The desire to shift responsibility for social services away from government and onto the private sector has been a common theme in the current session of the Kansas Legislature.

With that in mind, why would legislators propose changes that would make it more difficult for a group like United Way to collect funds for charitable purposes?

The answer to that question isn’t entirely clear, but it appears that United Way became collateral damage in a broader legislative effort to reduce the influence of public employee labor unions. Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee merged two union-related bills into one measure that it approved and forwarded to the full Senate. One of the merged bills would limit the issues that unions can negotiate to hours and wages, making it impossible for other issues, such grievance procedures and promotion policies, to be discussed.

The other bill would prohibit state government entities and school districts from using payroll deduction to collect union dues. Union officials arguing against the bill said it would be unfair to single them out while allowing the use of payroll deduction by other entities such as credit unions, mortgage companies and even charities, like United Way.

OK, said supporters of the bill, we can fix that. So, without much apparent consideration of the consequences of their action, they amended the bill to ban the use of payroll deduction for anything except taxes, employer-based benefits and legally mandated withholding such as child support or wage garnishments.

That would make it impossible for state and school district employees to use payroll deduction to pay United Way pledges, which is no small matter in many communities. In Lawrence, it would eliminate payroll deduction at Kansas University and other state agency offices, as well as for school district employees. Statewide, officials have said the restriction could cost the United Way $1.5 million in donations.

Ironically, the amendment that would affect United Way has stalled the broader bill’s progress through the Legislature. It’s unlikely the Senate would pass the bill with that amendment intact, and the need to make changes will make it more difficult to get the legislation passed this session.

Banning the use of payroll deduction for charitable purposes may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but committee members may now see that they should have given this idea more consideration before adding it to the bill.