After George Floyd's Murder, A Racial Equity Panel Proposed Changes. The Kansas Legislature Ignored Them.

By Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

April 22, 2021

TOPEKA — Speaking on the Senate floor earlier this month, Sen. Oletha Faust Goudeau talked about the inequities she has experienced daily at the Legislature — from being denied boxed lunches because she didn’t “look” like a senator to seeing her bills go nowhere.

Many efforts she initiated that would help level the playing field for people of color in her district and across the state have been disregarded or buried, the Wichita Democrat told colleagues.

“It’s constant work and struggles, and I don’t ever see the results of it. It’s draining emotionally to see people suffer,” Faust Goudeau said.

Faust Goudeau’s frustration over difficulty passing legislation that would aid minority communities in Kansas is evident in the inaction this session on recommendations from the Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The panel issued more than 30 suggestions in its December report for state legislators to consider, but none has received meaningful consideration.

The initial report following 26 community learning sessions and 11 commission meetings listed 60 recommendations related to criminal justice reform for the executive branch and administrative agencies, the state Legislature and local governments.

One of the most noteworthy recommendations is that the state ban officers from entering a home without announcing their presence. The recommendation echoes growing demands to ban “no-knock” search warrants after Breonna Taylor was killed when police forced their way into her Kentucky home in March.

States like Oregon, Florida and Virginia already have instituted such bans.

Activists argue no-knock warrants increase the likelihood of excessive force against minorities, but legislators have been cautious to commit to “taking a tool out of the toolbox” for police, the Associated Press reported.

Another recommendation urged legislators to prevent any officer fired for “egregious offenses” from being rehired at a different law enforcement agency.

Five bills that addressed these recommendations have stalled in committee. Chairmen and chairwomen of committees overseeing these bills said a rewrite of the state’s emergency and other criminal justice bills took priority in a busy session, The Associated Press reported.

A bill introduced by Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, that would require police to collect race data from traffic stops did not receive a hearing in committee.

Shannon Portillo, a co-chair of the governor’s commission and Douglas County Commissioner, said she would have liked to see more reforms make their way into approved legislation but that the commission is looking beyond this year. Portillo said she was optimistic that efforts to work with legislators on these reforms would be more fruitful in the future.

The commission began work in January on a 2021 report focused on the social factors, including economics and education, that can lead to racial inequities in health care in Kansas.

A midyear report in July and a final report in December will be sent to the governor recapping work and recommendations.

“Individuals and communities across Kansas have made clear that racial equity and justice are important to them,” Portillo said. “I am excited that a number of local governments have taken up our recommendations as have state agencies. As we continue with our work … I am sure this interest will grow, and we’ll continue to move forward together.”

This story was originally published by Kansas Reflector For more stories from the Kansas Reflector visit Kansas Reflector.