Kansas Dem Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes hot-button bills, sets up showdown with GOP legislature
Categories: US Education News
Kansas Dem Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes hot-button bills, sets up showdown with GOP legislatureKansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) on Friday vetoed several bills sought by Republicans, including one that would ban transgender girls on female sports teams, according to reports.
The bill would require public schools and state colleges to categorize sports teams based on an athlete’s gender at birth.Kelly, a first-term governor who is up for re-election in November, accused Republican lawmakers of trying to score political points while arguing that the transgender athlete ban would impact the state's ability to attract and keep businesses.
Republican lawmakers and Senate President Ty Masterson, (R-Andover), argued that allowing trans females to take part in sports with biological females would create unfair competitive advantages."It’s about protecting the women who worked and trained all her life and should not have her hard work wiped out by being forced to compete on unlevel playing fields," Masterson said.
At least fifteen states have enacted laws on transgender athletes, including Kentucky this week. Kelly vetoed a similar measure last year."Money that should be spent in the classroom would end up being spent in the courtroom," she said of the classroom materials bill.
Masterson argued that the governor, in an election year, was "largely controlled by the hard left.""In recent months, the governor has been a chameleon, demonstrating election-year conversions in an attempt to fool Kansans into believing she shares their values," Masterson said, via the Kansas Reflector.
"Rather than listening to parents and female athletes, her decision to veto the Parents’ Bill of Rights and the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act demonstrate she is still largely controlled by the hard left."Gov. Kelly's Friday vetoes set up an override showdown when the legislature, which is overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans in both houses, returns to session on April 25.