Are you ready for the 2025 Kansas Legislative Session?

BRRRR...HERE WE GO!

2025 Kansas Legislative Session Preview with Chuck Weber

The beginning of the 2025 Kansas Legislative Session is a little like a polar plunge. 

The anticipation can be agonizing. Preparation is critical. The initial impact--especially for new legislators or those unfamiliar with the process--can be shocking and unpredictable. 

Why should Kansas Catholics and other citizens care about what happens during the Legislative Session that begins tomorrow, Monday, January 13th?  

At the conclusion of Mass, Father will often end with this challenge: "Go, glorifying the Lord with your lives." Engaging in public policy is one way we can evangelize the culture and spread the love of the Gospel.  More specifically, our mission can be summarized with this. 

"It is the role of the state (government) to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens..."(Catholic Catechism: 1910).   

Promoting Catholic Teaching on the Common Good is also the mission of the Kansas Catholic Conference (KCC). We are the official voice of the Catholic Bishops of Kansas pertaining to public policy.  KCC legislative priorities are:

1. The protection of preborn human life and expectant mothers from the abortion industry.
2. The defense of the family from the evils of our culture, including the distortion of the human person by the so-called "LGBTQ+ agenda."
3. The preservation of Religious Liberties. 

Beyond these non-negotiable priorities, the KCC advocates for a number of issues and policies that we invite you to read about here: KansasCatholic.org/issues we follow

We will be doing our best to keep you updated and informed about what's happening in the 2025 Kansas legislature through newsletters like this one, as well as through our newly designed website KansasCatholic.org 

WE NEED YOU TO SUCCEED! 

Our Policy Specialist Lucrecia Nold and myself will be at the Kansas Capitol virtually every day, talking to legislators and advocating for (and sometimes against) certain policies being considered by the Legislature. Please check our website KansasCatholic.org and Facebook page: KCC Facebook page for timely updates.  Throughout the legislative session, we will be calling upon you to reach out to your State Senator or State Representative, asking them to consider support (or opposition) on certain bills and policies.  

WE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH. We need your voice.  Legislators want to hear from the people they represent. We will add our voice to yours, and together we can succeed in helping create a Culture of Life for not just Catholics, but all people.  Find out who represents you by clicking on the link and follow the prompts: Who represents me in Topeka and Washington, D.C.?  After you click, you'll begin here by entering your zip code: 

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS SESSION? 

When the dust settled on the 2024 November elections, Republicans held and even expanded their super majorities in both the Senate and House.  Here is our post-election analysis: Kansas 2024 election analysis from Chuck Weber  This means that at least theoretically, if Republicans "stick together," they can override vetoes from Governor Kelly on bills they pass.  

The mainstream media has been issuing caution signs through their network of liberal/progressive columnists, as well as in their reporting, that Republicans should not go "too far right" with their enhanced political power. This headline from the Topeka Capitol Journal is one of many examples.

from Topeka Capitol Journal, Sunday, January 12, 2024

The question, of course, is: "what is 'too far' to the right?" 

One of the 2025 legislative priorities for the Kansas Catholic Conference is passage of the Do No Harm bill.  This bill, if it becomes law, would eliminate surgical and chemical "gender transitions" on CHILDREN in Kansas. We do not believe that protecting children from these insidious procedures is "too far right."  In fact, we believe this safeguard is well within the mainstream of Kansas thinking.  This article outlines the legal amid medical ramifications of these outrageous procedures that hurt children and fatten the wallets of "transition" providers: The horrors of so called gender transition

The KCC will also be pressing forward with support for Pregnancy Resource Centers and Maternity Homes in Kansas. As you are all too well aware, abortions in Kansas are skyrocketing after the defeat of the Value Them Both amendment in 2022. Here is an article with comments from our own Lucrecia Nold that helps lay out the situation: Helping Moms in difficult pregnancies bring their babies into the world. 

These are two quick samples of legislation we will be advocating on behalf of during the Kansas legislative session.  Follow our website and Facebook page for more developments. 

SAVE THE DATES

January 28 and 29 will be especially busy days for the KCC.  

The annual Red Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, January 28 at St. Joseph's catholic Church in Topeka at noon.  All are invited. 

That same day, the annual School Choice Rally will be held at the Capitol, starting about 11:30 a.m. on the South steps of the Statehouse. 

Then please join us the next day, Wednesday, January 29 for the Ignite Mass & Rally/March for Life at the Topeka Performing Arts Center (TPAC), followed by the Kansas March For Life to the Statehouse. https://archkck.org/prolife/activities/ksmass-marchforlife/

Drop us an email and let us know what is on your mind. 

Until next time, we persevere!

Chuck Weber

Kansas Catholic Conference

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