Advocacy Opportunities
Thur - LGBTQ Equality Day 9am

Upcoming Hearing Highlights
Tue - SCR1613/HCR5091 Abortion Constitutional Amendment 9am
Thu- SB252 Medicaid Expansion
Thu - SB260 Automatic Recount Local Elections Won by Less than 1%
Thu - SB158 Designating the State Dance as the Polka

Week 1 Video Script

Welcome back to our 4th year covering what’s happening in the Kansas Statehouse. I’m Davis Hammet with Loud Light. 

New Justice

Marla Luckert has been sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court meaning that on this 100 year anniversary of women winning the right to vote, women sit at the head of all 3 branches of Kansas government for the first time in history. 

Medicaid Expansion

Sen. Maj. Leader Jim Denning and Gov. Laura Kelly reached a bipartisan compromise on Medicaid expansion. After being blocked by Denning last year, this compromise is sponsored by a majority of Senators. The bill will fully expand Medicaid, includes job referrals rather than requirements, and a $25 monthly premium for participants with incomes between 100 to 138% of the poverty line that can be waived under hardship. The hearing begins Thursday.

Abortion Amendment

Last year the Kansas Supreme Court found that the Kansas Constitution guarantees the “right of personal autonomy, which includes the ability to control one's own body…  including whether to continue a pregnancy.” On Thursday, an amendment was introduced to change the Constitution to say it “does not secure a right to abortion” with the goal of reversing the Court’s ruling. The amendment would allow the state to ban abortion even in cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancies. 

It takes 2/3rd of both chambers to put the amendment on the ballot for a public vote where it would need a simple majority to pass. It is currently written to go on the August primary ballot instead of the November general. In 2016, 3 times fewer Kansans voted in the primary than the general, and 1 in 3 voters are unaffiliated and never vote in primaries. The bill is fast tracked with a House and Senate hearing scheduled for 9am on Tuesday. The entire Senate may vote as early as Wednesday.

Resignation

Johnson County far-right Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook resigned and hand selected former TV weatherman Mike Thompson to replace her. Thompson has made news for denying the human impact on climate change and recently launched a foundation focused on opposing renewable wind energy development. 

Comeback State

In the State of the State Gov. Kelly celebrated Kansas being declared the “Comeback State” by a national business ranking. The ranking cited the repeal of the Brownback tax experiment and the reinvestment in education and infrastructure. She emphasized that “one year of progress cannot erase a decade of damage.

Budget

Gov. Kelly’s recommended budget asks the Legislature to pay off over $600 million in debt accumulated during the Brownback administration including a quarter billion in double counted money and a quarter billion in skipped pension payments.

Her budget continues the scheduled yearly increases in school funding, gives state employees a cost of living raise, expands Medicaid, keeps more money in the Highway Fund, creates a food sales tax relief credit, and begins a program to transfer state money to local governments that must be used to begin reducing property taxes. 

Last year the state made its first full KPERS pension contribution since 1994. The Governor asked for pension reamortization to give the state an extra 10 years to pay back the billions in unfunded liabilities that accumulated from 25 years of the legislature not making their full pension contribution.

Coming Up

This year the legislature may take on medical marijuana, sports gambling, criminal justice reform, the foster care system, and much more. Thursday there will be an advocacy day for LGBTQ Equality. Anything is possible this session and you should contact your legislators to let them know what you want. 

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Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time thank you so much Kansas!