Legislation that would prevent Kansans from purchasing soft drinks and candy with food stamps met resistance Tuesday, continuing a series of hearings over what changes are needed to help the state’s most vulnerable residents.
Controversy in Pottawatomie and Douglas counties about expansion of county commissions to 5 members surfaced Monday with a Kansas House committee backing a bill mandating new seats be filled at the next general election.
Prosecutor Will Hurst said the scourge of domestic violence was so alarming that Kansas lawmakers ought to allow admission of evidence of a defendant’s prior bad acts to better hold domestic abusers accountable.
Gov. Laura Kelly signed legislation expanding a tax credit to incentivize purchase of services or goods from vendors employing people with disabilities and creating a program to help businesses pay people with disabilities at least minimum wage.
The Kansas Supreme Court issued a two-page order Tuesday releasing jurisdiction of the Gannon v. State school finance case after concluding the Legislature complied with mandates to resolve violations of the Kansas Constitution by suitably funding public education.
A renewed assault on public education, defended Monday by Republicans on the House K-12 Budget Committee, would set the stage for districts to be stripped of accreditation. The bill wouldn’t hold private schools to comparable accreditation standards.
A bill aggressively promoted by the Kansas Chamber would forbid municipal bans on plastic straws and the thin, cheap plastic shopping bags often given consumers by stores and restaurants.
Republican leaders of the Kansas Legislature said a two-thirds majority of House members were committed to overriding Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a tax reduction bill but a supermajority hadn’t crystalized in the Senate to complete the maneuver.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced her veto of a sprawling flat tax proposal Friday, calling the plan “reckless,” and one reminiscent of former Gov. Sam Brownback’s disastrous tax cuts.
The organization of Kansas county election officers told legislators they opposed a Republican-sponsored bill that would prohibit counties from continuing the practice of mailing unsolicited advance ballot applications to registered voters.
