John Hanna, Associated Press
photo by: John Hanna/AP Photo
Kansas state Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, R-Galena, speaks against a resolution calling on Congress to convene a convention of the states to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka.
Story updated at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday:
TOPEKA Conservative Republicans who see the federal government as out of control split Wednesday and halted the push in Kansas for a convention of states to propose changes to the U.S. Constitution.
The state Senate spent nearly three hours during the final days of its annual session to consider a resolution asking Congress to call a convention. Some backers hoped its approval would help settle an obscure legal question vexing them, but senators thwarted their plans by voting 21-19 to send the resolution back to committee.
GOP s split halts push in Kansas for convention of states
JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer
May 5, 2021
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1of5Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, follows criticism of a resolution calling on Congress to convene a convention of the states to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Masterson supports the resolution.John Hanna/APShow MoreShow Less
2of5Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, listens to the discussion during a meeting of GOP senators, Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Masterson supports a convention of the states to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution.John Hanna/APShow MoreShow Less
GOP drops choice plan in Kansas school funding debate
JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer
May 6, 2021
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1of5Kansas state Sens. Molly Baumgardner, left, R-Louisburg; Renee Erickson, center, R-Wichita, and Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, huddle during talks with the House over the final version of school funding and education policy legislation, Thursday, May 6, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Their talks are under way even though Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly have not struck a deal on education issues.John Hanna/APShow MoreShow Less
2of5Kansas state Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, follows comments from senators during negotiations between the House and Senate over education funding and policy, Thursday, May 6, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Williams is the chair of a House committee on education spending and is working to tie funding for public schools to proposals to help some parents send their children
John Hanna, Associated Press
photo by: John Hanna/AP Photo
Kansas state Sens. Molly Baumgardner, left, R-Louisburg; Renee Erickson, center, R-Wichita, and Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, huddle during talks with the House over the final version of school funding and education policy legislation, Thursday, May 6, 2021, at the Statehouse in Topeka.
Story updated at 10:13 p.m. Thursday:
TOPEKA Conservative Republicans set aside their most ambitious proposal for helping Kansas parents move their children into private schools so that lawmakers could forge a bipartisan compromise Thursday night on education funding and policy.
Three state senators and three House members drafted the final version of a bill funding public schools as top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature negotiated privately with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly over the measure. They had yet to strike a deal Thursday night. But House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican, said Kelly and GOP leaders had moved cl
Kansas lawmakers override vetoes on taxes, guns, elections Follow Us
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By JOHN HANNA and ANDY TSUBASA FIELD - Associated Press - Monday, May 3, 2021
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Republican lawmakers on Monday cut Kansas’ income taxes, lowered the age for carrying a concealed gun and tightened state election laws by overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly‘s vetoes of those measures.
A series of votes in the GOP-controlled Legislature demonstrated that its Republican supermajorities can control policy - and push the state back to the right - if they hold together. Centrist and left-of-center activists took Kelly‘s election in 2018 as a sign that voters were repudiating conservative management of state government, but elections in 2020 moved the Legislature to the right.