The Kansas Black Leadership Council set their 2017 legislative platform during a meeting on Saturday at the C. L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City.

Bonita Gooch, Council President, said one initiative on the platform is to get the State of Kansas to ban the box, “which is to eliminate the question on their applications about whether you are a felon or not a felon….to move that back later in the process so people are given an opportunity to at least interview and show themselves.” Gooch added it’s a way to get felons employment opportunities and help the economy.

A second initiative is a move to revise the payday lending regulations in Kansas “so they are not onerous, see if we can get down from 400% average interest maybe even to 200 or 100% interest. ” Governor Brownback will be asked to form a committee to study at how revisions might be made to payday lending regulations in Kansas.

Expansion of medicaid was a third initiative.

The fourth was a program to help grow small businesses. “We say let’s help them by giving them more work and opportunities, and that the State of Kansas would designate some contracts for small Kansas businesses so that they can get better at what they do, get more opportunities and grow them that way instead of just giving them a tax break.”

Gooch said in addition to approving a platform those attending the session wanted to talk about how they move forward. “Because last year we left with a great platform, but not a plan with how to get some of these things done. ” They looked at issues where they felt recently there was an opportunity to get some traction, and how they proceed to get that traction.

Gooch called the session a first step toward many other steps heading toward the legislative session and all of 2017. The legislative session begins in January.