The Kansas Legislature passed a K-12 education package Friday that fully funds public schools but includes expansion of a tax credit for private school students and allows private school students to participate in public school sports and activities.
A Muslim advocacy group on Friday asked Sen. Mark Steffen to commit to fair representation of all constituents following news reports of a conversation in which Steffen offered to convert a Muslim woman.
The Kansas Legislature sent Gov. Laura Kelly a bill bundling elements from more than a dozen bills, including a property tax exemption for fitness, restaurant and child care businesses able to demonstrate they were in direct competition with operations of state or local government.
Senate President Ty Masterson responded to a second failure to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill collapsing the state’s three-rate individual income tax structure into a single 4.15% rate and speeding elimination of the state’s sales tax on groceries by stripping a dissident Republican of a committee chairmanship.
The Legislature resurrected a transgender bathroom ban that bars transgender and intersex women from restrooms, locker rooms, rape crisis centers and other female-specific spaces, making Kansas the first state to enact such a wide-ranging measure.
A Republican senator told a Muslim woman that he would be happy to convert her to Christianity when she asked him how he planned to fairly represent all his constituents, not just those who shared his religion.
The Kansas House gathered the two-thirds majority Wednesday to initiate an override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of legislation stripping federally funded food assistance from people 50 to 59 years of age not working at least 30 hours a week or taking part in employment training.
Kansas lawmakers have restored language in the public school finance plan to ensure K-12 schools continue to be fully funded beyond the upcoming academic year and revived a voucher program.
The GOP-dominated House overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of three anti-abortion laws Wednesday over objections about state-mandated misinformation, alienating OB-GYN workers and ignoring the will of voters.
The Senate revived a wide-ranging transgender bathroom ban, despite concerns that the ban is overly intrusive, but narrowly allowed Kelly’s veto of a bill essentially banning gender-affirming care for Kansans under the age of 18 to stand.
