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RESOURCES

Kansas Legislature
Johnson County Election Office
Register to Vote

Communities of the
25th District

Fairway
Mission
Mission Hills
Mission Woods
Prairie Village
Roeland Park
Westwood
Westwood Hills

CONTACT MELISSA

In Topeka: 
State Capitol Room 352-A
Topeka, KS 66612
melissa.rooker@house.ks.gov
785-296-7686

At home in Fairway
4124 Brookridge Drive
Fairway, KS 66205
melissa@melissarooker.com
913-961-1555

Dear Friend:
Now that all ballots have been counted, it is time to congratulate Rui Xu on his victory. I wish him success as our representative in Topeka.
 
Thank you for the honor of representing you for the past six years. I am proud of the work we accomplished in my tenure: 
  • Tax reform: Repealed the 2012 tax breaks that broke our state’s education and transportation infrastructure, while hollowing out and causing broad dysfunction throughout state agencies.
  • Budget stabilization: We began to reinvest in basic services, renewed our commitment to mental health, corrections, higher education, transportation, KPERS, and other critical functions of state government.
  • Schools: Rewrote the state’s school finance formula to provide structural certainty for distribution of funds, which was deemed constitutional for the first time in more than a decade.
    • Restored $823 million dollars to K-12, specifically, nearly $20 million for Shawnee Mission schools.
  • Increased transparency in lobbying, legislative activities, and government contracts.
  • Developed mutual aid agreements for fighting wildfires, which paid off during the 2018 fire season.
  • Secured bonding authority to build a new medical school building at KU.
  • Corrections: Comprehensive juvenile justice reform that is designed to offer pathways to rehabilitation rather than focusing on incarceration.
  • Protected state hospitals and healthcare facilities from the concealed carry mandate, making Kansas the only state in the country to pass legislation contrary to the wishes of the NRA in 2017.
  • Planning for the state’s transportation future.
  • Crafting and investing in a comprehensive water vision plan that focuses on water conservation and quality. 
  • Modernizing environmental regulations for animal processing centers.
I am equally proud of the number of harmful policies we stopped:
  • Schools: Protected the Kansas system of K-12 public education.
    • Blocked changes to Article 6 of the constitution aimed at preventing legal redress for funding shortfalls and educational imbalances across the state. 
    • Protected the constitutional role of the State Board of Education by preventing repeal of the state education standards.
    • Stopped the school privatization agenda, fought repeated attempts to implement a system of private charter school operators and costly voucher programs. 
  • Prevented abolishment of the Children’s Initiative Fund, the last, most desperate proposal from the Brownback Administration as a means to protect their income tax cuts. CIF is critical to prevention programs focused on early childhood development and education.
  • Repeatedly denied attempts to pass discriminatory “bathroom bills” under the guise of religious freedom. 
  • Blocked legislation to recognize gun laws from other states that would have further loosened the responsibilities of gun owners and lowered the age for gun ownership to 18. 
  • Stood up to repeated attempts to limit tax reform to LLCs only, which ignored the need for broad reform to restructure the income tax code and restore fairness following the Brownback years. 
Through it all, my goal was simple – to do the best job possible of serving the people in House District 25, while balancing statewide needs. I did my homework and in the process learned so much about our great state. 
 
Each session begins full of promise for all that can be accomplished. 2019 is no different. Be careful to keep expectations realistic. Gov-elect Kelly will have her hands full dealing with a legislature that has taken a right turn in both chambers. Absolutism will not win the day, nor will blind allegiance to ideological positions. My wish for my successor and the newly elected members of the legislature is that collaboration, negotiation, and compromise are seen as productive methods of making progress on the issues you care about. 
 
My wish for you, my constituents is that you look beyond party affiliation now and in the future when evaluating the performance of your elected officials. Half of you wanted a different outcome in our House race, but our new representative deserves a chance. I also hope you will maintain your level of engagement, involvement, and expectations of those who represent you. When done well, this is a full-time job, and you deserve nothing less. 
 
I will take some time to regroup, visit my daughter, help my son launch into graduate school, and reconnect with facets of my life that have taken a backseat to public service. 
 
To the hundreds of you who donated to my campaign and worked on my re-election, and especially the thousands of you who voted for me, thank you for your support, your trust and your confidence. 
It has been my absolute honor to serve you in the Kansas House.  
With gratitude,
Sincerely,

Rep. Melissa Rooker
Kansas State Representative, District 25
Serving Northeast Johnson County
Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved.
Melissa Rooker,