[ Residents will vote on a ballot measure in November that would
give the Legislature veto power over rules and regulations issued by
Gov. Laura Kelly. The measure was proposed by Kelly’s opponent,
Attorney General Derek Schmidt.]
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KANSAS TO VOTE ON LEGISLATURE VETO POWER OVER GOVERNOR  
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Katie Bernard and Jonathan Shorman, The Kansas City Star
August 12, 2022
Governing
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_ Residents will vote on a ballot measure in November that would give
the Legislature veto power over rules and regulations issued by Gov.
Laura Kelly. The measure was proposed by Kelly’s opponent, Attorney
General Derek Schmidt. _

Gov. Laura Kelly, Governor Kansas

 

(TNS) — After Kansas voters last week rejected one attempt
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to give the Republican-controlled Legislature more power, GOP
lawmakers will try once more in November.

A constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot would give the
Legislature veto power over rules and regulations 
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by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration if she’s
reelected.

The measure was originally proposed by Kelly’s Republican opponent
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Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Kansans just voted down an amendment that would have handed the
Legislature more power to regulate or ban abortion. The 59 percent to
41 percent landslide defeat
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was a stunning rebuke to Republican legislators who wanted additional
authority over the procedure.
But the upcoming amendment on the November ballot would hand the
Legislature sweeping final control over rules and regulations issued
by state agencies – on everything from fireworks manufacturing to
the cleaning of livestock feedlots.

After voters issued an emphatic “no” to the Legislature on Aug. 2,
voters in three months will again decide just how far legislative
authority should extend.

“It really goes to this theory that we should have just a
super-legislature and the Legislature should dictate to the people of
Kansas how the executive branch should function,” said state Sen.
Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat.
Proponents of the amendment say the measure is intended to ensure
executive agencies follow legislative intent in establishing
regulations and don’t create new laws. But opponents point to it as
yet another example of the Legislature seeking to expand its own
power.

Under current law, Kansas legislators can undo administrative rules
and regulations by passing laws making the regulations illegal. The
law requires a majority of the Kansas House and Senate as well as a
signature from the governor or a veto proof majority.

But the proposed amendment would allow lawmakers to bypass the
governor’s approval and strip away regulations with a simple
majority.

“I see it as a tool that is necessary in order for a branch to not
overtake others. I think this is a good idea when you have a Democrat
as a governor or a Republican as a governor,” said state Rep. Barb
Wasinger, a Hays Republican.

Proponents and opponents of the amendment both play down the
possibility the abortion vote presages the outcome of the vote on the
rules-and-regulations amendment. The two issues are very different,
they say, with abortion inspiring strong emotions on both sides in a
way that state regulations simply do not.

Still, at a broad level both proposals concern how much power
lawmakers should have.

The amendment, if it passes, would allow the Legislature to revoke or
suspend rules and regulations by governors of either party but
effectively will enhance Republican authority.

The Kansas Legislature has been dominated by Republicans for decades.
Democrats have not held a majority in either chamber since 1991.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office changes party hands regularly in
Kansas. Democrats have held the office for 14 of the last 30 years.

Kelly and Schmidt have taken different positions on the amendment.

“Derek is a strong supporter of the legislative veto amendment
because he favors limited government with the most transparency and
accountability - and that’s what the amendment will provide, as it
does in the states that already have this check and balance for their
bureaucracies,” Schmidt’s campaign manager C.J. Grover said in a
statement.

Kelly was critical of the measure when it was proposed. In a
statement, Wednesday, her campaign spokeswoman reiterated her
opposition.

“Governor Kelly knows that the best way to get help to Kansans is by
cutting red tape, not adding more. The legislative veto would simply
further complicate the regulatory process and keep help from getting
to Kansans efficiently,” Madison Andrus, Kelly’s campaign
spokeswoman, said in an email.

In 2020, Republicans retained strong conservative supermajorities
despite a wave year for Democrats. As a result, the past two years
have been marked by legislative attempts to limit the power of the
governor, building more for the legislative branch.

In the wake of COVID-19, the Legislature passed sweeping legislation
limiting executive power in emergencies. Lawmakers tried and failed
earlier this year to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that
would require state Senate confirmation of Kansas Supreme Court
nominees. Most recently the Legislature failed in an effort to
overturn a court decision that limited their power over abortion law.

Wasinger and other Republicans who pushed for the policy don’t see
it that way. In announcing the proposal, retiring Kansas House Speaker
Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, described the amendment as a check
on bureaucrats who have emerged as a “fourth branch of
government.”

State Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, said she
expected the power to be used sparingly.

“We have seen harms occur when rules and regulations are misapplied.
Because they run absolutely contrary to what was testified in the open
public,” Baumgardner said.

Business Groups Back Ballot Question

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, five other
states — Idaho, Connecticut, New Jersey, Nevada and Arkansas —
have passed similar constitutional amendments since 1982.

Kansas’ measure gained strong support from Kansas’ business
groups, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Americans for
Prosperity.

In an interview, Eric Stafford, a lobbyist for the chamber, referenced
regulations aimed at workers compensation law that the chamber
testified against because they felt it would harm business.

“The purpose of that constitutional amendment is to really give
stronger oversight by the legislature to ensure the executive branch
doesn’t get carried away with implementing rules and regs they
don’t have the authority to do,” Stafford said.

Stafford framed it as a bipartisan issue that was important regardless
of which party held the governor’s office.

“Democrats should not want to give broad power to the executive
branch of a Republican administration to just do whatever they want
on, say, abortion through rules and regs,” Stafford said.

Wasinger said regulations in Kansas had become odious.

“I think most Kansans understand that too many regulations strangle
our economy and strangle economic growth,” Wasinger said.

But opponents of the measure said the door would be opened to negative
or unintended consequences.

“If the proponents of this idea’s dreams were to come true then we
might see a lot of basic health and safety regulations we’ve all
come to expect go away,” said state Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita
Democrat. “I think the more likely effect if this should pass is
nothing. The Legislature has the power now through legislation to
repeal any rule or regulation.”

Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Kansas Sierra Club, said he expects
lawmakers to reduce or eliminate regulations designed to protect the
environment.

Lawmakers, he said, don’t have the same expertise as long-standing
bureaucrats.

“We’re worried that the process, a lengthy process and thorough
review of rules and regulations, could be vetoed because of political
talking points,” Pistora said.

“It feels like the Legislature is starting to hover and look over
the shoulder of administrative professionals and the executive branch
workers who know the subject matter.”

Role of the Legislature

The campaign for more legislative power over rules and regulations is
highly unlikely to draw even a fraction of the attention and
campaigning the campaign for Legislative power over abortion rights
did.

Carmichael and Corson both said they had yet to hear of an organized
campaign for or against the amendment.

The Kansas Chamber of Commerce, one of the amendment’s primary
proponents, has not yet determined whether it will engage in an
organized campaign.

Wasinger said she’s been talking to constituents about the amendment
as she knocks doors in her own reelection campaign.

Some opponents of the abortion amendment painted Kansan’s
overwhelming rejection of the amendment as a demonstration that they
didn’t support more Legislative power.

“I think that clearly there is a huge chasm between what the very
extreme Legislature thinks and what the vast majority of Kansans think
on what the proper role of government is and what the proper role of
the Legislature is more specifically,” Corson said.

“Folks just didn’t trust the Legislature to essentially behave
responsibly if the abortion amendment passed.”

However, Corson was hesitant to assume the vote abortion vote signaled
anything about the rules and regulations vote. Abortion is a hugely
salient issue nationwide that drew immense amounts of fundraising and
public awareness. It’s an issue that most Americans have a position
on.

Kansans’ rejection of the abortion amendment, proponents argued, had
nothing to do with legislative power.

“This is not a controversial subject,” Wasinger said. “They
don’t in any way shape or form resemble one another. This is
something that we need to educate people and make sure they understand
this is not a grab for power. This is to allow for some checks and
balances that have not been allowed prior to this.”

Where the abortion amendment saw millions spent on TV ads and door to
door campaigns, rules and regulations will be an afterthought for many
Kansas voters in November.

“Abortion is such a unique issue, it’s so personal and it’s so
emotional. Regulations are boring,” said Alan Cobb, president of the
Kansas Chamber of Commerce.

_©2022 The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency,
LLC. [[link removed]]_

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