” Schreiber said.
Hawkins was able to convince 78 of the 88 GOP members of the House to sign, which fell below the two-thirds requirement of 84 signatures from 125 House members to authorize the special session. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson was able to secure the necessary 27 signatures to complete special session requirements in that chamber. The special session had been scheduled for Nov. 7.
On Tuesday, Hawkins threw in the towel on a special session but vowed to take on congressional redistricting in 2026. Under legislative rules, he said, once the Nov. 7 deadline was breached the original House and Senate petitions would be voided and the signature search would have to start over.
“To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement,” Hawkins said in his newsletter posted Friday. “At this late date, the only option was to wait until we return for the regular session on January 12.”
In terms of Kansas’ four congressional districts, President Donald Trump urged GOP-led legislatures in Kansas and other states to redraw boundaries to promote election of more Republicans in November 2026 so the U.S. House might remain under GOP control.
Hawkins wanted the Legislature to gather in November to address Trump’s plea for mid-decade redistricting and to consider how to handle federal funding of rural health care and a court decision allowing Kansans to change gender information on a driver’s license. There also were discussions about taking up property tax legislation during the special session.
He said in a statement Tuesday that scheduling conflicts and competing agendas made planning a special session an “uphill battle.”
In the House speaker’s newsletter Friday, he said delaying decisions until January meant Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would have “full discretion” on allocation of new federal funding for health care in rural Kansas. Without advance guardrails, he said, funding accepted by Kelly couldn’t be returned to the federal government.
“Those who refused to sign a petition played right into the governor’s hands by giving her free rein without oversight on hundreds of millions of dollars. Sad,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said delaying passage of a gender identification bill meant the Legislature’s action to nullify the court decision would be “very costly and difficult.”
The timeline for imposing new congressional districts on Kansans — the focus has been on splitting voter-rich Johnson County among multiple districts — would be “greatly shortened,” Hawkins said.
He also disclosed there were “valid” complaints about the cost to taxpayers of a special session, especially since the regular session would begin in two months on Jan. 12. The GOP-controlled Legislative Coordinating Council voted in October to allocate $460,000 to the special session.
“It’s also important to remember that the Legislature did their business in record time this (2025 regular) session saving a significant amount of money,” Hawkins said. “These savings would have been more than enough to cover the cost of a special session.”
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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