Kelly Vetoes Bathroom Bill Restricting Transgender Access, Setting Stage for Override Fight

Kelly Plans to Attend White House Governors' Meeting but Will Skip Black-Tie Dinner

Kansas Lawmakers Advance Sports Tourism Grants and Ratify World Cup Emergency Declaration

House Health Panel Tightens Oversight of Larger Home-Plus Care Facilities

New Bill Guarantees Reno County a Seat on Kansas State Fair Board

Kelly Vetoes Bathroom Bill Restricting Transgender Access, Setting Stage for Override Fight

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed House Substitute for Senate Bill 244, which would have restricted bathroom access in government buildings based on biological sex and barred transgender Kansans from changing the gender marker on their driver's licenses, calling the legislation "poorly drafted" in her first veto of the 2026 session. In her veto message, Kelly argued the bill's consequences would extend well beyond its stated aim of regulating transgender people's access to restrooms, citing scenarios in which family members would be barred from visiting loved ones in nursing homes, hospital rooms and college dormitories if they were of the opposite sex, and said the Legislature should "stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans." The measure passed the House 87-36 and the Senate 30-9 on Jan. 28 — margins exceeding the two-thirds threshold required to override a gubernatorial veto — after Republicans advanced the bill using a "gut and go" procedural maneuver in which the House Judiciary Committee stripped the original contents of the Senate bill and replaced them with provisions from a separate House measure, bypassing a full public hearing on the bathroom restrictions despite more than 200 people submitting testimony opposing the driver's license provisions. The veto sets up what could be a swift override vote when lawmakers return, given the GOP supermajorities in both chambers, with House Speaker Dan Hawkins calling SB 244 a recognition of "biological reality" and the ACLU of Kansas warning the bill would subject all Kansans to "scrutiny and gender policing by strangers."

Kelly vetoes Kansas bathroom bill, but Legislature has votes to override

Democratic governor calls measure ‘poorly drafted,’ issues veto late Friday as GOP supermajority weighs next steps

citizen journalGreg Loving

Kelly Plans to Attend White House Governors' Meeting but Will Skip Black-Tie Dinner

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly plans to attend a bipartisan working meeting with governors at the White House on Feb. 20 but will skip the black-tie dinner expected to follow, her office said, a decision that came after Democratic governors initially promised to boycott the events amid a dispute over invitations. Kelly, a Democrat in her final term who has not attended the White House dinner since 2019, chose to attend the business meeting once the invitation was extended to all governors regardless of party, spokesperson Grace Hoge said, adding that the governor "recognizes the utility of meeting with the president, Cabinet secretaries and other federal officials, alongside her colleagues, to discuss ways states and the federal government can partner on behalf of all Americans."

Kansas Reflector

Kansas Lawmakers Advance Sports Tourism Grants and Ratify World Cup Emergency Declaration

TOPEKA — The Kansas House moved this week to ratify Gov. Laura Kelly's emergency declaration covering Douglas, Johnson and Wyandotte counties through late July for the FIFA World Cup, while the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee recommended passage of an amended substitute bill for HB 2346 advancing sports tourism event grants and also advanced HB 2737 with recommended amendments, together signaling a broad legislative push to position Kansas as a beneficiary of the international tournament and likely to draw attention from both the hospitality industry and fiscal watchdogs as the measures move toward House floor votes.

Sports Tourism, World Cup Spending Dominate House Committee Agendas

Commerce panel advances sports event grant bill as Kansas positions itself for economic windfall

citizen journalGreg Loving

House Health Panel Tightens Oversight of Larger Home-Plus Care Facilities

TOPEKA — The House Health and Human Services Committee advanced HB 2520 on Thursday after adopting an amendment that would impose new requirements on home-plus facilities serving more than 12 individuals, the current statutory cap for the residential care model designed as a smaller, home-like alternative to full-scale assisted living and nursing facilities that can house 60 or more residents. The bill would raise the home-plus cap from 12 to 16 residents, with the amendment targeting the newly expanded 13-to-16-resident tier for additional safeguards; proponents say rising staffing, insurance and inflation costs have made the 12-resident limit financially unsustainable, while opponents argue a higher cap without added staffing requirements would undermine the intimate care model that distinguishes home-plus from institutional settings.

Health Committee Targets Oversight of Larger Home-Plus Facilities

Bill would raise resident cap from 12 to 16 while imposing new safeguards on expanded facilities

citizen journalGreg Loving

New Bill Guarantees Reno County a Seat on Kansas State Fair Board

TOPEKA — A bill introduced Thursday would guarantee Reno County — home to the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson — at least one seat on the Kansas State Fair Board, addressing what supporters call a common-sense gap in current law that leaves the community most directly affected by the fair's operations without a formal voice in its governance. HB 2779, referred from the Committee on Federal and State Affairs, reflects a recurring debate over geographic representation on state boards, and whether the bill gains traction will depend in part on whether lawmakers from other regions view it as a reasonable safeguard or an unwelcome precedent for mandating residency requirements on appointive bodies.

Reno County Seeks Guaranteed Seat on State Fair Board

HB 2779 would require at least one board member from the county that hosts the fairgrounds

citizen journalGreg Loving

Sources

1. Kansas Reflector — Kelly Plans to Attend White House Meeting

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