TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas legislators this year boosted funding for public schools and increased spending in other parts of the state budget they saw as neglected while also supporting faith-based adoption agencies that cite religious reasons for not placing children in LGBT homes.
Lawmakers adjourned their annual session Friday. Here are notable measures they passed:
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SCHOOL FUNDING
The state is set to phase in a $534 million increase in spending on public schools over five years. A new school funding law approved in April was a response to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in October that current funding of more than $4 billion a year wasn’t sufficient under the state constitution.
The court is hearing arguments from attorneys May 22 on whether the increase is sufficient to comply with its October decision. Four school districts sued the state in 2010.
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ADOPTION, LGBT RIGHTS
The adoption legislation would prevent faith-based agencies from being barred from providing adoption or foster care services for the state because the agencies won’t place children in homes that violate their “sincerely held” religious beliefs.
Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer is expected to sign it. Derided by LGBT-rights advocates, it was backed by the state’s Catholic bishops and conservative groups.
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STATE BUDGET
Lawmakers added millions of dollars in new spending to budgets approved last year for the state’s current fiscal year and the one for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. Both are more than $16 billion.
State employees will get at least a 2.5 percent pay raise, with some receiving 5 percent if they didn’t get a raise last year.
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SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The budget legislation prohibits the use of state dollars to settle sexual harassment claims against elected officials or state employees and bars agencies from using their funds to pursue non-disclosure agreements in settling claims.
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GUNS, SCHOOL SAFETY
Following the deadly Valentine’s Day mass shooting at a high school in Florida, legislators included $5 million in the budget for grants to local districts to upgrade security. The state also will launch a $10 million pilot program for improving mental health services for students.
Legislators largely stayed away from gun-control proposals, but it is now a felony under state law for fugitives or people convicted of domestic abuse within the past five years to possess a firearm. The new law is designed to spur prosecutions in state courts rather than leaving them to federal court.
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TRANSPARENCY
A measure heading to Colyer will require law enforcement agencies to make body camera footage available for viewing by the families of suspects killed or injured by officers within 20 days of receiving a request.
The state Department for Children and Families would be required to release basic information when a child in foster care dies under another measure.
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WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
A bill headed to Colyer would compensate Kansans who have been wrongly convicted of crimes. They would receive $65,000 for each year they served behind bars. Other benefits would include help with higher education tuition and state health care for roughly one year.
BEER TAPS, TAVERNS
Plans for a new restaurant in downtown Topeka just blocks from the Statehouse spurred lawmakers to approve a bill to legalize its potential selling point of self-serve beer taps. The same measure would allow taverns and bars to open at 6 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. and allow liquor stores to sell alcohol-laced candy.
YOUNG CANDIDATES
Kansas and Vermont have had no minimum age for serving as governor, and this year’s race for governor has attracted interest from multiple prospective underage candidates. Lawmakers approved a bill setting the minimum age at 25, starting next year.
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