Kansas will remain among the handful of states that haven’t legalized the medical use of marijuana or expanded their Medicaid programs for at least another year. Republicans state senators on Friday blocked efforts to force debates on both issues before the GOP-controlled Legislature’s scheduled adjournment for the year Tuesday.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks during a roundtable discussion in favor of expanding the state’s Medicaid program, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at the Shawnee County jail in Topeka, Kan. The Democratic governor supports expanding Medicaid, but Republicans have blocked an attempt in the Senate to force a debate on it.
“We’re behind the times,” state Sen. John Doll, a western Kansas Republican who voted for both measures, said after Friday’s votes.GOP mulls next move after Kansas governor vetoes effort to help Texas in border security fightRepublican leaders had expected both efforts to fail, given the GOP’s 29-11 Senate majority, and viewed them largely as political grandstanding.with three senators absent.
But Oklahoma also received nearly $52 million in revenue from its excise tax on marijuana and an additional $67 million in state and local sales taxes in 2023. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly even linked medical marijuana to Medicaid expansion in 2021, unsuccessfully pitching marijuana taxes to cover the state’s relatively small share of the cost of expanding Medicaid health coverage to another 150,000 people.despite months of aggressive public campaigning by Kelly and other expansion advocates. In early January, she said she was taking a “more political approach” and suggested plans to hit anti-expansion Republicans hard during the fall campaign.
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