Brownback reacts to President Obama's Clean Power Plan rule

News Release:

Governor Sam Brownback today responded to the Clean Power Plan rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule, which sets national limits on power plant emissions, requires more extensive cuts than earlier versions of the rule.

“The EPA failed to adequately consider the negative impact this overreaching regulation has on Kansas rate payers, resulting in higher electricity rates and greater uncertainty in grid reliability. The final rule released today is twice as bad for Kansas as the proposed rule released last summer and requires us to review not only the rule itself but reconsider the state's overall approach to the Clean Power Plan."

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback calls for inspections of abortion facilities in Kansas

Release:

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback today called on the Kansas Board of Healing Arts to investigate, as part of its inspection of office-based surgical practices, whether any Kansas facility is engaged in the inhumane practice of selling tissue and organs from unborn children who are aborted. 

He also called upon the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to cooperate in any investigation.

The Governor issued the following statement:

“Kansas remains committed to a culture that respects the dignity of life at all stages. Recent videos show Planned Parenthood employees treating the unborn as commodities as they discuss the sale of tissue and organs. This does not reflect the culture of life most Kansans want.

“We now call upon the Kansas Board of Healing Arts to address the issue of sale of tissue and organs from the unborn in its inspections of Kansas medical offices.

“Human life has dignity at all stages of life. Senate Bill 95, banning dismemberment abortion in Kansas, prevents the barbaric procedure of dismembering an unborn child.

“We must remind ourselves and others that unborn children are just that – children – with certain inalienable rights that we must respect and protect.”

LINKS: Brownback, KCK Public Schools exchange debate tit-for-tat

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Over the weekend, the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools District and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback got caught up in a little bit of a "tit-for-tat."

Both offices issued press releases during the weekend.

41 Action News summarizes the disagreement between the district and the governor:

KCK schools fire back against governor on funding back-and-forth

Brownback's office responds to Kansas City, Kansas school district budget announcement

Kansas House leaders reluctantly agree to Medicaid expansion hearing

By JIM McLEAN
KHI News Service

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- The odds that the Kansas Legislature will pass a Medicaid expansion bill this session remain long.

But they improved Thursday, however slightly, when conservative Republican leaders agreed to allow a hearing on expansion to avoid an immediate vote on the House floor. Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, was attempting to amend his Medicaid expansion proposal into an unrelated bill.

Uncertain as to how a vote might turn out, House leaders dropped their opposition to a hearing in exchange for Ward withdrawing his amendment.

Sebelius criticizes Brownback at Dole Institute event

By JIM McLEAN
KHI News Service

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius didn’t mince words when asked about the direction of Kansas politics during an event Thursday night at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Making one of her first Kansas public appearances since stepping down in June as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Sebelius called the re-election of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback “a low point” in the state’s political history.

Thousands sign unofficial Brownback recall petition

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Following Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's announced cuts to public education in Kansas, thousands of Kansans have responded by signing a petition supporting the recall of the governor. 

As of 1:30 Friday, over 18,000 individuals have signed the petition. 

The petition is not an official one, meaning that nothing will happen regardless of how many sign it.

However, the creator of the petition is seeking 20,000 signatures.

Below is the summary of the petition from the creator:

Many Kansans traditionally vote along party lines, which is why Brownback recently won re-election by a narrow margin.  

However, citizens are now realizing his policies are NOT in their best interests. Kansans overwhelmingly want good schools, good roads, and a government that is fiscally healthy and takes care of its obligations to all its citizens.  

While this is NOT an official recall petition, it IS a way for the citizens of Kansas to state that Governor Brownback's policies are detrimental to the future of Kansas and must be stopped.

Wyandotte County school districts to lose $1.9 million in funding

By NICK SLOAN, nick@kansascitykansan.com

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- The four Wyandotte County public school districts will lose nearly $1.9 million in funding after Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced new cuts to education on Thursday.

Brownback announced the state would reduce aid to public schools by about $28 million.

Tobacco fund sweep draws legislator’s ire

KHI News Service

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- A member of the House Social Services Budget Committee on Thursday objected to Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan for using $14.5 million from the Kansas Endowment for Youth to fill part of a $280 million hole in the current fiscal year’s budget.

“This is a problem, in my view,” said Rep. Stephanie Clayton, a Republican from Overland Park.

She asked the committee’s chair, Rep. Will Carpenter, a Republican from El Dorado, “Is there anything we can do to prevent this sweep?”

Carpenter, who’s new to the committee, said he wasn’t sure but would find out. The exchange came midway through an informational briefing on the state’s tobacco master settlement agreement revenues and how they are spent.

In keeping with state statutes, settlement revenues –between $50 million and $70 million, typically -- each year are deposited in the Kansas Empowerment for Youth (KEY) fund. Historically, most of the money in the KEY fund is transferred to the Children’s Initiative Fund where it’s used to underwrite programs and services that promote early childhood development.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Education budget puts Kansas at risk

By Aaron Estabrook
USD 383 Board of Education

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Kansas is at risk.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan stood before the press and television cameras at the White House and held up a report titled A Nation at Risk.

Eighteen months in the making and written by members of the National Commission on Excellence in Education at the behest of Secretary of Education, the report examined the quality of education in the United States—and the findings were atrocious.

Health organizations declare support for governor’s proposed cigarette tax increase

By JIM McLEAN
KHI News Service 

 KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- A coalition of health organizations is supporting Gov. Sam Brownback’s call for a big increase in the state’s cigarette tax. Brownback is proposing to raise the tax by $1.50 per pack, increasing it from 79 cents to $2.29.

The governor wants to use the approximately $81 million in additional revenue to close a gaping hole in the fiscal year 2016 budget.

Proposed budget avoids cuts in social services

By DAVE RANNEY 
KHI News Source

Here’s an overview of funding for social services in Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget for the next two fiscal years:

• An additional $4 million for moving people with disabilities off the state’s waiting lists for Medicaid-funded in-home services: $3 million for people with developmental disabilities and $1 million for Kansans with physical disabilities.

Brownback notes poverty fight, Medicaid reform in State of the State address

By ANDY MARSO
Kansas Health Institute

In his first State of the State address since being re-elected, Gov. Sam Brownback said Thursday night that his efforts to fight poverty and reform Medicaid have been a success and outlined a controversial second-term agenda.

Brownback, a Republican who defeated Democrat Paul Davis in November, acknowledged that the state has a budget problem.

But he pointed to indicators like the state’s unemployment rate — 10th lowest in the country — as evidence that his sweeping income tax cuts are working.

Governor proclaims January Kansas Mentoring Month

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Governor Sam Brownback signed a proclamation declaring January 2015 as “Kansas Mentoring Month,” recognizing the importance of mentoring and encouraging Kansans to look for opportunities to serve as a mentor.

Research shows that mentoring has long-term benefits on youth by increasing their chances of high school graduation and college attendance, and decreasing the likelihood of substance abuse and other risky behaviors.

Brownback Proclaims January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, along with Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Secretary Phyllis Gilmore, Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), Secretary Lana Gordon, Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL), Secretary Ray Roberts, Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) and Interim Secretary Susan Mosier, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) have proclaimed January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Kansas.

“I take seriously the fight against human trafficking,” Governor Sam Brownback said. “We have trained more than 500 child welfare professionals about human trafficking rings making Kansas a national model for preventing this horrendous crime.”

Campaign announced to exempt food from Kansas sales tax

By Jim McLean
KHI News Service

TOPEKA, KAN. — A coalition is forming to make healthy food less expensive in Kansas.

Led by KC Healthy Kids, a nonprofit organization supported in part by the Kansas Health Foundation, a coalition is being formed to guide a legislative effort to exempt food from the state sales tax.

ACA plays a role in Brownback budget fix

By Andy Marso
KHI News Service

KANSAS CITY, KAN. — When Gov. Sam Brownback announced this week a list of stopgap measures to close a $280 million budget hole, one of the biggest chunks was $55 million from a "Kansas Department of Health and Environment Fee Fund Sweep" made possible in part by a federal law the governor has strenuously opposed and criticized.

The $55 million comes from a Medicaid drug rebate program that was expanded as part of the federal Affordable Care Act.

The health reform act, commonly known as Obamacare, increased the refunds that pharmaceutical companies must pay states for prescriptions provided to Medicaid patients and allowed states to collect rebates for Medicaid prescriptions administered by managed care organizations.

“I know the extension to the managed care plans was a big deal, because that’s where states have been moving,” said Stacey Mazer, a senior staff member at the National Association of State Budget Officers. “That piece (of the ACA) was something that was a net gain essentially for states, the fact that it was being applied to the Medicaid managed care plans.”

Mazer, who monitors and studies how federal health care and Medicaid policies affect state budgets, said she could not say how much of a financial gain the legislation represented for specific states.

Brownback announces cuts to close budget gap

By Andy Marso 
KHI News Service

TOPEKA, KAN. — Gov. Sam Brownback announced Tuesday he will use his power of allotments to make fee sweeps and spending cuts to close a $280 million budget gap in the current fiscal year.

Brownback said in a prepared statement that the allotments come from recommendations made by Budget Director Shawn Sullivan.

“I appreciate Shawn’s hard work in identifying efficiencies and cost savings across state government,” Brownback said. “These first steps are a down payment in resolving the immediate budget issue. I look forward to presenting a full budget proposal and policy recommendations to the Legislature in January. Our job now is to address this situation through good fiscal governance while maintaining our investment in education, sustaining funding for public safety and allowing T-WORKS to be completed.”

Spending on Medicaid — the state's largest health-related item — was not affected.

But the governor announced cuts to operating budgets for state agencies that administer programs for the disabled, poor and sick, as well as enforce environmental regulations.

He also proposed saving $5.4 million by delaying the expansion of the Meyer Building at Larned State Hospital, the state's largest psychiatric facility.

The cuts and sweeps Brownback proposed are intended to get the the state only through July 1, 2015. Another $436 million budget gap looms in the fiscal year that begins on that date, and Brownback and lawmakers will have to find a way to close that gap when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Brownback proclaims Nov. 29 as "Small Business Saturday"

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has proclaimed Nov. 29 as “Small Business Saturday” in Kansas to highlight the importance of small businesses to the state’s economy.

“Small businesses are vital to our state’s economy, employing 75 percent of all working Kansans," said Brownback. "I encourage everyone to support the small businesses in their communities, both this Saturday and throughout the holiday season."

Small Business Saturday celebrates small businesses across the nation and encourages people to “shop small” on what is traditionally the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

For more information on Small Business Saturday, go to http://smallbusinesssaturday.com/.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) the holiday shopping season is crucial to small businesses.

Now in its fifth year, Small Business Saturday encourages people to support the local businesses that play an important role in their communities.

"Small and independent business owners are among the most generous supporters of civic groups, local charities, youth sports, schools and virtually every other form of community activity," said Dan Murray, state director of NFIB. "Shopping locally is a great way for people to help their friends and neighbors create jobs and opportunities in the places where they live."

State slashes revenue forecast

By Andy Marso
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — State revenue forecasters said Monday that the state can expect hundreds of millions of budget dollars less than previously thought to fund schools, social programs and highway projects.

The consensus revenue estimating group lowered the official projections it made in April by $205 million. If accurate, the revised forecast means that Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators will have to raise taxes or make deep cuts in spending during the remaining seven months of the budget year to avoid a $278 million deficit. Additional cuts will be necessary to prevent a $435 million deficit in the next budget year, the analysts said.

In May, Kansas legislators and Brownback approved a budget of about $6.3 billion for the fiscal year that started July 1. That was already more than the state was projected to collect, but a healthy reserve fund was expected to cover the difference. However, lagging tax collections will force the state to spend through its reserves and cut spending.

Budget Director Shawn Sullivan said he was not counting on any tax increases. Instead, he said, the Brownback administration would focus on curbing state spending.

“The state of Kansas must continue to live within its means, just as families do every day,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he would begin working on a menu of options for reducing the budget and discuss with Brownback whether the cuts can wait until the Legislature reconvenes in January. If not, the governor could use his allotment authority to start cutting before then.

“Both of those are options,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he had already identified $100 million in efficiencies that can be implemented without reducing services. He also said the projected deficit in the current budget year is based on the state restoring some programs that it hasn’t funded in recent years. He cited the Local Advalorem Property Tax Reduction fund as an example. It was once used to help lower county property taxes.

“It would be probably fairly reasonable to suggest if we haven’t funded LAVTR in 10 years and counting, we probably aren’t going to start now,” Sullivan said.

Several factors led the forecasters to lower their projections. The income tax cuts championed by Brownback forced the biggest adjustment.

“It's fair to say estimates in April missed the marks,” Sullivan said.

A 2012 plan that Brownback spearheaded dropped state income tax rates and eliminated the income tax for owners of about 191,000 businesses organized as LLCs, sole proprietorships or other forms that produce “pass-through” income.

Health care compact gains attention as campaign issue

By Jim McLean
KHI News Service

TOPEKA — A once-obscure effort by a group of states to get out from under federal health care regulations has become an issue in the final days of the Kansas governor’s race.

On Wednesday, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Jill Docking teamed with Republican Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger at a Wichita news conference to criticize Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for signing a bill authorizing Kansas’ membership in a multi-state health care compact. Docking, Democrat Paul Davis’ running mate, said the compact could put the “Medicare benefits of Kansas seniors at risk.”

If the compact is approved by Congress, its nine member states could suspend federal health care regulations within their borders and take over several programs now administered by the federal government.

Docking, Praeger and other critics of the compact charge that it opens the door to a possible state takeover of Medicare, the health care program that serves approximately 450,000 Kansas seniors.