Proposal would have cut 5 percent from school funding
by Sam Zeff, Kansas News Service
When people started to file into the Kansas Senate chamber on Thursday morning, it was clear the legislation that leadership was pushing was dead.
New, moderate Republican legislators elected in November seemed to take a firm stand: The budget bills on the calendar for debate didn’t raise taxes enough and cut too much from public education.
In that group were three GOP moderates from Johnson County, including two freshmen who ran for office promising to fix the state’s budget for good.
“In the last month of the campaign what we heard door-to-door was: ‘Fix this mess.’ And I think that’s what we signed on for, is to fix this mess,” said Sen. John Skubal of Overland Park. “I will not keep doing one-time money. There’s no more one-time money anyway. But we have to get this thing fixed.”
The bills that moderates just couldn’t get behind Thursday would have cut 5 percent from this year’s public education budget, meaning districts across the state would have to slash a total of $154 million by July 1.
Another measure would have rescinded the LLC income tax exemption approved in 2012 but not include an additional tax bracket. That would raise more money, something Democrats and moderate Republicans want to help close big budget deficits this year and next.
But legislative observers wondered whether moderate Republicans would stand firm or succumb to pressure from their more conservative leaders. There was a lot of arm-twisting after the Senate adjourned.
Freshman Sen. Dinah Sykes of Overland Park says she’s willing to make cuts as long as the budget is “structurally balanced” in future years.
“I have to be able to see one year, two years, and then if I have to make cuts I can do that knowing a plan is in place to get us on the path we need,” she said.
Both freshmen legislators have said they think leadership is listening to their concerns. But Skubal, a longtime member of the Overland Park City Council, says he’s not getting enough information.
“I want to see all of the numbers before I can vote on those solutions, and I have not been able to get runs of budgets,” he said. “It’s kind of a moving target.”
That target will keep moving for a while. It appears Senate leadership will only put up budget bills for a vote if there are 21 Republicans — a majority in the 40-seat Senate — who will vote yes.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR and the Kansas News Service and is co-host of the political podcast Statehouse Blend Kansas. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KCUR.org.
KCKCC sophomore guard Kayla Horn uses an acrobatic move to split two Hesston defenders for two of her 13 points along with a career best 11 assists in the Lady Blue Devils 90-58 win over Hesston Wednesday. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins) Millie Shade, Kayla Horn and Kyliea Jarrett have career bests
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball teams have turned in several remarkable performances in the last three or four years so it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that another record achievement be entered Wednesday night.
Facing Hesston in a Region VI contest, the Lady Blue Devils took a 21-9 first quarter lead, all on three-point field goals – four by Millie Shade, two by Brie Tauai and one by Alix Wilson – and rode the early assault to a 90-58 win.
The win pushed KCKCC’s lead over Fort Scott (2-5) to two games in the race for fourth place and a first round home playoff berth. The Blue Devils, who are 4-3 in regional play and 16-8 overall, trail Johnson County and Labette, both 6-1, and Highland, which fell to 5-2 with a 63-54 loss at JCCC Wednesday.
The Blue Devils now have until next Wednesday to resume region play but have a rugged test against Division I Iowa Western in Council Bluffs Sunday at 4 p.m. At Brown Mackie next Wednesday, KCKCC’s next-to-last home game comes Saturday, Feb. 18, against No. 8 ranked Highland.
Not only did the Blue Devils score from distance in the first quarter, they got three other career bests in the win over Hesston. Shade finished with six 3-pointers and 10-of-16 shooting in a career best 27-point effort; sophomore guard Kayla Horn had an all-time best 11 assists along with 13 points for a double-double; and former Bonner Springs’ standout Kyliea Jarrett had a career best and game high 14 rebounds including eight off the offensive boards along with six points.
And three others were not far off from double-doubles. Tauai had 18 points and eight rebounds; Brooklyn Wagler 12 rebounds and nine points; and Aeriel Holiday, 11 points including three treys and seven rebounds in a game in which KCKCC hauled down a whopping 59 rebounds to 32 for the Larks. Shade and Horn also had six rebounds to add to their other big nights.
“A great job by our team tonight,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “It was fun to put some big numbers up on the stat sheet. I challenged the girls at halftime (36-27) not to get complacent and to continue to get stops on the defensive end and they responded very well.”
McKinstry was particularly pleased by the career best performances.
“I was very happy for Kyliea Jarrett and our rebounding; her individual rebounding effort was amazing,” McKinstry said. “And when Millie Shade gets open looks, she’s capable of doing what she did tonight. She can really score the ball.
“Kayla Horn, I thought had the best floor game of the season. She was aggressive but also made great decisions on when to score and when to look for her teammates. And the fact she had just one turnover in 30 minutes of play is fantastic.”
A crowd of approximately 200 filled the north wing of the Statehouse for a rally before the House Health and Human Services Committee convened a hearing on a bill that would expand eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. (Photo by Susie Fagan, Kansas News Service)
A yearlong campaign aimed at building support for Medicaid expansion culminated Wednesday in a show-of-force lobbying effort aimed at convincing Kansas lawmakers that they still have time to act.
A crowd of approximately 200 filled the north wing of the Statehouse for a rally before the House Health and Human Services Committee convened a hearing on a bill that would expand eligibility for KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to more low-income Kansans.
At the hearing, representatives of hospitals, clinics, consumer groups and some of the state’s largest business organizations urged lawmakers to discount conflicting information coming out of Washington, D.C., about the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and move forward on expansion.
“We have two choices,” said Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association. “One is, we can sit back and wait and see what happens in Congress. Or, two, we can get in line and get this money back to our state.”
Bell and others pointed to the fact that several Republican governors in expansion states are seeking approval from the Trump administration to keep their programs in place. That, he said, is putting pressure on Republican members of Congress to delay repeal and consider replacement alternatives.
“There are 62 senators who represent states that have expanded Medicaid. Do you think that they’re going to just follow along with this debate and let their state be thrown under the bus?”
“There are 62 senators who represent states that have expanded Medicaid,” Bell said. “Do you think that they’re going to just follow along with this debate and let their state be thrown under the bus?”
So far, 31 states and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid programs. Kansas is among 19 that haven’t.
The decision in 2014 by Gov. Sam Brownback to reject expansion and the refusal of legislative leaders to consider the issue since then has cost the state about $1.7 billion in federal Medicaid funds, Bell said.
The loss of that funding coupled with reductions in Medicare reimbursements have hit many Kansas hospitals hard, hastening the closure of Mercy Hospital in Independence and forcing others to seek help from local taxpayers to keep their doors open.
The most personal and stirring testimony Wednesday came from an uninsured woman struggling to work and raise her granddaughters and a doctor whose low-income patients often wait too long to seek care.
Suzann Emmons runs a small housekeeping business in Iola. She makes too much to qualify for KanCare under existing eligibility rules but not enough to qualify for help purchasing private Obamacare coverage. (Photo by Susie Fagan, Kansas News Service)
Suzann Emmons runs a small housekeeping business in Iola. She makes too much to qualify for KanCare under existing eligibility rules but not enough to qualify for help purchasing private Obamacare coverage. Fighting back tears, Emmons, who is raising her two granddaughters, said she lives “in constant fear” about what would happen if she got sick.
“I am employed,” she said. “I contribute to our state. I stepped up for my granddaughters and am doing my best to help them succeed. But I need your help. If something happens to my health and I can’t treat the problem, our family unit breaks down. I don’t want that to happen.”
Dr. Robert Freelove of Salina also had to fight his emotions when talking about a young mother of three working two jobs who waited too long to seek treatment for breast cancer, and when describing the slow, painful death of a 57-year-old diabetic truck driver who didn’t seek treatment until his foot “was half eaten away.”
“What we’re talking about are people’s lives, people’s lives,” he said, pausing to regain his composure.
He pointedly asked committee members to consider the circumstances of the waitress serving them the next time they’re in a coffee shop or the clerk the next time they’re checking out at the convenience store.
“I want you to look in those people’s eyes and ask yourself how you can’t support House Bill 2064,” he said referring to the number of the expansion bill.
The bill would extend eligibility for KanCare to approximately 300,000 Kansas adults with annual incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,000 annually for an individual. However, it’s expected that only about half that number would enroll for a variety of reasons.
Shortly after the hearing concluded, Brownback reiterated his opposition to expansion in a strongly worded statement.
“It is not affordable, costing the state upwards of $100 million in the next two years,” Brownback said, adding that it would do little to help small rural hospitals.
“President Trump was elected having declared his intention to do away with Obamacare, and he has already taken action to alleviate its onerous regular and financial burdens,” he continued. “Kansas should not tie itself to this failed program of the past just before its inevitable demise.”
Dr. Susan Mosier, who serves on Brownback’s Cabinet as secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is among the opponents expected to testify Thursday at the third and final hearing on the expansion bill.
Jim McLean is managing director of KCUR’s Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
