KANSAS GOVERNOR faces backlash from GOP.
TOPEKA, Kan. — As most of the U.S. raced to get ahead of the coronavirus pandemic, conservative Republican lawmakers in Kansas moved Wednesday to limit their Democratic governor’s emergency powers, including the ability to establish quarantine zones if the need arises.
Conservatives are upset with Gov. Laura Kelly’s order to close all of the state’s K-12 school buildings for the rest of the spring semester.
Some of her most conservative critics also suggested that Kelly’s bold action on the coronavirus suggests that she might go after firearms and try to limit their sale.
Kelly declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic last week to mobilize state resources, but it will expire March 27 unless legislators pass a resolution extending it. Lawmakers are now set to have the GOP-controlled Legislature’s leaders scrutinize all of Kelly’s future coronavirus orders and to give them the power to revoke many of them within days.
House Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, who helped draft the final version, told fellow Republicans that the goal is to address the pandemic with “the lightest touch possible.”
“There is a concern about civil liberties, a concern about the proper exercise of government authority and not wanting it to be too extreme,” said Finch, an attorney.
Kansas has had more than 20 confirmed coronavirus cases and one death.
The House approved a version of the resolution last week as a straightforward extension of Kelly’s state of emergency into January 2021.
The Senate on Wednesday passed its version limiting Kelly’s power, 37-2, with most Democrats reluctantly voting yes because failing to pass it might jeopardize federal disaster relief funds.
The state of emergency would last until May 1, but legislative leaders could approve further extensions every 30 days.
The Senate approved language from conservatives to strip Kelly of power that governors have had in other emergencies. Among them are the authority to say who goes into or out of a disaster area and to restrict movement within an area. She also would lose the governor’s broad power to act to “promote and secure the safety and protection of the civilian population.”
Conservatives argued that Kelly’s moves, and similar actions in other states, are unnecessarily torpedoing the economy and isolating people.
“They’ll riot. They’ll be breaking into grocery stores,” said Sen. Rob Olson, a Kansas City-area Republican, his voice rising in frustration. “They’ll be breaking into people’s houses to steal toilet paper.”
Democrats warned that the Senate’s language could limit Kelly’s ability to set up quarantine zones around communities in crisis.
“There are good reasons for what the governor did,” said state Sen. Tom Holland, a Democrat. “We’ve all just got to get over it.
Republican state Sen. Dennis Pyle successfully sought a gun-rights provision. It would prevent Kelly from using the emergency declaration to confiscate guns or ammunition or to halt their sale or transportation.