Kansas lawmakers 'put lipstick on a pig,' governor says of new welfare law
A new state law that reorganizes existing law without changing policy was criticized by the governor as she declined to sign it.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced March 31 that she allowed House Bill 2027 to become law without her signature. It reorganizes state statutes on public assistance, including eligibility requirements for cash aid, food assistance, child care subsidies and medical benefits.
"The HOPE Act was wrong then, and it remains wrong now," Kelly said in a statement. "Legislators are only trying to put lipstick on a pig, and I refuse to associate myself with the HOPE Act.
"Now, more than ever, the Legislature should look for ways to support working Kansas families rather than further shredding the safety net that gives Kansans a bridge back to self-sufficiency."
The HOPE Act was passed by the 2015 Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback. It codified welfare reforms made by the Brownback administration intended to move families off public assistance and into the workforce. Brownback said at the time that often government "poverty programs fail the poor." He said the reforms would break "cycles of dependency."
Kelly, who at the time was a senator from Topeka, voted against the 2015 bill. Now a decade later, in her statement on the 2025 reorganization, Kelly described it as "the so-called HOPE Act" that "severely restricting Kansans' ability to access social service programs like SNAP food assistance, TANF cash assistance, and childcare assistance."
A memo from legislative staff said the reorganization in HB 2027 covers language related to the following:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Family, or TANF.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps.
The child care subsidy program.
Fraud investigations.
Requirements related to drug screening and convictions.
KanCare, the state Medicaid program.
The 24-page bill passed the Republican-led House and Senate with supermajority support divided largely along party lines, but received relatively little debate in the Legislature.
Rep. Francis Awerkamp, R-St. Marys, explained Feb. 11 on the House floor why he had introduced the bill in the welfare reform committee, which he chairs.
"Our current statute is a little bit of a mess, and it's hard to follow; it's hard to read through and understand," Awerkamp said.
He said he asked legislative staff to take on a "summer project of reorganizing that statute in a way which they thought would make the most sense." That effort culminated in HB 2027, which Awerkamp said makes no policy changes.
Awerkamp praised past policy changes as ensuring the programs "help people in their time of need, and also help them out of the welfare state."
"Though it doesn't change any policy, there's a lot of policy in here that I've disagreed with," said Rep. Jarrod Ousley, D-Merriam and the top Democrat on the welfare reform committee. "A lot of it I would like to see repealed."
Rep. Ford Carr, D-Wichita, attempted to amend the bill to change some of the policy. His amendment was intended to ensure no one is denied food assistance solely due to a prior felony drug conviction.
The Republican-led rules committee deemed the amendment was not germane. While Carr argued that it should have been germane because the subject of the bill was welfare reform, Rep. Susan Humphries, R-Wichita, said the subject was actually "reorganization."
House Democrats also used a different proposed amendment as an opportunity to debate Medicaid expansion.
In the Senate, floor debate on the bill lasted about three minutes.
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas governor says lawmakers put lipstick on a pig with welfare law
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