Kelly vetoes plan reserving federal COVID-19 relief funds for Kansas businesses
Citing federal rules, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed lawmakers’ last-minute effort to require the state, counties and cities to set aside part of their federal COVID-19 aid to pay businesses harmed by public health orders.
The bill, passed in the final hours of the legislative session in early May, would have created a three-member board to review business requests for relief using a quarter of the state’s relief dollars and 35% of county and city federal funding for compensation.
The only public information about the review process would be what companies received funds and how much.
In a statement Friday, Kelly said the bill was “well-intentioned” but violated federal rules by placing conditions on local governments’ use of the money, including to “resolve potential legal claims against state or local governments.”
Interim rules published by U.S. Treasury Department prohibit states from placing requirements or conditions on local government use of the latest round of COVID-19 relief funds.
Instead, Kelly said, the state should provide relief to businesses through the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) taskforce process established last year to administer earlier rounds of COVID-19 relief dollars.
“All recovery initiatives should go through the transparent, federally compliant, bipartisan, and efficient process we have already established through the SPARK taskforce,” Kelly said.
“I am committed to working with the SPARK Taskforce to develop relief programs that comply with federal requirements to ensure that our economy emerges from this pandemic stronger and more agile than ever. “
The announcement marks Kelly’s 10th veto this session, the most of any Kansas governor in at least 17 years. Immediately after announcing her veto of the program, Kelly said she had signed next year’s budget, lauding the bipartisan work it included.
Republican lawmakers will have the opportunity to overturn Kelly’s veto when they return to Topeka for the ceremonial last day of session next week.
However, the bill fell three votes short of a veto-proof majority in the Senate and 16 votes short in the House, making override prospects slim.
Rep. Fred Patton, a Topeka Republican and head of the House negotiating committee that worked on the bill, said the vote deficit would be an “uphill challenge any day” let alone the final day of the session.
However, he said he hoped a solution could be devised to help businesses and prevent them from suing the state over lost earnings during the pandemic.
Though SPARK could help businesses, Patton said, it would not prevent them from suing the state like the language in the bill did.
“Never in my discussions were there any concerns raised with federal restrictions on it,” Patton said. “We did, at the governor’s request, add in some language to make sure that this office worked in conjunction with the Office of Recovery and to make sure we were in compliance with federal law.”
“We tried to put those steps into place but obviously not enough for her to sign it.”
In a statement Friday, Senate President Ty Masterson called the Governor “tone deaf” for refusing to help “these same businesses she herself shuttered.”
House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the veto was “not surprising.”
“Today is just further evidence that the Kelly administration is a Death Star with the sole purpose of destroying the Kansas economy,” Hawkins said in a statement.
As the bill was debated in the middle of the night earlier this month, opponents criticized it as poorly vetted and lacking transparency.
“It’s time Republican leadership set aside the games and either accept that Governor Kelly and her SPARK task force have been good stewards of federal relief funds, or come to the table with legislation that actually benefits all Kansans,” said Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, in a statement Friday.
It was the only COVID-19 related business relief policy passed out of the Legislature this year. A smaller measure, aimed at small businesses, failed in the Senate after House negotiators added in a property tax exemption for-profit health clubs, which has long been sought by Genesis Health Clubs co-owner Rodney Steven II.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 4:25 PM.
