What will Laura Kelly veto? Kansas Democratic governor faces choices on key GOP bills

Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is expected to repeatedly reach for her veto pen in the coming weeks after the Republican-controlled Legislature spent the final days and hours of its regular session approving a host of conservative priorities.

Lawmakers approved restrictions on transgender rights, measures on abortion and income taxes during a final push to send bills to Kelly ahead of the end of session early Friday. Lawmakers will return in late April to pass additional legislation and to attempt to override vetoes.

The House and Senate both adjourned without taking action on some significant items, including legalizing fentanyl test strips, a priority of Kelly and the House. An effort to restrict ballot drop boxes was also left unfinished.

But Kelly will soon have to decide whether to approve or reject several major bills that did pass the Legislature in recent days. Some of those measures are almost certain to draw a veto, while the fate of others remains less clear. The governor is also likely to sign some notable bills as well.

Here are some highlights of what actions may be ahead.

Will likely veto

One of the clearest targets for Kelly is almost certainly legislation aiming to regulate the lives of transgender Kansans or restrict gender-affirming care.

The Legislature last week approved a ban on transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports, overriding a veto by Kelly, who had rejected similar proposals in previous years.

But on Friday, Republican legislators went further, approving a ban on hormone therapy and transition surgery for minors. The House approved the measure only after an anguished debate early Friday.

The House vote was 70-52 and the Senate vote 23-12 — well short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

Earlier in the week the Legislature became the first in the nation to pass the “women’s bill of rights” a sweeping bill that defines man and woman based solely upon reproductive capacity. The bill would ban transgender Kansans from any single-sex space inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.

Kelly is all but certain to veto both measures, given her previous opposition to an athlete ban.

“I know that there are legislators on both sides of the aisle for whom this was sort of a moral values vote and I think they voted against their own moral code and values and I think that’s going to be very tough for them long term,” Kelly told reporters on Wednesday about the athlete ban.

The Legislature also sent two sets of abortion bills to Kelly’s desk last week. Both appear to have a decent chance of drawing a veto, especially after Kansas voters in August rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have given lawmakers the power to ban abortion.

Early in the week, lawmakers approved a bill that applies criminal penalties to any medical provider who does not provide care to an infant “born alive” during an abortion. The American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the bill, which mirrors legislation pursued in several red states, is aimed at a situation that does not happen. But a miniscule number of cases have been reported in states that do track the issue.

Lawmakers on Friday also passed a package that defines abortion to clarify that miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy care and contraceptives are not abortion. The bill also requires medical providers to tell women receiving mifepristone, the first pill taken in a medication abortion, that the pill could be reversible.

Kelly vetoed the abortion pill reversal language in 2019. The so-called “reversal” procedure has not been proven in a peer reviewed study.

Finally, the Legislature approved a 5.15% flat income tax in a package that also included the full elimination of the sales tax on food on Jan. 1, 2024. Though Kelly campaigned on the elimination of the food sales tax, she told reporters last week she did not think the state budget could withstand any version of a flat tax.

While the vote total in the House was big enough to allow supporters to override a Kelly veto, supporters are short of a veto-proof majority in the Senate. However, three Republican senators were absent during the vote. One of those senators, Sen. Carolyn McGinn of Wichita, voted against a version of the flat tax in February.

Outcomes unclear

The Legislature approved a bill aimed at keeping the state pension system, KPERS, from investing based on companies’ or investment firms’ philosophy toward ESG — environmental, social and corporate governance principles.

Republicans across the country, including in Kansas, have sought to limit the influence of ESG. They fear ESG can amount to companies and investment firms applying liberal ideology onto business decisions.

State Treasurer Steven Johnson, a Republican, said in a statement that when it comes to investing state dollars, “the priority must remain focused on free-market principles and the traditional, non-politicized meaning of fiduciary duty.”

Kelly does not appear to have taken a public position on ESG, though Democratic lawmakers voted against the measure.

“It’s still a panicked response to a fake issue that’s been created by right-wing media,” state Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, told the Associated Press.

Kelly’s position is also unclear when it comes to a bill authorizing a state-run presidential primary next year. Lawmakers approved allowing Kansas to hold a primary on March 19, 2024, at a cost of about $5 million to taxpayers.

Kansas Democratic Party chair Jeanna Repass, who Kelly supported to lead the party, has expressed support for the measure. But critics question the use of tax dollars to aid political parties.

Political parties in Kansas traditionally hold caucuses to select presidential delegates – a system that tends to favor party activists. Everyone agrees more people would vote in a primary.

Will likely sign

Kelly supports legislation that would place an independent commission in control of pay for members of the Legislature. The bill doesn’t directly affect pay but would create a commission that has the authority to change compensation for lawmakers.

A commission of citizens and former lawmakers would study legislative compensation and issue its first recommendation on compensation levels in 2025.

Previous efforts to increase legislative pay have failed to gain traction in Kansas because of fears among lawmakers that they’ll be attacked while facing reelection for voting to raise their own pay. But lawmakers say they are more supportive now because the low pay rate makes it more difficult for young and low-income Kansans to run for office and retain their seats for any extended period of time.

Kelly is also nearly certain to sign legislation that will allow many child sex abuse survivors in Kansas to sue over their abuse.

The legislation would allow police to pursue criminal cases indefinitely and give survivors until they turn 31 to file a lawsuit as well as three years after a criminal conviction.

Advocates for survivors had initially sought the elimination of the statute of limitations for civil and criminal cases, but the legislation extending the time frame was passed as a compromise with Republican leaders in the Senate.