GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative
The Southwest Chambers had their event in Topeka last week. We always have good representation from Liberal and Seward County. Liberal, Garden, Dodge, Hugoton, and Ulysses all participated. Thanks for coming. It makes a difference.
The Help Not Harm Act is the first bill to be vetoed by the Governor this session and will now return to the Senate and House where the Legislature can attempt to override the veto. SB 63 prevents healthcare providers from prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, or performing surgeries on minors for gender transition purposes. The reality is that many children who experience gender dysphoria eventually reconcile with their biological sex given the time and counseling. Children under 18 are not equipped with the knowledge or maturity to make decisions regarding these life-altering procedures. The treatment prohibited in the bill would not apply to treatment provided for individuals born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development.
This week has continued to be dominated by committee work. Next week we will spend most of the week voting on bills that have made it out of House Committees.
In Appropriations Committee we continue to work on cutting spending to a sustainable level. It’s very difficult to balance the needs of Kansans from across the state. Whether its schools, roads, the intellectual and developmentally disabled, or hospitals we have many needs. Also, many programs were expanded with Federal Funds during the COVID response. We now have to cut back state spending and programming to match our resources.
In Tax Committee we continue to look for sustainable ways to ease the property tax burden without damaging the ability of the state and our local governments to provide essential services. One innovative way to fund services was brought forward in the Transportation Committee this week. The Department of Motor Vehicles would like to initiate a “Black Out Plate.” The funds from this vanity plate would be used for plate replacement costs in the future. These plates have been very popular in the states that offer them like Iowa. It’s a simple black plate with white lettering and is anticipated to raise over $1 million a year if the legislation is enacted.
