For the second year in a row, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a Fairness in Women’s Sports bill, and once again, Republican legislators were unable to muster the votes to override her veto.  This is sad and unfair for women.

     House Republicans came up short Thursday on an 81-41 vote, just three votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the Democratic governor’s April 15 veto of Senate Bill 160. Three Republicans broke with the party to support the veto.  Two days earlier, the Senate successfully overrode the veto on a 28-10 vote. Both chambers must register two-thirds majorities to upend gubernatorial vetoes. The bill, which applied to both K-12 and collegiate sports, would have barred “students of the male sex” from participating on female athletic teams, as defined by “biological sex.”

     The House also fell short in its effort to override the governor’s veto of a parental bill of rights measure giving parents greater access to school curriculum and materials. The vote was 72-50, well below the 84 votes needed to overturn the veto.