In the Kansas Statehouse, procedure is policy.
The way Senate and House leaders craft legislation—not just the content of the bills they pass—expresses who they are and what they’re trying to accomplish. Their disregard for carefully laid rails to ensure discussion and cooperation has enabled poorly drafted, ideological and unconstitutional laws.
Power plays
How Kansas Legislative Leaders Advance Their Agendas Through the Exploitation Process Read the series.
All of Kansas is suffering. But because so much of Kansas is excluded from the process, lawmakers never face the music. They then short-circuit the process further to ensure that any dissent does not pierce their ideological shield.
This week, the Kansas Reflector will publish a series of stories exploring these procedural shortcuts and their effects on state government. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith, senior reporters Tim Carpenter and Morgan Chilson, and reporter Anna Kaminski have all spent weeks interviewing sources, studying documents and watching hours of proceedings.
Together, they reveal a richly detailed but disturbing portrait of Kansas government.
Lawmakers see this every day. Now Reflector readers will be able to understand those same uncomfortable, disagreeable truths.
“I’ve heard legislators openly say they’re angry and frustrated about having to sit through hearings where opponents have expressed themselves,” said Rep. Alexis Simmons, D-Topeka. “And it’s not in any one committee. I’ve heard this from many legislators in different contexts, and they treat them with such inconvenience and disrespect.”
Connor Montgomery of Manhattan holds a sign outside the Kansas Statehouse as part of the Trans Day of Visibility demonstration on March 31, 2026. Lawmakers violated an assortment of procedures to pass anti-trans Senate Bill 244. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
day by day
From Monday to Friday, we plan to cover the following topics.
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Calling the question: A parliamentary move that allows one chamber to stop debate on a bill. When hotly contested legislation comes to the House or Senate floor, lawmakers can shut down further discussion.
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Purpose of ban: This rule prohibits MLAs from speaking ill of each other. While useful for decorum, it can be misused to shut down reasonable criticism of problematic legislation.
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Financial Notes: Lawmakers ignore painstakingly prepared reports that predict how much legislation will cost.
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Hidden Agenda: Committee chairs warn supporters in advance of bill hearings, keeping opponents in the dark. Testimony faces arbitrary limits while supermajorities act as they please.
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Fast work: Last year and this year, House and Senate leadership shortened the hours their chambers operate in Topeka. This increased the potential for backroom dealmaking, unnecessary confusion and slapdash decision-making.
Each has had a real, tangible effect in limiting overall citizen participation.
But the implications go further. That perverse process has seeped into politics, making Kansas less open, less democratic and subject to the will of elites.
Restrictions on legislative speech find their echo in unconstitutional attacks on the First Amendment.
The new law suspends campus speech under the guise of honor. Reporters can now be charged with a felony for approaching first responders within a 25-foot radius. And reporters still can’t sit on the House or Senate floor and report.
Scary hearings and narrow sessions meet their siblings with an array of new voting limits.
House Election Chairman Rep. One type of bill called by Rep. Pat Proctor, R-Leavenworth, would add barriers to Kansans voting. Heavy restrictions It could eliminate voting by mail and make it more difficult to challenge unconstitutional laws in court. Overall, Proctor has a goal Cement Elected Republican control At the expense of citizen participation.
Republican leaders have concentrated power in their chambers — as they wrest local control from cities and counties across the state.
A peculiar property tax proposal would prevent localities from setting property tax rates as needed. Lawmakers pushed new requirements and restrictions on schools. They also tried to usurp the authority of health officials to set vaccination requirements. Legislature cannot exercise the power of others.
These tragic overreaches found their epitome in the passage of the anti-transgender Senate Bill 244. At the beginning of the session.
We have seen unannounced changes to the bill except for public debate during the committee process. Calling for questions was used to shorten the floor discussion. The financial impact on local governments was abolished wholesale. The bill rocketed through both chambers before Republicans headed to Wichita for their winter convention.
These procedural abuse poison policy. As legislation, SB 244 interferes with the First Amendment (it forces state employees to act a certain way regardless of their beliefs), makes it more difficult for trans Kansans to vote (the measure revoked driver’s licenses) and takes away local control from cities and towns that were already well-regulated.
Rep. Alexis Simmons, a Topeka Democrat, takes questions during a Jan. 27, 2026, House Elections Committee meeting. She says arrogance drives Republicans to shut out opponents in the legislative process. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
choosing one
My thesis for this column was adapted from a quote by Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan. His words still resonate: the medium is the message.
McLuhan theorized that the meaning of a continuous stream of images transmitted through technology such as television or social media is fundamentally different from that conveyed through a series of words printed on a page or through conversation. The medium—that is, the medium in which the content is delivered—shapes us more than the content.
We can all see the attention-shattering effects of smartphones and the coma-like state produced by endless cable transmissions. The way things are done is as important as the things themselves.
As journalists, we are often told in school and by friends to avoid process stories.
“Readers don’t care about process,” we tell ourselves. “Write about the effects of legislation, not how it comes into being. That’s for political fanatics inside baseball, not everyday people.”
That may be true. A long digression into minutes risks losing sight of the point. But as I hope our series proves, abuse of process in Kansas is so closely related to policy that you can’t understand one without the other. You can’t explain an inexplicable piece of legislation without digging into the painful permutations of the process.
Leaders understand that constituents often tune out when lawmakers complain about the process. So they choose to embrace that process.
Let me repeat: they choose to do so.
Republicans hold majorities in the state House and Senate. They wield incredible power in Kansas politics. They could scrutinize every single bill – listen to every dissenting voice – and still pass their preferred agenda. They have their opinion. Kansan sent Topeka.
The fact that leaders take such shortcuts suggests that, if given the opportunity, everyday Republican lawmakers might take a different path. If full debates were held over a reasonable period of time, more MPs would have time to consider what they are doing. They listened to the voters. They read the bills. They will discuss with MPs of both parties.
They will, in short, legislate the way tradition demands.
“I don’t see how anyone can interpret public engagement as anything other than a process of doing their job,” said Simmons, a Topeka Democrat. “That’s the whole point of democracy. So when they do things like ban hearings or cut conferences, they’re very open, very openBehind the scenes, that’s mostly because they just don’t want to sit through it. They don’t want to hear it, and they don’t see it as a legitimate, good-faith protest. “
The outcome of such an open process clearly terrifies House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson. They don’t trust their constituents — they don’t trust the elected representatives of Kansans — to pass their agenda without subtle maneuvers in broad daylight.
Had their process been different in the past four months, their policy outcomes would have been different. If your representative or senator touts a great job the Legislature did this year, ask them why they took so many shortcuts.
Simmons knows the answer: “It’s ego.”
Clay Wirestone is the Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of those affected by public policies or excluded from the public debate. Find information here, including how to submit your comments.
