Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is urging lawmakers to make significant progress on water issues during the current legislative session.
On KVOE’s Morning Show late last week, the governor said it’s high time for action designed to protect the state’s water supply.
A big part of developing a sustainable water plan is the revenue stream, pun fully intended.
The governor says her budget proposal, announced in full shortly after her annual State of the State address earlier this month, recommends full funding of the State Water Plan Fund as well as an additional $2.3 million for water quality improvements in the Equus Beds Aquifer, another $1.1 million for water planning and project development and over $870,000 in yearly funding for conservation districts.
Kelly also discussed rural health concerns, which have been at or near the top of her agenda through calls to expand Medicaid access almost every year she has been in office.
Kelly says the One Big Beautiful Bill package passed by lawmakers last summer is taking $1 trillion out of Medicaid, including $3 billion just for Kansas. Kelly says the Rural Health Transformation program announced last fall will help, especially since Kansas got one of the six biggest awards at better than $220 million. Kelly echoed comments from Newman Regional Health CEO Cathy Pimple shortly after the announcement, saying the focus is more on the healthcare model and less on the facility or program providing care.
In unrelated topics developing outside the interview scope, the governor has announced several area projects have received funding. The list includes Chase County’s Safe Streets for All package, including over $425,000 in federal funding, a Build Kansas contribution of over $100,000 and a local contribution of over $5,300. Safe Streets for All, also listed as SS4A, fosters investments for safer streets and roads through local and state funding alongside federal Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act monies.
Also, Eureka is getting two sets of grants for work at its airport through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Infrastructure Grant program. Apron design will get over $80,000 in federal funding, along with over $4,000 from the state and a small applicant contribution for a total package of $85,000. Installing a fuel farm is combining over $440,000 from the federal government, over $22,000 from the state and almost $1,200 locally for a nearly $470,000 funding package.
