GUEST COLUMN, Shannon Francis, 125th District Representative
Last week was long. The House didn’t adjourn until about 2:30 Saturday morning - after unanimously passing property, income, Social Security, and food sales tax relief. Ending the night with this significant win for all Kansans with unanimous support in the House and bipartisan support in the Senate was inspirational for all of us. It’s truly incredible what can be accomplished when you have a great team of folks working together for the Kansans we serve back home.
Friday was the last day of the regular legislative session, also known as First Adjournment. All week, conference committees met and negotiated the details of certain legislation such as the state budget, tax relief, support for families wanting to adopt, national security protections from foreign adversaries like China, and many more important items.
The primary purpose of conference committees is to come to a compromise between House and Senate versions of a bill. The Conference Committee Report/final version of the bill must be approved by both the House and Senate before moving on to the Governor.
Now, all members of the legislature will be home in their districts for about two and a half weeks while legislative staff prepares the bills and delivers them to the Governor’s desk for her to sign, veto, or allow to go into law without a signature.
Below is a brief explanation on where the Tax Plan and the Budget currently stand.
Significant tax relief has been the No. 1 goal this year. It’s been a bumpy road dealing with backroom deals and roadblocks making it more difficult than it needed to be, but Friday night the legislature came together to send a very clear message - Kansans deserve tax relief and we won’t back down from our commitment to making that happen.
Here’s what is in the plan that passed unanimously in the House and with bipartisan support in the Senate:
• Significant Property Tax Relief - Increases the residential exemption on the state’s 20-mill property tax rate from $42,000 to $100,000 and lowers the rate to 19.5 mills
• Eliminates the Tax on Social Security
• Implements a more competitive Dual Rate Income Tax Bracket- Eliminates the bottom tax bracket altogether, takes the middle to 5.15 percent, and top to 5.55 percent
• Significant income tax relief with an increase of the personal income exemption to $7,000 for single filers and $14,000 for joint filers
• Takes the Food Sales Tax to Zero on July 1
Governor Kelly’s budget proposal was a 13 percent increase over the prior budget. The best place for that money is in your hands. That’s why responsible tax relief is so important. On Friday, the legislature passed a responsible state budget that decreases the Governor’s spending by $432.2M in FY 2024 and by $962.7M in FY 2025. The budget includes improvements to state infrastructure (including $6 million to help counties in SW Kansas improve roads impacted by the growing dairy industry) and help for our most vulnerable and workforce development. Here are some of the highlights of what this budget invests in:
Protecting our most vulnerable by addressing the IDD/PD waiver waitlist. Invests $34.6M including $13.4M SGF toward the Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled (IDD), and $5.8M including $2.2M SGF toward the Physically Disabled (PD) Medicaid Waiver Waitlists.
In recent years, the IDD waiver waitlist and the PD waiver waitlist have ballooned to an all-time high of over 5,000 intellectually, developmentally, and physically disabled Kansans. The House and Senate approved a plan to eliminate 500 slots from the IDD and 250 from the PD waiver waitlists in the state budget. The Governor’s initial budget, presented months ago, had decreased funding for the list by $51M from last year.
It’s incumbent upon us to provide for the needs of theses disabled Kansans. Some have been waiting over 10 years for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services that help them manage and live as independently as possible. The waitlist is so long, in fact, many recipients only receive aid once their situation hits crisis level and they are expedited to the front of the line to receive services.
Increasing Medicaid Reimbursements and Strengthening Kansas Healthcare. The legislature has been focused on solutions to the critical issues facing our healthcare system, particularly in rural Kansas. The state budget makes these investments, which are intended to provide real solutions instead of expanding government programs that don’t acknowledge the root problems.
Increasing Medicaid Reimbursement Rates for Providers. Adding $33.9 million to increase provider reimbursement rates. This makes a direct investment in expanding access to better care while also addressing the lack of providers in more rural areas. A history of low Medicaid reimbursement rates restricts access to care by limiting how many patients a practice can accept. Income lost on Medicaid patients is made up elsewhere, often resulting in higher costs for other patients and more limited resources. This significant reimbursement boost specifically targets codes that fall below 79.5 percent of the Medicare rate or that lack an equivalent Medicare rate and increases these rates by 15 percent.
Raising outpatient reimbursement rates by 30 percent by investing $45.2 million toward saving rural hospitals. This substantial increase is a lifeline for our hospitals, particularly those in our rural areas that are struggling to stay afloat. By enhancing the financial stability of these institutions, we are ensuring that they can continue to provide essential services to our communities.
Several items in the budget include investments to growing the Kansas workforce:
• Level Up Kansas- statewide recruitment campaign for high-demand and high-wage career fields
• $2.2M for the Kansas Osteopathic Scholarship in FY 2025 to invest in building our healthcare provider workforce.
• Technical College Operating Grants
• Support for the Student Success Initiatives at our community colleges
• Support for apprenticeship programs at two-year institutions
• Investment in the Western Kansas Nursing Initiative and Western Kansas Nursing Workforce Development
• Investment in Telehealth Certification for Mental Health providers which especially benefits shortages in our rural areas
Looking forward
The legislature will reconvene on Friday, April 26. The budget committees will reconvene on Thursday, April 25 to develop the Omnibus Budget where we fine tune the budget to reflect changes caused by recent legislation, economic events and budget items that needed additional research. Crafting a budget that effectively addresses the needs and priorities of our constituents is a top priority.
This Wednesday, April 10, I will have a legislative forum at noon at the Liberal Chamber of Commerce at 4 Rock Island Road. I hope you can attend.
