The best way to deal with bad legislation is to repeal it as quickly as possible. Such is the case with a law passed last year barring the state from contracting with any business or individual engaged in boycotting Israel.

During the 2017 session, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to approve the law, which stated that Kansas “shall not enter into a contract with an individual or company to acquire or dispose of services, supplies, information technology or construction, unless such individual or company submits a written certification that such individual or company is not currently engaged in a boycott of Israel.”

Never mind that the bill addressed a problem that didn’t exist (the Kansas Department of Commerce said none of the state’s contractors or other businesses in Kansas were openly boycotting Israel); the law likely wouldn’t stand up to legal challenge.

State Rep. Boog Highberger, of Lawrence, was one of the few legislators to oppose the bill, calling it nothing more than a “political feel-good bill” that gave lawmakers the chance to appear pro-Israel. He noted that banning state contracts based on a company’s engagement in a political boycott was an infringement on the right to free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.

Highberger had more foresight than his peers. In January, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law pending the outcome of a trial in the case of Esther Koontz. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Koontz, a North Newton resident and a member of the Mennonite Church who says she is personally engaged in such a boycott on religious grounds. Koontz said she was denied a contract to continue working for a Wichita public school because she refused to sign the affidavit stating that she is not engaged in such a boycott.

In response to Koontz’s lawsuit, lawmakers have advanced House Bill 2778 as a way to address the problems.

The new bill would grant an exemption for individuals, such as Koontz, and sole proprietorships so that it only applies to corporations contracting with the state. It also limits the law so it only applies to contracts of $100,000 or more, and it would not apply to personal services or consultant contracts. It also would provide an exemption for people engaged in a boycott if there is no connection between that boycott and the goods or services they are trying to sell to the state.

But as Highberger noted, the effort is only a partial fix. Even if the bill is approved, the law “still involves forced political speech or restrictions on political speech,” Highberger said.

Highberger is right. Banning state contracts with anyone engaged in a boycott of Israel was bad legislation to begin with, and the current revision doesn’t fix the infringement on free speech. The only way to fix the law is to repeal it.