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*For Immediate Release:    *     
December 31, 2025
          
*Contact:    *     
Grace Hoge
[email protected]

*ICYMI: Governor Kelly Highlights 2025 Successes,
Looks Ahead to 2026*

*Kansas Governor’s legislative priorities in 2026 center on budget, water and children* [ [link removed] ]
*12.25.25 | Kansas Reflector*


* Kelly, scheduled to deliver the State of the State address on Jan. 13, said developing a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 would be her primary quest.


* “No. 1 is always the budget,” she said in an interview with Kansas Reflector. “That the Legislature pass a balanced, reasonable, sane budget that funds the important responsibilities of state government.”


* Kelly said another objective was to sustain the push for economic development. The state’s commitment to financially support relocation of the Kansas City Chiefs to a stadium in Wyandotte County and a headquarters in Johnson County was a “game-changer for our state,” she said.


* In the 2026 session, Kelly said she also would focus on finalizing a long-term plan for preserving and enhancing the state’s water resources.


* “We are on the cusp of coming up with that strategic plan that I’d like to see in place before I’m out of office,” Kelly said. “As I’ve said before, I don’t expect to solve the water problem by the time I leave, but I would like in place a structure and a funding source that will ensure that we can address water.”


* In addition, the governor said she was committed to standing up the new state Office of Early Childhood by July 1. The goals would be consolidation of programs housed in a cluster of state agencies and the upgrading of services beneficial to children.

*'Seamless opening' of office a top priority in Laura Kelly's last year* [ [link removed] ]
*12.29.25 | Topeka Capital-Journal *


* Kelly, who is entering her final year as governor, told The Capital-Journal in a Dec. 17 interview that one of her top priorities for her last year "is to ensure a seamless opening of the Office of Early Childhood."


* "We have been putting all the puzzle pieces in place," she said. "I think we will be ready on July 1, but I won't stop focusing on that to ensure that we are."


* "That office is what will ensure that my original campaign goal in 2018 of having the most comprehensive, robust early childhood education system in the country can become a reality," Kelly said.


* Creation of a new state agency was a top priority of Kelly's second term. She campaigned for reelection on a promise to consolidate programs into a newly established cabinet-level agency. Her first official act of her second term was signing an executive order — while holding her granddaughter on her lap — to set up a task force to study the issue. The task force solicited input with meetings around the state.

*Water planning among Gov. Laura Kelly’s priorities ahead of 2026 legislative session* [ [link removed] ]
*12.17.25 | WIBW*


* Governor Laura Kelly outlined some of her priorities for the 2026 legislative session in an interview with 13 NEWS Wednesday. The outgoing Democrat said she wants to have the Office of Early Childhood up and running by July and finalize a strategic approach to the state’s water resources before leaving office.


* Kelly said continuing to develop a long-term plan for the state’s water resources remains a priority, building the legislative task force established in the 2025 session.


* “I don’t expect I’m going to solve the issues around water before I’m out of office, but I am hoping in concert with the legislature, and particularly with the task force that they set up last year that by the time I’m walking out this door that there will be in place a very solid strategic plan to deal with water, and that plan will include a dedicated funding source,” Kelly said.


* Kelly said the state’s approach to transportation infrastructure is comparable to her vision for water planning.


* “What I hope it would be very much is what we do for our roads and bridges,” she said. “We think long-term with roads and bridges and we also have a dedicated funding source for that. You have to have that for those kinds of projects that are going to be constructed over a longer period,” Kelly said. “So that’s what I’m hoping when all is said and done, that we have in place here in Kansas the ways and the means to implement a water plan that will ensure quality and quantity for generations.”

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