John Hanna/AP
photo by: John Hanna/Associated Press
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answers questions during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka.
Story updated at 9:01 p.m. Friday:
TOPEKA Kansas legislators on Friday easily approved a bipartisan measure boosting education spending to what was touted as full funding for public schools while also making more students eligible for private school scholarships.
The Republican-controlled Senate approved the measure, 35-4, and the GOP-controlled House passed it, 107-9, sending the package of dollars and policy changes to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Almost all of the no votes came from conservative Republicans.
Andy Tsubasa Field, Associated Press/Report for America
photo by: John Hanna/Associated Press
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answers questions during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka.
TOPEKA Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed two Republican-backed education bills on Thursday, including one that would have required high school students to pass a civics test to graduate and another that would have allowed districts to incorporate gun-safety courses into their curriculums.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the bills this month, but not by large enough margins in either chamber for override attempts to succeed, falling 12 votes short in the House and two shy in the Senate on the civics bill and five votes short in the House and nine shy in the Senate on the gun-safety course measure.
John Hanna, Associated Press
photo by: John Hanna/Associated Press
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, pictured at a news conference on Feb. 23, 2021, at the Statehouse, is throwing his hat into the governor s race. Behind him are Senate President Ty Masterson, left, R-Andover, and House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., right, R-Olathe.
Updated at 11:26 a.m. Tuesday
TOPEKA Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt launched his campaign for governor on Tuesday after weeks of heightened visibility for the three-term Republican amid the GOP-controlled Legislature’s debates over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Schmidt, 53, is the first major Republican to formally enter the race against Kelly in 2022, though former GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer on Friday signaled plans to run by naming a granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower as the treasurer for “our campaign.”
John Hanna, Associated Press
photo by: John Hanna/Associated Press
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answers questions during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka. The Democratic governor is facing increasingly vocal criticism from the Republican-controlled Legislature over problems at the state Department of Labor.
Updated at 2:28 p.m. Thursday
TOPEKA Republican lawmakers moved forward Thursday with legislation to overhaul Kansas’ troubled unemployment system after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced plans to more than double the number of staff who help the jobless and make them available on weekends.
The state House approved a bill drafted by Republican members to give the GOP-controlled Legislature more oversight of the modernization of the state Department of Labor’s unemployment system and require computer upgrades to be completed by the end of 2022. The House’s 87-36 vote sent the measure to the Senate.
Andy Tsubasa Field, Associated Press/Report for America
photo by: John Hanna/Associated Press
Kansas state Rep. Stephen Owens, R-Hesston, listens during a House committee meeting at the Statehouse, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Topeka. Owens says he plans to propose lowering the age at which people can carry concealed weapons to 18 from 21 when the House debates another gun measure.
TOPEKA A bill to lower the legal age to carry concealed firearms in Kansas from 21 to 18 has stalled in a House committee, but a supporter plans to offer the proposal for consideration on the House floor.
Rep. John Barker, an Abilene Republican who leads the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, said he is unlikely to hold a committee vote on the bill, declining to say why or whether he supports the bill.