Gov. Laura Kelly went on a veto spree late Friday, rejecting four bills related to transgender athletes, a parents bill of rights, new requirements for Kansans receiving food assistance and civil liability immunity for health care workers and businesses.
Kelly announced the four vetoes at the same time she announced she would sign the election districts for the Kansas House, Senate and state Board of Education.
The bills she vetoed passed but were well short of the votes needed for an override in either the House or Senate.
The vetoes, coming at the start of the Passover and Easter weekend, drew comments from across the political spectrum including one about the timing of the announcement.
Republicans and conservatives condemned the governor’s actions while Democrats and social progressives praised the vetoes.
Kelly reprised her 2021 veto of a bill banning transgender girls and women from participating in interscholastic sports for females.
Kelly vetoed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which passed in the Senate on a vote of 25-13 and in the House on a vote of 74-39 – both short of overcoming a veto.
“We all want a fair and safe place for our kids to play and compete,” Kelly said in a statement.
“However, this bill didn’t come from the experts at our schools, our athletes, or the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
“It came from politicians trying to score political points.”
Senate President Ty Masterson said the governor’s veto of the bill belies other actions where she has seemed to move to the center, notably her recent signing of a bill banning sanctuary cities for which she drew harsh criticism from her own base.
“In recent months, the governor has been a chameleon, demonstrating election-year conversions in an attempt to fool Kansans into believing she shares their values,” Masterson said in a statement Friday.
“The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act is about just that – fairness,” Masterson said.
“It simply sets guidelines that ensure the fair playing field continues for women that we have recognized for decades.
“It’s about protecting the woman who worked and trained all her life and should not have her hard work wiped out by being forced to compete on unlevel playing fields.”
Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, thanked the governor for the veto.
“For too many years, far‑right legislators and lobbyists have tried to use Kansas LGBTQ youth as political punching bags,” Witt said.
“Today’s action by the governor sends a message to these kids that they are seen, they are valued, and they will be protected now and into the future.”
Parents bill of rights
The governor also vetoed a “parents bill of rights” that was intended to give parents a central role in their children’s education but was criticized for opening the door to censorship and bullying of teachers.
The bill gives parents the ability to challenge the material or educational benefit of any book or magazine in the school library.
It also allows parents to object to any learning material or activity because it harms the child or hinders the parents’ firmly held beliefs, values or principles.
It requires local school boards to adopt policies to guarantee, among other things, a parent’s right to inspect instructional materials as well as all written and electronic records maintained by a school relating to students.
Kelly made no secret of her disdain for the bill, saying at one point it was “worst thing the state could be possibly be doing” for teachers in Kansas.
“When it comes to their children’s education, parents can and should play a vital role,” Kelly said in a statement.
“We know that parental engagement in their child’s education greatly impacts the outcome.
“This bill, however, is about politics, not parents.
“Over one hundred Kansas parents testified against this bill. It would create more division in our schools and would be costly. Money that should be spent in the classroom would end up being spent in the courtroom.”
Masterson called the parents bill of rights an “essential tool” for allowing parents to access curriculum and information about what is being taught or provided in the classroom and that they can challenge objectionable material.
“By choosing secrecy over transparency, the governor is indicating she believes parents are the enemy and that schools have a right to hide what they are teaching our children.”
The bill passed 67-46 in the House and 23-15 in the Senate.
The Kansas National Education Association welcomed the veto of the bill of rights.
“Today’s veto ensures that teachers remain free to strengthen the authentic connections that currently exist between school and home,” the KNEA said in a statement.
“Further it protects our students from the attempt to make our classrooms ground zero in a culture war that seeks only to advance a partisan agenda.”
Brittany Jones, director of policy and engagement for Kansas Family Voice, called on the Legislature to override the Fairness in Women’s Sports bill and the bill of rights.
“The governor further showed her disdain for girls and families by issuing these at 5 p.m. on Good Friday,” Jones said.
“It is past time that we listen to the people of Kansas and place these policies into law.”
Civil liability protections
The governor also vetoed a bill extending civil liability protections for health care providers and businesses stemming from COVID-19.
The bill excluded medical facilities and their providers from immunity if they refused to provide treatment to someone because they’re not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Kelly objected to language added to the bill that broadened the immunity protections.
Originally, the bill only provided a shield from civil liability for damages, administrative fines or penalties for acts in direct response to COVID-19.
The bill was amended on the House floor so that it applied to anything that arose out of acts related to the pandemic.
As collateral damage, Kelly’s veto puts at risk increased penalties for violence against health care workers, something that’s been on the rise in recent years but became more accentuated during the pandemic.
Democratic state Rep. Linda Featherston of Overland Park had pushed the legislation with bipartisan support that created the crimes of interference with the conduct of a hospital and battery against a health care providers.
The bill was later rolled together with the immunity bill, which has now been derailed.
Kelly said she supports that section of the bill and others, but wants the original immunity language returned to the bill.
“I will work with the Legislature in a bipartisan fashion on a bill that returns the liability provisions to the original compromise language,” the governor said.
House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. said the governor’s veto of the immunity bill was a political nod to her supporters in the legal community.
“Gov. Kelly just kowtowed to trial lawyers, selling out our frontline health care workers so that the ambulance chasers funding her campaign can make an extra dime,” he said.
“What a disappointment to see the Governor choose trial lawyers over the nurses, paramedics and hospital workers who have been fighting day in and day out to care for our loved ones,” Ryckman said.
The bill passed 64-51 in in the House and 24-16 in the Senate, well short of an override.
Welfare changes
Kelly also vetoed a bill requiring able-bodied adults without dependents who receive food assistance and don’t work at least 30 hours a week to participate in an employment and training program that’s now voluntary.
The House passed the bill 70-46. The Senate passed the bill 28-11.
“Every Kansan feels the price of the pandemic-induced inflation at the pumps and at the grocery store,” Kelly said in a statement. The cost of food alone is one of the most significant contributors to inflation overall.
“With the rising costs of these necessities, we should be helping people afford the basics. This bill would unnecessarily burden nearly 30,000 hard-working Kansans, including people caring for their families and impacting those with children.”
The House speaker ripped into the governor for vetoing this bill as well.
“The governor has made clear that welfare in Kansas is not about a hand up, but merely keeping people down,” Ryckman said.
“Her veto cuts clean through her rhetoric and puts truth to the lie that she wants to lift people out of poverty.
“We know that a job is the best way to lead to prosperity and the governor no longer cares to help the most needy find one.”
Kansas Appleseed, however, praised Kelly for vetoing the food-assistance bill, saying the new requirements “would have brought harm to Kansans across our state.”
“With sky-rocketing prices at the grocery store and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic still ripping through our communities, Kansans need relief and support,” said Haley Kottler, Thriving Campaign director for Kansas Appleseed.
“Kansas legislators should do everything they possibly can to help ensure Kansans thrive,” Kottler said.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the presumptive GOP nominee for governor, also criticized Kelly for the veto.
“I strongly believe people who are able to work, particularly those who have no children relying on them for support, should have a job or at least be in training for job skills as a condition of receiving taxpayer-funded benefits,” Schmidt said in a statement.
“Employers throughout Kansas are desperate for workers, but this veto forces hard-working taxpayers to subsidize those who could be working but choose not to.
“Both because work gives dignity and because taxpayers deserve better, I would have signed this work requirement into law.”
