Laura Kelly (Kansas)

Economy
After years of Governor Sam Brownback’s self-inflicted economic recession, Laura Kelly believes we need a new approach to jumpstart job growth in a rapidly changing economy.

Laura has long supported traditional engines that drive prosperity: public schools, job training, and infrastructure, but she also believes Kansas leaders must think more like entrepreneurs and less like politicians. We must innovate and make creative, strategic investments that plan for the jobs of the future.

Invest in Our Workforce
Laura Kelly has a vision of education that spans from early childhood to K-12 to college to the workforce. Business owners understand that great schools – and early learning and job training programs – are the key to a bright future and growing economy.

Laura will invest in higher education, including technical and trade schools, and job training programs so that all graduates in Kansas have the skills needed to enter the workforce. She will focus on promoting partnerships to ensure businesses can find the trained workers they need in their industry and schools (high schools and technical schools) are providing the skills training needed by our business community. That means investing in high school technical programs, community college certification programs, and college and university tuition relief.

Innovative Business Destination
During the last eight years, the Kansas economy has been stagnant and lagging behind many neighboring states.

Unfortunately, the Brownback-Colyer administration dismantled many cutting edge programs just to fill the fiscal hole they created. For example, the Kansas Bioscience Authority, which was designed to accelerate growth in the bioscience sector, was dismantled in order to pay for the disastrous tax cuts.

It is critical that Kansas look for new, creative ways to encourage growth in new industries. Laura will focus on making Kansas an innovative business destination and supporting new industries that leverage our state’s strengths to let us grow.

Infrastructure
In order to support and enhance the economic climate in Kansas, Laura Kelly will prioritize investment in roads and other infrastructure needs. She will work with our local communities to make roads in urban areas the best they can be to support area businesses, expand 4-lane highways in rural areas, and improve the digital infrastructure in Kansas (including broadband)

Encourage Rural Growth
In the last decade, only 17 of the 105 Kansas counties have grown in population – widening the gap between urban areas and rural communities. Laura Kelly is determined to change this and encourage growth and development in our rural communities.

To do this, Laura Kelly will focus on several areas of investment: healthcare, infrastructure, tourism and community specific investment.

A Welcoming Kansas
The past eight years under the Brownback-Colyer administration have tarnished the image of Kansas, leading to large amounts of out migration from the state. Laura Kelly wants to make Kansas a place where young people and families want to work and live. We do this by welcoming diverse people to our state and investing in our schools, creating high paying jobs, and making Kansas a business destination.

Good Government
Restoring Public Confidence in Kansas government
Laura Kelly has fought to improve transparency and increase accountability throughout her time in the Kansas legislature. From the crafting of the Brownback tax experiment to the privatization of KanCare to the Department of Children and Families, Kelly has stood up to the Brownback-Colyer Administration and demanded accountability.

In a Kelly Administration, Governor’s Cabinet members and staff of the Governor’s Office will be required to sign an ethical code of conduct that ensures the highest standards of integrity within the administration. She will also advocate for a series of lobbyist reforms, increase transparency of legislative proceedings and lower the cost to access Kansas open records.

Reinstituting the Equal Protection for State Workers
One of Laura Kelly’s first acts as governor will be to reinstate the Equal Protection Clause, which was put in place by Governor Kathleen Sebelius, to protect LGBTQ+ civil servants from discrimination. These protections were eliminated by Sam Brownback. Reinstating this protection is essential to make sure all state workers receive fair and equal treatment.

Reversing the Adoption Discrimination Bill
This year, Jeff Colyer signed a bill allowing adoption organizations that discriminate against families based on sexual orientation, religion and other things.

This is an irresponsible, shameful bill that allows for discrimination. It ignores the needs of our most vulnerable children. As governor, Laura will work to reverse this law and eliminate discrimination of any kind in Kansas.

Healthcare
All Kansans, no matter where they live, deserve accessible, affordable health care that works for them and their needs.

Due to cuts made by the Brownback-Colyer Administration and their failure to expand Medicaid, rural hospitals and clinics are struggling and even closing. This is hurting our communities and putting Kansan’s health at risk.

As governor, Laura Kelly will make sure Kansas families can get the healthcare they need.

Expand Medicaid
More than 150,000 Kansans have been left without healthcare coverage due to Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer’s failure to expand Medicaid. Not only that, hospitals and clinics across the state are at risk of closing. We can do better.

Laura Kelly has consistently supported expanding Medicaid to provide health coverage to more Kansas families. She also knows that expanding Medicaid will provide significant impact on our state’s economy and create thousands of jobs in the process.

As governor, Laura Kelly will advocate for and sign legislation to expand Medicaid in her first year.

Reform KanCare
Jeff Colyer’s decision to privatize Kansas’ Medicaid program, Kancare, to for-profit insurance companies outside of Kansas has put the health of thousands of Kansans at risk.

Laura Kelly will reform KanCare and ensure that our healthcare system is putting people, not profit, first. She will work with state agencies, community health groups and insurance companies to find the best plan to meet the needs of Kansans, and provide increased oversight and accountability into KanCare.

Protect Women's Reproductive Rights
Laura Kelly is a strong supporter of a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and has been a vocal advocate for women’s rights. Laura also understands decisions that impact women’s lives – whether it’s healthcare, schools, childcare or jobs – shouldn’t just be made by a room full of men. That’s why her campaign for governor is endorsed by EMILY’s List – the nation’s largest resource for pro-choice women in politics.

As governor, Laura will make sure all Kansans have access to reproductive healthcare, including birth control.

Kansas Schools
Laura Kelly has a vision of education that spans from early childhood to K-12 to college to the workforce. Because every step along the way is important: a chance for Kansas to do right by our kids and their parents – or to let them down. And sadly, for the past seven years, Kansas has let them down.

It’s time to make our children – and their future – a top priority again. Parents, teachers and business owners get it. They know that great schools �� and early learning programs – are the key to a bright future and growing economy.

Laura Kelly will be the Education Governor Kansans deserve.

Invest Early
In order for every Kansas child to succeed, they need access to good public schools. But more than that, they need strong early childhood programs that support both children and families, an accountable child welfare system to protect kids, and affordable, safe child care. We must invest early and put kids on the right path.

One of Laura’s proudest accomplishment is securing critical support for early childhood education programs. In 2009, she pushed for the creation and funding of the Early Childhood Block Grants to ensure that more kids enter kindergarten ready to learn. These programs help kids develop at an early age and impact their families for the better. And just this year, Laura demanded additional funding be added to the budget to support early childhood programs across the state.

Recently, Laura visited the Pittsburg Family Resource Center. The Center utilizes funds from the Early Childhood Block Grants, the community, and families to provide comprehensive early childhood education. They help prepare young kids socially, emotionally and cognitively to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. Programs like this have a real impact on kids and families.

Teachers know better than anyone the impact early investment can have on kids going into kindergarten and the difference it can make in the years to come. When Laura Kelly is governor, Kansas will invest more in programs like this that benefit our children, improve our future work force, and prevent challenges later in life.

It’s really not rocket science: put kids on the right path at an early age – and keep them there. It’s how families succeed, it’s how our economy succeeds, and it’s how Kansas succeeds.

Because of Laura’s commitment and work on behalf of children, she recently received the 2018 Distinguished Service to Children Award and the Friend of Education Award.

Fund K-12 Schools
After growing up in a military family, Laura Kelly moved to Kansas for the promise of top-notch schools. And both her daughters got a world class education because of great schools and teachers. But in recent years, our schools have been put at risk.

Sam Brownback made the largest cut to Kansas schools in state history – resulting in larger class sizes, a shorter school week, and pay freezes for teachers. Laura Kelly fought back. She stood up for students, teachers and parents and worked to restore funding to our classrooms.

Laura helped lead the bipartisan effort to reverse the Brownback tax experiment and put Kansas on the road to recovery. She supported significant new investments in public schools to repair the damage done by Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer.

As governor, Laura Kelly will make our schools her top priority. Her vision for Kansas means our schools will have the resources to provide a great education to all our students – no matter where they live. Our kids will get all the support they need to learn and grow. And our teachers will finally get the respect and support they deserve.

Parents, teachers and business owners get it. They know that great schools – and early learning programs – are the key to a bright future and growing economy. Laura Kelly will be the Education Governor that Kansans deserve.

Support Technical, Higher Education
Laura Kelly has a vision of education that spans from early childhood to K-12 to college to the workforce. Because every step along the way is important: a chance for Kansas to do right by our kids and their parents – or to let them down. Technical education, job training, and higher education is a top priority for Laura.

Laura knows that there are many good paying jobs available that do not require a 4-year degree. She has been a strong supporter of job training and efforts to provide incentives to attend technical or trade schools. She will work to expand these opportunities as governor.

Due to cuts made by the Brownback-Colyer Administration, tuition has gone up at a faster rate. As a result, we are pricing students out of college. This year, Laura led the fight to restore funding to higher education. She will work with the Board of Regents to address the rise in tuition and provide relief for Kansas families.

Improve Student Mental Health
Laura Kelly’s lifelong mission has been to do right by kids. Right out of college, she went to work with troubled teens. Later, she worked with children struggling with mental health issues. And she has continued to be a champion for mental health ever since – especially when it comes to our children.

When cuts were made to public schools, psychologist and social workers were some of the first positions to be eliminated. That had a serious impact on students and their mental health. Laura knows that students must have access to quality mental health services in their schools.

Laura supports adding additional new psychologists and social workers to assist students. These positions are of the utmost importance. Laura recommends that these positions be hired by community mental health centers, safety net clinics, or other local behavioral health partners so that they are available year-round, even when school is not in session.

We must do more for our children – and mental health support is critical.

Public Safety
Passing common sense gun legislation
Whether in Lawrence, Kansas, or Parkland, Florida or anywhere else, our children shouldn’t be afraid to go to school. Parents shouldn’t fear dropping their kids off in the morning. And teachers shouldn’t feel threatened while in the classroom due to gun violence.

Laura Kelly has always been a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and believes Kansans have the right to purchase firearms to keep their families safe and hunt. But she also recognizes the need to take effective steps to keep our children and families safe. That’s why two years ago Laura Kelly voted to keep guns out of public hospitals, mental health centers and college campuses. She also voted for a bill that makes it illegal for anyone convicted of domestic violence to possess a gun.

Laura will work to implement common sense gun safeguards – like requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning bump stocks, and limiting access to the types of assault weapons that were designed for war. That’s why Moms Demand Action named her a Gun Sense Candidate this year. She will bring people together – law enforcement officials, school officials, mental health and public health experts, parents – to find common ground and meaningful solutions to this problem.

Funding Public Safety
Due to the Brownback experiment, funding to all areas of state government has been cut to the bone. That includes public safety. As a result, the Kansas Highway Patrol, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and local law enforcement agencies have suffered and the safety of Kansans has been put at risk.

Using her budget expertise, Laura Kelly will stabilize the state’s budget and invest in public safety again. This will allow the KBI to once again provide investigative support to small communities or the highway patrol to fill current jobs to keep Kansans safe on roads all across the state.

Rural Prosperity
Laura Kelly: A Vision for Rural Prosperity
All Kansans should have access to a high quality of life, regardless of their zip code. Yet for too long, rural Kansas has been left behind – the majority of rural counties losing population nonstop since 1920. Making a bad situation worse, the policies of the Brownback-Colyer Administration have devastated many rural communities. We have seen healthcare facilities close; industries relocate; schools close or go to 4-day weeks; infrastructure projects delayed; and kids leave for metropolitan areas.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can and must do better.

The Kelly Administration will ensure that all Kansans have the opportunity to live, work, and play in thriving communities, whether it’s in Oberlin or Overland Park, Leoti or Lawrence, Garden City or Kansas City.

Rural economic development is about creatively leveraging local resources to create a quality of life in rural Kansas that is second to none.

An interconnected, strategic plan for rural economic development will be a hallmark of the Kelly Administration. This plan includes:

• Developing Rural housing
• Revitalizing Main Street corridors
• Investing in Rural Infrastructure
• Supporting Rural Hospitals and Medical Professional Recruitment
• Making State Government Work for Rural Kansas
• Incentivizing Active Tourism
• Supporting Agribusiness

Housing
Access to quality housing is a necessity for all Kansans, but in too many rural communities an aging and deteriorating housing stock is the reality. A lack of quality housing – and the resulting loss of population – creates a ripple effect on schools, businesses, and local governments. The Kelly Administration will focus on improving rural housing:

• Provide tax credits to encourage the development of upper-floor housing in rural downtowns. Main streets aren’t just the emotional hearts of small communities; they’re also part of the solution to rural housing needs. By incentivizing the construction of upper floor apartments on commercial corridors, local investors can breathe new life into historic buildings while bringing vitality back to main street. These new residents living upstairs can, in turn, help support small-scale retail uses in ground floor spaces that too often sit vacant today.
• Work with community foundations. Community foundations are vital to providing local solutions to local problems. They can and should take a leading role in working with state government, industry leaders and others to make targeted housing investments that are tailored to the specific needs of local communities. This could include using impact investing to finance new/rehab housing; supporting local building trades programs in high schools; and making targeted grants to conduct housing needs assessments.
• Encourage colleges to develop housing in downtown areas. Thousands of rural Kansas community college and university students live in student housing on campus. The Kelly Administration will incentivize partnerships between higher ed, local governments and private developers to construct new student housing in downtown corridors, rather than on campus, just as Pittsburg State University and the city of Pittsburg have done with the “Block 22” project.
• Develop new programs for community-based organizations to educate first-time homebuyers on the importance of building equity through homeownership; methods and programs to support saving for down payments; and methods to improve credit scores.

Main Street
Historic downtowns are the heart and soul of Kansas communities. Yet across our state these once-bustling corridors have suffered from years of disinvestment caused by retirements, population loss, and changes in shopping patterns. More broadly, access to basic services—like being able to go to a grocery store—has been eroded across our state. The Kelly Administration believes that rural downtowns can be brought back to life through a focus on three key strategies:

• Provide incentives for capital investments of at least $20,000 in structures on commercial corridors in communities of 25,000 or less.
• Recruit artists to rural Kansas. The creative sector is a powerful economic driver that has revitalized countless struggling urban neighborhoods, where artists are attracted to large, inexpensive live/work spaces. Rural communities have an abundance of these same spaces, but there’s been no coordinated effort to package and market these opportunities to artists seeking the next place to create. The Kelly Administration will coordinate state resources with local partners and private developers to ensure that artists are connected to places where they can live, work and become part of the community fabric.
• Support Rural Grocery Stores. Access to healthy food at fair prices is essential to quality of life. Yet across Kansas rural grocery stores are closing. The Kelly Administration will work with local economic development officials; community foundations; the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University; statewide philanthropies; and grocery store operators to ensure that healthy food is within reach of all Kansans.

Rural Infrastructure
All Kansans deserve and expect a first-class transportation system—especially those in rural areas – and digital infrastructure. Years of disinvestment by the Brownback-Colyer Administration has done tremendous damage to our state’s roads, with often disastrous effects on rural communities.

Notably, most of rural Kansas is eliminated from competing for new industry because nearly all new manufacturing prospects seeking sites require access to 4-lane highways. Simply put, the deck is unfairly stacked against rural Kansas without major new investments in transportation. Not only that, a lack of good broadband access in rural areas limits the ability to attract or expand businesses and impacts the resources available to our schools.

The Kelly Administration will get rural Kansas moving again by passing a major, 10-year transportation plan that makes broad investments in highways across Kansas, particularly in rural areas. They will also make expanding and improving broadband access in rural areas a priority.

• 10-year transportation plan that expands four lane highways in rural areas. The following are a few examples of important projects that still need to be completed (there are more):
  • US 69 from Bourbon County line to Pittsburg
  • US 75 from Holton to Sabetha
  • US 50/400 from Dodge City to Cimarron
  • K68 from Ottawa to Louisburg
  • US 169 from Osawatomie to Coffeyville
  • US 56 from McPherson to Great Bend
  • US 54 from Pratt to Wichita
• Expand and Improve broadband access in rural communities. Working with the newly created Statewide Broadband Task Force to identify and address poor service areas. Improving broadband service will support businesses, enhance resources available to schools, and allow citizens to access telemedicine.

Strengthening Rural Hospitals
Every Kansan deserves access to quality healthcare, regardless of their zip code. Yet rural communities have suffered disproportionately under the Brownback-Colyer Administration’s refusal to expand Medicaid. The result has been hospital closures; nursing home closures; and huge uncompensated care burdens that fall on local taxpayers. The Kelly Administration will focus its rural healthcare efforts on:

• Strengthening Rural Hospitals by first expanding Medicaid, which is essential to the survival of rural hospitals and the communities they serve. It is also vital to expand the Community Service Tax Credits program to ensure that hospitals have the resources they need to purchase high quality medical equipment.
• Supporting Recruitment of Medical Providers. Western Kansas has shown that cooperation between communities in the recruitment of medical providers can improve both recruitment and retention rates. The Kelly Administration will help expand this promising model statewide by working with regions facing waves of retiring providers where one hospital or practice can’t support a new provider alone, but multiple communities that share that provider can.

Building a Mobile State Government
For generations, rural Kansans have been able to access core government services relatively close to home: renewing drivers’ licenses; applying for food benefits; even talking to a local KDOT official about snow removal on the highway. Brownback-Colyer cut Kansans off from THEIR state government by closing KDOT offices, DMV stations, and DCF offices across rural Kansas. These closures not only make life difficult for residents needing to access key government services, but they have devastated rural economies—and families—with unnecessary layoffs of dedicated public servants. The Kelly Administration will reconnect rural communities to their state government by:

• Restoring key government services in rural communities impacted by Brownback-Colyer cuts. Wherever possible the Kelly Administration will restore rural DCF and KDOT services in rural communities. If possible, they will re-open shuttered offices. If it is not possible, the Administration will focus on creating partnerships with local communities so staff from state agencies can hold regular office hours through office sharing or a mobile office approach to government services.
• Establishing the Office of Rural Prosperity (ORP). The severity of the challenges facing rural Kansas, and the magnitude of the opportunity in these communities, demands a major overhaul of the way state government serves rural areas. The ORP would be charged with ensuring that investments by state agencies are aligned with the needs of rural communities; marketing and promoting rural Kansas as a place to live, work and visit; and developing ongoing policy priorities to ensure that rural Kansans are served by their state government.

Manufacturing
Rural Kansans are legendary for their work ethic, ingenuity and ability to solve problems, which is why scores of manufacturers still call rural Kansas home. But their continued presence is threatened by a lack of access to young people with the skills needed in today’s economy, and Brownback-Colyer’s dismantling of the Kansas Department of Commerce, which has left the agency and its local economic development partners with almost no tools to recruit or retain manufacturers. The Kelly Administration will put a laser-like focus on growing the manufacturing sector in rural Kansas by:

• Building a highly skilled labor pool.We must invest in career and technical education that leverages creative partnerships between employers, USDs and higher education to grow and retain talented young people interested in manufacturing.
• Facilitating Retention and Recruitment Efforts. Encouraging expansion and capital investment by manufacturers is vitally important, and it requires smart tools if we are to be successful in a highly competitive national and international recruitment environment. The Kelly Administration will focus on renewal and rebuilding of the state’s economic development tools and expertise in order to grow advanced manufacturing in Kansas. These new tools will be available to both existing and new manufacturers and the creation of the tools will be informed by a strong public/private partnership.

Active Tourism
Kansas has unrivaled natural beauty. Rural Kansans are in closest contact with this beauty and stand to benefit most from a coordinated effort to market the state to tourists seeking hunting, fishing, cycling, hiking and agri-tourism opportunities – as well as unique shopping, dining and lodging experiences – in our state’s small towns. The Kelly Administration is committed to supporting Active Tourism efforts including:

• Supporting new investments in overnight lodging in designated rural areas including hotels, inns, cabins, Airbnbs, and bed and breakfasts;
• Supporting new investments by businesses providing services to tourists including outfitters; bike rental and repair; wineries and breweries; shuttle services; conference facilities; and farm stands.
• Prioritizing state investments in the Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism to enhance community linkages to the state’s natural assets, including lakes and trails.

Agribusiness
Agriculture is the lifeblood of our state, and is central to our identity as Kansans. The Kelly Administration will focus intently on ensuring that the state’s immediate and long-term agricultural needs are addressed:

• Water. The 2015 Long Term Vision for the Future of the Water Supply in Kansas laid out a comprehensive and thoughtful approach to managing our state’s most precious and vital natural resource. Unfortunately, most of the Vision’s recommendations have not been implemented. The Kelly Administration will develop a plan to prioritize funding for key elements of the Vision in partnership with local and regional partners. This will include not only a focus on water quantity, but also on ensuring that emerging issues of water quality are being addressed.
• Corporate Farming. Kansas needlessly got a black eye from the Brownback-Colyer fiasco in Tonganoxie, where a lack of transparency and preparation left residents angry, Tyson angry, and our state losing a massive investment. We can do better, by acknowledging that corporate farming is an important part of our agricultural sector and that our state needs reasonable regulations to balance the interests of communities and corporate farms. Corporate interests and local communities need predictability and clarity around whether residents will support both corporate farms and stand-alone processing operations, and whether these communities have the infrastructure and growers required to support these operations. The Kelly Administration will direct state agencies to be meaningful partners in working with local communities seeking corporate farming and/or processing operations to evaluate their readiness—water and wastewater infrastructure, housing, schools—so that communities are prepared to compete successfully for corporate farms, and so corporate interests have predictability and know what they’re getting when they select a community.
• Supporting Local Producers. Farmers growing produce for sale to their communities should have easy access to local markets, as well support in expanding the size and scale of their operations to meet the needs of larger-scale buyers. The Kelly Administration will work to eliminate red tape keeping local producers from selling at farmers’ markets, as well as eliminating barriers to selling to local school districts, nursing homes and supermarkets.^[6]