Problems will be ‘dealt with’: New KHP leader addresses issues in agency
20 July 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is weighing in on the legal battle over gender markers in the state.
Kansas Capitol Bureau spoke with the governor during a ribbon cutting for a shooting range near Manhattan on Tuesday.
The governor was asked where she stands on the court fight over the use of sex listings on driver’s licenses, and whether she’s anticipating the feud going to the Supreme Court. Kelly said, right now, her focus is elsewhere.
“This is in the courts and that will get decided there… right now, I’m really focused on the ribbon cutting at the Fancy Creek shooting range, which adds to the repertoire of recreational opportunities that are available,” Kelly said.
The state’s Republican attorney general, Kris Kobach, argues that a law that took effect July 1 prohibits changes on birth certificates and driver’s licenses and requires the state to undo previous ones. He sued the head of the state Department of Motor Vehicles in Shawnee County District Court over the practice.
Judge Teresa L. Watson, who is presiding over the case, issued a temporary order to prevent the state agency from changing sex listings on driver’s licenses, ahead of the first hearing.
In the order, arguments for law enforcement’s ability to identify license holders are cited. The order states that “allowing Respondents to issue non-compliant driver’s licenses pending a court hearing is an immediate and irreparable injury that supports the grant of a temporary restraining order on the terms requested by the Attorney General.”
Kobach is also challenging a 2019 federal court settlement that requires the state to change gender markers on birth certificates.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled Tuesday that Kelly’s office can defend her administration’s policy of changing birth certificates and accepted its “friend of the court” arguments.