This is the testimony we are presenting to the House K-12 Budget Committee and the Senate Education Committee in opposing to HB 2068/SB 61 which would further expand the Tax Credit for Low Income Students Scholarship Program, a thinly veiled school voucher program.

The Kansas Legislature is rapidly pushing through bills Leadership has prioritized for the Session, in the hopes of getting them completed before COVID-19 shortens or interrupts their work. The irony of course, is that even with this pressure, Leadership also refuses to require mask wearing by legislators, or mandate infection disclosures.

This is a copy of the testimony presented by the Mainstream Coalition opposing HCR 5003/SCR 1602 to the House Federal and State Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 15, 2021. These resolutions would place on a ballot an amendment to the Kansas Constitution explicitly stripping the right of reproductive choice from Kansas women, instead giving that choice to legislators.

It took just a few days for the Kansas Legislative Leadership to reintroduce their resolution to strip reproductive rights for Kansas women from the Kansas Constitution. They tried last year, and were rebuffed by the Kansas House and Jan Kessinger, a centrist Republican, who voted to keep a woman's medical affairs between her and her doctor and family.

The Kansas Legislative Session only began on Monday, and already there is a hearing on the return of the amendment to strip reproductive rights from the Kansas Constitution, HCR 5003/SCR 1602.

Help us oppose these resolutions!

This is not the new year greeting I had planned to send. The email you were supposed to read reflected on the past year, celebrated our collective resilience despite the tremendous challenges we faced in 2020, and spoke of the boundless possibilities each new year brings. It laid out what’s at stake for Kansas in 2021, and included a request of you to take action with Mainstream to counter the harmful policies planned by extremist leadership this session.

The Mainstream Coalition is dedicated to creating a more representative and responsive government by empowering informed participation and meaningful action in the political process. One way we seek to achieve this is through public policy advocacy. While Mainstream supports a number of standing positions, this platform is intended to articulate our specific policy goals on anticipated issues in the 2021 legislative session.

This past Monday, the Kansas Legislature chose their leadership teams for the upcoming Legislative Session. Each party broke into caucus and voted, with the Republicans in the majority, they selected the leaders who will set the agenda for the term, and drive much of what gets debated and voted on. The 2020 election saw very conservative individuals oust some centrists at the state level, and this bodes poorly for the priorities shared by most Kansans.

We have been looking over the results from Tuesday's election as it regards the Kansas Legislature. There are a few good stories, but most of the news in Kansas is not great.

We knew it would be a long night. We knew uncertainty would fill the days following the election. So, while we wait for the final counts in the presidential election and other key national races, we must keep up hope.