Volume 44 - Issue 18 - May 1, 2025

State of Kansas

Office of the Governor

Message from the Governor Regarding Senate Bill 14

Kansas entered statehood on January 29, 1861. Since that time, every single Legislature has managed to pass a budget that became law. In fact, technically speaking, it’s the Legislature’s only constitutionally required job.

If this Legislature cannot do what every previous legislature has been able to do since our founding—through periods of war, famine, pandemic, recession, the Dust Bowl, and even the Great Depression—then they will have to do it over my veto because I will not sanction it, nor will the people of Kansas.

This bill is the latest attempt at legislative overreach into the executive branch and is really nothing more than an invitation to government dysfunction—just like we see in Washington, D.C. Is that what we want for Kansas?

I am confident that this Legislature will be able to continue the tradition of completing their constitutionally mandated duties, within the constitutionally mandated timeframe just as every one of their predecessors has been able to do.

Therefore, under Article 2, Section 14(a) of the Constitution, I hereby veto Senate Bill 14.

Dated March 26, 2025.

Laura Kelly
Governor

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