Moderation and a willingness to listen are Kansas values, and are the keys to good legislation.  I’ve done my best to listen and work with legislators of both parties to produce good solutions to difficult problems.  The following are just a few of the challenges which face our state and the lawmakers working to solve those problems.

Public Schools

Public schools are the foundation of the future of our state and nation.  Strong public schools build our communities today, and help prepare our young people to meet the challenges of the future.  While we must always spend our tax dollars wisely, our schools are our highest priority.

Article 6, Section 6 of the Kansas Constitution requires the Legislature to make “suitable provision for the finance” of public education.  Nearly twenty years ago, the State Supreme Court found our schools were inadequately funded by the legislature and, as a result, the legislature failed to make suitable provisions for the finance of public education.  In response to the court’s order, the legislature provided the additional appropriations necessary to provide a suitable education for our children, but as soon as the court found the funding adequate and dismissed the case, the legislature decreased school funding to pay for tax cuts.  A new lawsuit was filed and, over twelve years later, after a full generation of school children spent their entire Kindergarten through High School education in underfunded schools, the Supreme Court ordered the legislature to restore the funding.  Not surprisingly, educational opportunities, student performance and teacher pay all increased. This time the court retained jurisdiction, recalling the last time around the legislature cut the funding almost as soon as the case was dismissed.  The Attorney General has now requested a dismissal of the current lawsuit so the legislature can either cut school funding or redirect tax dollars to private schools.

While we must always hold the line on unnecessary spending, denying our children an adequately funded education and quality schools is not acceptable.  I support continued funding of quality public schools and oppose the redirection of public tax dollars to private schools at the expense of Kansas school children attending our public schools.

Jobs

Wichita and Kansas are investing in the jobs of the future.  Wichita State University, WSU Tech, the National Institute for Aviation Research, Public/Private cooperation in apprenticeship programs, both during and following high school, and a host of other targeted educational programs are training the engineers and technicians of the future. We must also remember that not all twenty-first century jobs are so called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs.  Everything from teachers, to police officers, to counselors, to historians and journalists are important to the future of our city and state.  We must continue to provide broad based educational opportunities to young people as they choose their future and career.  In the end, our investment in the people to fill the jobs of the future will pay dividends throughout young people’s working lives.  It’s money well spent.

Voter ID and Proof of Citizenship

Kansas has fair elections. Don’t take my word for it.  The Democratic Governor, The Republican Secretary of State, and the former Republican Attorney General (who lost the Governor’s race) all say so.  Some folks, particularly our present Attorney General, want to sow distrust in our elections in an attempt to keep qualified voters, usually independent and Democratic voters from voting.  They try to impose unnecessary hurdles and intimidate first-time voters with threats of criminal prosecution for inadvertent voting errors.  Meanwhile, it is increasingly difficult to find poll workers willing to put up with the harassment and threats of both violence and unfounded criminal prosecution.

Very frankly, it’s time for us to acknowledge Kansas has some of the most secure elections in the country.  Legislators and Governors of both parties, along with our current Secretary of State, have worked together to craft a fair, workable and secure system of election laws and regulations.  When the legislature has gone too far in restricting voting rights, the courts have invalidated laws improperly restricting or denying Kansans their constitutional right to vote.  We should not be misled by what may have happened in other states, or unfounded fears Kansas elections are rigged or fraudulent, and instead should work to streamline the voting process so more Kansans can participate, while at the same time preserving the reasonable protections already in place to prevent election fraud.

Medicaid Funding

Medicaid provides health care for the poorest Kansans, many of whom suffer debilitating conditions which prevent them from working. Meanwhile, employer paid insurance and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provide healthcare coverage for Kansans with better paying jobs and Medicare provides healthcare coverage for Kansans over 65. The problem is the Kansans left in the middle. They work at low paying jobs, without employer benefits. They earn too much for Medicaid coverage and not enough to benefit from the ACA. The ACA provided federal dollars to Kansas through Medicaid expansion to fill this gap.

Only ten states, sadly including Kansas, have failed to expand Medicaid.  As a result, approximately 150,000 Kansans are without insurance.  If Kansas participated, the result would be more money in the State Treasury because the taxes collected from the professionals serving those 150,000 Kansas who would receive insurance would more than offset the State’s contribution to Medicaid expansion.  In fact between 2014 and 2021, according to the University of Kansas, Kansas has lost out on 4.9 billion dollars in federal payments to healthcare providers plus another 6.62 billion dollars in State GDP from the additional jobs this money would have generated.  In short, 150,000 Kansans have done without health insurance and we have walked away from over 11 billion dollars.  It absolutely makes no sense.  In 2019 the Kansas House approved Medicaid Expansion, but the Senate failed to take action.  Thereafter, Republican legislative leadership, in both houses of the legislature, have refused to let Medicaid Expansion even come to the floor for a debate.  Why?  Perhaps because they don’t admit they have been wrong to stand in the way of expansion, maybe because they want to win on this issue at all costs, or maybe because they don’t want to admit something once called “Obama Care” might have been a good idea after all. 

If we want the excellent doctors we train at the University of Kansas Medical School in Wichita to stay in Kansas we cannot expect them, or other health care professionals to provide free care to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Kansans.  The state must change course, accept the federal funding, and close the “Medicaid Gap,” otherwise we will continue down a road that leaves thousands of working Kansans uninsured, raises the cost of health care for the rest of our citizens, causes good doctors to leave the state and pushes small Kansas hospitals into bankruptcy.

Taxes

Why haven’t we seen a tax cut?  Kansas has record balances of funds on hand.  While the reasons are complex, the bottom line is the Governor and Democrats in the legislature want an immediate end to the food sales tax, a rebate of about $450.00 to every Kansas tax payer, and property tax relief by funding the state property tax relief fund and expanding the homestead tax exemption (meaning many homeowners of small houses would no longer pay property tax and all homeowners would pay less).  Republican legislative leadership wants to impose a “flat tax” of 5.5% on all taxable income.  Meaning low and moderate income taxpayers would pay a higher tax rate than they do today and wealthy taxpayers would pay a lower rate than they do today.  While the rate is flat for everybody, those who make less will pay more and those who make more will pay less.

Wealthy Kansans are doing very well under the present tax rates.  The number of Kansans with taxable incomes presently paying the highest rates is comparatively small, while the number of Kansans seeing their taxes go up under a flat tax would be the majority of Kansans.  Very simply, the most wealthy Kansans are enjoying some of the highest profits and wages of their working lives, while moderate and low income Kansans are living paycheck to paycheck and watching grocery prices rise every week.

Very simply, we can afford to immediately end the food sales tax, pay rebates to all Kansas taxpayers and reduce property taxes for all Kansas homeowners, or we can give large tax cuts to the wealthiest Kansans in the form of a flat tax and increase taxes on the rest of us.  I support helping provide tax relief to all Kansans, not just the wealthiest Kansans.