ISSUE 01
Property Tax Caps
Greater Affordability for Homeowners
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes (D – Lenexa) recently used a balloon analogy to make the point that if you cap property taxes, the pressure to tax just moves somewhere else. She’s right.
This is why we need to move on more than just property tax caps to make our communities more affordable.
Look, we all want to see our communities grow, but the doubling of property taxes on an average home in Johnson County in ten years is too much. Since local governments can’t (or won’t) show the needed restraint, taxpayers must do it for them. Unfortunately, two legislative sessions have delivered no results.
A Republican governor is likely to change that, of course, but even then, it is important we tread carefully as building in too many exemptions or carve outs to get the legislative buy-in needed could turn caps into a legislative version of Swiss cheese.
Other ideas I have to make our community more affordable, include:
- Adopt a bottom-up approach by moving county, city and school board elections from odd to even years. This doubles, even triples voter turnout which could potentially help slow down overly ambitious local government spending.
- Stop pitching retail sales taxes in fractions of a penny. Folks, that’s pocket lint. Tell voters the real cost – usually in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Let voters vote on the millions and not just the fractions.
- As your representative in Topeka, I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to lobby Senators and Congress people – of both parties – to allow small businesses of all industry types to combine together to buy health insurance for their employees at scale. Big businesses get their price breaks, small businesses should too.
ISSUE 02
Data Centers
Growth on our terms, not a gold rush.
Kansas needs a pause on new data centers to create
comprehensive guidelines on incentives, energy use, water
consumption, and environmental standards. The current
arrangement feels like a California Gold Rush — big promises,
little oversight, and communities left with the steep costs and daily
burdens.
I support growth that benefits Kansans, not just out-of-
state developers. A pause ensures smart rules that protect
families, farms, ratepayers, and our future.
Let’s do it right — put Kansas first.
ISSUE 03
Improved Student Outcomes
Putting Learning Back in the Classroom
Kansas student outcomes have declined for a decade. Pouring in more money can’t be the only solution – Kansas already spends more per pupil than our state’s wealth justifies.
Let’s expand Governor Kelly’s bell-to-bell cellphone ban with a Teachers’ Bill of Rights. Far too many administrators repeatedly return chronically disruptive students to the classroom, eroding teacher authority, destroying morale, and disrupting learning for everyone else.
It’s time to let teachers teach!
ISSUE 04
Safer Communities
Protecting Rights. Prioritizing Safety.
I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. That doesn’t preclude me from supporting common-sense measures that make our communities safer from gun violence – especially ones that work in other red states.
Here are two targeted proposals for Kansas:
- Juvenile accountability: Nebraska takes away a juvenile’s Second Amendment rights until age 25 for any felony. Kansas only does this for violent felonies.
- Cracking down on gun theft: In Texas, stealing a firearm is a serious felony with real jail time. In Kansas, even though it’s a felony, actual jail time is still much less likely.
These changes respect law-abiding gun owners while holding dangerous people accountable. Strong Second Amendment support and safer streets are not mutually exclusive – red states like Nebraska and Texas prove we can have both.
