Georgia. Alabama. Missouri. Pro-Life extremists are passing abortion laws even their own supporters think go too far. Their intent? Get the issue before the newly conservative US Supreme Court, in an attempt to revoke the right to legal, safe abortions. The result? Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of women in those states are having their lives thrown into turmoil. Kansas is next.

In the news section, we have been running stories under the heading, "Is it 2020 yet?" regarding the ambitions of legislators and politicians for the 2020 US Congressional races. With the 2019 Kansas Legislative Session behind us (mostly, Sine Die, the final day, is still ahead on May 29), isn't 2020 what is next? Despite what the news, Facebook, or the donation emails flooding in would say, no, 2020 is not next. In Kansas, we vote every year, in August and November. In just two and-one-half months, on August 6, 2019, Kansans will go to the polls for a Primary Election.

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.