Occasional grouchiness notwithstanding, I try to keep a fundamentally optimistic view of this state and its people.
But in the wake of the November election, I want to go on record about what’s likely to happen in Kansas politics in the upcoming legislative session. I’ll warn you up front that this column should not be read by the faint of heart, or by those who have yet to drink a caffeinated beverage. As Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen sang on the album released 17 days before his death: “You want it darker? We kill the flame.”
Things are about to get bad in Kansas politics. Worse than many of you expect. And quickly.
The Legislature, emboldened by larger supermajorities than its previous sessions, now has kind of power it hasn’t enjoyed since 2012, when Republican Gov. Sam Brownback passed his tax “experiment.” The most conservative, reactionary Republicans in Topeka have outlined a long wish list. They seldom achieved their goals in recent years. Now they will be able to. Be it tax policy, school vouchers, reproductive freedom or LGBTQ+ rights, a deluge is coming.
During most of Brownback’s tenure, the federal government stood as a backstop. The Obama administration provided some restraint. No longer. The worst, most cruel policy on the state level will receive almost certain approval from Washington, D.C.
So here’s a quick guide to what’s coming. Don’t avert your eyes.
Slash corporate taxes
House Majority Leader Chris Croft already told Johnson County Republicans about his plans back in May.
Tackling corporate tax rates would be the “big thing” for the upcoming session, he said in the recorded Zoom call. Republican leadership would focus on “reducing the corporate tax rate overall with the intent to drive it to zero,” he said.
Tax cuts from last session will already take a $72 million bite out of state revenue. Reductions of the type and size that Croft imagines will take an even larger toll.
Once the state has put itself into a financial straitjacket, it will no longer be able to adequately fund education, services for disabled Kansans, road construction and maintenance, public employee pensions and a long list of other priorities. But that’s a feature, not a bug. Republican leaders, I believe, crave a budget crisis. They plan to hobble services for poor and middle-class Kansans, privatize government services, and hand the state on a platter to their wealthy benefactors.
Gut public education
An outspoken contingent of Kansas Republicans loathes public education.
The proof can be read in dozens of stories in Kansas Reflector archives. The Legislature refused to adequately fund public education until ordered to do by the Kansas Supreme Court. It still doesn’t fund special education as required by law.
Simultaneously, lawmakers have backed an array of voucher and tax credit programs meant to benefit private, parochial schools at the expense of public ones. They have called public education a “monopoly,” which only makes sense if you think of government as a storefront and education as a tchotchke. Such efforts have moved fitfully in the past and outraged voters when publicized, but expect them to shift into overdrive come January.
At present, the state constitution requires “suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” But the Legislature can put constitutional revisions before voters.
Target LGBTQ+ Kansans
A ban on gender-affirming care for those under age 18 nearly passed last session. A couple of brave Republicans in the House flipped their votes at the last minute to uph0ld Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
With a wider Republican majority in the new session, expect lawmakers to level further attacks on transgender children. The gender-affirming care ban will no doubt return. Depending on the appetite of leadership, I would watch for bills that go even further. They may take aim at the right of trans people to use facilities than align with their gender. A so-called bathroom bill already has become law in Ohio.
A fair number of GOP lawmakers hate dealing with bills like this. They understand that their votes look bigoted and vicious. But if leadership wants such measures to pass, they have a path.
Curtail abortion rights
Here’s a way to think about reproductive freedom in Kansas.
Despite the failure of an anti-abortion constitutional amendment by 18 percentage points in 2022, lawmakers passed multiple barriers last session. They voted for an intrusive questionnaire meant to intimidate women seeking abortion care. They created a new felony crime of abortion “coercion.”
Expect more nonsensical proposals this time round. I’m not sure what lawmakers have fixed their eyes upon, but the most motivated have one overriding goal: Banning abortion altogether in Kansas. That was the goal behind the amendment, and they haven’t let up the fight.
“The (Value Them Both) vote happened,” outgoing Rep. Brenda Landwehr said April 29. “It went down. And until that can be changed sometime in the future, we accept it.”
Note the dismissive tone and a key phrase: “until that can be changed.” Abortion opponents have not given up.
National vs. local
In the wake of last month’s elections, I’ve watched a wide variety of folks online voice panic and despair.
I understand that reaction to the return of President-elect Donald Trump. Yet the federal government remains constrained in authority compared with state and local governments. The decentralized and vast nature of the United States means that Trump — even at his most authoritarian — will face constant barriers to enacting harmful policy. I urge anyone monitoring Washington, D.C., to remain calm and watchful.
On the other hand, the Legislature and local city councils wield tremendous influence on Kansans’ day-to-day lives. The threats posed by GOP leadership to everyday folks in this state loom large. If you care about the issues listed above, pay attention. Understand what will likely come, and what it means.
You want it darker? We all may be navigating through pitch blackness within months.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor.
