The Kansas Legislative Session restarted with a bang on Wednesday last week, and looked to roar into the weekend, but ended with a disappointing whimper at 3am Sunday. Leadership had continued to thwart a vote on Medicaid expansion, so legislators used the only leverage they had, holding the budget hostage until a vote on expansion could be held. The strategy succeeded at first, with the pro-expansion coalition holding strong through two votes. A third vote proved too much, however, as promises by Leadership for a Medicaid vote next year were enough to sway some legislators.

When the Kansas Legislature comes back into session on Wednesday, they will confront several thorny issues. At one point, we expected them to just have to handle budget issues. However, their break has been eventful, and now we expect them to tackle abortion rights and health care expansion, along with the expected budget issues. More importantly perhaps, they will tackle the issue of how to govern effectively while also working for constituents. That's not a trick question, however. They can do both.

There is a little over one week left of the Kansas Legislature's break before the veto session. It is becoming more apparent by the day that the session will contain more than veto work, however. You know already that there will be a vote to bring Medicaid Expansion out of committee in the Senate. Now, there are rumblings that the vetoed tax bill for which Legislative Leadership could not muster support, may be back in some form. Of course budget bills remain outstanding, without which Kansas cannot, by law, begin the new fiscal year on July 1, 2019.

Today is tax day, and we thought, in celebration of paying for all the things we want in a civilized society, we'd do a deep dive into taxes and tax structure and... who are we kidding? Let's leave the tax issue at this (as spelled out on our website), "MainStream affirms that, in order to provide services to the people, government must be funded by the people it serves. Revenue and spending policies must treat every Kansan equitably, must be sustainable, and must adequately support government’s duties, be it at the state, county, or municipal level."

Last Friday, the Kansas Legislature wrapped up its regular session. As expected, however, all of the Legislature's business was not finished, and they will return on May 1st, after their three week Spring Break, to work on Medicaid expansion, the state's budget, and possibly education. Let us fill you in on some of the bigger issues wrapped up, and those left to finish.

There is a lot going on in the Kansas Legislature this week, since Drop Dead Day is Friday, April 5th. This is the last day for bills to be worked and voted on and sent to the Governor. Or at least, that's the plan. If that happens, the Legislature will then take the next three weeks off for their "Spring Break," and reconvene on May 1st for the veto session, where they would consider bills voted by the Governor after Drop Dead Day. But that's not how it usually works.

This morning, the Kansas House will begin debating and voting on a large number of bills, as many as 40, by last count. Among them are two bills having to do with public education in Kansas. We need you, today, now, to click the link below to send an email to your Kansas Representative, asking them to support clean, transparent funding to meet the requirements of the Kansas Supreme Court, so that we can finally put a decade of litigation behind us.

This is written testimony delivered to the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs, in opposition to HCR 5004, a proposed Amendment to the Kansas Constitution to ban the legal and safe right to an abortion.

This is written testimony delivered to the House Committee on K-12 Education Budget in support of SB 142, a bill that would fully fund public education, based on Governor Laura Kelly's plan.

Last week, when some of the largest school districts in Kansas were having Spring break, and parents and education advocates were enjoying time with family or away, the Leadership of the Kansas House of Representatives sought to push through their bill to "fix" public education. On the same day that the Kansas Senate voted to pass SB 142, which would add the funding sought by the Governor, the House held a hurriedly-organized hearing on HB 2395, an omnibus education policy bill that changes policy and funding levels passed last year and already ruled Constitutional by the Kansas Supreme Court. In short, they threw a spanner into the works.