As the 2020 legislative session nears an end, lawmakers made one last push to expand Medicaid by tacking it on to a bill focused on cable television regulation.
Democratic Sen. Dinah Sykes offered up an amendment to the bill that would have expanded Medicaid, but was later ruled not relevant to the legislation.
“When the hands of the majority of this body have been tied and we have not been able to debate this, we have to go to extreme measures,” Sykes said.
The bill, which ultimately passed on a 33-5 vote, limits local governments’ ability to regulate deployment of new wireless service technology.
Sykes’ proposal would have followed the legislation that Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning had agreed to with Gov. Laura Kelly earlier in the session, but was bottled up after the constitutional amendment on abortion died in the House.
Sykes made a move to challenge the ruling on germaneness – similar to how the House passed Medicaid expansion last year – but was unsuccessful. The Senate upheld the ruling 24-16.
Sykes received support from Democratic state Sen. Barbara Bollier, a leading advocate for Medicaid expansion and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
“We have been bridled and throttled this entire year when the votes exist from this chamber to pass Medicaid expansion,” Bollier said.
“We have the votes. Kansas voters want us to pass this. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. People in Kansas are desperate and they need health care.”
Denning said it was an easy decision to uphold the ruling, saying it would have otherwise disrupted the Legislature’s effort to complete its work by midnight tonight.
Yet, he expressed regret at not passing expansion this year. He put tying Medicaid expansion to the abortion amendment into the “B.S. column.” He voted with the Sykes amendment on a separate vote.
“I personally sent 2,000 hours building that bill,” he said. “I am profoundly disappointed that we did not bring it up to the floor for debate. It was ready for debate. We should have had that debate.”
Republican Sen. Gene Suellentrop, chair of the Senate health committee, questioned why lawmakers supporting Medicaid expansion show little interest in the thousands of abortions performed in the state each year.
“It rings pretty hollow to express concern about your constituents when you support that kind of activity.”
