Category: Kansas Legislature

Kansas House panel approves bill to extend executive orders on health care staffing shortages

Extends provisions in the governor’s executive orders

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — A Kansas House committee approved legislation Thursday codifying temporary suspension of regulations on health care providers included in the governor’s recent executive orders, sending the bill to the full chamber for debate.

In response to the worsening COVID-19 situation and caseload at many health care sites, Gov. Laura Kelly issued a 15-day executive order last week to authorize expanded practice by some health care professionals and temporarily halted certain requirements at adult care homes. House Bill 2477 would extend these provisions through May 15.

Linda MowBray, president of the Kansas Health Care Association and Kansas Center for Assisted Living, said the executive orders were a lifeline, but 15 days can go by in the blink of an eye. Without these provisions in place, workers facing extended hours may not have someone available to replace them, she said.

“HB 2477 is not the panacea that will solve all of our workforce needs,” MowBray told the House Judiciary Committee. “Instead, it is a much-needed safety net which will allow providers to work together with their associations, agencies, the Legislature and the governor’s office to find and create more permanent solutions to our staffing crisis.”

The panel moved expeditiously to send the bill down the line, passing it out without opposition. In the Senate Judiciary Committee, a brief discussion on the bill yielded no definitive action.

Long-term care facilities and medical providers across the state are reporting a significant number of staff members are falling ill to COVID-19 or simply leaving the field. Some hospitals and nursing homes have shut their doors amid these shortages.

The bill provisions adopted from Kelly’s executive orders would allow nursing staff with a license that lapsed within the past five years to practice medical services. Another section of the bill would allow students enrolled in medical programs and certain qualified military personnel to provide medical assistance.

“The unfortunate reality is the peak of hospitalizations may not have yet been reached,” said Tara Mays, vice president of state government relations for the Kansas Hospital Association. “The extension of these provisions will enable Kansas hospitals to access additional resources as we continue to develop contingency plans that help us address the health care needs of our communities.”

In addition, the bill would allow temporary nurse aides to provide care for residents in nursing homes, allowing fully certified staff to focus on other, potentially more pressing needs within the facilities.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said his mother lives in an assisted care facility in Kansas. The care provided to his mother never diminished during the pandemic despite the long hours and difficult circumstances endured by staff, he said.

“Sadly, I also get notifications for this facility every day that in addition to people being tired and worn-out or leaving the profession and taking higher paying jobs, it seems like every day additional employees are being diagnosed and having to quarantine, as well as certain close contacts,” Carmichael said. “It looks to me like that just massively is complicating the problem.”

Under current law, the governor’s disaster declaration could stand for 15 days. The governor requested that legislators codify the substance of her orders through March, but the bill would extend the provisions until May to be safe.

While there were no opponents to the bill, some stakeholders had concerns with certain provisions or ramifications. Mitzi McFatrich, interim director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, said the use of temporary nurse aides in long-term care facilities should only serve as an emergency stopgap.

Temporary aides are required to complete only eight hours of online, unsupervised training, while certified aides must undergo 90 hours of classroom and clinical training.

Courtney Cyzman, general counsel for the state Board of Healing Arts, said the one concern was with a provision authorizing licensed health care professionals in good standing in another state to practice that profession in Kansas. The board licenses and regulates many health care professionals in Kansas.

“The way that the board or any regulatory body has jurisdiction over someone is with a license,” Cyzman said. “These individuals who do not have a license (in Kansas) as written in the bill, without clarifying that these people are going to be treated as a licensee pursuant to the Applicable Practice Act, it’s entirely possible that people work in this state and we have no idea who they are.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/13/kansas-house-panel-approves-bill-to-extend-executive-orders-on-health-care-staffing-shortages/

House Speaker Ryckman denounces Kansas governor on tax, spending, policy fronts

GOP leader eager for sales tax rate cut, Rainy Day Fund and pension investment

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman’s rebuttal to the Democratic governor’s speech Tuesday highlighted the quest of Republicans to reduce the state’s sales tax rate, invest rather than spend one-time federal stimulus funding and create a Rainy Day Fund to help avoid tax hikes during economic fluctuations.

Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said Kansans were weary of Gov. Laura Kelly’s inability to deliver meaningful tax cuts, savvy economic reform and consistent, steady leadership. Kelly addressed a joint session of the Kansas Legislature in the annual State of the State presentation.

“Many Kansans say they have grown tired of broken promises,” Ryckman said. “Listening to your concerns, your priorities, Republicans are focused on a different approach.”

He said the GOP-led Legislature would use the state’s tax revenue growth to responsibly reduce the 6.5% sales tax rate applicable to all purchases. The governor proposed elimination of the state’s sales tax on groceries.

The state government also needs to build a financial reserve fund capable of nimbly responding to inevitable revenue shortfalls, Ryckman said. The fund can help the state avoid tax hikes, he said.

Ryckman said the Legislature should invest federal stimulus funding in the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, which has a long-term unfunded liability of $5 billion.

“Stabilize the KPERS retirement fund so that our teachers, our firefighters and other public employees know it will be there for them when they need it,” Ryckman said.

Ryckman said the state had a duty to “preserve the Kansas culture of life so that common sense protections like parental notification and safety requirements remain in place” to control access to abortion. He objected to Kelly’s opposition to proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution — on statewide ballots in August — declaring the Bill of Rights didn’t guarantee women bodily autonomy and a right to abortion.

He said Kansas government should improve delivery of mental health services so veterans, children and families. Kansas lawmakers must work to protect access to safe, reliable water for agricultural, industrial and residential consumption while also addressing contamination issues and declines in water supplies, the House speaker said.

Republicans, he said, pledged to keep the American dream alive in Kansas through clever economic decisions, lasting tax cuts instead of one-time handouts, and steady leadership.

He referenced Kelly’s veto of income, property and sales tax legislation approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and her recommendation for a $250 tax rebate to more than 1 million Kansas taxpayers at a cost of $455 million.

In addition, Ryckman was critical of Kelly’s decision at outset of the pandemic to temporarily close some businesses, impose mask and social distancing mandates. He also faulted her for failing to thwart unemployment insurance fraud.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/11/house-speaker-ron-ryckman-denounces-governor-on-tax-spending-policy-fronts-1/.

Kansas governor asks for simple food tax relief, resilience in State of the State speech

Gov. Laura Kelly plans to freeze college tuition, spend heavily on law enforcement, fund state water plan

by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday used her annual State of the State address to propose eliminating the sales tax on food with a simple 13-word phrase, freezing college tuition rates, investing in law enforcement, and funding a state water plan abandoned by previous administrations.

She provided encouragement to health care workers and residents exhausted from a two-year battle with COVID-19, and promoted improvements made in the state’s economy, infrastructure and finances since she took office in 2019. She promised to support north-central Kansas farmers who suffered losses from wildfires last month.

The governor paid tribute to former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, who died in December, and Buck O’Neill, who finally earned entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And she highlighted the 50-year bipartisan marriage of Lane County farmers Vance and Louise Ehmke.

Her speech coincides with another surge in virus cases that has placed unprecedented stress on medical providers. COVID has killed 7,114 Kansans since the start of the pandemic two years ago and ignited furious debates about the role government should place in keeping people safe.

Still, Kelly insisted, “we will get through this.”

“Needless to say, it has been an arduous couple of years for Kansas and the nation,” Kelly said. “We’ve lost loved ones, coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Unfortunately, we continue to lose too many Kansans to this virus. But we also saw, and we continue to see, the very best of Kansas rise up in every corner of our state.”

Despite the economic damage caused by COVID-19, the Democratic governor and GOP-led Legislature have amassed the largest budget surplus in 40 years while fully funding schools, paying down state debts, adding $600 million to the Rainy Day Fund, and ending the practice of redirecting money intended for highway repairs.

Thanks to that stable financial footing, Kelly said, the state can afford to eliminate a 6.5% sales tax on food and still balance its budget.

“Here’s something we all know: Food in Kansas costs families way too much,” Kelly said. “And even as we sit here with a record surplus, Kansans continue to pay higher taxes on groceries than anyone in the country. It makes no sense.”

Republican Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who will try to unseat Kelly in this year’s governor’s race, and GOP members of the Legislature have signaled support for eliminating the food tax. The governor stressed the need to pass what she calls a “clean” bill, free of other tax changes.

If the Legislature passes a 13-word bill, she said, she will sign it the moment it hits her desk.

All it needs to say: “We hereby eliminate the state sales tax on food in Kansas, effective immediately.”

The governor offered a glimpse of her other budget priorities, which will be detailed in a legislative hearing Wednesday. They include a “total freeze” on college tuition.

“This pandemic has created so many strains, so many stressors, and so many challenges, we simply cannot let it derail the careers or the dreams of our young people,” Kelly said.

She called for “historic levels of funding for law enforcement.” That includes a pay raise for highway patrol officers, as well as investments in better equipment and training facilities. Programs to support mental health and children who run afoul of the law would be part of the equation.

Her budget restores funding for the State Water Plan for the first time in 15 years, providing a five-year blueprint to ensure a reliable water supply for Kansas communities and farmers.

She said agriculture remains the backbone of the state and praised farmers for another record year of exports, surpassing $4 billion for the second time.

Farmers such as the Ehmkes provide inspiration, Kelly said.

Louise is a Democrat from California, Vance a Republican from Kansas. The two met as students at Bethany College in Lindsborg. When they took over the family farm in the mid-1970s, they became the fourth generation of Ehmkes to operate it.

“You know, Louise and Vance are still out there each morning with their fellow farmers and ranchers, rain or shine, snow or sleet,” Kelly said. “That toughness, that grit, that sense of pride, so often passed from one generation to the next — that’s what makes Kansas farmers so special.”

Kelly renewed her call for Medicaid expansion, pointed to improvements in the foster care system, touted billions of dollars in economic investments across the state and urged lawmakers to avoid toxic politics.

Kelly lamented the loss of Dole, whom she described as “a passionate voice for Kansas” and an example of the “greatest generation.”

Kelly quoted Dole: “When it’s all over, it’s not about who you were, it’s about whether you made a difference.”

“These are words we should all keep close to our hearts,” she said.

Kelly recalled spending a day with O’Neil about 20 years ago at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, calling it “one of the great joys of my life.” O’Neil, an iconic player for the Kansas City Monarchs, died 15 years ago.

She described him as an eternal optimist who was known for saying: “Hold hands with the person next to you. That way, they can’t get away. And neither can you.”

“So,” the governor said, “let us all hold hands these next few months and not let go until we finally get things done.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/11/kansas-governor-asks-for-simple-food-tax-relief-resilience-in-state-of-the-state-speech-1