Kansas Week 10: anti-LGBTQ bills, medicaid expansion update, flat tax from the dead and more 🚨

Video Script

Intro
Hey I’m Davis Hammet with Loud Light! Here’s what happened the 10th week inside the Kansas Statehouse.

Gender Affirming Care Ban (Substitute bill for SB233)
The legislature continues to advance bills targeting and discriminating against Kansans who do not identify with their sex assigned at birth. Last year, the legislature passed a bill erasing legal recognition of transgender Kansans by banning accurate gender markers on their state IDs, which is currently being challenged in Court. A bill advancing this year is perhaps the most extreme anti-transgender legislation in the country. SB233 would ban state government employees affirming anyone under 18 who doesn't conform to gender stereotypes associated with their sex at birth, meaning the simple act of a teacher affirming a student who wears clothes that don’t align with stereotypes associated with their sex at birth would become a punishable offense. Further, medical procedures that are more commonly prescribed to cisgender minors would be criminalized for transgender minors under this bill, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries. The explicit discriminatory intention raises concerns about equal protection and the Attorney General’s office informed legislators the bill will come at an unknown cost to taxpayers from likely lawsuits. The bill passed the House with bipartisan opposition this week, but the Senate voted to send the bill to a Conference Committee where House and Senate members will negotiate the final version of the bill.

Medicaid Hearings (HB2556 & SB355)
For the first time in four years the Legislature will be hearing bills to expand Medicaid in both the House and Senate. Although there are hearings scheduled and surveys show massive public support for the policy, it is still up to Speaker Dan Hawkins, a private insurance salesman, and Senate President Ty Masterson if the legislature will actually be allowed to vote on the policy.

Flat Tax Returns (SB539)
Republican Leadership is attempting another push to enact a flat tax that would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Kansans. This comes after their first attempt failed when 5 Republican legislators voted to sustain Governor Kelly’s veto.  Just this week the Senate held a hearing on the new flat tax bill, passed it out of committee, and then passed it out of the Senate on a near party-line vote. Now the fast tracked bill heads to the House. If passed, it’s expected the Governor will veto it once again. In her first veto of the flat tax, she vowed that she would “not let legislators leave...without meaningfully and responsibly cutting taxes for middle-class families” and said she “will call a special session if I have to.” A special session this Summer is a significant threat since it’s a big election year and legislators cannot accept campaign contributions from lobbyists while in session. 

Budget (Substitute bill for SB514)
With only a few weeks left to work, Kansas legislators still need to do the one and only thing they are required to do each year– pass a state budget. The current proposal in the Senate gives legislators raises, allocates 15 million dollars to send Kansas National Guard members to the Texas border, puts millions toward the World Cup in Kansas City, raises wages for state employees, and more. Of note, current budget proposals do not put more funding into special education which the Legislature has illegally underfunded for many years.

Coming Up 
The Statehouse is in a state of “hurry up and wait” where a bill can advance extremely quickly with little to no public notice and then randomly stall at a step in the legislative process. Conference committees are beginning to be scheduled for the House and Senate to negotiate differences and this coming week is the final week for bill hearings in non-exempt committees. Follow us on social media for updates throughout the week so you can stay on top of the legislature. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and until next time, thank you so much Kansas!