photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

Lawrence Journal-World Editorial

It’s hard to argue with the priorities shared with and by Lawrence’s legislative delegation heading into the 2019 session. It’s also fair to wonder how achievable those priorities are, especially the ones that require increased spending.

The issues were identified during the Legislative Priority Breakfast last week featuring Lawrence state Reps. Mike Amyx, Boog Highberger, Eileen Horn and Barbara Ballard and state Sens. Tom Holland and Marci Francisco.

All of Lawrence’s legislators are Democrats. Republicans control the state House and Senate by a wide margin, though for the first time in eight years, a Democrat (Laura Kelly) will serve as governor. The partisan divide between the Legislature and the governor’s office adds an air of unpredictability to this year’s session, which gets underway Monday.

Issues listed as priorities for the Lawrence delegation include:

• Completing the expansion to four lanes of the western segment of Kansas Highway 10 around Lawrence. Amyx, newly elected to the House, said that project would be a focus for him as the highway has become a safety issue.

• Lawrence school board President Jessica Beeson asked for $500 million more in annual public education funding.

• Reggie Robinson, vice chancellor for public affairs at the University of Kansas, asked lawmakers to increase funding for the state’s Regents universities by $85 million over the next two years, including more than $20 million in funding for the University of Kansas.

• Residents asked legislators to again push for Medicaid expansion.

• Barbara Ballard said she would push to remove a state law that forces universities to allow concealed carrying of firearms on their campuses.

• Holland said he plans to file a bill legalizing medical marijuana.

Highberger indicated he could support all of the priorities. And why not? The priorities certainly make sense. But each also is an uphill battle.

The state has raided transportation funds in years past to pay for other needs. Legislators repeatedly have fought court mandates to increase K-12 spending, though they did make significant progress last year. Higher education funding also has been repeatedly slashed, and sometimes legislators have targeted KU for higher cuts than its fellow Regents universities.

Estimates are that 150,000 uninsured residents could get health coverage if Kansas expanded Medicaid coverage as is allowed under the Affordable Care Act. A bill approved in 2017 was vetoed by Gov. Sam Brownback. Last year, a Medicaid expansion bill never got to a vote.

Lawrence legislators face the same challenge as Gov. Kelly: How do they find common ground across the aisle to advance legislation in the best interest of Kansans?

The good news is that the 2018 election, particularly the election of Kelly over hard-right conservative Kris Kobach, shows Kansans to be more centrist than might be otherwise indicated by the dominant advantage Republicans have in the House and Senate.

Lawrence lawmakers have their priorities. We’ll soon see how effective they can be as the session gets started.