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 Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, who represents Kansas House District 19, covering portions of Leawood, Overland Park and Prairie Village.
The Post has also extended offers to Republican Sen. Mike Thompson and Republican Rep. Lauren Bohi to submit Capitol Updates this week, as well.
The views expressed in each Capitol Update are solely those of the lawmaker.
As we deal with the seemingly constant barrage of news from the federal government, it can be difficult to focus on anything else.
It has been easier for me than for most because the legislative session in Kansas has been so fraught with action, including the work that is most important to me, which is bipartisan tax relief, especially as many of us are getting hit with higher property valuations and wondering how to pay our bills. I urge you all to take a look at a House property tax plan, HCR 5011, which was voted out of committee last week and which I was proud to support.
As an elected official who serves you at the state level, there are policies I support that will help ease some of the changes at the federal level. I continue to keep economic issues at the top of my priority list and have proudly sponsored a bipartisan bill that will eliminate the state sales tax on all prepared food, not just groceries.
I am also the chief sponsor of a bill that raises the tipped wage from $2.13 an hour to $6.15, so Kansas businesses will be able to compete with Missouri businesses, thus building our local economy.
I am always proud to stand strong against destructive vouchers and tax credits that harm our public schools. And I am concerned with some of the legislation that has passed at the state level, most notably a bill that targets families of trans children, and I’m keeping a watch on the bizarre inclination toward deregulating businesses seemingly just for the sake of deregulation.
One of the most beautiful things about our democracy is that it is a tight web of checks and balances that is very difficult to unravel. This is especially true in Kansas, which serves as a perfect example of the fact that democracy is holding, exactly as it was designed to do.
Kansas has a conservative legislature, a Democratic governor and a neutral judiciary. When I spoke to students at Shawnee Mission South High School last Friday, one of their questions was, “What do you think that Kansas gets right?”
I answered our Supreme Court system — unlike the highly politicized lifetime appointments at the federal level — Kansas has an apolitical judicial selection system that has given us a court that sometimes makes rulings with which I am very pleased, and sometimes deeply disappoints me. Which is exactly as it should be.
Although there are some legislators who are attempting to politicize the courts through a potential change to our constitution, I have faith in Kansas voters to oppose these changes and keep our courts impartial.
I have had many opportunities to be proud of my state, but what makes me the most proud about Kansas is that this is a state where democracy holds, and will continue to hold, because we follow the will of the people, know how to work with others whose views differ from our own and know when to stick to the economy and keep our political opinions out of areas where they do not belong.
I work for you! You can follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @sscjocoks, email me at stephanie.clayton@house.ks.gov, or call me at 913-205-4970.
