As we near the end of the Kansas Legislative session it strikes me how different our state could be with different legislative leadership.
I don’t like to be partisan, however, it is important to point out the major differences in policy.
Republicans have a supermajority, but it seems the Democrats are more attuned to the policy preferences of most Kansans.
The Republican Party released their legislative plan early in the session. Allow me to go through some parts of the Republican Plan and the legislation they have tried to enact:
• Republicans believe Kansans should keep more of what they earn. To do this they propose a flat tax that gives the majority of the breaks to the wealthy. We tried something very similar to this under former Gov. Sam Brownback and it wrecked our economy.
Most Kansans are asking for an elimination of the sales tax on food. The Democratic Party has proposed this the last two years, but Republicans refuse to pass these bills.
Recent property tax appraisals highlight the desire of most Kansans for lower property taxes. Democrats introduced a bill that provides relief for residential property taxes. Republicans have offered no property tax relief.
• Republicans say they are committed to expanding Kansans’ ability to access health care. Yet they have opposed every effort by the Democratic Party to expand Medicaid, which would be the quickest way to provide health care to 150,000 Kansans and is 90% federally funded. The vast majority — 72% — of Kansans agree that Medicaid should be expanded.
• Polls show that Kansans overwhelmingly support legalizing medical marijuana. Republicans in the Senate have refused to pass this legislation, although it passed the House in 2021. Meanwhile Democrats have introduced bills to legalize medical marijuana for several sessions.
• Republicans say they want strong schools. To accomplish this, they have proposed taking money away from public schools and giving it to private schools with no accountability.
Democrats have opposed giving public money to private schools. In addition, some Republicans continue to attack public schools and teachers by accusing them of indoctrinating students. The Democratic Party proposes providing full funding, including special education, and supporting the work our teachers do every day.
• The Republican Party says it is concerned about freedom. Their solution has been to introduce bills that would prohibit county or state health officials from taking strong action in the case of contagious diseases, and prohibiting school officials from requiring certain vaccinations to keep our kids safe.
The Democratic Party suggests that we allow our health experts and public officials to make the informed decisions on how best to protect our society from disease.
• Republicans also wish to dictate a woman’s reproductive health care decisions.
Democrats suggest that reproductive health care decisions are between a woman and her doctor, not public officials. They propose to honor the wishes of the voters when they defeated the anti-abortion “Value Them Both” constitutional amendment in August.
