Kansas views on KanCare expansion, job growth, impeaching justices, school-finance bill, suppressing the vote
KanCare expansion – Susan Mosier, acting secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said Medicaid expansion would be too expensive. That’s in part because the administration was committed to clearing the waiting lists of about 5,000 developmentally and physically disabled Kansans who are on hold for support services before expanding its Medicaid rolls, she said. This may be the most disingenuous assertion heard yet from the Brownback administration. Nobody worried about the needs of disabled Kansans when Brownback strong-armed the Legislature into approving the budget-busting tax cuts that favor certain types of businesses and wealthy taxpayers. And the administration has no grand plan for tackling the waiting lists. To use disabled Kansans as an excuse to deny low-income workers access to health care is the zenith of hypocrisy.
Job growth – The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows private-sector job growth for the state in 2014 was 1.9 percent. Missouri was 1.2 percent, Nebraska 1.4 percent, Oklahoma 1.5 percent, Colorado 3.5 percent and Arkansas 2.8 percent. We’re happy for the job growth, but the bottom line is the state’s bottom line. The loss of revenue from the income tax cuts has meant that Kansas has drained its savings, suffered a credit downgrade and is looking at everything from education to highways for places to pull money.
Impeaching justices – A bill that outlines additional specifics that justify impeachment of Kansas Supreme Court justices may be a veiled threat to sitting justices or a sign that legislators are trying to get their ducks in a row for a direct attack on the court. Either way, Kansans should be concerned.
It’s somewhat terrifying that this Legislature seems willing and eager to subvert the Kansas Constitution by altering the primary function of the Supreme Court – which is to serve as a check against a lawmaking body that passes laws contrary to the Constitution. If ever there was a legislative and executive branch in need of a check on its powers, it’s the monolithic political machine that’s masquerading as a state government in Topeka.
School finance – A new school-finance bill would use state aid to reward districts for their students’ achievements after graduation. Getting a handle on how to measure those achievements is an impossible task. Is every Susie Smith or Jimmy Jones going to check in with her or his hometown school superintendent after five years? We doubt it.
Suppressing vote – Of course Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach disagrees with Oregon’s plan to get more voters to the polls. He’s more interested in suppressing the vote. Through unnecessary requirements such as voter ID and proof of citizenship, Kobach and his ultraconservative Republican allies already have accomplished as much.
This story was originally published March 29, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Kansas views on KanCare expansion, job growth, impeaching justices, school-finance bill, suppressing the vote."