Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories about Wednesday’s Legislative Coffee.
With a busy session in the Kansas State Legislature in recess, three legislators representing parts, or all, of Barton County, paid a visit to the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce office Wednesday morning for a Legislative Coffee to update residents on items of concern being addressed by the state lawmakers during this term. State representatives Tory Arnberger-Blew, District 112 (R-Great Bend), Troy Waymaster, District 109 (R-Bunker Hill) and Sen. Alicia Straub, District 33 (R-Ellinwood) were all present to share their perspectives on a wide variety pressing issues facing the state of Kansas.
State redistricting
State legislative redistricting was a hot topic Wednesday morning.
The newly redrawn maps, which both received bipartisan support in passing both houses, had direct impacts on representatives in the Golden Belt. The maps, which include the State House and Senate and State Board of Education, have yet to be signed by Gov. Laura Kelly. If the governor does not act on the bill by April 18, the bill redrawing the districts will become law.
Straub, one of 11 senators to vote against the approved plans, said she did so because the plans did too much to minimize the voice of rural western Kansans in favor of more populous eastern Kansas. She called it a “clearly gerrymandered map.”
Senate District 35, which was eliminated due to the impending retirement of Sen. Rick Wilborn (R-McPherson), is a good example of this, she said. The current district includes Chase, Ellsworth, McPherson, Marion, Morris, and portions of Rice and Dickinson counties. The eastern portions of the district were given to current District 14 Sen. Michael Fagg (R-El Dorado), while western portions including Ellsworth and Rice counties were incorporated into Straub’s district. According to the plan, District 35 will be in the Kansas City, Kan., metropolitan area. Straub’s district 33 also lost Scott, Lane and Hodgeman counties.
Straub, an Ellinwood resident, said the current plan leaves the western-most Kansas counties represented by only three state senators. Redistricting was one of multiple efforts Straub addressed she saw as eastern Kansas legislators’ attempts to diminish the voices of western Kansas residents. She also said she felt targeted by Senate leadership for her opposition to the bill.
Both Arberber-Blew and Waymaster voted in favor of the plans, even though the districts of both were impacted.
Waymaster, who currently represents portions of Barton County and Rush County, will lose those counties, and pick up the remainder of Lincoln County, a portion of which he already represents, as well as Ellsworth County. The Barton County portion will be transferred to Arnberger-Blew’s District 112.
Waymaster expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent residents of the county throughout his 10-year legislative tenure.
Medicaid expansion
During a question and answer portion of the session, one audience member expressed frustration over the Legislature’s refusal to address the topic of Medicaid expansion in the state.
While the audience member felt the issue should be put to voters as a ballot issue, Arnberger-Blew said laws do not allow for statewide ballot initiatives on policy issues in the state of Kansas.
In response to the issue, all three legislators indicated they were adamantly opposed to Medicaid expansion in Kansas.
Medicaid provides health-care assistance to adults characterized as no income or very low income, who are either pregnant, parent of a minor dependent, disabled or caretaker of someone with a disability, or age 65 or older. Currently, income guidelines to qualify for Medicaid are 100% of the federal poverty line based on household size. A federal mandate would expand that to 138% of the federal poverty rate.
This expansion, Straub said, would begin to encompass able-bodied working class adults, taking aid away from those who are in need and are currently covered, for whom the program is intended. “We already have a shortage of people receiving the funds, why should we expand a program to include able-bodied (working) adults?”
Arnberger-Blew said though she was initially in favor of expanding the program, once she fully understood the issue, she felt expanding the program beyond its current guidelines was infeasible.
Waymaster said the program, as it currently stands, already is underfunded, with many of those already eligible sitting on a waiting list for 12-13 years, so expanding the program would only exacerbate that issue.
Though the federal government is currently providing incentives for states to expand the program, Waymaster said that funding would eventually run out, and the state would be once again be left trying to figure out how to adequately fund the program.
“We need to be very careful when we’re adding a large item like Medicaid expansion onto the budget,” Waymaster said.
Beyond funding, Waymaster said, the state also lacks adequate staffing to administer the program as it currently stands. Staffing for expansion would be even more challenging, because administering the program takes specially trained and credentialed staff.
Other issues addressed
Barton County Conservation District Director Veronica Coons expressed concern in response to a recent bill provision that would have transferred the state’s conservation division to the Kansas Health Department. Because the district works closely with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), conservation issues in Kansas should remain under the purview of the Department of Agriculture, whose working relationship is much better with the NRCS, she said.
This discussion led audience members, as well as Waymaster, to address what they see as inefficiencies in the state’s web presence, and difficulties it presents for citizens trying to access information through the state’s website.
Waymaster said the process needs to be streamlined into a single web presence, instead of each different department having a unique web address, as is currently the case. He also expressed frustration over the lack of consistent website formatting between the state’s different departments.
“It’s very cumbersome (for residents) when you’re trying to find somebody to talk to,” Waymaster said. “It could be a lot easier for the people of Kansas to get into the state government.”
Audience member Dean Stoskopf, who serves on the Hoisington USD 431 Board of Education, expressed concerns over provisions in education funding bills regarding open student transfer provisions. While he favors open student transfers, he said decisions on who qualifies for transfers should be left to local school boards and administrators instead of being made at the state level. In response, Straub said current education bills are being discussed to provide for this local control.
Waymaster said he opposed the bill, because he felt, instead, the bill was intended for urban districts, and took decisions out of the hands of local school boards. He indicated the issue would be further discussed when the Legislature reconvenes.
