Vetoes sustained for 'Help Not Harm Act' and tax relief bill, other bills to become law

The Kansas House and Senate have voted to override a number of Gov. Laura Kelly’s many vetoes on Monday. Among the two biggest bills many Kansans were focused on included House Substitute for Senate Bill 233, known as the Help Not Harm Act and the Senate Substitute for House Bill 2036 which would have provided Kansans with tax relief. In order to override a veto, a two-thirds majority must vote in favor of the bill. In the Senate, 27 votes are needed while in the House 84 votes are needed to override a veto.

Help Not Harm Act

The Kansas Senate voted in favor of overriding Gov. Kelly’s veto of the Help Not Harm Act, which would ban certain gender transition services for minors, 27-13. All 11 Democrats in the Senate voted against overriding the veto, and were joined by two Republicans: Sen. John Doll from Garden City and Sen. Carolyn McGinn from Sedgwick. No one had switched their vote.

The House voted next, but failed by two votes to override the veto, voting 82-43. A total of 39 Democrats were joined by four Republicans in order to sustain the veto. These Republicans include Rep. Jesse Borjon from Topeka, Rep. Susan Concannon from Beloit, Rep. Mark Schreiber from Emporia, and Rep. David Younger from Ulysses.

Rep. Marvin Robinson from Kansas City was the lone Democrat to join Republicans in an attempt to override the veto.

Originally, the House had 39 votes against the bill, picking up four more no votes when sustaining the veto. Rep. Kirk Haskins (D-Topeka) and Rep. Lindsay Vaughn (D-Overland Park) were originally absent and did not vote. However, during the vote on the veto, they both voted to sustain the veto.

Rep. Michael Houser (R-Columbus) and Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall (R-Paola) were originally absent and not voting on the bill as well. However, both voted to override the veto.

Both Rep. Borjon and Rep. Concannon originally voted in favor of the bill, but flipped during the vote on the veto. Had both of them voted as they did originally, this bill would have become Kansas law.

The Tax Bill

When it comes to Kansas tax relief, the House successfully overrode Gov. Kelly’s veto 104-15 on April 26. However, the Senate on Monday failed to override the veto by one vote, 26-14.

Both the number for those voting in favor and against increased when voting on the veto.

Democratic Senators Oletha Faust-Goudeau (Wichita) and David Haley (Kansas City) originally were both present and passing, but voted against overriding the veto along with all nine other Democrats in the Senate.

Four Republicans including Sen. J.R. Claeys from Salina, Sen. Carolyn McGinn from Sedgwick, Sen. Kristen O’Shea from Topeka, and Sen. Ronald Ryckman from Meade were originally not present to vote on the bill, but did vote in favor of overriding the veto.

Republican Sen. John Doll (R) was also originally not present to vote, but voted against overriding the veto.

Sen. Doll was not the only Republican to vote against overriding the veto, being joined by two other Republicans. Sen. Robert Olson (R-Olathe) was against the bill from the first vote, and continued to vote against the bill when it came to overriding the veto. Sen. Dennis Pyle (R-Hiawatha) was originally in favor of the bill, but flipped during the veto override. Had he maintained his original support of the bill, the veto would have been overridden and the bill would have become law.

Other bills whose vetoes were successfully overridden

A number of other bills vetoed by the Democratic governor were more successful in both the House and Senate, meaning we will see these bills become Kansas law. The following is the bill number, its short title, and the votes by the House and Senate that overrode Gov. Kelly’s vetoes.

HB 2436—Creating the crime of coercion to obtain an abortion and providing enhanced criminal penalties for offenses committed with the intent to coerce a woman to obtain an abortion. Vetoed by the governor, overridden by the House 85-40 and the Senate 28-10.

HB 2465—Enacting the adoption savings account act allowing individuals to establish adoption savings accounts with certain financial institutions, providing eligible expenses, requirements and restrictions for such accounts and establishing addition and subtraction modifications for contributions to such accounts under the Kansas income tax act, increasing the income tax credit amount for adoption expenses, establishing an income, privilege and premium tax credit for contributions to eligible charitable organizations operating pregnancy centers or residential maternity facilities and providing for a sales tax exemption for purchases by pregnancy resource centers and residential maternity facilities. Vetoed by the governor, overridden by the House 85-40 and the Senate 29-7.

HB 2583—Increasing the criminal penalties for harming or killing certain dogs and horses and requiring restitution for such offense to include certain expenses. Vetoed by the governor, overridden by the House 105-20 and the Senate 29-10.

HB 2749—Requiring medical care facilities and providers to report the reasons for each abortion performed at such facility or by such provider to the secretary of health and environment. Vetoed by the governor, overridden by the House 84-41 and the Senate 27-10.