February 12, 2021
Rural Hospital Innovation Grant Fund
On Wednesday, February 10, the House Appropriations Committee conducted a hearing on House Bill 2174 which would establish the Rural Hospital Innovation Grant Program with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). All counties would be able to participate in this particular grant program with the exception of Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Wyandotte county.
The bill creates the Rural Hospital Innovation Grant Fund with KDHE and, if passed, effective July 1, 2021 there will be a transfer from the state general fund to the Rural Hospital Innovation Grant Fund. This particular fund would be in place and would expire on June 30, 2025 and any monies in the fund at that time would transfer back to the state general fund.
The balance of the fund would be generated from every $1 of state funds that could be awarded, a $2 match must be provided from private stakeholders. The private stakeholders may specify a certain county to receive a grant using the private stakeholder’s contribution.
Assuming sufficient private stakeholder funds are raised under this contribution model, a maximum of $30 million would be available under this bill for the Rural Hospital Innovation Grant Fund, $10 million from the state of Kansas and $20 million from private contributions.
We have not scheduled a time to work this bill at this time, although this would greatly benefit our rural hospitals throughout the state of Kansas.
Appropriations Committee
This week the House Appropriations Committee continued the discussion for the state budget for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023. We continued the discussion with over twenty budget recommendations to be included in the state of Kansas budget. The budget outlook is much better than what we had anticipated when the revenue estimates were revised in November. This will allow us to formulate a balanced budget and will not have to rely on the creative accounting methods that the Governor had proposed in her budget. We also had an update on the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Plan (IKE) that passed last legislative session. The Secretary of Transportation noted in her remarks that IKE is identifying new transportation projects throughout the state and completing the delayed projects for the last ten-year transportation program; TWORKS.
Bills Passed the House
On Wednesday, February 10, the Kansas House of Representatives debated and voted on eleven bills, passing all of those bills to the Kansas State Senate.
One of those bills that we debated and voted on is House Bill 2030, which extends the terminal medical release to inmates in custody of the Department of Corrections with a health condition likely to cause death within 120 days. This bill passed the House with a vote of 94-29 and I voted, “no.”
Another bill is House Bill 2081. It would allow a court to direct a person convicted of a crime committed while on release for a felony to serve the sentence concurrently or consecutively. Under current law, the sentence is served consecutively. This bill passed the House, 69-56, and, again, I voted “no.”
On Thursday, we held debate on nine additional bills. The first bill was Senate Bill 15 and it would establish the Kansas Economic Recovery Loan Deposit Program. The bill also amends requirements on state-chartered credit unions to increase the geographic area for a credit union’s membership. The bill also allows national banking associations, state banks, trust companies, and savings and loan associations to deduct from the net interest income received from qualified agricultural real estate and single-family residence loans to the extent that the interest is included in the Kansas taxable income of the corporation. The bill passed and I voted, “yes.”
Contact Information
Anytime that one would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, one can tune in by listening to the audio footage at www.kslegislature.org.
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, or email me at [email protected]. Please contact me regarding any issues and legislation that we are discussing during session.
It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.
Troy L. Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, is the 109th Kansas House District state representative and chairman of the Appropriations Committee.