Join the Silver Haired Legislature

GUEST COLUMN, Gayle Anderson, Silver Haired Legislature Southwest Kansas Chair

My name is Gayle Anderson and I am the Chairman of the Southwestern District No. 6 of the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature.

Silver Haired Legislature is a group of senior citizens who work together to identify issues important to Kansas adults aged 60 and older. We work to send our recommendations to the Kansas House of Representatives.

The KSHL representatives must be 60 years old and elected from their county of residence. They must also be registered voters. They are elected in each county and term of office is two years, and members may file for re-election.

Each county has one representative except for Wyandotte, Johnson, Shawnee, and Sedgwick which are all allotted 5 each.

Kansas should have 125 Delegates but as of now we only have 80. We are short 45 delegates of which 17 are in my Southwestern Kansas District.

We are in need one representative for SHL from Barber Co., Barton County., Comanche Co., Edwards Co., Finney Co., Gray Co., Greeley Co., Hamilton Co., Haskell Co., Kiowa Co., Morton Co., Ness Co., Pawnee Co., Rush Co., Scott Co., Seward Co., Stevens Co., and Wichita Co.

We need representatives to speak out for our Kansas senior citizens. Census studies show in 2020 671,000 Kansas seniors over the age of 60. In 10 years, by 2029, senior populations will grow to 1,017,082.

We are trying to improve the situation for our seniors in the coming years.

Questions and concerns, please call me at 620-397-6515.

Thank you for your time.