What is the REINS Act and why did Gov. Kelly veto it?

On Friday, Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly, vetoed House Bill 2648 known as the REINS Act. Essentially, what this bill would do is make it so that lawmakers would be the ones that have to make the laws, as is their job as our elected officials, rather than unelected bureaucrats. Furthermore, if these unelected bureaucrats did try to put rules and regulations into place, the Legislature would have to look at those rules to make sure they don’t violate anyone’s constitutional rights.

Gov. Kelly vetoed the bill late Friday, providing the following statement for why she was vetoing the bill:

“House Bill 2648 would insert bureaucratic red tape intended to legislatively interfere with the timely implementation of necessary and important rules and regulations. Many of these regulations are for the protection and safety of Kansans.

“Kansans voted no to giving the legislature veto power over rules and regulations in the November 2022 election. This is yet again another attempt by the legislature to undermine the will of the voters.”

Many moderates and Republicans felt differently, including Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins (R-Sedgwick County).

“This veto can be easily explained by a difference in philosophies—the Governor and her party believe that more government control is the answer to our problems and we wholeheartedly disagree with that,” Speaker Hawkins said in a statement. “House Republicans believe there should be checks placed on the administrative state and that’s why we’ll be working to override her veto and rein in the power grab by unelected bureaucrats.”

President and Co-Founder of BASED Politics, Hannah Cox took to X (formerly Twitter) calling Gov. Kelly a “coward” for vetoing the bill so late on a Friday.

Kansas governor @LauraKellyKS is reportedly vetoing the REINS Act late on a Friday in hopes you don’t notice.

Coward.

Why would a governor not want people to have a say in the laws that govern them when they’re all about dEmOcRaCy? pic.twitter.com/AtHonAMBCX

— Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) April 12, 2024

The Libertarian journalist also posted a video with her tweet, going into further detail about her take.

“Why would a governor veto that kind of legislation? Great question,” Cox said in her video. “The only real answer for it is Democrats want very big government. They want to be able to pass unconstitutional laws that violate your rights and they can’t always get away with that because then they vote on laws that are bad and you can lobby, you can vote them out of office, you can donate to their opponents, you have recourse. But when unelected bureaucrats pass rules and regulations that are unconstitutional, you don’t know who they are, you don’t even know what’s happening most of the time, you have no ability to kick them out of office, so they can get away with murder. And that’s the kind of system that Laura Kelly in Kansas wants to keep going.”

Other people here in Kansas, also disapproved of the veto.

“We are disappointed in the veto of HB 2648, which strengthens legislative oversight of rules and regulations,” Kansas Chamber President and CEO Alan Cobb said in a statement. “Kansas is one of only 16 states to not have legislative oversight on state agency regulations. HB 2648 protects against a runaway executive branch which attempts to circumvent laws through regulatory changes. Regulatory oversight is a bipartisan issue and we encourage lawmakers to override Gov. Kelly’s veto of this bill.”

Americans for Prosperity – Kansas (AFP-KS), a conservative Libertarian political advocacy group, condemned the veto:

“Today, Governor Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would decrease government regulations which create more burdens and costs on the day-to-day lives of Kansans. Americans for Prosperity-Kansas (AFP-KS) was disappointed to see a widely supported bill to provide a check and balance on unnecessarily costly regulations vetoed by the Governor.

“The REINS Act, HB 2648, was a landmark bill that had the potential to reshape the state’s economic landscape by requiring legislative review of overly expensive government regulations.”

AFP-KS Legislative and Coalitions Director, Michael Austin, also made the following statement:

“Once again Governor Kelly has put politics over the people of Kansas by passing an opportunity to reduce the regulatory burdens faced by our state. Kansans are already struggling under Bidenomics, this bill would have been an impactful opportunity to stimulate economic growth, encourage entrepreneurship, and create more jobs.

“We need leadership who is serious about making Kansas a better place to live and work for the long haul and that includes bills that enforce accountability. Unfortunately, hardworking Kansans will miss out the most with the failure to sign this bill that was supported by both parties.”

The bill passed the House 82-36 on March 6, and passed the Senate 27-13 on March 27. Due to the high numbers of support in both the House and Senate, it is believed that the veto will be overridden, but supporters of the bill are still encouraging people to contact their legislators to encourage voting in favor of the bill.