Legislative process is being subverted in Kansas

From Dave Trabert
cjonline.com

A very sad but not uncommon process is playing out right now in the Kansas Legislature that is designed to avoid transparency and prevent citizens from knowing exactly where their elected representatives stand on important issues.

Kansans expect that all 125 members of the House of Representatives and all 40 state senators will participate in a robust debate in arriving at each chamber’s respective tax plan, but efforts are underway to subvert the full legislative process and put control in the hands of just 6 people and those who appoint them.

According to Hawver’s Capitol Report, the House of Representatives just stripped “… all but some technical and local interest measures—and $30 million worth of tax amnesty…” from a Senate bill for the express purpose of getting the bill into a conference committee where two Republicans and one Democrat in the House will theoretically negotiate with two Republicans and one Democrat from the Senate.   The Senate bill modified by the House doesn’t even come close to balancing the budget; the action passed by 64 members is just setting the stage for large tax increases to be added without members’ having to make a series of public votes that may come back to haunt them next election.

Legislators were publicly encouraged yesterday in the House Republican caucus to allow this stripped-down version to go to conference to avoid a series of “gotcha votes.”  It wasn’t put in these terms, but legislators were essentially asked to subvert the full legislative process for their own re-election purposes…and possibly prevent some from having a say in tax policy.

To read the entire article, click here.

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