Each week during the 2025 Kansas legislative session, we will provide Johnson County lawmakers the opportunity to share their thoughts about what is happening in the state capitol.
Below is a submission from Democratic Sen. Dinah Sykes, who represents Kansas Senate District 21, covering parts of Lenexa, Merriam, Overland Park and Shawnee.
Republican Rep. Chris Croft of Overland Park and Democratic Rep. Heather Meyer of Overland Park have also both been offered opportunities to submit their own columns later this week.
The views expressed in each Capitol Update are solely those of the lawmaker.
Kansans are fiercely proud of our long history of strong public schools, tradition of caring for neighbors, making wise decisions and standing for freedom.
The past few weeks in the legislature stand in stark contrast to that tradition.
Instead of leaning into our heritage, the Republican supermajority chases culture wars, doles out special interest handouts and undermines the structural stability of the budget. I wish I could tell you the legislature was pursuing policies promoting connectedness.
Despite those challenges, my Democratic colleagues and I continue to listen to Kansans and we want to work on the issues most important to them.
Lowering costs
Too many hardworking Kansans are struggling to keep up financially with the rising costs of housing, food, gas, child care and health care.
The supermajority’s first bill that “helped” included exempting private airplanes and helicopters from property taxes. Does that make sense to you? Me neither.
We need meaningful reform that addresses the needs of Kansans. That kind of reform requires careful thinking but includes increasing access to affordable childcare, expanding Medicaid, lowering property taxes for working families and making housing more affordable without impacting the ability to deliver the services our state needs.
Supporting Kansas’s public schools
Kansans have counted on great public schools to educate our kids and be the heart of communities.
I know why I ended up in Johnson County, and my two sons benefited from our great schools and the educators who teach and love our kids. I ran for office because I saw what budget instability did to my kids’ school.
Year after year, the supermajority introduces voucher schemes that send public taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.
Let me be clear: public dollars belong in public schools, with the vast majority of Kansas kids who attend them.
Workers’ rights
Kansans work hard from dawn to dusk to provide a good future, but too often that hard work benefits shareholders and corporations leaving workers and their families behind.
This session, we can help hardworking families get ahead by repealing the right to work that undermines collective bargaining, expanding paid family leave, raising the minimum wage and strengthening child labor law protections.
My ask for you
With national politics seemingly on a bullet train to chaos, I understand why we all have to be careful about how much time we give to the news.
While there may not be much we can do about the national scene, we can impact what happens at the state level.
Engage locally — what happens here impacts you, your families and your neighbors.
Join with me in the hard work of making Kansas an amazing place to live, raise a family, and chase our dreams.
