Kansas 2024 Legislative Session Week 1: anti-abortion bills, power dynamics, tax battles, medical marijuana and more❗️
Video Script
Intro [1/8-1/13]
Welcome to Loud Light’s 8th year covering what happens each week inside the Kansas Statehouse. I’m Davis Hammet and this is week 1 of the 2024 Kansas legislative session.
Kansas Legislative Makeup
Kansas has a Democratic Governor who can stop bills by vetoing them, but Republicans have more than ⅔ of the legislative seats giving them a supermajority that can override her veto and force a bill into law. While they have this power, the real influence is held by legislative leaders. Specifically, the Senate President Ty Masterson and Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins. These two people have complete power over the legislative process like who sits on what committees and even decide if legislators are allowed to debate a bill. It is mainly up to them whether this will be the session that legislators finally vote on medical marijuana, expanding Medicaid, and other popular policies in Kansas.
State of the State
The Governor's annual State of the State address this week focused on strengthening rural Kansas through Medicaid expansion, fiscal responsibility, blocking school vouchers, fully funding special education, and more. She called on the House Speaker and Senate President to allow a debate and vote on Medicaid expansion, something they have blocked in previous years. The Speaker gave the Republican response and focused on President Biden, “Communist China”, and a flat
tax to lower taxes on wealthier Kansans.
State of Judiciary
In the annual State of the Judiciary Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert spoke to the Legislature about this Fall’s cyber attack on the court’s computer system. The Court refused to pay the ransom demanded by Russian hackers and the investigation into whose information was hacked is still ongoing, but the court’s computer system is mostly operational again.
Governor's Budget
Governor Laura Kelly released her budget proposal for the next year. The proposal includes several tax cuts for working families and the elderly such as completely exempting social security checks, reducing property taxes, and establishing an annual back-to-school tax free holiday. The budget also allocates funds to give raises to state employees, construct new childcare facilities, paydown state debts early, and investments to protect the state’s threatened water supply.
Anti-Abortion Bill (HB2492)
A group of Republican legislators have introduced what some call a vigilante abortion ban, which is modeled after the controversial Texas legislation that bans nearly all abortion and allows any person to file a lawsuit against those who seek or assist someone seeking an abortion. In August 2022, Kansans overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to ban abortion and if passed this bill would likely be challenged in court for violating the Kansas Constition’s right to bodily autonomy.
Session Preview
Kansas has mostly recovered from the Brownback tax experiment which left the state with yearly billion dollar deficits. Kansas now has a multi-billion dollar surplus and this session's main focus will be tax cuts. Specifically, which Kansans should get a tax cut. A bi-partisan coalition has teamed up with Gov. Laura Kelly to focus on tax cuts for working families while Republican leadership is again pushing to cut income taxes for higher income Kansans. Another focus will be if Kansas legislators finally get a chance to vote on joining nearly every state in the country in expanding Medicaid. Also expect debates on moving public money to private schools, funding Special Education, restricting voter access, medical marijuana, and more.
Coming Up
This will be a big year as legislators use the session to position themselves before they are up for election in November. If you appreciate these videos, please become a monthly donor at loudlight.org/donate. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time, thank you so much Kansas!