Republican lawmakers in Kansas have cut income taxes, lowered the age for carrying a concealed gun and tightened state election laws by overriding Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of those measures.
A series of votes Monday in the GOP-controlled Legislature demonstrated that its Republican supermajorities can control policy if they hold together. The tax measure will provide $284 million in relief over three years. The gun legislation will allow 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds to carry concealed firearms. The elections bill will make it harder for people to collect absentee ballots from voters and deliver them to election officials. This will limit the amount of ballots a person can carry and deliver to 10.
Republicans also overrode Kelly’s veto of a bill expanding the number of specialty license plates available to drivers willing to pay an extra fee. The votes were 86-37 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate. This will allow drivers to purchase Gadsden flag vanity plates.
