Kansas
Kansas Legislature opens 2024 session amid tax policy salvo, dash of winter weather – Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The House and Senate launched the 2024 legislative session Monday amid anticipated criticism of Gov. Laura Kelly’s attempt at bipartisanship on tax reform and substantial enthusiasm for a nonbinding resolution delving into Middle East foreign policy.
While the threat of six inches of snow by Tuesday led the Democratic governor to release early executive branch employees and close state office buildings in Shawnee County, both chambers passed the measure condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Hours earlier, GOP lawmakers gave a chilly reception to Kelly’s comprehensive tax reform plan endorsed by Republicans, Democrats and an independent legislator.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said snowfall meant the House would convene Tuesday “proforma,” which meant members didn’t have to be present. He said one House committee, a panel devoted to water policy, would meet Tuesday. A collection of other committees were postponed. The Senate was expected to have a more robust committee schedule despite the storm.
Hawkins said the 2024 Legislature would engage during the next few months in rigorous debate on tax reform, especially a proposal to establish a single, flat individual income tax rate. He said lawmakers also would work to find solutions to the Kansas child care crisis. He didn’t expect the Legislature to dive deeply into private or home school vouchers, abortion restrictions or Medicaid expansion.
“Taxes, taxes, taxes — that’s my top priority in this session and that’s what I’m working towards,” Hawkins said.
What about abortion rights?
“I doubt it,” he said. “We are going to do some ‘life’ issues, but not abortion issues.”
The House and Senate convened at 2 p.m. Monday for what could be a 90-day session in an election year with the entire House and Senate up for grabs.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, said she would advocate on behalf of state funding to K-12 public education, including additional spending on special education programs.
“I want to see some improvement there and continue to protect our public schools,” Sykes said.
Sykes said she anticipated Republicans would soon introduce a bill creating a flat individual income tax rate in Kansas. In 2023, the GOP sought a 5.15% rate for all Kansans, but it was vetoed by the governor. Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, vowed to bring the flat tax back.
“I think it will probably come up fairly quickly, the flat tax and hopefully we are able to sustain a veto on that again,” Sykes said.
Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, said he would concentrate on advancing the $1 billion, three-year tax reform bill made public by the governor. It contained property, sales and income tax reforms.
“If this were my decision, this is the kind of tax cut I would make for every Kansan,” he said.
Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, said the opening of the Senate was a departure from the tradition of dealing primarily with ceremonial activities. The Hamas resolution altered that dynamic, he said.
“It’s quite an interesting way to start a session,” Haley said. “Normally, the opening day is an opportunity to rekindle our ties and to start our agenda, but it was the choice of leadership today to begin with a spirited discussion about an issue that is of national concern, but doesn’t really necessarily affect the state.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced their intention to break the Republican supermajority in the House and Senate during the 2024 elections.
“It’s essential we elect Democrats to the Kansas Legislature to return veto power to Gov. Kelly as an important check on Republican power,” said Heather Williams, president of the national group. “The 2024 legislative session will put on sharp display how out of step Republicans are with Kansas families, as Democrats combat GOP attacks on fundamental rights like abortion access.”
Kelly is scheduled to deliver the annual State of the State speech at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to a joint session of the Legislature inside the House chamber.
Meanwhile, Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert will give the 2024 State of the Kansas Judiciary address to the Legislature at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday also in the House chamber.
Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.
At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.
The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.
The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.
The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.
The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.
But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.
“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”
Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.
“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”
Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.
“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.
He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”
In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.
But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.
There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.
“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.
“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
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All Kansas Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at select Kansas Lottery offices.
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This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Kansas editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026
KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Kansas City, Kansas, is now a sister city to Concepción, in the Tucumán province of Argentina.
The connection that carries deep personal meaning for members of the Kansas City area’s Argentinian community, with less than six weeks until Lionel Messi and their national team play at Kansas City Stadium (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium).
Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of World Cup
The official Sister Cities Agreement was signed Wednesday at Sporting Park, in a ceremony that also served as the kickoff of a broader cultural and economic initiative connecting Argentina and Kansas.
Federico Carmona has lived in the United States for more than two decades. He spent Wednesday afternoon cheering and smiling.
“This is my dream,” Carmona said.
For Carmona, the moment was personal — a merging of the two places he calls home.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
“This is a blessing,” Carmona said.
He continued, “Argentina is my heart. I was born in Argentina. I have so much passion for soccer. I used to play, my kids play. We never thought that Argentina was going to be in Kansas City. So that was a big, big surprise for us.”
Claudia Luna West, chair of the Sister Cities Association and a native of Concepción, Tucumán, was one of the driving forces behind the partnership.
“It means the world to me,” Luna West said.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
She described the pairing of the two cities as a natural collaboration — like the ingredients of a perfect recipe coming together.
“Everything collaborates to be this great thing,” Luna West said.
That recipe metaphor extended to food. The event featured the announcement of a partnership between Kansas BBQ Empanadas and Jack Stack BBQ — a culinary symbol of the two cultures meeting.
“Now, empanadas aren’t going to be just an ethnic food. They’re going to be a landmark of Kansas,” Luna West said.
Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK, Christal Watson, said the designation reflects the city’s diversity and its ability to connect with the world.
KSHB
“I think it’s important that we set a global stage on how diverse we are and how beautifully, wonderfully made we are with all the different cultures,” Watson said.
Watson said shared experiences — including food — are what bring communities together.
KSHB
“Food is a common link. Those are the things that get us engaged… those are the things that help us grow and be a better community overall,” Watson said. “We already have a flavor going on.”
Jake Reid, president and CEO of Sporting Kansas City, said the timing of the sister city announcement — with the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaching — felt right.
KSHB/ Brian Luton
“We’ve been planning this for so long. I think to have it on the doorstep now and be probably a month out is becoming very real and exciting,” Reid said. “They’re meant to be from… kind of everything we’ve got going on right now, for sure.”
For Carmona, the day was a long time coming.
“We can’t wait for all this to happen,” Carmona said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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