All-night session to strip governor’s power was Kansas Legislature’s darkest day

You cannot make this stuff up.

The Republican leadership — using the term loosely — of the Kansas Legislature, during the most serious medical and economic crises of our lifetime, first decided that they could not bring lawmakers back to Topeka to deliberate on a host of major issues. Rather, after a few committee meetings, they would have a one-day session to decide a variety of tax, executive power and fiscal issues related to the spending of $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding. One day to address issues that could easily take up a full 90-day session.

All the while, these Republican leaders would do their best to deny a vote on Medicaid expansion, despite the fact that clear majorities in both houses favored this policy.

Legislative sessions all have their own rhythms, and watching the final days of any session can be both painful and exhilarating as deals are made, victories are won and defeats are endured. It’s all part of the process. That’s the important word: process.

The 2020 Kansas Legislature ended with a 24-hour session that goes down in history as perhaps its darkest day. And it never even addressed the state’s looming budget crisis. Indeed, this marathon session was not some “bug” that no one could have anticipated. Rather, it was a “feature,” purposefully designed by Senate President Susan Wagle and supported by Republican leaders in both chambers.

Although the Legislature did pass some substantive bills on education and property taxes, the driving force came from Republicans’ overriding desire to limit the emergency powers of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. To be sure, this subject deserved real attention, and the governor expressed a willingness to work with GOP leaders. But none was forthcoming.

Rather, Wagle led lawmakers in a forced march through a legislative tangle that resulted in the state Senate passing a 78-page bill that no one had read at 4 a.m. Friday. The chamber shipped it off to the House, where after cursory discussion, it passed on a partisan vote. No real deliberation, no real process.

It did not have to end this way.

As the COVID-19 crisis worsened in mid-March, legislators passed a bare-bones budget, based on inadequate fiscal data, and left town. Leadership could have brought them back into session in early May to work on core issues of spending, federal assistance and gubernatorial powers. Such meetings would have been difficult, but completely possible. Indeed, in this context legislators were essential workers, much like janitors, nurses, bus drivers and doctors, who remained on the job.

But no, Wagle and her fellow leaders had a plan: Bring the Legislature back for one extended session on the last day possible. There would likely be legislation, but there would be no actual legislative process.

In the end, chaos ensued, as easily could have been expected. But this was no accident; it was the plan — the feature, not the bug. As the Legislature lurched past midnight, lawmakers had to vote on complex, untested, unread bills that could profoundly affect the state. Wagle and her gang kept Kelly in their sights as they pressed on. They would place great responsibility in counties, rather than the state, even though many counties have virtually no public health capacity at all, and Kelly has received consistent praise, even from President Donald Trump, for her handling of the pandemic crisis.

The ball now is in the governor’s court, and she might well veto this ragtag piece of legislation, perhaps necessitating a special session and more conflict. The ultimate political fallout from this legislation remains obscure, but what is clear is that Kansas’ Republican legislative leaders failed in their basic responsibilities to serve the state and its residents in the greatest crisis of our times.

This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 12:33 PM with the headline "All-night session to strip governor’s power was Kansas Legislature’s darkest day."