5.3.22 -Kansas Reflector
It could have been worse.
That’s not the kind of statement that inspires excitement and applause, or rouses one’s fellow Kansans to ecstasies of celebration. It’s still an accurate summary of the 2022 Legislature, which saw its veto session careen to a close early Friday.
At various points, chamber leaders or arch-conservative legislators proposed a passel of policy that would have wounded our state for years to come.
- A “taxpayer bill of rights” amendment would have made setting sensible fiscal policy radically more difficult.
- Another amendment would have limited Gov Laura Kelly’s power over state Supreme Court nominations.
- An “ivermectin amnesty” bill pushed by Sen. Mark Steffen would have forbidden the state Board of Healing Arts from investigating doctors who prescribed ineffective treatments for COVID-19.
None of these measures made it through. Steffen tried to claim that his bill did in a bizarre letter to health care providers, but nope.
Other policies came closer to becoming law but were still stopped.
- A “parental bill of rights” would have singled out teachers as enemies of parents and their communities while allowing challenges of any material in school libraries.
- An anti-trans bill would have forbidden transgender students from participating in girls’ sports (apparently a single student in the entire state would have been affected).
- A new, bizarrely gerrymandered U.S. congressional map that split Wyandotte County and shoved Lawrence into the gargantuan 1st District.
Leaders couldn’t rustle up the votes in the House to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes of the first two bills. As for the map, a Wyandotte County district judge did the job.
This is why we all should appreciate having multiple branches of government. The governor provides a check on lawmakers. When even she can’t stop them, judges can step up to enforce the state constitution.
As I said, it could have been worse.
Lawmakers didn’t just stop bad things, either. A few pieces of actual good policy made it through.
As Kansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter reported Monday, Senate Bill 267 lengthens postpartum coverage under Medicaid from 60 days after birth — roughly two months — to 12 months. That’s key because roughly a third of births in the state are covered under KanCare, the state Medicaid program. Some 9,000 Kansan mothers are expected to benefit.
Maternal and infant health advocates have long sought that change, and Kansas families will be all the stronger for it. Everyone should take a bow for making this extension a reality.
But that’s not all. The Kansas Reflector’s Noah Taborda wrote last month that the new state budget increases “funding for mental health services in home and community-based services and behavioral crisis stabilization for Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It also approves enhancements for emergency medical services, newborn screenings, cancer screenings and more.”
Sure, some of this simply means that legislators shoveled out a bit more money on easy-to-love programs. Those programs will still help real people. They will see real benefits.
In other words, it could have been worse.
Finally, we have the … not quite there yet policies.
Yes, the Legislature managed to finally pass a cut to the state’s ludicrously high sales tax on food. Rather than eliminating it completely, however, they passed a phased-in mess meant to deny Kelly the slightest hint of political benefit. Do better, guys.
Sure, they managed to pass a sports betting bill. Everyone knows, though, that what Kansans really want is legal cannabis, either medical or recreational. We saw some movement on the issue this session, but nothing to push a bill over the finish line.
No one objects to funneling more money into KPERS, as lawmakers decided to send more than $1 billion to the state pension fund. Was that really the best option for that money, though, given other needs in the state? (Cough, Medicaid expansion, cough.)
I’m not going to get into the bad policy, at least not now. We have weeks and weeks to go in examining that.
Who knows what might happen May 23, when everyone reconvenes for the late spring legislative hootenanny that is sine die. Maybe Steffen will finally figure out how to make hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin doses mandatory for every Kansan. Maybe Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, will figure out how to install security cameras in every public school classroom. Your guess is as good as mine!
For the moment however, for today, let’s send up a word of thanks to legislators, Kelly and the judicial branch for making sure a handful of good things happened.
It could have been worse.