photo by: Journal-World File Photo

State Sen. Marci Francisco is pictured in this 2018 file photo.

Longtime Democratic state Sen. Marci Francisco has officially filed for reelection, and she says she still has plenty of work to do after about two decades of representing Lawrence in the Kansas Legislature.

“I still think that I can make a difference,” Francisco told the Journal-World on Thursday. “I have been making a difference, and I’m in a position to continue to do that.”

Francisco, who has served in the Legislature since 2005, represents Lawrence’s Senate District 2, which covers a large swath of Lawrence and, before the last round of redistricting, also included Lecompton and nearly all of Jefferson County. She’s the only person to have filed for election in her district so far. Six candidates — four incumbents and two newcomers — have filed for election in districts with territory in Douglas County so far; four incumbents in Douglas County legislative districts have yet to file for reelection; and two incumbents will not be running again.

The candidate filing deadline for the 2024 primary elections is not until June, but Francisco said that it’s smart to file early “because you don’t want to be waiting until the last minute to be telling people that you’re going to run again.”

Francisco, a former Lawrence mayor and city commissioner, said there are many issues affecting Douglas County residents that she wants to tackle in the upcoming legislative session. One of the biggest, she said, is renewable energy.

“I’m hoping that we can start to discuss a state energy plan and figure out what we want to do about balancing our energy portfolio across the state,” said Francisco, who serves as the ranking minority member of the Utilities Committee. “We’re dependent on gas and oil, but we also need to be supporting renewables (such as solar and wind energy).”

Francisco said she supports renewable projects that have been proposed for Douglas County, including the proposal for the 3,000-acre West Gardner Solar project, which would extend from eastern Douglas County to western Johnson County and which has drawn significant pushback from some Douglas County residents in the project area.

“Because we’re encouraging people to be more reliant on electricity, we’re going to need to strengthen the grid and have available production,” she said. “Since we use our fair share of electricity, we need to see if we can find a way to make sure that it is available close to home.”

On the state level, she said the Utilities and Energy Committee had been working on its own regulations to make renewable energy projects move more smoothly in Kansas. For instance, she mentioned legislation passed last year that will require wind farm developers to modify the warning lights on top of turbines so that they’re less noticeable to neighbors but still able to alert aircraft pilots who are flying nearby. Residents close to the wind farms had complained that the lights were disruptive to their environment.

“The Legislature was able to react,” Francisco said, “and I think we’ve set a policy that is likely to be adopted in a number of other states.”

Francisco said that while the Legislature has an important role to play in these discussions, she also thought many of the decisions should still be made at the local level.

“I think it’s important that the city of Lawrence and Douglas County maintain local control,” she said. “… I appreciate what the County Commission and Planning Commission have done in reviewing the regulations in a way that works for our county. We’re also trying to understand what they should be involved in, and how we can support our local government in making their decisions.”

Francisco, who has a background in architecture, is also a ranking member of the Senate’s State Building Construction Committee. She was employed by the University of Kansas in the area of facilities planning and sustainability before retiring in 2012.

Here are some of the other top priorities Francisco mentioned for the upcoming session:

• Robocalls. Francisco said that she has been involved in discussions about ways to reduce the number of automated phone calls targeting Kansas residents, and that the Kansas Attorney General’s Office would be working with the Legislature to make that happen.

• Water policy. Like Gov. Laura Kelly in her State of the State address on Wednesday, Francisco said improving the state’s water supply plan would be key to protecting agriculture and helping small communities thrive. “We need to strengthen that plan,” she said.

• Special education funding. Francisco wants to see the Legislature provide more funding for special education in K-12 schools so that local districts don’t have to dip into their other funds to cover those costs.

“If we don’t fund it through the Legislature, schools still have to provide that education,” she said, “and they have to take that funding from their general operating budget.”

• Elections. Francisco said it was important to ensure that voting in Kansas is accessible and not subject to unnecessary restrictions.

“I want to be sure that we continue to provide for a reasonable election process,” she said, “and don’t make it more difficult for people to participate in that process.”

Candidate filings

All of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives seats are up for election in 2024. Here are the candidates who have already filed in the districts that include territory in Douglas County:

• Marci Francisco: Democrat (incumbent), Senate District 2

• Rick Kloos: Republican (incumbent), Senate District 3 (Kloos currently represents Senate District 19, but after redistricting he will now be running in District 3.)

• Dena Sattler: Democrat, Senate District 3

• Vic Miller: Democrat (incumbent), Senate District 19. (This district was not previously in Douglas County. It includes east Topeka and parts of northwest Lawrence.)

• ShaMecha King Simms: Democrat, Senate District 19

• Lance W. Neelly: Republican (incumbent), House District 42

Here are the incumbents in Douglas County-area districts who have not yet filed:

• Christina Haswood: Democrat, House District 10

• Barbara Ballard: Democrat, House District 44

• Mike Amyx: Democrat, House District 45

• Ronald Ellis: Republican, House District 47 (Prior to redistricting, this district did not extend into Douglas County.)

Here are the incumbents who have announced they are not seeking reelection:

• Tom Holland: Democrat, Senate District 3

• Boog Highberger: Democrat, House District 46

There is also a new district that has territory in Douglas County and has no incumbent candidate: House District 117.