Category: Gov. Laura Kelly

Governor asks LCC to extend state’s disaster declaration

Gov. Laura Kelly is urging the Legislative Coordinating Council to extend the disaster declaration to July 15.

In a letter to Senate President Ty Masterson, Gov. Kelly stated that she wanted the state to get to the fall and to the start of the school year to make sure that vaccine efforts are not stalled or impeded.

She presented a plan with goals to be completed by Aug. 30. The disaster declaration would have to be extended to accomplish the goals, according to the letter.

Some of the goals include continued vaccination of schoolchildren 12 and over before school starts in the fall; continuation of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management in distributing the vaccine through mobile clinics, including some at large employers in the state; delivering personal protective equipment, supplies and equipment to hospitals and counties; and continuing to test adult care homes and underserved populations.

Also, the letter stated that the federal emergency response funding the state receives could be imperiled if the disaster declaration expires. Agencies such as the Civil Air Patrol and Kansas Highway Patrol could no longer be assigned to be part of the state response.

Also, the emergency allotment of SNAP (food) benefits from the federal government to states could be lost. About 63,000 Kansas households could be affected by the loss of this financial support, costing $14.5 million to vulnerable Kansans.

The text of the governor’s letter:

The following is a letter from Gov. Laura Kelly urging Senate President Ty Masterson and members of the Legislative Coordinating Council to extend the current State of Disaster Emergency Declaration.


President Masterson,


On May 24, 2021, I submitted my first application for a 30-day extension of the COVID-19 state of disaster emergency to the Legislative Coordinating Council (“LCC”) pursuant to Senate Bill 40’s amendments to the Kansas Emergency Management Act (“KEMA”). K.S.A. 48-924(b)(3). Please consider this letter my specific application to extend the COVID-19 state of disaster emergency up to and including July 15, 2021.


While these conversations took place back in March, I do want to point out that my Chief of Staff discussed with legislators during session that the objective has been to get to the fall of 2021 and the start of the new school year to ensure that vaccine efforts are not stalled or impeded. To build on those conversations, I am including with this specific application an outline of the current plan regarding the State Emergency Operations Center (“SEOC”) and a timeline for demobilization of those efforts. This plan will include the following components:


• Priorities and objectives to be completed by August 30, 2021;
• SEOC COVID-19 activities closure timeline;
• Rescinding or sunsetting of current executive orders based on the priorities and objectives to be achieved by August 30, 2021.


The plan I present to you in this application continues to reduce the number of activities and pandemic emergency executive orders as we move closer ending the emergency declaration. Ultimately, this plan will require extensions from the LCC to August 30, 2021 as outlined below.
Priorities and Objectives to be Completed by August 30, 2021

There are several priorities that continue to need the attention of the State of Kansas and that require an extension of the state of disaster emergency declaration. First, we need to continue efforts to vaccinate school-aged children to allow schools to resume normal activities beginning this fall. As of June 11, 2021, Kansas has vaccinated 48,045 (20.1%) of children age 12-17. Based on current projections, we anticipate being able to have between 100,000 (42%) to 118,000 (49%) of this age group vaccinated by the end of August. There was a notable decline in the rate of children vaccinations as school ended for the summer. Vaccination efforts planned around the back to school period of early to mid-August will greatly increase the rate of vaccinations for this age group.


Second, we need KDEM to continue to support the distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine through our mobile clinics. The Kansas National Guard (“KSNG”) has administered 122,323 vaccines with 4,360 of those being administered since May 28, 2021. These efforts are directly tied to Executive Order 21-21 through the use of contract nurses who are able to perform vaccinations more easily under the order’s provisions. These contract nurses have delivered 45,981 vaccines across the state of Kansas. We continue to receive requests from employers to do onsite vaccination clinics, which is important to continue to vaccinate the workforce. To date, we have completed vaccine clinics at 47 employer locations across the state. The total number of employees who have had the opportunity to get vaccinated through this employer-partnership exceeds 40,000 Kansans. And, as of the writing of this letter, there are an additional 12 employers who have requested vaccination clinics for their nearly 5,000 (total) employees that are being scheduled. We have an additional 20 community vaccination clinics already scheduled between June 12 and July 27, 2021.


Third, we continue to receive resource requests from counties and hospitals that need to be fulfilled. We have received 5,090 resource requests for personal protective equipment (PPE), supplies, personnel and equipment. We have delivered 114,234 cases of PPE through these requests. Since May 28, 2021, there have been 26 requests, totaling 28,976 cases of PPE. Some of this equipment, such as ventilators, will need to be returned, inventoried, and receive maintenance work. Having a scheduled ramp-down will give counties and hospitals time to plan and understand that these resources will become unavailable after August 30th.


Fourth, as outlined below regarding executive orders, we need to continue requiring testing at our adult care homes and underserved populations. KSNG has tested over 30,603 individuals and transported over 26,304 samples to Kansas Health and Environment Laboratory (KHEL) with 297 of those samples since May 28, 2021. While these efforts will ultimately become part of KDHE’s normal operation, we need to continue to support these efforts through August 30th.


Without a disaster declaration in place, these priorities and objectives cannot be effectively accomplished. As you know, aside from removing the legal basis for conducting much of these efforts, the federal emergency response funding Kansas receives may be immediately imperiled if the disaster declaration expires. Pursuant to KEMA, the Adjutant General loses his authority to mission assign agencies such as the Civil Air Patrol, Highway Patrol, and others as part of the state response. These agencies do not have liability protection for work conducted in these efforts absent the emergency declaration.


Additionally, some of our most vulnerable Kansans would lose the emergency allotment of SNAP benefits the federal government provides to states with active COVID-19 emergency responses. Approximately 63,000 Kansas households would be affected by a loss of this additional financial support, and a total of around $14.5 million in additional benefits to those vulnerable Kansans and to our economy would be lost. While many of the elements of our emergency response from last summer are no longer essential, the disaster declaration itself is still essential.


SEOC COVID-19 Activities Closure Timeline


While there are certain activities that need to continue as described above, the list below indicates the mission assignments and activities that have been closed and which ones would be re-opened under an extension of the emergency declaration.


Mission Assignments

  • May be extended if emergency declaration is extended.
    ** Has been transferred to KDHE

Non-Congregate Shelters and Supporting Contracts

Food & Commodities


Rescinding or Sunsetting Executive Orders


Our administration has worked diligently to enable our state to responsibly pare down the number of pandemic emergency executive orders in place since the beginning of 2021. As of today, only nine pandemic executive orders remain in effect. In my May 24, 2021 application to extend the disaster declaration, I stated that in the weeks and months to come I would consider rescinding additional executive orders. In that continued effort, on June 14, 2021, I will issue an order rescinding all but two of the nine remaining pandemic executive orders. Orders will be rescinded as follows:

The two executive orders I do not intend to rescind at this time are 21-15 and 21-21. Executive Order 21-15 is the only mechanism in place to require COVID-19 testing in certain adult care homes licensed by the state. Without this order in place, the state’s ability to ensure the health and safety of staff and residents at such adult care homes will be severely compromised. Executive Order 21-21 grants temporary authority to certain medical personnel to administer COVID-19 vaccinations. Continued efforts to vaccinate as many Kansans as quickly as possible will be unnecessarily impeded if it expires.


The time to conclude our emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic under KEMA and to transition to a new normal for dealing with COVID-19 through standard authorities is approaching, but that time has not yet arrived. At the LCC’s May 28, 2021 meeting, some LCC members indicated that they wanted to see a plan for how we wind the emergency response down and return to normal. Our administration has now provided that plan. It will take until August 30, 2021, to execute it.


As circumstances have changed, we have transitioned to an emergency response that has been trimmed down to vaccination efforts, logistical support to local communities, finishing an orderly return to normal in state agencies, and securing federal financial support for our efforts. While COVID-19 could become an ever-present threat to public health if vaccination rates continue to decline, our emergency response will not be permanent. We owe it to Kansans to finish the job and wind down the state of disaster emergency responsibly.
As with the LCC’s previous meeting to consider an extension, at next Tuesday’s meeting Major General Weishaar, Dr. Norman, and members of my staff will be present to answer any questions the LCC may have.
Sincerely,
Laura Kelly
Governor
CC: Representative Ron Ryckman, Speaker of the House of Representatives
Senator Rick Wilborn, Vice President of the Senate
Senator Larry Alley, Senate Majority Leader
Senator Dinah Sykes, Senate Minority Leader
Representative Blaine Finch,
Speaker Pro Tem of the House of Representatives
Representative Dan Hawkins, House Majority Leader
Representative Tom Sawyer, House Minority Leader
Gordon Self, Revisor of Statutes

Special COVID-19 vaccination clinic scheduled at soccer match

2 p.m. Saturday, Children’s Mercy Park – All fans with tickets and eligible fans in attendance may get a free COVID-19 vaccine until match halftime at Sporting KC match at 2 p.m. at the Mazuma Plaza at Children’s Mercy Park. Fans who get a vaccine shot at the match will receive a free Sporting KC scarf. The clinic is in partnership with the Unified Government Health Department. For information, see https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept/photos/a.194105150632410/4228002737242611/.

Free walk-in vaccinations available

The Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th, (near 18th and Ridge), will be open for free walk-in vaccinations for everyone 18 and older from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12. The vaccines are through the Unified Government Health Department.

There are now expanded bus routes to the Saturday clinic at the Armory. Bus routes 102, 103 and 118 provide service to the Armory every 30 minutes on Saturdays. There is a special transfer stop between Route 106 and Route 118 at 18th and Quindaro on Saturdays.

People may also schedule vaccinations at WycoVaccines.org. Residents may request rides to the vaccination clinic through a form on the same website.

The Unified Government Health Department vaccination hours changed recently. To see the schedule and more information about vaccinations, visit WycoVaccines.org or https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Those who receive COVID-19 vaccinations are asked to consider bringing an ID to make the process go faster.

The Health Department is doing more mobile COVID-19 vaccinations, and people may request vaccines to be given at different sites in the community by going to WycoVaccines.org and clicking on “mobile vaccine request.” People also may request a ride to vaccination sites on the same page.

Those who wish to schedule an appointment may use the Health Department’s self-scheduling tool at WycoVaccines.org and click on a blue button that says, “Click here to schedule an appointment online.” The page is available in Spanish by clicking at the top of the page. Walk-in appointments also are welcome.

Those who don’t have an internet connection may call 3-1-1 or 913-573-5311 for assistance in scheduling their vaccination appointment time and date.

To see more information about Health Department vaccinations and next week’s schedule, visit WycoVaccines.org.

Other sites available for vaccinations

Vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment to get vaccinated. KU Health System currently is vaccinating residents of Kansas and Missouri who are 12 or older, by appointment only. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the appointment.

There are also pharmacies giving free COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacies, which are now also accepting walk-in vaccinations or appointments, and are starting vaccinations for age 12 and up at those pharmacies that are giving Pfizer vaccine (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/).

CVS has announced walk-in appointments for COVID-19 vaccine at some of its stores. Those interested in getting a vaccination at a CVS pharmacy are asked to visit a CVS website in order to make sure there is vaccine available. The website is at www.cvs.com/. Walgreens and Walmart also were listed on www.vaccines.gov as giving vaccinations.

Other pharmacies and sites giving vaccines are listed at www.vaccines.gov. The website also tells whether vaccines are in stock at the locations.

Case numbers reported

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, reported the COVID-19 case numbers at the University of Kansas Health System were slightly lower Friday morning. Five active COVID-19 patients were being treated at the hospital, a decrease of one. Three patients were in the intensive care unit, an increase of two from Thursday. One patient was on ECMO life support, a 54-year-old patient with no other medical problems who is not vaccinated. Four other patients were still in the hospital, in the recovery phase, the same number as Thursday. There were nine total COVID-19 patients, a decrease of one since Thursday.

Wyandotte County reported an increase of four COVID-19 cases on Friday, June 11, for a cumulative 18,907 cases, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 299 deaths reported, no change from Thursday.

The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 175,381 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Friday in the Kansas City region. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 39.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 315,769 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Friday, June 11, an increase of 269 cases since Wednesday, June 9. There were a total of 5,106 cumulative deaths reported statewide, an increase of three.
On Friday, June 11, the KDHE reported 59,411 cumulative cases in Johnson County, an increase of 38 cases since Wednesday. Leavenworth County had 7,286 cumulative cases, an increase of 12 since Wednesday. Sedgwick County had 57,550 cases, an increase of 38 cases since Wednesday, according to KDHE.

The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Friday night reported 33,437,749 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 599,180 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 14,417 new cases nationwide and 428 new deaths nationwide.
States with high numbers of new cases were Texas, 1,784; California, 1,347; Washington, 717; Missouri, 675; and Pennsylvania, 668.
Countries with high numbers of new cases were India, 92,291; Brazil, 88,092; Colombia, 31,656; Argentina, 27,628; and U.S., 14,417, according to Johns Hopkins information.

Free testing available

Free COVID-19 testing will be offered from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 12, at St. Patrick’s gym, 1086 N. 94th St., Kansas City, Kansas.

Free COVID-19 testing also will be offered from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th St., (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas, at the Health Department’s eastern location.

Wyandotte County residents may contact the Health Department at wycohelp.org to sign up for a test to be delivered to their home.

For more details about free COVID-19 testing offered by the UG Health Department, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19, https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept or call 3-1-1.

The Health Department’s general contact page is at https://www.wycokck.org/Health/Contact.aspx. The department’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. There are more test sites listed on this page.

Saliva testing is now offered at the UG Health Department. For more information, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02042021-ugphd-saliva-testing-available.pdf.

The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/330310795391910.

A vaccine report for the state of Kansas is at
https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/123/Vaccine-Historical-Document-22521?bidId=.

The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.

The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.

The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.

The Johns Hopkins Data in Motion, a presentation on critical COVID-19 data in the past 24 hours, is at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video.

Legislative group rules that evictions and foreclosures can start again

The Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) on Friday met and revoked the Kansas eviction and foreclosure moratorium.

The move was opposed by Gov. Laura Kelly, who had issued executive order No. 21-13 prohibiting foreclosures and evictions on April 1 for those persons whose financial hardships had been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Kansas Legislature voted to limit the governor’s authority and substitute the Legislative Coordinating Council.

With the LCC action on Friday, evictions and foreclosures can begin again in Kansas. However, there have been reports in the community that many evictions already have taken place in the past month, before the action was taken Friday.

The LCC is made up of Kansas legislative leaders.

Also on Friday, the LCC extended the state of emergency in Kansas until June 15.

Gov. Kelly’s spokesperson, Reeves Oyster, issued this statement: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, Governor Kelly has taken a clear-eyed, practical approach and empowered the people who know how to handle emergencies best. Maj. General Weishaar has been clear about the importance of this disaster declaration. It is central to how we get Kansas back to normal. We can not put our recovery at risk.


“The Governor strongly disagrees with the LCC’s decision to revoke her evictions and foreclosure moratorium. As we finally start to recover from this global pandemic, now is not the time to kick people out of their homes. Governor Kelly will continue to focus on doing what’s right – and not what’s politically convenient.”

A statement was issued by House leaders on the LCC action setting the end of the state’s disaster emergency declaration, from Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, and Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, R-Ottawa:

“This week, the Governor requested yet another extension of her emergency authority from the Legislative Coordinating Council when refusing to provide Kansans with even the most basic plan to return our state to normal. Today’s action by the LCC to end the emergency declaration on June 15 brings needed certainty to the people of Kansas, while giving those serving on the front lines of the pandemic time to form a plan of transition from emergency response to routine operations. Republicans believe that the incredible men and women of the Kansas National Guard and those who serve in other areas of emergency management deserve the thanks of our entire state. Kansans deserve an end to government by emergency and a more measured response that moves our state forward. Today’s action by the LCC does exactly that.”

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Vicki Hiatt issued a statement in response to the Legislative Coordinating Council ending the eviction moratorium put in place during COVID-19:

“Today, we saw Republicans in the Kansas Legislature again put politics above public health as Sen. Masterson, Rep. Ryckman, Sen. Alley, Sen. Wilborn, Rep. Hawkins, and Rep. Finch voted to end Governor Kelly’s eviction moratorium and kick Kansans experiencing financial hardship out of their homes. This decision is cruel and punitive, bad for our recovering workforce, and devastating for vulnerable families. Kansans will remember that when they needed help the most, Republicans turned their backs to score cheap political points.”

Republican push urging Kansas governor to end federal unemployment benefits stumbles for now

Republicans are pushing Gov. Kelly to eliminate the $300 additional weekly unemployment payments because they say the money makes it harder to fill open jobs.

by Abigail Censky, KCUR and Kansas News Service

The push by Republicans to end the $300 dollar per week additional federal unemployment payment in Kansas reached a peak last week with a letter signed by 200 groups calling on the governor to eliminate the benefit.

But there was one problem: leaders of some of those groups say they never agreed to sign the letter.

It was a stumble in what has been a coordinated effort by Republicans to urge the Democratic governor to end the payments. The GOP and business groups argue the larger unemployment payments are keeping workers at home and making it harder to fill jobs.

“They’re on a mission to remove the weekly $300 enhanced unemployment benefit,” House Democratic Leader Tom Sawyer said in a statement.

The fight began in earnest three weeks ago when Gov. Mike Parson from neighboring Missouri announced the state would opt out of the additional unemployment insurance benefits beginning June 12.

The same day, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, introduced a plan to roll back federal unemployment benefits to $150 per week by the end of May and completely end the benefits by the end of June.

“I can guarantee you,” Marshall told Cheddar News, “(Employees are) getting paid more to stay home than go back to work.”

Since then 22 states have announced they’ll end federal benefits by early July.

In a letter sent to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly this week, all of the Republicans in the Kansas congressional delegation argued that continuing federal benefits through September “provides a lucrative government incentive to stay home despite clear signs that the economy is recovering and life is trending toward normal.”

The coordinated attempt to cajole Kelly into dropping the benefits early ran into an unforced error last Thursday when it was revealed a letter signed by nearly 200 groups featured organizations that had unwittingly been added by lower-level employees. Those groups included a library and the Greater Wichita YMCA.

The letter had previously been touted in a statement by Republican leadership in the state House as evidence that Kelly “continues to hold Kansas back.”

But Kelly has, so far, demurred to the pleas from her Republican counterparts.

“We have not really made a final decision on that issue. It is something we are exploring,” she said to reporters last week.

“There is conflicting anecdotal data right now,” she said, “and I need to just study the issue.”

The April report from the Kansas Department of Labor shows unemployment in the state has gone down from 3.7% in March to 3.5% in April. That’s down from one year ago at the height of the pandemic when it was 12.6%.

“Great progress is being made as we are approaching pre-pandemic unemployment rates,” Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Amber Schultz said in a statement.

Rep. Jason Probst, a Democrat from Hutchinson, was called by the Wichita YMCA, the Hutchison library and a local roofing company who initially didn’t know how they were added to the letter asking the governor to roll back federal benefits.

Probst said the letter from the congressional delegation, powerful business groups and the statement from House Republicans “seems like a very coordinated thing to me.”

Probst said he doesn’t doubt some local businesses are having trouble finding workers, but he suspects that could be a direct result of low or stagnant wages.

“That’s the root of the problem,” he said. “I don’t think it’s federal benefits.”

Jeremy Hill, the director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said Kansas does have a wage problem.

“Kansas has had a problem over the last decade,” Hill said, “where wages on average were not increasing at the rate of the national level.”

Hill said that caused some people to move out of state, and the base of available workers became smaller, which made for a tight labor market even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, there are multiple factors that complicate whether employers are able to fill jobs and whether employees are able to find a job that fits the demands and expenses of their lifestyle.

Unlike the Great Recession, workers displaced from jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic aren’t returning to the same jobs. Even if they’re able to return to work, they may be limited by caretaking or lack of child care.

“We haven’t added a lot of jobs from a year ago,” he said. “But we’ve added a lot more people in the labor market looking for a job than a year ago.”

Abigail Censky is the political reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @AbigailCensky or email her at abigailcensky (at) kcur (dot) org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/government/2021-05-21/republican-push-urging-kansas-governor-to-end-federal-unemployment-benefits-stumbled-this-week-but-isnt-over.