About Henry

Home / About Henry

A Note from Henry

This will be remembered as the session that “could have been.” We started the year with a large reserve balance. Both the House and the Senate wanted to be able to show accomplishments going into the Fall elections. Cooperation ended because of egos, politics and the COVID-19 pandemic.

We face a fractured legislature with limited willingness to work with Governor Kelly, an economy that is on life support, and a budget forecast for the state that will require massive cuts.

I remain resolute: We must reach across party lines, across economic, social and racial divides to create a new future. The strength of Kansas is in our people who get up and go to work every day, and are willing to help out a neighbor when misfortune happens. And it has for thousands of Kansans.

I am committed to funding public education and recreating an economy that empowers everyone with the tools and the opportunities to succeed. I hope you join me in that effort.

Respectfully yours, Henry Helgerson

In the Legislature Henry has …

  • Helped balance the budget and repair our state’s credit rating
  • Implemented a Budget Stabilization Fund
  • Led the fight to eliminate the sales tax on food
  • Supported restored funding for the KPERS retirement system
  • Laid the groundwork on a transportation plan to drive our economy
  • Championed residential property taxes  for families

  • Commitee Assignments

    Health Care Stabilization Fund Oversight

    Taxation

    Legislative Budget (Chairman)

    Appropriations (Ranking Democrat)

  • Agenda

    Get State Budget Under Control

  • Priorities

    Fix Medicaid Stalemate

    Property Tax Reduction

    Fully Fund Public Education

    Control Wasteful Spending

Henry’s Experience

Education

  • Kapaun High School
  • Wichita State University
  • Rockhurst College, Bachelor of Arts
  • Harvard University, Master in Public Administration

Kansas Legislature (1983-2000, 2004, 2016-2024)

Previous Leadership Positions:

  • Budget Committee Chairman
  • Ranking Democrat, Appropriations Committee
  • Ranking Democrat, Education Committee
  • Sedgwick County Delegation Chair

Business and Community

  • Owner of family-owned business founded in 1937
  • Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, member
  • Mennonite Housing, former Director
  • Wichita Children’s Museum, founder & Executive Director (now Exploration Place)

Henry Proposed Legislation to:

Education

  • Fully fund public education
  • Protect special education funding

Budget

  • Reduce residential property taxes by $2.1 billion
  • Control wasteful spending
  • Lower the sales tax on food
  • Create a savings account for government
  • Balance the state budget
  • Pay down KPERs debt
  • Wrote the Senior Care Act

Public Services

  • Aid homeless veterans
  • Expand services to older Kansans and developmentally disabled children
  • Support community services for mentally ill
  • Dedicate tobacco settlement funds to children’s programs
  • Build a state psychiatric hospital in Wichita
  • Fund expansion of cancer research at KU School of Medicine

Environment

  • Expanded funding for water projects