So where is Kansas Gov. Brownback’s new version of a de facto nonprofit gag order coming from? Recent media reports point to a pair of recent situations that might have been trigger points. Among the first contracts to have this language inserted were the state’s proposed contracts with 12 centers for independent living. A couple of weeks ago, the state released an audit charging the Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas with using government money to pay for its lobbying activities. The SRS audit called for SILCK to reimburse the state for over a half million dollars in funding that the state claims was misused by SILCK for lobbying. To put it mildly, SILCK is protesting the audit findings.
In addition, the SRS notice comes a few weeks after an SRS battle with nonprofits that provide services and support to victims of domestic violence. Several domestic violence service providers, led by the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence (KCSDV), have protested a decision by SRS to impose new funding requirements that the nonprofits deemed wrongheaded, insensitive to the needs of victims and survivors of domestic violence, and generally reflective of what they see as the state agency’s lack of awareness of how domestic violence services really get delivered. To suggest that KCSDV and others went public with their complaints about SRS is an understatement.