Breaking:Kansas Senate tackles challenge of bill authorizing license plate honoring KC Chiefs
Action didn’t stop as lawmakers endorse plates for Royals, Sporting KC, Current.
TOPEKA — Members of the Kansas Senate thought it was such a super idea to issue a special license plate for the Kansas City Chiefs, they kept piling on.
Before the dust settled Wednesday on the Senate floor, distinctive plates for the Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City Current and Sedgwick County Zoo had been included in Senate Bill 359. The bill was approved 36-2 and forwarded to the Kansas House.
Sen. Kellie Warren, a Leawood Republican, said she was asked by a friend who worked for the Chiefs to introduce a bill authorizing a special license plate for the NFL franchise in Kansas City, Missouri. The process began long before quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and their teammates defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
“Being a lifelong Chiefs fan and seeing the unity of the community, of the state and the region that the Chiefs bring, of course, I said, ‘Yes,’” Warren said
The measure pulled together by the Senate Transportation Committee’s bill would designate the Hunt Family Foundation as recipient of revenue from Kansans acquiring a Chiefs license plate for use on passenger cars and trucks.
The committee altered Warren’s game plan by including a plate tied to the professional soccer club Sporting Kansas City, with proceeds going to the Kansas City Soccer Foundation for the Victory Project. The committee also endorsed a distinctive plate supporting the Sedgwick County Zoo
Sen. Rob Olson, an Olathe Republican, said during Senate debate on the bill that he’d been a Chiefs fan all his life and would likely acquire one of the new plates for his own vehicle. But he didn’t want to leave out the other occupant of Truman Sports Complex. He offered an amendment authorizing a plate honoring the Kansas City Royals, which was accepted by the Senate.
“Right now there are a lot of Chiefs fans,” Olson said, “but at the right periods it seems like there is a lot of Royals fans, too
Sen. John Doll, the Garden City Republican, said he wasn’t keen on showering Missouri with cross-border affection.
“Supporting one Missouri team hurts. Supporting two really hurts,” he said. “Hopefully, next year we can do some tags for New Mexico and Colorado and Wisconsin — all of them.”
Sen. Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, secured approval of an amendment creating a license plate for the Kansas City Current, part of the National Women’s Soccer League.