TOPEKA, Kan. — Republican lawmakers on Monday advanced a measure to create a Kansas child advocate's position in the attorney general's office, rejecting a bipartisan alternative in a debate clouded by the 2022 governor's race.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to create the advocate's office to investigate complaints about the state's foster care system for abused and neglected children and to help lawmakers provide oversight. The measure goes next to the Senate.
Even some GOP lawmakers in the House are wary of putting the advocate under the attorney general with Republican incumbent Derek Schmidt running for governor in 2022 and the GOP seeking to deny Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a second term.
The Senate committee's Republicans sought to lessen concerns of partisanship by requiring a joint legislative committee on child welfare to screen applicants for the advocate's job and name three finalists. The attorney general's pick would be subject to Senate confirmation.
A House committee last month approved a plan to have the governor and Kansas Supreme Court's chief justice jointly appoint the child advocate, subject to Senate confirmation. Under that plan, the advocate would be under the Legislature.
The Senate committee rejected that plan. Republicans suggested the selection method would not be as transparent.
