To the editor:

One of the key tenets of conservative Kansas legislators is that the government that governs best is the government that governs least. That is, the best government is the government that least intrudes upon the lives and freedoms of the governed. They rail (as they should) against the overreach of the federal government on the prerogatives and rights of the states to govern as they see fit within their borders.

Yet the Kansas Senate has introduced and passed a bill that, if enacted, would stop Lawrence, and presumably other cities, from creating affordable housing requirements within the city. The restriction was sought by a special interest group, the Kansas Association of Realtors. I suggest that this is an issue that should be left to the governing bodies of the city and that the state legislature has no business even considering. The Realtors should take their concerns to the city commissioners, NOT the Legislature of the state of Kansas.

If the legislators actually believe that governmental overreach and meddling in state governments is abhorrent, then they should immediately withdraw SB 366 and tell the realtors to take up their concerns with local governments. It is out of bounds at the state level and is the very kind of overreach state senators claim to abhor from the federal level.