Don’t get your hopes up: Kansas Legislature’s session drags on, squeezing blood from stones

Posted March 23, 2026

Sen. Joe Claeys, R-Wichita, reclines at his desk on the Senate floor during the 2026 session.

Sen. Joe Claeys, R-Wichita, reclines at his desk on the Senate floor during the 2026 session. (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)

In case you didn’t notice, my column last week suggested that the Kansas Legislature planned to wrap up its business by March 20.

Statehouse scraps

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone’s weekly roundup of Kansas legislative exploits. Read the archive.

That may have been the plan, but reality intruded. Senators and representatives will be back on the job today, with the goal of finishing the main part of the session this week instead. That’s if they manage to overcome House Speaker Dan Hawkins’ latest temper tantrum. Count us lucky, I suppose.

The delay gives our elected officials a bit more time to chew over proposals from this session. Yet leadership has still pressed both chambers to churn through bills without sufficient oversight. Here at Kansas Reflector, our reporters were posting six to eight stories each day, with even more news happening on the sidelines.

“This is no way to run a Statehouse,” I wrote this past Monday. An extra week doesn’t erase that basic truth — or the inconvenient math.

(Kansas Reflector video)

 

Called out on the floor

Turnabout is fair play in life and politics, which are basically the same thing except that one occasionally involves pleasure.

Therefore Sen. Joe Claeys was justified in poking fun at your Statehouse Scraps scribe on Thursday. The senator had perplexingly singled out fellow Kansans who enjoyed basic foodstuffs on March 4, saying on the floor: “I think the wine-and-cheese crowd can afford to buy their own art, and they can afford to donate to public broadcasting.”

I pointed out that wine and cheese, far from being indicators of snobbery as suggested, were actually quite affordable, and did some accompanying math. Claeys apparently read that column and addressed it on the floor.

“I did lovingly refer to a constituency as the wine-and-cheese crowd,” Claeys said during a discussion on a new type of specialized license plate. “The Kansas Reflector has helpfully informed me that the wine and cheese are, in fact, delicious and cheap. But I would like to comment, just say, that if you’re drinking $17 wine, I think that you might be larping.”

For those who might not be up on the latest lingo, “LARP” stands for “live action role-play,” a hobby in which folks wear costumes to battle or otherwise experience a fantasy world. The derivative term “larping” suggests that someone is similarly play acting in the real world.

With all that explanation out of the way: OK, then. I happen to think a lot more people drink $17 wine (and far cheaper varieties) than whatever Claeys believes appropriate.

This all underscores my original point. Public broadcasting, arts and culture aren’t some kind of luxury for the well-heeled. Creating a false culture war issue leaves Kansas poorer. Everyone deserves access to quality information and soul-stirring expression. Even those of us who can only afford mid-priced wine.

 

Kansas educators and their supporters gathered at the Legislature on Tuesday for a rally. Kansas educators and their supporters gathered at the Legislature on Tuesday for a rally. (Photo by Clay Wirestone / Kansas Reflector)

Education rally

I glimpsed a momental force of Kansas politics this week. That was the Kansas NEA’s Lucky to Have Kansas Public Schools Rally, held in the second-floor Statehouse rotunda. An array of educational professionals and supporters turned out for stirring speeches and enthusiastic chants. (I spotted Democratic gubernatorial candidates Ethan Corson and Cindy Holscher amidst the crowd)

Despite years of propaganda by those who want to destroy public education for ideological and religious reasons, public schools enjoy broad and deep support from Kansans. According to the 2023 Kansas Speaks survey from the Docking Institute at Fort Hays State University, “74.6% of respondents felt comfortable supporting K-12 public schools with their tax dollars.”

Talk about an overwhelming endorsement.

This support means more than numbers on a page or screen. It means that cuts to K-12 schools — which have already been floated this session as a way to avoid self-inflicted financial ruin — will face prodigious pushback.

For those of us who remember the galvanizing effects of former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax “experiment,” none of this should come as a surprise. But memories run short in Topeka, especially when business fat cats could grow chonky and sleek from delicious government handouts.

 

Kansas Reflector staff, from left, Anna Kaminski, Clay Wirestone, Sherman Smith, Morgan Chilson and Tim Carpenter. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

ICYMI

How busy was Kansas Reflector this past week? Take a look at this list of the week’s stories I assembled for our Sunday newsletter.

Those 14 pieces represent a fraction of our news and opinion coverage. To keep track of everything, please subscribe to our daily newsletter at kansasreflector.com/subscribe. We’ll see you each and every morning at 4 a.m.!

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

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