The Kansas State Constitution: A Reference Guide

This is the first book-length study of the constitution of the state of Kansas. Following the pattern of earlier volumes in Greenwood's State Constitution Series, Professor Heller relates and analyzes the basic law of Kansas, gives the full text of the constitution with an article-by-article and section-by-section commentary, and provides a bibliographical essay and a table of cases, along with a general index. His account of populist and progressive successes (and failures) will be of interest to students, scholars, and any others dealing with the law, politics, and history of this important middle state that has contributed much to the mosaic of our nation's institutions.

Formally, Kansas still operates under a constitution dating from 1959. In fact, however, its present day basic law differs importantly from the original text--and this change was accomplished without resorting to a convention to rewrite the document. This process of incremental revision has never before been described in detail. It resulted, over the span of less than five years, in the streamlining of the executive branch, the creation of a unified judiciary, enhancement of the position of the legislature, and the removal from the constitution of a number of antiquated provisions--more than many other states have been able to do by the convention method.