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 The Kansas House of Representatives voted 81 to 44 in favor of
overriding the veto, falling three votes short of the 84 needed to
advance the override.
State lawmakers in the Republican-controlled senate voted in favor
of the measure last week, just days after President Donald Trump's
efforts to repeal and replace the ACA, also known as Obamacare,
ended with the bill being pulled from a vote.
The Republican-controlled House also voted in favor of the measure,
but Brownback quickly vetoed the bill on Thursday. The House took up
a debate on overriding the veto that day, but postponed a vote until
Monday.
"It is disappointing that the Kansas House failed to override the
veto because a small group of representatives chose to side with the
Governor instead of the 82% of Kansans who support expanding KanCare
and the vast majority of their colleagues in both chambers," David
Jordan, the executive director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas,
a coalition of groups that backed Medicaid expansion, said in a
statement on Monday.
Brownback said the measure failed to eliminate waiting lists for
disability services, did not add work requirements and was not
budget neutral. It also continued to support Planned Parenthood,
which provides a range of reproductive services including abortions,
which Brownback opposes.
Kansas was not among the 31 states that in 2016 had opted to expand
Medicaid, with the federal government footing much of the cost under
Obamacare.
With the ACA's enhanced federal funding, Medicaid expansion in
Kansas, effective Jan. 1, 2018, would cost the state an estimated
$31 million in fiscal 2018, which begins July 1, according to
estimates cited in a legislative report on the bill.
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It would cost $67 million in fiscal 2019 with more than 180,000
additional recipients, the report said.
Without enhanced federal matching funds, the state's costs would
balloon to $465 million by fiscal 2019.
Kansas tax collections fell $11.6 million below estimates for March
mainly due to lower-than-expected personal income taxes, the state's
revenue department reported on Monday. However, tax revenue so far
in fiscal 2017 was $57.5 million ahead of projections.
(The story was refiled to delete "reports" source from headline; the
vote is on Kansas legislature's public record)
(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago Additional reporting by
Karen Pierog; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Grant McCool)
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