How will lawmakers deal with a new governor with the legislative session set to begin Monday?
60th District Representative Mark Schreiber offered his perspectives during KVOE’s Morning Show legislative preview Wednesday. He sees “everybody staking out their territory” in the early stages, but he sees some common ground possibly developing as the session continues.
Schreiber sees several major issues coming to the forefront as the session continues. Schreiber has been a supporter of Medicaid expansion the last few years, and he maintains that support even though the federal government may reduce its financial support for states expanding access. He says 150,000 Kansans that make too much for federal subsidies but don’t make enough to buy their own insurance should be covered.
Schreiber also has championed increasing funding for mental health initiatives.
When it comes to education funding, Schreiber supports adding an inflation factor to meet Kansas Supreme Court guidance from last year if the costs are reasonable.
There are concerns among conservatives, however, that hundreds of millions of dollars would have to shift from state agencies or higher education to K-12. Schreiber says it would be unwise to touch higher education spending if that does indeed happen.
Schreiber mentioned support for enacting a tax on Internet sales activity, saying it would level the playing field for local businesses, but he also says that and potentially new policies to accommodate for sports gaming would not be big revenue producers for the state.
Schreiber was a supporter of the hemp bill that passed last year. He does not believe recreational marijuana will pass either chamber, and he wants to learn more about medical marijuana before deciding on how he will vote.
Schreiber’s appearance on KVOE’s Morning Show concluded our legislative session previews. Find our legislative previews from the past week in the KVOE.com Audio Vault.
