Kansas

“That future is now.” Dropping water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer recently led a member of the Kansas Geological Survey to make this grim assessment about the aquifer eventually drying up in parts of western Kansas. And according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, global warming is likely to make droughts across the Ogallala region longer lasting and more intense over the next 50 years.

In April 2023, Gov. Laura Kelly (D) took steps to deal with the symptoms but not the cause of this crisis–signing two new laws that will boost funding for water conservation, while at the same time letting a law banning the state from using ESG factors in making investments become law without her signature. Also sending a mixed message on climate in Kansas are two of the biggest national companies with lobbyists in the state: Bank of America (BOA), whose CEO has endorsed ESG investing as a way to “reboot” capitalism, and Apple, which is funding a $200 million campaign to combat climate change.

In 2022, BOA and Apple both employed lobbyists Sandy Lowe and Bobby Braden, who also lobbied on behalf of Atmos Energy and the Williams Companies. In April 2023, in response to a complaint over potential Clean Air Act violations, the Williams Companies agreed to pay $3.75 million and strengthen air pollution controls at its gas processing plants in eight states, including Kansas.

To what extent are these lobbyists undermining BOA’s and Apple’s stated climate goals with their advocacy in Kansas? Kansas makes it hard to know. The state does not require lobbyists to disclose compensation, or positions taken on bills, or even the numbers of these bills.

Best feature: Annual summaries of lobbyist expenditure give year-to-year comparisons of spending in different categories.

Worst feature: A tie between most information being non-downloadable and lobbyist registrations being kept on the Secretary of State’s site while lobbyist expenditures are separately kept on the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission site.

Additional Findings