HB 2252 – Prohibits Modification of Election Laws by State Executive Branch

Political Deep Dive

Most people are more aware of who is in Washington D.C. controlling the federal government; however, those at the state level are lesser known, and yet they have more control over our lives. Through our Political Deep Dives (PDD), you can see how YOUR representatives have voted on bills that affect your day-to-day life. In this PDD, we will be focusing on HB 2252—Prohibiting the modification of election laws by agreement except as approved by the legislative coordinating council.

This information is available thanks to kslegislature.org; ballotpedia.org; and votesmart.org

Highlights of this bill include:

• Prohibits any member of the Kansas state Executive Branch, including Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, from entering into any agreement with a state or Federal judicial body or any other party in order to alter state election laws, including by executive orders (Sec. 1).

• Requires that any request by the Executive Branch to modify or alter election procedures and/or enforcement of election laws be approved by the Legislature first, and requires that said attempt be approved by the Legislative Coordinating Council if the Legislature is not in session (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that no section of the bill can be seen as limiting the duties and powers granted to the state Judicial Branch granted to it by the constitution of the state of Kansas (Sec. 1).

A summary of the bill can be found here.

This bill was first introduced in the House on Friday, February 5, 2021, where it was referred to Committee on Federal and State Affairs. It passed the House 122-2 on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, and was replaced by a substitute on Thursday, March 25, 2021. A House Conference Report was adopted Tuesday, April 26, 2022. The bill was enrolled and presented to Democrat Governor Laura Kelly on Friday, May 6, 2022. Governor Kelly vetoed the bill, sending it back to the House on Friday, May 13, 2022. The House motioned to override the veto. This is how the Kansas House voted:

(Political Party, District number, Voted Yes/No/Did not vote)—Names that are crossed out are politicians that voted on these issues but, for one reason or another, are no longer in the House or Senate.

**If you are unsure what district you are in, you can click here to find out.

Michael Houser (R,1,Y), Kenneth Collins (R,2,Y), Charles “Chuck” Smith (R,3,Y), Trevor Jacobs (R,4,Y), Mark Samsel (R,5,Y), Samantha M. Poetter Parshall (R,6,Y), Richard J. Proehl (R,7,Y), Chris Croft (R,8,Y), Kent L. Thompson (R,9,Y), Christina Haswood (D,10,N), Jim Kelly (R,11,Y), Doug Blex (R,12,Y), Joe Newland (R,13,Y), Charlotte Esau (R,14,Y), John M. Toplikar (R,15,Y), Linda Featherston (D,16,N), Jo Ella Hoye (D,17,N), Cindy Neighbor (D,18,N), Stephanie Sawyer Clayton (D,19,DNV), Mari-Lynn Poskin (D,20,N), Jerry Stogsdill (D,21,N), Lindsay Vaughn (D,22,N), Susan Ruiz (D,23,N), Jarrod Ousley (D,24,N), Rui Xu (D,25,N), Adam Thomas (R,26,Y), Sean E. Tarwater Sr. (R,27,Y), Carl Turner (R,28,Y), Heather Meyer (D,29,N), Brandon T. Woodard (D,30,N), Louis E. Ruiz (D,31,N), Pam Curtis (D,32,N), Tom Burroughs (D,33,N), Valdenia Camille Winn (D,34,N), Broderick T. Henderson (D,35,N), Kathy Wolfe Moore (D,36,N), Aaron Coleman (D,37,N), Timothy Johnson (R, 38,Y), Owen Donohoe (R,39,Y), David W. French (R,40,Y), Pat Proctor (R,41,Y), Lance Neelly (R,42,Y), William “Bill” Sutton (R,43,Y), Barbara W. Ballard (D,44,N), Mike Amyx (D,45,N), Dennis J. Highberger (D,46,N), Ronald B. Ellis (R,47,Y), Dan Osman (D,48,DNV), Megan Lynn (R,49,Y), Fred C. Patton (R,50,Y), Ron L. Highland (R,51,Y), Jesse Borjon (R,52,Y), Jim Gartner (D,53,N), Ken Corbet (R,54,Y), Annie Kuether (D,55,N), Virgil Weigel (D,56,N), John Alcala (D,57,N), Vic Miller (D,58,N), Blaine Finch (R,59,Y), Mark Schreiber (R,60,Y), Francis Awerkamp (R,61,Y), Randy Garber (R,62,Y), John R. Eplee (R,63,Y), Susan L. Carlson (R,64,DNV), Lonnie G. Clark (R,65,Y), Sydney Carlin (D,66,N), Mike Dodson (R,67,Y), Dave Baker (R,68,N), Clarke Sanders (R,69,Y), John E. Barker (R,70,Y), Steven K. Howe (R,71,Y), Avery Anderson (R,72,Y), Les Mason (R,73,Y), Stephen Owens (R,74,Y), Will Carpenter (R,75,Y), Eric L. Smith (R,76,Y), Kristey S. Williams (R,77,Y), Ron Ryckman Jr. (R,78,Y), Cheryl Helmer (R,79,Y), Bill Rhiley (R,80,Y), Blake Carpenter (R,81,Y), Jesse Burris (R,82,Y), Henry M. Helgerson Jr. (D,83,N), Gail Finney (D,84,N), Patrick Penn (R,85,Y), Stephanie Byers (D,86,N), Susan Oliver Estes (R,87,Y), Chuck Schmidt (D,88,N), Kelechi “KC” Ohaebosim (D,89,DNV), Steve Huebert (R,90,Y), Emil M. Bergquist (R,91,Y), John Carmichael (D,92,N), Brian Bergkamp (R,93,Y), Leo G. Delperdang (R,94,Y), Tom Sawyer (D,95,N), Tom Kessler II (R,96,Y), Nick J. Hoheisel (R,97,Y), Cyndi Howerton (R,98,Y), Susan Humphries (R,99,Y), Daniel R. Hawkins (R,100,Y), Joe Seiwert (R,101,Y), Jason Probst (D,102,N), Ponka-We Victors (D,103,N), Paul Waggoner (R,104,Y), Brenda K. Landwehr (R,105,Y), Lisa M. Moser (R,106,Y), Susan L. Concannon (R,107,Y), Steven C. Johnson (R,108,Y), Troy L. Waymaster (R,109,Y), Ken Rahjes (R,110,Y), Barbara K. Wasinger (R,111,Y), Tory Marie Arnberger (R,112,Y), Brett Fairchild (R,113,Y), Michael Murphy (R,114,Y), Boyd Orr (R,115,Y), Kyle Hoffman (R,116,Y), Tatum Lee (R,117,Y), James “Jim” Minnix (R,118,Y), Bradley Ralph (R,119,Y), Adam C. Smith (R,120,Y), John Resman (R,121,Y), Bill Clifford (R,122,Y), John P. Wheeler Jr. (R,123,Y), Martin Long (R,124,Y), Shannon Francis (R,125,Y)

The motion to override the veto prevailed 84-37 with all 84 ‘yes’ votes coming from Republicans while 36 ‘no’ votes came from Democrats and 1 ‘no’ came from a Republican. A total of 4 House members were not present and not voting including 3 Democrats and a Republican.

The Kansas Senate also motioned to override the veto. This is how your Senate voted:

Dennis D. Pyle (R,1,Y), Marci A. Francisco (D,2,N), Tom Holland (D,3,N), David Haley (D,4,N), Jeff Pittman (D,5,N), Pat Huggins Pettey (D,6,N), Ethan Corson (D,7,N), Cindy Holscher (D,8,N), Beverly Gossage (R,9,Y), Mike Thompson (R,10,Y), Kellie Warren (R,11,Y), Caryn Tyson (R,12,Y), Richard Hilderbrand (R,13,Y), Michael A. Fagg (R,14,Y), Virgil Peck Jr. (R,15,Y), Ty Masterson (R,16,Y), Jeff Longbine (R,17,Y), Kristen O’Shea (R,18,Y), Rick Kloos (R,19,Y), Brenda S. Dietrich (R,20,Y), Dinah H. Sykes (D,21,N), Tom Hawk (D,22,DNV), Robert S. Olson (R,23,Y), Jeremy Ryan Claeys (R,24,Y), Mary Ware (D,25,N), Dan Kerschen (R,26,Y), Gene Suellentrop (R,27,DNV), Mike Petersen (R,28,Y), Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D,29,N), Renee Erickson (R,30,Y), Carolyn McGinn (R,31,Y), Larry W. Alley (R,32,Y), Alicia Straub (R,33,Y), Mark B. Steffen (R,34,Y), Richard Wilborn (R,35,Y), Elain S. Bowers (R,36,Y), Molly Baumgardner (R,37,Y), Ronald Ryckman (R,38,Y), John Doll (R,39,DNV), Rick Billinger (R,40,Y)

The motion to override the veto prevailed 27-10 with all 27 ‘yes’ votes coming from Republicans while all 10 ‘no’ votes came from Democrats. A total of 3 Senators did not show up and vote including 2 Republicans and a Democrat.

This bill was made law effective July 1, 2022.