The Kansas Legislature adjourned the 2024 legislative session upon conclusion of their veto session on April 30. The legislature met for the second year of their biennium and considered legislation introduced in 2023 as well as 2024. Between the two years, approximately 1,405 bills were introduced with another 150 resolutions. 213 bills passed both chambers. Of these, 115 passed during the 2024 session. As of publication, 5 of the 213 bills await consideration by Governor Laura Kelly (D).
Here's what you may have missed:
Budget
After meeting in conference, the house and senate sent a $25 billion budget to the governor’s desk in April. Kelly issued limited line-item vetoes but approved much of the budget.
Language to revise the Build Kansas Matching Grant program was included within the budget. The program will now award funds to communities that qualify as eligible entities for any federal grant program moneys related to water, transportation, energy, cybersecurity, or broadband infrastructure requiring state or local community matching funds.
The budget also contains $47 million to continue the Medicaid add-on for nursing facilities at a rate of $15.40 per Medicaid day.
Healthcare:
One of the governor’s priorities for the 2024 session was Medicaid expansion. Currently, Kansas is one of ten states who have yet to expand Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act was passed. Kelly’s proposal was introduced in both chambers in January with bipartisan support. It was also featured in her initial budget proposal. “It’s easy to sum up the Cutting Healthcare Costs for All Kansans Act: health care coverage for 150,000 Kansans, cost savings for everyone else. We protect our rural hospitals, and Kansas taxpayers pay nothing extra,” said Kelly. For the first time in four years, Medicaid expansion legislation was considered in a hearing by the legislature and received 900 testimonies in support, but neither the house nor the senate bill passed their respective chambers before adjournment. Kelly indicated she will put forward another attempt next year.
Among the bills that did pass in 2024 is SB 430, which implements numerous changes to the state’s workers compensation program. The bill represents the most significant changes to workers compensation in Kansas since 2011. Key provisions include an increase in the lifetime benefit maximums, additional benefit payments required by employers, and a revision of eligibility requirements for employees who suffer injuries not on the schedule. The bill also amends the timeframe in which an employee must notify their employer. It takes effect July 1, 2024.
What’s Next:
Kelly indicated plans to bring the legislature back for a special session at some point in 2024. The governor intends to veto HB 37, which is a bipartisan tax bill that lawmakers sent to her on the final day of session. The bill would move up the abolition of the sales tax on groceries, repeal the income tax on Social Security benefits, and lower the state’s income tax rate. According to the governor, “I have made it very clear from the get-go that I will veto any bill that came to me that would put Kansas in financial jeopardy. The bill the Legislature passed would do exactly that. There is absolutely no way that I would sign it. I’ll call the Legislature back into a special session to pass a good tax cut bill.”
In November, all 125 seats in the state house and all 40 seats in the state senate will be up for grabs. The next regular session of the legislature will convene on January 13, 2025.
To stay up to date on the impending special session or for any questions on this past legislative session, please contact Costa Costidis at cec@stateside.com.
Want to know more about what's taking place in state legislatures? Subscribe to our This Week in the States weekly newsletter.