The 2020 Kansas Legislative Session started with a bang when Sen. Wagle introduced the anticipated amendment to strip women's rights out of the Kansas Constitution. For the first month it stole all the oxygen out of the Statehouse, even while other bills were being introduced, and we attended four lobby days in two weeks.

This morning the Kansas House of Representatives met to debate SCR 1613, the amendment to the Kansas Constitution to strip women's reproductive rights from our Bill of Rights. They voted to send it to a Final Action vote tomorrow, Friday.

• One more time: click here to send your Rep an email

Last night, the Kansas State Senate voted 28-12 to amend the KS Constitution to remove from it the right of every Kansas woman to determine her own health care. The amendment would put that right in the hands of the legislators. Now, it goes to the Kansas House of Representatives for their deliberation and vote.

This is testimony Mainstream is providing in opposition to HB 2465, to expand the Tax Credit Scholarship Program, at the hearing on January 30, 2020. This would expand an existing program that already diverts public tax funds to support private and parochial schools.

This is testimony Mainstream is providing in opposition to HB 2005, providing tax benefits to upper income Kansans, at the hearing on January 29, 2020. Under the guise of helping middle and lower income Kansans, this would take $50 million of tax revenue away from the state and return it to Kansans who can and do itemize on their tax returns.

First, thank you to everyone who sent email to their Kansas legislators opposing the amendment to the Kansas Constitution to strip Kansas women of their right to make their own decisions about their health. This amendment explicitly gives that right to legislators.

We are sending this message to all 165 Kansas State Legislators, concerning Constitutional amendments and other measures that have been introduced or proposed for action in the Legislature. In short, Mainstream will find it virtually impossible to support legislators who support any of these or similar measures.

This is testimony Mainstream is providing in support of SB 252, Medicaid (KanCare) Expansion in Kansas, at the hearing on January 23, 2020. Medicaid Expansion in Kansas would allow 150,000 hardworking Kansans who fall into the health care coverage gap to access health care.

This is testimony to be delivered on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, before a joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, opposing passage of HCR 5019 and SCR 1613, proposed amendments to the Kansas Constitution that would remove the right of Kansas women to private, safe, personal choices in their reproductive health care.

We may have mentioned once or twice that Medicaid expansion will be a big topic in this year's Kansas Legislature. As it was last year. And the year it actually passed, only to be vetoed by Gov. Brownback, then failing to overturn the veto by one vote in the Kansas Senate. And for years before that, too. Well, we have reason to believe this might be the year it gets done.