Kansas House overrides governor’s veto of ‘bathroom bill’ on Wednesday
The Kansas House of Representatives voted 87-37 on Wednesday to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would limit bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings to biological genders.
The House vote on Wednesday followed the Senate’s vote on Tuesday to override Kelly’s veto of SB 244, which is commonly known as the “bathroom bill.”
It drew sharp criticism from democratic lawmakers in the House Wednesday.
“We are watching actual rapists and perverts at the national level and there are far more of those assaults by cis gender men and women, billionaires and the political elites than all trans people combined,” said Rep. Alexis Simmons, (D) Topeka.
“But more insidiously, it is yet another way of policing women and our bodies in the absence of men and masculinity being subjected to the same scrutiny,” said Rep. Abi Boatman, (D) Wichita.
Republican proponents of the bill said it protects women and girls.
“Our young women deserve to be able to have restrooms. And locker rooms where they can undress without men in the room,” said Rep. Carolyn Caiharr, (R) Bonner Springs. “When women are in such a vulnerable state, they deserve privacy. This bill protects girls and women, the ones feminists used to claim to stand for.”
Kelly vetoed the bill on Friday, calling the legislation “poorly drafted” and suggesting it would have negative effects.
Shortly after the House vote was taken on Wednesday, Kelly issued the following statement in a news release:
“As I said in my veto statement, this is a poorly drafted bill with significant, far-reaching consequences.
“Not only will this bill keep brothers from visiting sisters’ dorms and husbands from wives’ shared hospital rooms, it will cost Kansas taxpayers millions of dollars to comply with this very vague legislation.
“It is nothing short of ridiculous that the Legislature is forcing the entire state, every city and town, every school district, every public university to spend taxpayer money on a manufactured problem. Kansans elected them to focus on education, job creation, housing, and grocery costs.”
In overriding the governor’s veto on Tuesday, the Senate bill would require a driver’s license and birth certificate to reflect a person’s biological gender at birth.
Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, released a statement after Tuesday’s override of Kelly’s veto of SB 244.
In his statement on Tuesday, Masterson said, “Today the Kansas Senate restored sanity and overrode Laura Kelly’s dangerous veto of SB 244 that would have forced our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters to share their bathrooms with biological men in government buildings. Kansas Democrats are for They/Them. I will continue to fight for you, and protect women and girls across our state.”Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, denounced the Senate’s override, suggesting it was “rushed through the legislative process and is dangerously broad.”