policy

Hiring a dedicated staff member to advise Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on water is a move meant to bring the often-siloed issue front and center, said Vijay Ramasamy, who started the job this fall. “My job is to make water central to a lot of our conversations,” Ramasamy said on the Kansas Reflector podcast. Ramasamy, who worked for Kelly previously on energy and environmental issues, was announced as the governor’s new special adviser on water in October. A few weeks later, Kelly announced she would create a water “subcabinet” to coordinate across the numerous state agencies with authority over water. The idea, Ramasamy said, is to have someone in the governor’s office “at a high level that’s thinking about water on a consistent basis.” “So when we have economic development conversations, we’re thinking about water,” he said. “When we’re having policy conversations or legisl...