Monday, January 8, 2024
- Committee Schedules
- Our Priorities
- What to Watch
- and more!
Happy New Year!
Today the KSleg gavels in at 2:00 pm for year two of the 2023-2024 biennial Legislative Session. Week one is historically pretty slow. However, every seat in the 125-member House and 40-member Senate is up for re-election in November. Since incumbents are not allowed to raise campaign funds until after the session ends, we expect the pace to be a little quicker this year so they can end on schedule. Click to view the 2024 session deadlines for important dates.
Every Monday during session Mainstream sends an e-newsletter to our entire list of allies which provides a brief overview of what to expect from the legislature in the upcoming week. (This one is a bit longer because there's a lot to cover.)
Our paid members also receive weekly legislative updates with a more in-depth analysis of what went on under the dome including bill tracking and advocacy opportunities. Want to be a KSleg Insider? Join Mainstream as a paid member today for as little as $35 to receive the Member Update and enjoy other benefits throughout the year!
🗓️ THIS WEEK
Committees are meeting as early as tomorrow for bill introductions, bill reviews, joint committee meetings, and hearings. Below are some that are of particular interest to Mainstream. The full list of committees can be found here & committee names below are linked to their pages on the KSleg website. There you'll find standing meeting times/locations, posted agendas, bills currently in committee, and rules for submitting testimony (more on that later).
Senate Committees
- Education - Tuesday 1/9 & Thursday 1/11*
- Federal & State Affairs - Wednesday 1/10 & Thursday 1/11^
House Committees
- Education - Tuesday 1/9 & Thursday 1/11*
- Elections - Tuesday 1/9 & Thursday 1/11
- Federal & State Affairs - Wednesday, 1/10
- Health & Human Services - Tuesday 1/9
- K-12 Education Budget - Tuesday 1/9 & Wednesday 1/10
* Joint meeting of the Senate & House Education Committees
^ Hearing on SB36 - Amending the definition of ancestry in the KAAD
State of the State Address
Governor Kelly will present her State of the State address on Wednesday evening. During her address, she'll outline her policy agenda and recommendations for the state’s budget. We expect to hear her speak about a number of Mainstream priorities that will be hotly debated by the KSleg this year. Watch on YouTube
⭐️ MAINSTREAM PRIORITIES
Since our founding in 1993, Mainstream's guiding principles of religious freedom for all, cross-partisanship and equitable representation have been essential to who we are and how we approach our work. As we strive to empower an informed electorate, we are committed to upholding these tenets in everything we do.
With the rise of white nationalism and ideological extremism invading public policy Mainstream is committed, now more than ever, to defend the constitutional guarantee of separation of religion and government. Our priorities in 2024 focus on efforts to combat religious extremism as we continue fighting to:
- End the use of religion as a weapon to discriminate and censor.
- Keep public funds in public schools that serve all students.
- Protect an individual's KS constitutional right to reproductive freedom.
- Prioritize Kansans over political agendas and ideological extremism.
We're up for the challenge if you're by our side! Please consider supporting our team with a Mainstream membership (starting at only $35/year) or a tax-deductible gift to our foundation. We know our priorities are ambitious...that's why we need you.
👀 WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
As always, we're monitoring proposed legislation for religious and ideological extremism. Several bills that carried over from 2023 fit this "bill" in one way or another. Here are just some bills from last year that are still "alive":
- SB65 - "Authorizing cities and counties to enact local laws to regulate abortion as stringent as or more stringent than state law."
- SB128 - "Establishing the ad astra opportunity tax credit to provide an income tax credit for taxpayers with eligible dependent children not enrolled in public school."
- SB233 (Sub for SB12) - "Creating a civil cause of action against a physician who performs childhood gender reassignment service and requiring revocation of a physician's license who performs childhood gender reassignment service."
- HB2056 - "Requiring all advance voting ballots to be returned by 7 p.m. on election day."
We'll keep you posted on these, as well as new bills being introduced and moved through the legislative pipeline.
Watch along with us! Use our streamlined interactive lookup to find who represents you in the Ksleg, view real-time legislative scorecards, and monitor votes on Mainstream-tracked bills as they happen during session. (Scorecards will update with 2024 votes as action is taken.)
📲 FOLLOW US
Stay in the know with updates from our social media pages. Follow @ksmainstream on Facebook & X (formerly Twitter).
Thank you for your continued support as we work toward a more representative and responsive Kansas government!
Sincerely,
Michael Poppa, Executive Director
