Governor Laura Kelly responded strongly to recent political moves made by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Republican legislative leaders earlier Wednesday.
Before the Governor’s scheduled daily press conference Wednesday afternoon, it was announced the Legislative Coordinating Council chose to overturn the Governor’s executive order from Tuesday limiting church and funeral gatherings to 10 people maximum. The 5-2 party-line vote now returns state policy to the governor’s previous stay-home order from March, which allows for religious gatherings as long as social distancing guidelines were followed.
Earlier Wednesday, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued a memorandum which discouraged law enforcement from enforcing the Governor’s order as a violation of law. In the memorandum, Schmidt says, “In our view, Kansas statute and the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights each forbid the governor from criminalizing participation in worship gatherings by executive order.”
Governor Kelly would respond to the memorandum calling it a “overtly political attack” and adding that the memorandum has “no legal authority whatsoever.”
Governor Kelly would go onto to state that she has appreciated the recent bipartisan work that has been done at the state level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Kelly continued stating she was hopeful Attorney General Schmidt and Republican legislative leaders would continue to work with her administration in a “collaborative, non-political way.”
The recent actions come as Kansas’ positive coronavirus numbers now stand at 1,046 with 38 confirmed deaths. Governor Kelly says there are “real-life consequences to the partisan games Republican leaders are playing.”
Governor Kelly will continue her daily news briefings Thursday afternoon. KVOE will continue to broadcast the briefing on KVOE 1400 am and 96.9 fm.
3 pm Wednesday: CORONAVIRUS: Legislative Coordinating Council blocks governor’s latest executive order limiting people at church functions, funerals
Governor Laura Kelly’s latest executive order is apparently not taking place after all.
The Legislative Coordinating Council, which reviews all executive orders, has overturned the governor’s executive order limiting church and funeral gatherings to 10 people maximum. The 5-2 party-line vote now returns state policy to the governor’s stay-home order from last month, which allows for religious gatherings as long as social distancing guidelines were followed. Three was no official restriction on the number of people who could attend a church function or funeral.
The executive order was supposed to start at noon. The council’s decision followed guidance from Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who said the order was sound public health advice but likely a constitutional violation and thus could not be administered by law enforcement.
