Water policy matters in Kansas received a boost Thursday when Governor Laura Kelly signed a bipartisan bill to increase funding for the State Water Plan.
The governor’s signature of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2302 means the state is setting aside $35 million to protect water resources. The breakdown includes $8 million directly for the State Water Plan, another $18 million for water resources and $17 million total for grants bolstering water-related infrastructure projects.
In related matters, the governor also signed House Bill 2279, requiring the state’s Groundwater management Districts to submit annual reports to lawmakers and updated conservation and/or stabilization plans to the Kansas Department of Agriculture.
That signature was overshadowed by the governor issuing several vetoes, including Republican-pushed legislation designed to stop gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youths; another defining biological sex in areas like domestic violence centers, restrooms and locker rooms; and a third forcing separate accommodations for students of each biological sex during school-sponsored overnight trips. Earlier this week, the governor also vetoed separate bills, one that would require doctors to tell women drug-induced abortions can be reversed and another that would end the current three-day grace period for advance election ballots to come back to county clerks and thus be counted in the election cycle.
