Kansas GOP seeks to prevent Kelly from renegotiating $4 billion Medicaid contracts [The Kansas City Star]

Apr. 26—TOPEKA — Kansas' GOP-controlled Legislature voted Tuesday to delay negotiation of $4 billion in contracts that are up for renewal with insurance companies that manage the state's Medicaid system.

The bill also includes an unrelated provision further limiting Gov. Laura Kelly's emergency powers, barring her from closing or restricting capacity at churches during a state of emergency.

Republicans want to delay beginning the process to award new KanCare contracts until January, when a new administration may be in place. Democrats argued the move appeared designed to help managed care organizations that hold the current contracts and risked abuse of the system.

Both measures had been in separate bills earlier in the session. They were combined and placed in a new bill during a conference committee last month, in a legislative maneuver called "gut-and-go" in which a bill is gutted of its original meaning and replaced with a new measure. The move allows lawmakers to more quickly advance bills to the governor's desk in a limited legislative session.

The Senate passed the measure in early April before adjourning the regular session but had 26 votes, one short of a veto-proof majority with two Republicans not voting. The House approved the bill with the exact number of votes needed to override a potential veto, 84.

Kelly has not said whether she'd veto the bill but previously criticized the proposal.

The bill blocks any request for proposals for companies administering KanCare, Kansas' Medicaid program, from going out until January 1, 2023, at the earliest. The original bill forced extension of the contracts for four years and blocked changes to Medicaid.

Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, said the proposal was softened in response to concerns from the state's Medicaid director and organizations advocating on behalf of KanCare recipients.

Landwehr insisted the new language would not require an extension of the current contracts.

But Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a Kansas City Democrat, argued the delayed request for proposals would force an extended contract because the process would not finish by the time existing contracts expire at the end of next year.

The stated reason for the delay is to push renegotiation of the contracts past the November election. If Kelly loses, control over the contracts would almost certainly go to her presumptive Republican opponent, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

The tactic drew accusations of corruption and "pay-to-play" schemes from one House Democrat last month.

Rep. John Carmichael of Wichita reminded lawmakers of a 2014 Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into whether KanCare contractors had paid off lawmakers.

"If there is a legitimate and good reason that we ought to extend these...then I'll feel a lot better about what we're doing here," Carmichael said last month. "In the absence of an explanation I have to conclude that we're back to pay-for-play politics."

Carmichael reiterated his concerns Tuesday, questioning why a bill that had no supporters during its formal hearing had persisted until the end of the legislative session.

House and Senate leadership denied any sort of impropriety in delaying the contracts until a new administration is in place.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, who has pushed to extend the contracts that currently expire at the end of the year, told reporters he had concerns about how the Kelly administration had been handling the awarding of contracts.

Speaking to caucus members Tuesday, Speaker Pro-Tem Blaine Finch said Democrats would "probably regret" their word choice in alleging pay to play. He insisted that the point of the measure was to ensure the Kelly administration could not write an RFP designed for specific companies, which lawmakers have accused the administration of doing when seeking a company to modernize the state's unemployment system.

"We want to make sure that nonprofit and for profit both have the opportunity to serve our citizens and we haven't been pleased with the way that (Kelly) does the RFP process," Ryckman said.

Speaking to members of the Republican caucus before the Senate voted on the measure earlier this month, Senate Vice President Rick Wilborn said the motives were entirely related to the election.

"It helps whoever wins the election so they have control of the direction (of the contracts)," Wilborn said.

Kansas' Medicaid Director Sarah Fertig, however, consistently asked lawmakers to allow negotiations to go on as planned.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, she said, may not approve contract extensions and a guaranteed extension would encourage contractors to abuse the system.

"No matter what happens we would not be able to threaten termination of the contract," Fertig said in January.

Lawmakers also approved language barring the governor from closing churches during a public health emergency. The public health measures were negotiated in conference committees as part of an effort within the Kansas Senate to overhaul public health law in the state.

In a floor speech Tuesday, Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican and House majority leader, reminded members that closing churches already was a violation of the Kansas Constitution — referencing a Kansas Supreme Court ruling from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when Kelly issued capacity limits on churches.

"I want to remind everyone here that the Governor did close churches," Hawkins said. "It's important for us to do this because she did not pay attention to the constitution."

This story was originally published April 26, 2022 2:09 PM.

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