The KS Legislative Session Ends, But We Fight On

We wish we had better news to share as we end this legislative session. We knew going into this year that the increased supermajority was going to make it extremely difficult to keep bad legislation from passing, but the past two days have proven just how strong of a chokehold leadership has over its members.

Over the course of two days, the legislature overrode the majority of the Governor’s vetoes, mostly along strict party lines. This included several of the bills we were following related to church-state separation, LGBTQ+ equality, and reproductive healthcare. They also overrode nearly half of the line-item vetoes in the budget. In doing so, they’ve passed one of the most wide-sweeping set of reforms in recent history that threatens to take us back to the Brownback tax era and chips away at our rights and freedoms.

It will take us a while to understand exactly where we stand after this session. We’ll have constitutional amendments on our ballots to study, potential lawsuits to follow, and a lot of work to do to mitigate the impacts of these new policies. 

But today we want to just make sure you, our members and friends, know just how grateful we are for your support this year. You’ve helped to grow Mainstream’s membership, donated to our Mainstream Civic Engagement Fund so we can ramp up our educational events for the rest of the year, submitted testimony, sent emails, made phone calls, and advocated like hell. Thank you. 

The work isn’t done just because the legislature has gone home. We have municipal elections this year and a lot of terrible things happening at the federal level that we’re going to continue following. Join us at one of our upcoming events and stay connected as we build a statewide coalition fighting for church-state separation that protects the rights and freedoms of all Kansans.

See you soon.

Michael & Laurel

Bills we followed this year:

• HB 2311, putting LGBTQ+ kids at risk with custodial families who could instruct or guide the child based on deeply held religious or moral beliefs regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. 
  • Veto overridden on 4/10
    • House: 87:38
    • Senate: 31:9
• HB 2062, furthering fetal personhood in KS statute by creating an income tax exemption for a fetus and confirming already existing opportunities for child support for pregnancy related expenses.
  • Veto overridden on 4/10
    • House: 87:38
    • Senate: 31:9
• Sub HB 2382, requiring a fetal development presentation in any course that addresses human growth, human development or human sexuality. 
  • Veto overridden on 4/10
    • House: 84:41
    • Senate: 31:9
• SB 125, the budget, including $3 million for Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs)
  • 15 of the Governor’s line item vetoes overridden on 4/11
    • House: 88:34
    • Senate: 30:10 (this was to override all of the governor’s line item vetoes)
• SB 63, Gender affirming care ban
  • Veto overridden on 2/18
    • House: 85:34
    • Senate: 31:9
• SB 4, Requiring the return of advance voting ballots by 7:00 p.m. on the day of the election
  • Veto overridden on 3/25
    • House: 84:41
    • Senate: 30:10

See how your legislators voted on the church-state separation bills that Mainstream followed this session on our 2025 KS Leg Scorecard.

Stay tuned! 

Mainstream will be hosting fun and educational events over the next few months. Make sure to check your inbox and follow our social media (on Facebook and Instagram @ksmainstream) as we announce our events series soon!

As always, thank you for supporting Mainstream and our collaborative work to make sure Kansans’ commonsense values are truly represented in the statehouse.