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Kansas champions of administrative reform at public universities offer concessions to calm skeptics
The Republican majority leader of the Kansas House and the governor’s chief of staff worked Thursday to resolve objections to a bill designed to make the state’s three largest public universities more financially efficient by removing layers of administrative red tape.
Kansas champions of administrative reform at public universities offer concessions to calm skeptics
The Republican majority leader of the Kansas House and the governor’s chief of staff worked Thursday to resolve objections to a bill designed to make the state’s three largest public universities more financially efficient by removing layers of administrative red tape.
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Civil rights • Voter rights • Anti-trans legislation • Abortion • Immigration • Municipalities’ local control • Kansas State Board of Education
MORe STATE GOVERNMENT NEWS
Kansas Senate adopts plan to elect Supreme Court justices, a step toward overturning abortion rights
The Kansas Senate adopted a resolution that calls for the election of justices to the Kansas Supreme Court by popular vote. The House now has a choice: Accept the Senate’s resolution, pass an alternative, or table the issue for another year.
Kansas ‘back to work act’ would force state employees to return to offices
Thousands of state employees who once worked in office buildings in Kansas’ capital and frequented downtown businesses for lunch and happy hour now work from home all or part of the time. They could be called back to the office under proposed legislation.
Voters would elect Kansas Supreme Court justices under proposed change
Kansas Senators advanced a constitutional amendment Wednesday that would convert Kansas’ method for selecting state supreme court justices from a merit-based system to an elections system.
Kansas Republican’s pleas for decorum at anti-trans hearing met with cries of ‘fascist!’
For Joanna Herrmann and 100-plus other opponents who spoke at a Kansas House hearing or submitted testimony, SB 76, which would forbid school employees from using preferred pronouns without parental consent, is both personal and hurtful.
Kansas Republicans punt immigration bill after kicking opponents out of hearing
A Republican-led Senate committee declined Monday to take action on a bill that would prohibit people in Kansas without permanent legal status from receiving public benefits, including in-state tuition, and permit higher bond prices for those charged with crimes.
Freshman Kansas senator ‘trying to stop bad stuff’ while pressing for property tax relief
The way freshman Sen. Patrick Schmidt sees it, a shorter legislative session isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Topeka Democrat said the shortened timeline for passing bills could work in Democrats’ favor.
Should pregnant Kansans get child support for fetuses? State lawmakers will decide
Anti-abortion groups and reproductive rights advocates sparred in a Kansas legislative committee room this week over a bill that opponents say would give embryos and fetuses the same legal rights as pregnant women — a legal concept known as fetal personhood.
Kansas Senate bill would address conflicts of interest in local government — but not in Legislature
Proponents see a bill prohibiting local government officials from voting on major development projects in which they have a “substantial interest” as increasing transparency; opponents are concerned with what they view as overly broad language and hypocrisy.
Kansas House Democrat proposes filing a formal complaint against GOP colleague
A Democratic state rep. has requested the filing of a formal complaint and appointment of a special investigative committee to examine allegations that a Republican rep. engaged in “inappropriate” conduct on the House floor.
Court fees and traffic fines cost thousands of Kansans their licenses every year. A new law gives drivers some latitude
Advocates say Kansas laws have left thousands without legal means to drive — sometimes for years — just because they’re unable to pay fines. New reforms to suspended license rules have now gone into effect. Here’s what they mean for drivers.
Kansas advocates condemn U.S. House budget tied to Republicans’ proposed Medicaid cuts
Kansas organizations advocating for sustained funding for Medicaid services said hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed federal budget cuts to the national health program can be deadly to vulnerable people with disabilities as well as seniors and children.
Kansas has a housing shortage. One legislator is suggesting prison labor as a solution
A new bill in Topeka proposes legalizing the use of prison labor to address housing shortages while also providing inmates with job training, a proponent says.
‘Everyone needs to breathe’: Intense confrontation on Kansas House floor forces two-hour recess
An intense confrontation between a Republican and Democrat on the Kansas House floor Thursday during a gun debate forced the chamber into a two-hour recess as leadership worked to deescalate tensions.
Kansas pronoun bill sparks bipartisan concerns of turning ‘classrooms into courtrooms’
The Kansas Senate gave preliminary approval Wednesday to legislation that would ban school district employees from using names or pronouns other than a minor student’s corresponding biological sex or birth certificate without parental permission.
It’s illegal to own a pet raccoon in Kansas. One man is trying to change that
For the past four years, Lenexa resident Stephen Kaspar has been feeding and training wild raccoons that wander onto his property. He’s urging state lawmakers to pass a bill that would legalize pet ownership of raccoons.
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