State Finance Council approves millions in emergency funding, aid for struggling hospitals

photo by: Associated Press

Flanked by Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman, left, and Senate President Susan Wagle, Gov. Laura Kelly delivers her State of the State address Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Story updated at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday:

Members of the Kansas State Finance Council on Wednesday approved $10 million in additional emergency declaration funding and $17.3 million to be put toward grants for hospitals struggling financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The additional emergency declaration funding will automatically trigger an additional $30 million in funding from the federal government and will bring Kansas’ emergency funds so far to $100 million.

The state started out with $60 million in emergency funds and has already spent $47.2 million to secure personal protective equipment for health care workers, Adjutant Gen. David Weishaar told the council. That equates to spending $2.2 million per day, and the state still does not have the supplies it estimates it will need to fight the virus once it reaches its peak.

“We are rapidly running out of money,” Weishaar said.

The $17.3 million for state hospitals will be funded through a mechanism created in the initial COVID-19 relief package passed by the federal government in March. Adam Proffitt, Medicaid director for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told the nine-member council — which includes Gov. Laura Kelly — that the funding was desperately needed as a stopgap measure until more federal funds could be allocated.

Hospitals, Proffitt said, have largely canceled elective procedures as the pandemic outbreak worsened — which, while a necessary move, eats into the revenue stream hospitals need to adequately prepare for COVID-19 patients. Moreover, he said, it seems that hospitals owned and operated by states have been excluded from the federal Small Business Association loan program.

There are 124 qualifying hospitals for the relief program in the state, Proffitt said, and they will receive aid based on demonstrated need — but that it calculates to a rough weighted average of $139,000 per hospital.

The council approved the emergency declaration funding unanimously, but did not need to take a vote on the hospital relief aid. Kelly said in her earlier daily COVID-19 briefing that she would formally make the request for the funding on Thursday.

But House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, admonished Kelly, saying that the aid to hospitals helps only one segment of the economy. And more than 40 Republican legislators demanded in a letter that she provide a detailed plan for allowing businesses to reopen, saying “there is no excuse for us not to be prepared to rebuild.”

“We can’t help out the whole economy — I’m not saying we can — but the one thing we can do is to get people back to work, get people back to making money, being able to pay their bills,” Hawkins said.

Kelly already faces strong criticism from Republicans for limiting in-person worship services and religious gatherings to 10 or fewer people, which GOP leaders see as restricting religious freedom.

She’s also under fire from Republicans because a surge in unemployment claims from jobless workers has overwhelmed the state Department of Labor’s phone lines and website. Kelly said Wednesday that 150 workers are handling calls, up from 21 when the coronavirus outbreak began in Kansas in early March, and a team of 30 people is working around-the-clock on the processing system.

Kelly said she’s working on a plan to loosen restrictions, which could be done regionally or industry-by-industry. But she said schools won’t reopen until at least August, large gatherings may be banned for some time and the state won’t “throw the doors wide open.”

“Life as we’ve known it won’t be the same for quite a while,” Kelly told legislative leaders.

In addition to Kelly, the State Finance Council includes Hawkins, Senate President Susan Wagle, Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Carolyn McGinn, House Speaker Ron Ryckman, House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer and Rep. Troy Waymaster.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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