RYCKMAN RECAP, Ron Ryckman, 38th District Senator
We’ve adjourned until next January 13, 2025 ... or maybe not! That’s because the combined Weeks 14-15 (two days each) of the 2024 Legislature ended with our passing yet a fifth tax relief bill that the Governor has threatened to again veto and call us back into Special Session. Even though SB 37 was adopted by theoretical override margins (108-11 in the House and 25-9 -- with three likely “yeas” absent-- in the Senate), it doesn’t seem to matter when endless compromises are being made to accommodate constantly moving goalposts. The latest version lowered the overall “cost” of the plan by about $15 million – one of the Chief Executive’s demands, but retained a two-tier personal income structure of 5.2% and 5.57%. Our Senate President questioned the logic of having us return at a cost of $84,000 per day, especially with only 20 legislators in both chambers having voted against the plan (165 for). It just seems that at some “point” one has to wonder about the whole point of “making a point!” Any special Session would likely begin in two weeks.
The good news is that we also separately passed smaller tax bills contained in HB 2096 with several provisions designed to aid Kansas veterans. We likewise overrode the veto of a budget line item to approve State National Guard help in securing the Texas border. All voter security measures fell victim to the Governor’s insistence on leaving the process wide open; however, the Chambers did succeed in preventing her efforts to deny any limitations on abortion, namely requiring the reasons why, making coercion a crime, and providing funding for Pregnancy Resource Centers and promotion of adoption (HB 2749, HB 2436, and HB 2465, respectively). Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, the House fell short in the effort (SB 233) to block transgender minors from accessing affirming care. Both marijuana legalization and Medicaid expansion failed to get cleared for substantive consideration, but a new school budget bill (SB 387) was comfortably approved without the controversial local revenue provision that would have caused many of our rural districts to lose funding.
I wish I could reflect back and say we had had a successful four months of difference-making accomplishments for our constituents, but with no tax cut bill being assured, that would be hard to justify. When so many important things were being decided by single-vote margins, we always tend to think back and ask, “What if?” That is especially true in this, an election year, when we can anticipate as many as 10 Senators -- fully one-fourth of the entire body -- not returning in 2025. I don’t count myself among them, of course, so look forward to continuing to share my “Recaps” again beginning in eight months. Please know that despite all the sacrifices and inconveniences of being away from “home,” hearing from, listening to, and representing your interests in Topeka is my greatest honor and privilege. Thank you for entrusting me with that awesome responsibility; I hope to do whatever I can to make all our lives better in SW Kansas “from the Statehouse to Your House.” May you all have a blessed summer, fall, and beginning of winter “until we meet again down the trail.”
