Kansans will soon vote on Constitutional Amendment 1 (also called HCR 5014), which creates a “legislative veto.” At stake is an important but dull topic to most — checks and balances.
Civics 101 time.
Legislatures make laws, often using vague language. Governors and the state agencies they direct (the “executive branch”) create concrete rules and regulations to implement those vague laws. Government agencies are the “bureaucracy,” and most government workers (e.g., police, child welfare workers, food inspectors, teachers, or soldiers) are “bureaucrats.”
You probably remember checks and balances. Governors can veto bills that the legislature passes, but a supermajority of legislators can override that veto and make that bill law. And, if the executive branch develops rules or regulations that the legislature dislikes, then the legislature can pass a bill overturning those and override a governor’s veto of that bill.
