Thanks to our partners
at Kansas Action for Children for this update from Topeka on
children’s issues relating to KAC’s 2009 Policy
Agenda:
Governor’s Budget Adds $1.2 million to
Fund the Authorized SCHIP
Expansion
Last year, lawmakers
authorized expanding SCHIP to cover children in families up to
250 percent of the federal poverty level. However, that change
was subject to additional state appropriation and the
availability of additional federal funds. In January, President
Barack Obama signed a bill that provides the necessary federal
funding. The Kansas Health Policy Authority estimated that
another $1.2 million in state funds would be needed to draw down
the additional federal money. Governor Kathleen Sebelius has
included the funds in her FY2010 budget to fund the expansion.
Currently in Kansas, SCHIP covers children
in families up to 200 percent of federal poverty level.
According to the Kansas Health Policy Authority, as of Jan. 31,
2009, more than 39,000 Kansas children were enrolled
in the program. It is estimated that 8,000 additional children
would eventually be covered if Kansas lawmakers approve the
Governor’s allotted funding to expanded
eligibility.
Read
more about Gov. Sebelius’ budget recommendations by
clicking here
House Health and Human Services Committee
Hears Testimony on Smoking
Ban
The House Health and
Human Services Committee conducted hearings this past week on SB
25 which proposes to ban smoking in most public places in
Kansas. Those places would
include bars and restaurants. Supporters, testifying on Tuesday,
said the bill would reduce the amount of exposure to secondhand
smoke. Opponents, testified on Wednesday, say this would
devastate small, local businesses and a ban should be decided by
local governments. At least 23 states require most public places
and workplaces to be smoke-free. Eberhart-Phillips, health director at the Kansas
Department of Health and Environment and the state’s
health officer, said exposure to second-hand smoke was harmful
to pregnant women and children. He said involuntary exposure to
smoke raised the threat of heart disease and lung cancer by 30
percent among adults.
Higher Education Stimulus Funds Rejected
from Republican Budget
Writers
A move to plug nearly
$50 million of federal stimulus funds into Kansas
higher education was rejected this past Tuesday by House
Republican budget writers. Democrats criticized the decision,
saying it could result in fewer Kansans being able to afford
college, and fewer campus building repairs getting done.
Republicans said they needed more information on the federal
stimulus package before recommending use of the funds. The
proposal would have added $49.6 million in federal stimulus
funds to post-secondary institutions for deferred maintenance
projects and tuition assistance. Currently, there is a backlog
of “shovel ready” deferred maintenance projects,
that the funding increase will create jobs and that construction
costs are low. Democrats said they didn’t understand why
Republicans wanted to delay a decision on the higher education
stimulus funding when GOP officials already accepted stimulus
funds for K-12 schools. Higher education has already sustained a
4.25 percent budget cut in the current fiscal year.
Kansas Public Schools May Avoid Deep
Cuts
On Monday, the House
Appropriations Committee approved Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’
budget amendment on school funding, which takes into
consideration dollars coming from Washington, D.C., through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A Senate subcommittee has taken
similar action. If this proposal gains full House and Senate
majorities and Sebelius’ signature, then school funding
will essentially stay flat for the next two school years. Base
state aid was $4,433 per student at the start of the school
year, then cut back to $4,400 in a bill to deal with a budget
deficit brought on by the recession. It appears Kansas
public schools are going to avoid deep cuts, thanks to the
federal stimulus package. Before the federal stimulus package
was approved last month, state lawmakers were talking about 10
percent cuts to schools.
KIDS College
Savings Match Program
The House Education
Budget Committee held a hearing March 16 on SB
225, a bill that would provide for
continuation of the KIDS College Savings Match
Program. Supporters of the bill included Kansas Action for
Children, the Office of Kansas State Treasurer Dennis McKinney,
and Housing and Credit Counseling, which also spoke on behalf of
the Kansas Partners in Asset
Development.
Erosion of the Income Tax
Base
HB 2358 would allow businesses to utilize the funds they
collect from employees in the form of income tax withholding.
HB
2358 and SB
244 both have the potential to erode the
individual income tax by diverting money to businesses that
would otherwise go to the State General Fund. Kansas Action for
Children testified against both of these bills this past week.
Child Support
Enforcement
Kansas Action for
Children will testify today in support of HB
2201. HB
2201 addresses professional license
sanctions for parents who are in arrears in child support
payments. HB
2201 would require restrictions on a
professional license holder when the person owes past due child
support equal to or greater than three months of child
support.
Teen
Drivers
The Senate
Transportation Committee heard testimony March 11 on the
Graduated Drivers Licensing bill. Kansas Action for Children
testified in support of the bill. Other conferees included AAA,
Kansas Department of Transportation, State Farm, Kansas Highway
Patrol and Kansas Department of Health & Environment. The
Committee is expected to work the bill next
week.
