Taxes, child care, Medicaid: As Kansas Legislature returns, here’s the issues to watch

Kansas lawmakers return to Topeka on Monday for their annual session before every legislative seat is on the ballot in November.

Republicans hold a narrow supermajority in the state House and Senate, but Democrats are determined to break the supermajority by flipping key votes in Johnson County.

Lawmakers last year focused heavily on social issues, overriding vetoes by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to approve several policies regulating the lives of transgender Kansans and approving new rules for abortion providers despite an overwhelming statewide vote in 2022 to preserve abortion access in Kansas.

While social issues will still be on the table in 2024, Republican leadership has said their top priority will be tax cuts – specifically a flat income tax and reductions in property taxes. Meanwhile, Kelly is planning to push again for Medicaid expansion.

Here is the latest on those issues and others to watch this year.

Taxes

With more than $2 billion in budget surplus, taxes are certain to dominate the session.

Republicans and Democrats have expressed interest in reducing taxes but support different approaches.

GOP leaders in the Legislature traveled the state this summer promoting a flat income tax as well as a constitutional amendment that would limit increases in property valuations to reduce increases in property taxes.

Lawmakers approved a bill last year that would have instituted a flat tax alongside other tax cuts but failed to override a veto by Kelly.

Heading into the 2024 session Kelly has called the flat tax a “non-starter” that she will not support. The governor has not rolled out her own tax plan yet but has sought cuts to sales tax on hygiene products in the past.

Lawmakers from both parties have considered policies to increase the standard deduction for all Kansans and reduce or eliminate taxes on Social Security income.

Medicaid

For the sixth straight year, Kelly will introduce a bill to expand Medicaid.

Her latest proposal, which the Democratic governor announced last month, would expand health coverage to upwards of 150,000 Kansans. The policy proposal includes key concessions to Republicans that Kelly says are aimed at concerns opponents have expressed over the years.

Recipients will have to abide by work requirements and a clause is built into the bill that would void the program if the federal government stops paying its share.

But Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, quickly rejected the plan, insisting the work requirement would be struck down by the Biden administration.

Though Democrats will push hard for expansion, the policy will likely face significant resistance and become a major campaign issue.

Child care

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are interested in pursuing solutions to Kansas’ child care shortage this year.

According to data from Child Care Aware of Kansas providers in the state currently only meet about 44% of the demand for child care. To fully meet demands the state would need nearly 85,000 more slots.

Last year lawmakers considered a proposal that would have loosened regulations, making it easier for existing providers to operate and take in more children. The legislation narrowly failed in the Senate but the Kansas Department of Health and Environment recommended similar regulation changes this fall and sent them to Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, for review.

Sen. Chase Blasi and Sen. Kristen O’Shea, two Republican lawmakers who sponsored the bill, said they were largely satisfied with the regulation changes proposed by KDHE. Blasi said he thought there was still more the state could do in that space but that he did not yet know what potential changes would look like.

Kelly will likely also ask lawmakers to allow her to reorganize executive agencies so child care activities can be managed by one agency rather than several. Kelly’s task force on early childhood education, which concluded its work last month, recommended the consolidation but did not leave exact instructions for how it should occur.

A Kelly spokeswoman said any consolidation will need some form of legislative approval.

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said she is also working with Republican Sen. Chase Blasi of Wichita to expand child care tax credits.

LGBTQ Rights

Last year, Kansas lawmakers passed a slew of bills regulating the lives of transgender Kansans. The most significant among them were policies barring transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports and a bill defining man and woman in state law based upon sex assigned at birth.

As a result of the gender-definition bill, transgender Kansans are currently barred from changing the gender marker on their driver’s licenses. But the issue is still being litigated in Shawnee County District Court.

As litigation continues lawmakers are considering legislation around hormone therapy and transition surgery for trans Kansans. Last year, lawmakers narrowly passed a bill that would have punished doctors who provided such care to minors but were unable to override a veto by Kelly.

Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, said she was interested in pursuing a similar policy again this year. Landwehr said she was still studying the issue and contemplating what limits and regulations would be appropriate.

Education

Kansas lawmakers are certain to contemplate the state of education funding, especially special education.

The state in 2021 fulfilled its constitutional obligation to fund general education in Kansas following a long-running school finance lawsuit. But the litigation didn’t consider special education and, for the past three years, public education advocates have pushed for more funds for the programs.

State law requires the Legislature to fund 92% of special education costs not covered by the federal government. But Kansas has not met that requirement in more than a decade.

Kelly plans to ask for additional funding. Her budget last year sought to allocate $361 million over five years.

Instead, Republican lawmakers are eyeing changes to how the state calculates special education funding, arguing sufficient funds may already be provided by the state.