Kansas will remain one of the few states that has not legalized the medical use of marijuana or expanded Medicaid for at least another year.
Republican state senators on Friday blocked efforts to force consideration of both issues before the Republican-controlled Legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Tuesday. Sponsors of each bill fell short of 24 of the 40 votes needed to pass each bill out of committee.
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Supporters of both proposals argue that both lawsuits have been blocked for a decade, even though they have popular support. Kansas does not allow voters to place a statewide measure on the ballot, which has led to the approval of measures in other states.
All but 12 states have legalized medical marijuana, and all but 10 states have expanded Medicaid in line with the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010 and its promise to cover nearly all costs. Expanded. Besides Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming are the only states that have neither, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“We’re behind the times,” Sen. John Dole, a western Kansas Republican who voted in favor of both bills, said after Friday’s vote.
Republican leaders expected both efforts to fail because Republicans hold a 29-11 majority in the Senate, viewing it primarily as a political advantage.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly speaks at a roundtable in support of expanding the state’s Medicaid program, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Shawnee County Jail in Topeka, Kansas. Democratic governors support Medicaid expansion, while Republicans are blocking Medicaid efforts. The Senate will force a debate on it. (AP Photo/John Hannah)
The vote on medical marijuana was 12-25, with three senators absent. Law enforcement officials oppose the idea, saying medical marijuana is likely to move closer to legalization for recreational use.
In committee testimony earlier this year, opponents also pointed to Oklahoma state officials’ dissatisfaction with Oklahoma’s 2018 ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) said the cannabis industry is experiencing explosive growth under lax laws. There is an influx of criminals and foreigners for illegal black market activities.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said, “We never expected we would have 10,000 growers, far more than California or any other state, and we would make sure that anyone with a hangnail could get a medical card.” It will become.”
But Oklahoma also receives about $52 million in revenue from excise taxes on marijuana in 2023, and an additional $67 million in state and local sales taxes.
Cheryl Kanberg, a registered nurse in western Kansas and president of the Kansas Cannabis Coalition, said Oklahoma’s problems stem from its lax laws. He said Kansas residents who can obtain marijuana from other states are using it and risk legal issues to address medical issues.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “You can go 45 minutes one way and a few hours the other way. Use it however you like.”
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly even tied medical marijuana to the 2021 Medicaid expansion, proposing a cannabis tax to cover a relatively small percentage of the state to expand Medicaid health coverage to an additional 150,000 people. However, it ended in failure.
Friday’s vote to expand Medicaid was 18-17, despite months of aggressive public campaigning by Kelly and other expansion supporters. In early January, she said she was taking a “more political approach” and signaled she planned to harshly attack anti-expansion Republicans during the fall campaign.
She backed away from that idea this month, telling reporters after one pro-expansion event that “it doesn’t matter whether this is an election year or not.”
But last year, Mr. Kelly founded the Middle of the Road Political Action Committee, which had raised nearly $1 million by the end of December for this year’s general election.
Also last year, two former aides to Mr. Kelly’s campaign helped form the Kansas Common Sense Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group that supports the governor’s goals. The group issued a statement after the vote suggesting that a no vote was a vote against cutting health care costs and supporting rural hospitals.
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But Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said before the vote that he did not expect Medicaid expansion to be a major issue in the election. He dismissed the popular surveys and opinion polls released by expansionists as “just based on the way the questions are asked.”
“If you ask them, ‘Do you want free health care for able-bodied people?’ people will vote no,” Masterson said, echoing a common Republican argument.
