School funding, taxes, Medicaid expansion hot topics at coffee
State Sens.
"Needless to say, I don't think any of us want to go through that again," Estes said of the 2017 legislative session, the longest in state history.
Wheeler, who was a freshman lawmaker, said his first session was a hard one.
"I kind of had an idea of what I'd be in for when I went in there," he said, adding that he would admit some degree of frustration when it came to working long days without coming up with solutions to some of the state's issues. "That's very frustrating, but we did get it done, and I think we got it done correctly in regards to (school) finance."
Francis, who said he thinks of the session as "the good, the bad and the ugly," said one good thing that came out of the session was the education funding formula that lawmakers hope will address the needs of students that aren't performing at grade level.
In March, the
During the 2017 legislative session,
On Friday, the state attorney general requested that the Supreme Court complete a judicial review of the formula by
Wheeler said he has to return to
There were some lawmakers who wanted to double the amount budgeted, Wheeler said, adding that his attitude toward that was he and other lawmakers needed to be responsible when deciding funding and let the Supreme Court decide if it was adequate.
During the coffee,
Wheeler said he hopes the court would give lawmakers more time to find additional funding.
"The structure is already there, and if they were to come out and say, 'No, it's not enough,' I hope that they would give us an amount," he said. "That's what made it difficult this time is we never knew an amount."
Doll said he, too, hopes the court would give lawmakers an extension to come up with a formula deemed constitutional.
"If they say we're unconstitutional, we go back up and we make it constitutional," he said. "I hope that they give an extension if found unconstitutional so that summer employees can continue to be paid and work through it."
The tax bill recently passed by lawmakers that would raise income taxes by
Earlier this month, the
"You never like to raise taxes. It really sucks if you ask me," Francis said.
Wheeler said when he was running for office, he said he would vote to raise taxes.
"I've heard so many people say, 'We don't need to raise taxes, we need to cut.' Cut where?" he said. "We are in a fiscal disaster in
Doll, who said he is a "Second Amendment guy," also discussed gun control, noting that he would get "post carded like crazy" on his comments about it.
Earlier this month, Brownback allowed for a gun bill that enables state mental hospitals, the
"I don't have a problem with a person carrying a gun virtually anywhere, as long as they have a concealed carry permit," Doll said, adding that he thinks a little bit of training makes sense. "What about teachers carrying guns in school, you know,? That's not a horrible idea as long as the administrator knows who's carrying it and the person's been trained."
Nearly 150,000 Kansans could join Medicaid under expansion. The federal government currently pays for 90 percent of the expansion costs for states that extend Medicaid coverage to people who earn up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line. Brownback vetoed the bill, and lawmakers were unable to override it.
Doll said he was disappointed the Legislature didn't get the override and that expansion is important to
"Even with
Francis said he didn't vote for Medicaid expansion and didn't think it was financially prudent to pass until the state knew how it was going to pay for it.
"The hospital association does have a plan to pay for it," he said. "I'll be supportive when they come forward with that."
Estes said if the state wasn't in its current situation, Medicaid expansion could have been discussed in a different light.
"The way it was, however, it was terribly overshadowed and stared us right in the face," Estes said, adding that once it is known what the federal government is going to do in terms of health care, it puts a different spin on the conversations about expansion.
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