As the Kansas Legislature approaches a three-week-long spring break, lawmakers scramble to address tax cuts, funding for disability services and immigration issues.
The Kansas Legislature is scrambling to address tax cuts, funding for disability services and immigration issues ahead of its annual three-week spring break starting next week. Most bills that don’t pass by then won’t be considered when lawmakers return April 29 for a short wrap-up session. Republicans disagree over how to cut income taxes, as well as pay for other big-ticket items such as disability rights.
Here is a look at some of the major issues up for consideration this week: GOP WAVERING ON ‘FLAT TAX’ The Legislature is having its second go at enacting income, sales and property tax cuts this year after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a GOP package in January because it included a single-rate, or 'flat,' income tax, which she said favored the 'super rich.
Immigration and diversity issues are both part of this year's budget negotiations in Kansas. Republican senators have added a provision to their spending plan that would support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's battle with the Biden administration over border security. The measure sets aside $15.7 million for a proposed border mission before July and directs Kelly to deploy Kansas National Guard resources to help Texas.
Some Kansas families are waiting 10 years to get in-home or community services for their children with physical or intellectual-developmental disabilities. Lawmakers are weighing solutions. While 15,000 disabled Kansans have access to services such as day programs, employment assistance or home care, more than 7,600 are on waiting lists. A total of 23 people died in 2022 and 2023 while waiting for services, according to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
It is disingenuous to tell them they’re going to get help when we can’t even find the workers to provide the services that they need,' House Health Committee Chairperson Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, said during a recent meeting. But advocates for the disabled have questioned whether another 500 slots for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities will even shrink their waiting list, given that hundreds more individuals were added to it in each of the last two years.
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