2023 Statehouse Snapshot: Week 13

Kansas Action for Children
April 7, 2023

Want to receive this weekly recap as soon as it's released? Sign up for our emails here.

Conference Committees and Late Night Votes: Lawmakers Adjourn at 4:30 a.m. after Considering Several Harmful Policies

This week, small groups of Senators and Representatives met in “conference committees” to work up final versions of bill packages. After many back-and-forth conference committees throughout the week and an 18+ hour “First Adjournment” day, the Legislature passed (and rejected) several policies that would impact Kansas kids and their families. Unfortunately, almost everything we were keeping close watch on would harm kids, either through creating a budget shortfall and threatening funding to vital programs (like K-12 schools), loosening health and safety requirements, or making it more difficult for low-income Kansans to access assistance.

Sadly, the later it got into the evening and early morning hours after midnight, the policies the Legislature considered became more harmful. As we are just within reach of the end of the 2023 Session, we look back and see so many opportunities to help kids and families; yet the majority of lawmakers decided to move forward with legislation that ignores the needs of most Kansans in the state.

The Legislature could have put our budget surplus toward investing in child care. Instead, they passed a bill to loosen child care safety standards so providers can take on more kids for hardly, if any, more pay.

The Legislature could have passed a clean bill to give low- and middle-income Kansans tax relief so they could more easily make ends meet. Instead, they passed a massive tax bill that gives most of us hardly any extra dollars in our pockets but gives the wealthy large tax breaks they do not need.

The Legislature could have permanently increased funding for the Newborn Screening Program and fixed a Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility error in Kansas law. Instead, the Senate spent weeks trying to rush through a giant loophole for vaccine requirements and other vaccination procedural changes.

We are frustrated at the lost opportunities, but grateful for those of you who have reached out to your lawmakers and asked them to oppose harmful bills. We know it has made a difference. In the next two weeks, the Governor will have the opportunity to veto several of the below policies that passed, and we’ll continue to need your help contacting lawmakers and telling them to hold firm on or flip to opposing the bills.

PASSED: Loosening of Child Care Safety Standards

After only one conference committee meeting that simply outlined the bill, the House plowed forward with the child care regulation changes in Senate Sub. for HB 2344. KAC has discussed the details of this bill for weeks and has remained firm in our opposition.

Touting the benefits of supposed increased access and affordability, the majority of representatives refused to acknowledge that the process was done without substantial provider input.

Opponents of the bill highlighted that the safety of Kansas kids is too important to rush through a decision when the House did not even have a true committee hearing or the chance at offering amendments to the legislation. We can all agree there are things the Legislature can do to solve the child care crisis, but this bill is not the answer. Lawmakers must work with the child care community to find the best solutions – like raising provider pay, decreasing barriers to entering the field, and more.

Unfortunately, a majority of representatives chose to focus on the economic benefits instead of kids’ safety. With a vote of 77-46, Senate Sub. for HB 2344 is heading to the Governor for a decision about the future of child care in Kansas. We urge Gov. Kelly to veto the bill and opposing lawmakers to stand firm against loosening child care safety standards.

PASSED: Costly and Unfair Flat Tax Plan

Last night, the Kansas Legislature passed House Sub. for SB 169, a tax package that includes a regressive and costly flat tax. The bill includes a 5.15% flat tax rate, in addition to other tax policy changes related to social security taxation, privilege tax, corporate tax, property tax, the standard deduction, and the food sales tax. The House chamber voted 85-38 in support of the bill, breaking nearly party line with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition. This is a change from the first time the House Chamber voted on the bill, when Democrats were split in their support and opposition. The Senate Chamber voted 24-13 in support of the bill (with three Republican senators not voting due to absence).

The bill was a compromise between the Senate and House positions that was reached in conference committee. The components of the bill that would benefit high-income Kansans got better for the top 20%, while the components that would benefit low- and middle-income Kansans that previously motivated House Democrats to vote for the package were watered down.

We continue to stand against any flat tax proposal and urge Gov. Kelly to veto House Sub. for SB 169. This flat tax proposal will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars while giving the majority of tax cuts to the wealthiest in the state. It will make it harder for the Legislature to prioritize investing in items that matter to every Kansan, like well-funded schools (including special education), high-quality child care, sound infrastructure, and more.

Kansas can’t afford to have an unfair tax system that works to the advantage of the highest-income Kansans. Top-heavy tax cuts don’t make our state strong. Safe communities, quality schools, good jobs, and great health care are what keep folks in Kansas and our state thriving.

PASSED: Food Assistance Restriction

The Senate (26-12) and then the House (80-42) passed the conference committee report on HB 2094. Originally an insurance bill, the House Committee on Welfare Reform and Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare “conferenced” on the bill Wednesday and inserted the contents of HB 2140 and HB 2179, neither of which were even heard by a Senate committee.

The House committee chair tried to also insert the contents of HB 2141 despite the Senate rejecting it last week, but fortunately, the Senate conferees refused that maneuver. The provisions of HB 2179 do make progress for families harmed by the state’s requirement to cooperate with child support services in order to receive child care assistance, but it doesn’t go far enough to actually solve the problem because that requirement is still in place.

And this pairing is not a good deal for Kansas families. HB 2140 would add yet another restriction for low-income Kansans in their 50s who need temporary food assistance to make ends meet and who already face significant work requirements. Bill supporters misleadingly touted the success of a similar restriction the Legislature passed last year for 18-49 year olds without dependents. In the first few months after its implementation, the policy led to 225 people being kicked off the program. It is not a “success” when hungry Kansans are suddenly without the temporary help they need to have enough to eat for every meal. Unfortunately, harmful rhetoric of “welfare” was used over and over when discussing these bills, and a representative had to remind the body that these programs are assistance, not welfare.

We hope that legislators realize that this legislation is bad for Kansas families and will sustain a veto if the Governor decides to utilize that power.