The Kansas City Star is running an important series on secrecy in Kansas government. While we note that there has been some improvement in the legislature over the past couple of years, we have experienced frustration on multiple levels, including the use of the “gut and go procedure,” lack of advance notice of hearings, rescheduled hearings, unrecorded committee votes, the requirement that hard copies of testimony be delivered in Topeka 24 hours before a hearing, among others. Game On’s executive director was quoted in this article.
“Judith Deedy, a mother of three in Johnson County, is worried about lack of transparency in education policy.
“She is one of many Shawnee Mission School District parents who started paying closer attention to what happens in the state Capitol after budget cuts and other policy changes began affecting schools.
“Deedy, executive director of the advocacy group Game On for Kansas Schools, recalled that a 2015 law changing education funding was ‘one of the wake-up calls.’
“’That was a really clear example to so many people that we had a Legislature that was not listening to us,” she said, “and by us I mean any supporters of public education.’
“The bill that made block grants the source for school funding was a ‘gut-and-go’ measure — a common practice in Topeka where legislators take a bill that has already passed one chamber, gut it and insert an unrelated bill. The maneuver clears the path for less public debate and easier passage.
“’To us, it was absurd that something this important was getting rammed through so quickly,’ Deedy said.”
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article184179651.html
Originally posted on Facebook November 14, 2017