It's the most _________ time of the Year
Perspective, I suppose, determines what word you choose
Monday will mark the start of the 2024 legislative session.
To mark the occasion - and to send me off with some good vibes we’re hosting a send-off/fundraising event from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 5 at Sandhills Brewing in Hutchison.
Yes, it’s going to be snowy. Or that’s what the weather people say. But I seldom trust them. One retired to become a legislator, and he has some wacky ideas about the way the world works. Plus, I can’t count the number of times I’ve prepared for the latest round of Snowmageddon only to wake up to a light dusting.
I hope you’ll come out despite the forecast. We’ll have food and there will be beer, and it’s going to be a fun night. Plus you can help contribute to my 2024 campaign. But if you can’t, or don’t want to come out, but would still like to support my campaign you can do it here.
Note: At this time, donations will only be accepted from actual real live people. Corporations and organizations identifying as people legally endowed with the full scope of human rights will need to wait until the end of the 2024 legislative session to contribute to my campaign.
Legislative Preview - or what to expect when you’re a Kansan
The TLDR version is this: The Republican supermajority in the House and Senate will do all they can to deny anything on Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s agenda. There will be a lot of conversation about what to do with all this extra revenue the state has on hand. We’ll talk about giving it directly to people by way of property tax relief or some investment that makes healthcare or childcare more affordable. But in the end, the big corporations and uber wealthy will get their tax cuts and take great pains to pretend that it will really do a lot to help struggling Kansas families.
Taxes
The state is expected to have about $3 billion in excess revenue. And everyone wants a part of that, because that sort of money isn’t just sitting around all the time. Most of the conversation will be on tax relief. There will be a big push to do a flat tax - and though there’s a way to do it that would save lower and middle income families more money, we’ll see that most of the savings will go to the upper income earners. Just like it always does. There is a good argument to be made for property tax relief - and that’s certainly what I hear most from constituents. Not many people in my district complain about income tax. Most are making barely enough to scrape by as it is, and struggle to pay their property taxes.
Medicaid Expansion
The Governor has brought this issue front and center. But there are too many Republican legislators who don’t see the value of Medicaid expansion. Even those who do see it and would want it, will likely fall victim to pressure from leadership. Kansans have elected more legislators who don’t like this sort of thing, so the lift is heavier than it’s been in previous years. I would like to be more optimistic, but I’m not. All the evidence shows that this would be good for Kansas. It would be good for working people, it would be good for rural health care, it would be good for the healthcare infrastructure, it would be good for small businesses and industries struggling to hire employees, but none of that will matter to the idealogues in Topeka. Because anything that might make life better for anyone who isn’t already in a pretty comfortable place doesn’t really get priority standing. We have a health care crisis in this state, and the legislature has abdicated it’s duty to Kansans on this. Will Medicaid expansion solve every problem? Certainly not. Will it help? Without a doubt - and that could create capacity to develop more innovative solutions on this front. It’s an embarrassment and frankly shameful that Kansas has drug it’s feet on this. We have actively harmed our residents, our local governments, and our healthcare worker - all the while there are zero alternative ideas coming from the majority. Just more status quo and false statements about who this would help.
Marijuana
We’re surrounded on three sides by states with some form of legalization. But that won’t stop Kansas from being dead last! We love our prohibition and our freedom and we will make sure every Kansan is free from the temptation of anything the Kansas legislature deems as dangerous. But it’s mostly not really going to be about right or wrong or what’s good policy. Mostly these discussions hinge on who can make money from it - and so if we see legalization at all I expect it will be in some very limited form so carefully controlled that the only people laughing hysterically will be pharmaceutical executives or investors who helped draft the legislation to their benefit.
Education
This might surprise you, but there will be another effort to carve off funding for education and route it to private and for-profit education centers. Kansas views education as a really important function, and as such, we put a lot of money towards it.
That’s pretty tempting to people who would love to find a way to get their hands on it - so instead of finding ways to comprehensively improve public education, we’ll keep trying to kill it with 1,000 papercuts.
A few pro tips if you are watching from home…
Remember kids, there’s really no such thing as a free market - there are just markets that are controlled in a way that benefit certain players. For all the hyperbolic talk about “picking winners and losers” this has always been the nice warm embrace of government and business.
Legislation based on wedge issues are designed to divide, inflame, scare, anger, or otherwise mobilize a base of voters. Sometimes, it’s designed to create consternation and concern for the opposing side. I know that we’re all just trying to live our lives and get by as best we can, but always remember that the modern world of politics is a game that people are playing and the prize is power.
Some good things will happen this session, and some bad things will happen too. And then there will be an election in August and November, and those elections will largely determine how many good or bad things happen over the course of the next two years. How that all unfolds is up to you, your level of involvement, your capacity to care and engage in a system that governs us all. One of my favorite lines ever comes from The Lorax - “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Happy New Year, and Happy start of the 2024 legislative session.
