By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said there will be two bills that are top priorities for when legislators return in January if she is elected again. The first of those is a quicker end to the food sales tax.
"I will have a bill on their desks when they come back in January that will totally eliminate the food sales tax as quickly as we can administratively do that," Kelly said. "There was no reason to delay implementation or to stretch it out over three years. I spent 14 years on the budget committee in the Senate. I know that the money is there and I know that it is ongoing revenue. It's not one time federal funding. It is ongoing revenue that has been generated by the economic development that we've been able to achieve."
The other major bill is Medicaid expansion.
"I have presented four different proposals for Medicaid expansion in the time that I have been governor," Kelly said. "All of them were ones that we could afford. All of them were ones that we needed to do, to not just make sure that we make health care accessible to 150,000 Kansans, but also that we grow our economy. We've forfeited now over $6 billion in federal funding that should have come to Kansas. It's gone to California, New York and everyplace else for them to take care of their folks and grow their economy. We need to bring that money here."
Kelly also said expanding Medicaid will give funding to hospitals that need it to keep their people.
"Right now, every state around us has expanded Medicaid and we are bleeding health care workers over to those states," Kelly said. "They can get reimbursed for their services. We also know that we have a huge mental health challenge here in the state of Kansas. Expanding Medicaid would give access to mental health services to so many people who are in dire need but cannot afford it."
Kelly is in south central Kansas on Friday for an agricultural meeting in Hutchinson and a KDOT announcement in Wichita.