Kansas lawmaker: Transgender bathroom bill is ready if Democrats ‘muck us up’ in special session

A Wichita Republican says he has drafted legislation that would restrict transgender students from using school bathrooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates.

But he said he does not plan to bring it to the House floor during the legislative special session unless Democrats try to amend a school finance bill.

Rep. John Whitmer said he wants to respect House Speaker Ray Merrick’s desire to keep the special session tightly focused on a Kansas Supreme Court order to fix inequities in school funding before June 30 or risk a shutdown of schools.

“I want to get in and get out, make sure the schools stay open and be done,” Whitmer said.

However, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of offering the legislation, which he said would state that gender is determined at birth and rebut an Obama administration directive that schools allow transgender students’ access to the bathrooms of their choice.

“It’s my intention at this point not to run it. … That being said, if people start taking us off in other directions and if they start ‘Christmas treeing’ things up, then I will run mine,” Whitmer said. “If the Dems start trying to muck us up, then I’ll do the same.”

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said it sounds “like Rep. Whitmer is holding schoolchildren hostage for money.” He added that bathroom bills put a target on transgender students.

Whitmer worked on the legislation with the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, an affiliate of the national Focus on the Family. He said it does not include a provision that would enable students to sue for $2,500 if a transgender student used a bathroom that did not match their birth certificate, a measure included in a previous bathroom bill that he said he does not support.

He also said the legislation would “encourage schools to create a gender-neutral bathroom to accommodate” transgender students.

Gov. Sam Brownback said last week that he thinks it will take $38 million to satisfy the court’s order to make school funding equitable. He said it may take the inclusion of other policies in the bill to persuade lawmakers to vote for it – a practice often called “Christmas treeing” at the Legislature.

A school finance bill that passed in 2014 included measures rolling back job protections for public school teachers and creating a tax break for businesses that donate to a private school scholarship fund.

The governor’s comments fueled speculation that school choice measures or bathroom legislation might be included in a final bill to entice reluctant conservatives to vote for a bill.

Merrick, R-Stilwell, said in an e-mail that leadership’s “intention is to go into special session with a direct and specific focus – keeping the courts from shutting down schools over less than 1 percent of a record amount of funding. Anything that does not help meet that goal will not be considered.”

Rep. Kasha Kelley, an Arkansas City Republican and one of the main proponents for vouchers, charter schools and other school choice policies, said that “given any opportunity, I would bring something, but I don’t know that this is the place or time” given the Legislature’s short deadline.

Whitmer, who had pushed for the House to pass a resolution against the Obama administration’s bathroom directive earlier in the month, said his preference is to pass a new funding plan and go home.

“I think that’s the best course of action, just get in and get out,” he said.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said he was pleased to hear that Republicans “are not intending to delay compliance with the court’s order” in order to have a discussion about bathrooms.

“It would be irresponsible for us to close schools in Kansas because the Legislature is in a fight over who uses what bathroom,” Carmichael said.

Even consideration of a constitutional amendment restricting the court from closing schools, a goal of Republican leaders, “seems like another exercise that distracts us from in, out, done,” Whitmer said.

The special session is set to begin on June 23, a Thursday, and Whitmer wants to be out by that weekend to return to his re-election campaign and other matters.

“I’m coming home Saturday. We’re going in the 23rd. I’m coming home Saturday. Because I’ve got stuff to do in my business, in my own race. You know I’m working for Sen. (Jerry) Moran, and we’ve got events,” he said. “And I’m coming home Saturday, and I’ve told them that.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2016 at 7:23 AM with the headline "Kansas lawmaker: Transgender bathroom bill is ready if Democrats ‘muck us up’ in special session."