Why still so secret, Kansas? Lawmakers must do the people’s business in the open

The Kansas House is expected to discuss its operating rules Tuesday. Sounds boring, right?

Sometimes it is. Last year’s rules said “no person, other than a member, shall lean on the railings on the floor of the House chamber.” Hard to get too excited about that.

But the rules are important. They’ll determine whether the House makes its decisions with an open and transparent process that all Kansans can evaluate (the Senate’s rules for this year are already in place).

The early signs aren’t encouraging.

There has been limited progress since The Star’s eye-opening series on secrecy in Kansas government. The names of actual bill sponsors are showing up more often on legislation, an important trend that must continue.

Some bills are still introduced by committee, though, a practice that must end.

But other transparency measures are followed only on occasion, usually at the whim of too-powerful committee chairmen and chairwomen. Some votes in committee are cast by a show of hands and are not recorded.

The so-called “gut-and-go” procedure — where members take a bill, strip out its language and add unrelated measures — remains, at least for now. Lawmakers who support gut-and-go tactics insist it’s the only way to get anything done in Topeka, which is silly. Most other states prohibit the practice and somehow manage to pass legislation.

Also concerning is the fact that Republican leadership appears willing to give committee chairmen and chairwomen far too much authority to block debate or hearings on controversial measures. The new rules should prevent such secrecy.

There are moral and ethical reasons the House rules should promote openness and transparency. Members are doing the people’s business, and the people have a right to know what’s going on.

But there’s a practical reason, too. Lawmakers will be involved in deciding several contentious issues this session, including taxes, school funding, heath care and pensions. Kansans will not have faith in the Legislature’s work if it’s done in secret.

A bill to expand Medicaid eligibility now sits in the Health and Human Services Committee in the House. Members may support or oppose that idea, but it deserves an open hearing with testimony from the public, a recorded vote and a full debate on the floor.

“Kansas state government is one of the least transparent in the nation,” the League of Women Voters Wichita Metro wrote this month. “It’s time to shine some light on how our laws are made by changing the way we pass bills.”

Lawmakers should not pass or kill any legislation secretly. The House’s rules should ensure openness. That commitment should be made Tuesday when new rules come to the floor.