House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, called the House to order Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, officially starting the 2016 legislative session.

Topeka ? The 2016 Kansas legislative session officially got underway Monday as issues surrounding Medicaid expansion and funding the judicial branch immediately took center stage.

Oddly, the issue of expanding Medicaid got pushed into the spotlight by someone completely outside the Legislature, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose campaign sent out a statement hours before the House and Senate gaveled into session.

“Health care for Kansas families should be a right for all, not a privilege for the few,” Clinton said in the statement. “The Kansas Legislature and Governor Brownback should use this session to do the right thing and pass a bill that expands Medicaid.”

House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, called the House to order Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, officially starting the 2016 legislative session.

Officials estimate that would extend coverage to about 138,000 Kansans who are currently uninsured.

But the federal program, also known as Obamacare, is deeply unpopular among Republicans, and, predictably, Clinton’s remarks sparked a series of charged retorts from GOP leaders, including House Speaker Ray Merrick, of Stilwell, who rhetorically asked, “Hillary who?”

“Kansans don’t trust Hillary Clinton, and her call to expand Medicaid makes Republicans even more skeptical of expanding Obamacare,” Merrick said.

Kansas GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold also responded, saying, “Perhaps (former State Department) Secretary Clinton should focus more on meeting court mandated deadlines for the release of her emails than pushing her failed policy agenda in Kansas.”

Under the federal health reform law known as the Affordable Care Act, states can expand their Medicaid programs to cover all individuals in households with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level. That’s $16,242 for an individual, or $33,465 for a family of four. The federal government pays 90-95 percent of the cost of covering people in the expansion group.

Senate Vice President Jeff King, a Republican from Independence, where a community hospital was forced to close last year, signaled that there could be some movement on a Medicaid expansion plan this year.

“We have hard-working Kansans who can’t afford health coverage, and we need to look at a Kansas solution to address that. Not a Washington solution. No one wants that here,” he said.

King said he would consider a Medicaid expansion plan if it includes a work requirement for those who would gain coverage through an expansion and a requirement that they contribute something in the form of premiums to offset the cost to the state.

Judicial budget

Meanwhile, leaders in both chambers said one of the first issues they will need to tackle this year is funding for the Kansas judicial branch.

Last year, lawmakers passed a two-year budget for the judicial branch. But they included language in the bill saying all funding would become “null and void” if the Kansas courts overturned a 2014 law that changes the way chief judges in district courts are selected.

A Shawnee County judge later did just that, and the Kansas Supreme Court upheld his ruling in December.

That case has drawn national attention, but the provision of the law triggering a shutdown of the court system has been temporarily put on hold until March 15, giving lawmakers time to address the issue.

Although it is widely expected that lawmakers will move to keep funding for the court system flowing, some have feared that the budget could be cut, as a form of retribution for the ruling. But the chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees said that is unlikely to happen, and both said the plan is to begin working on the judicial budget later this week.

“I don’t anticipate any significant changes to their budget,” said Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr., R-Olathe, also said he does not expect any change in the judicial budget.

“No,” he said. “I believe this will be part of our discussion in our committee this week.”

Coming up this week

Gov. Sam Brownback will deliver his State of the State address at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, during which he will lay out his legislative agenda for the session.

Most people in the audience will be listening closely for his plan to deal with a projected $14 million budget shortfall in the current fiscal year, and the $175 million shortfall awaiting in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The speech, however, will probably have few details about his budget plan. Those will be unveiled to the press and the House and Senate budget committees on Wednesday.

Many lawmakers are also eagerly awaiting the release of an efficiency study from the consulting firm of Alvarez and Marsal, which is scheduled to be released to the budget committees Tuesday morning.