Kansas House Representative Ron Highland says the state has done a good job so far responding to guidelines from health officials related to coronavirus.
The 51st District Republican Representative from Wamego was critical of Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order which mandated churches to comply with the 10-person gathering minimum ahead of Easter – traditionally the most well-attended church day of the year.
“We have a constitution both the U.S. and state where those rights are protected and always have been,” he said.
Highland says the executive order was not necessary to mandate since most congregations are taking the steps to self-regulate gatherings. He says the churches in his district have all been complying with health officials’ recommendations.
The governor’s order was rescinded 5-2 on a party-line vote by the Legislative Coordinating Council Thursday. Gov. Kelly has since appealed to the Supreme Court. Highland says the LCC, which has no ability to pass laws, is there to check the governor’s powers.
“What we did as a legislature, we authorized the LCC as our leadership representatives to among themselves keep an eye on what the governor is doing during this emergency which has been declared,” he said.
Highland says he anticipates the governor’s stay-at-home order, which expires April 19 will be extended but says it will depend on advice from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Because that extension could linger into May, it’s unclear, if and when the legislature will reconvene.
Highland also says at this point, he’s not prepared to support any legislation that would change the election process to all mail-in balloting.
“I think it’s just a bit too early for that. I’m not a big fan of mail in, I think you should be present to vote. But if the peak has not been reached, then that is something we will have to consider, most definitely,” he said.
The longer the pandemic goes, the more difficult it becomes for those running in the elections to be able to campaign.
“Incumbents obviously have the upper hand because of name recognition. I don’t believe if you knock on doors they’re going to let you in number one and they may just shout at the door for you to go away. It’s going to be difficult,” he said.
As for when revenues will bounce back, Highland says that too remains uncertain. Questions remain from how businesses survive the downturn to how the agriculture sector recovers from a lagging global market.
“We have in my view a situation that is dire and I would predict that the legislature may be called back later this year to deal with this situation because the money is not going to be there and what it will take to get through all of this will require legislative and executive heavy workload to lift us out of this,” he said.
Highland gave high marks to the Department of Commerce and Department of Labor, both of which have been flooded with calls for assistance since the pandemic began almost a month ago. He says in time, people will get the assistance they need, but that it was unclear how long that might take.
Rep. Highland appeared on KMAN during the 8 a.m. hour Friday as part of our continuing Friday legislative call in series. The full interview is available below.
