TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas renewable energy plants would lose their exemption to property tax under a bill discussed by a Senate panel.
The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee held a hearing on the bill Monday. Companies producing energy from wind, solar or other renewable resources have been exempt from property tax since 1999. The bill would instead give those companies a 10-year exemption.
Chairman and Republican Sen. Les Donovan said that the bill still would provide an incentive for renewable investment, but require those companies to pay their fair share.
But representatives of renewable energy companies testified that the bill would amount to breaking a contract with developers. They said it would unfairly punish those who invested in Kansas early, as they would owe back taxes.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Saline County District Court judge is expected to rule next week whether a Salina man will receive separate trials for two homicides he is charged with committing during the same week in 2009.
An attorney for 33-year-old Willie J. Parker argued last week that Parker should have the two trials because the two deaths have little in common. Judge Rene Young is expected to rule on the motion March 23.
Parker was found guilty in one trial in 2010 of premeditated first-degree murder for the death of 24-year-old Alfred Mack Jr., and intentional second-degree murder for the death of 22-year-old Justin Letourneau.
The Salina Journal reports the Kansas Supreme Court reversed Parker’s convictions in December, citing errors in his previous trial.
Photo by Dave Ranney The Kansas Mental Health Coalition coordinated events as part of Mental Health Advocacy Day at the Statehouse. –
By Dave Ranney
A Senate-rejected bill meant to allow KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to regulate mental health patients’ access to antipsychotic medications is making a comeback. Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Kari Bruffett on Thursday said she hopes to introduce a revised version of the bill within the next few weeks.
The intent of the new bill, she said, will be to ensure patient safety without jeopardizing ready access to mental health drugs.
“I’m very encouraged by the conversations we’ve had about building in some of the guardrails and policies that we’ve talked about to ensure that medications are safely prescribed and we’re not seeing medications being prescribed at unsafe dosages or inappropriately for children, while at the same time also ensuring that people get the meds they need to live and thrive in their communities,”Bruffett said during a morning session of Mental Health Advocacy Day, an annual gathering coordinated by the Kansas Mental Health Coalition.
More than 300 people — a mix of mental health consumers, case managers, providers and advocates — attended the meeting in the Ramada Inn ballroom.
Last month, many in the audience lobbied against the initial proposal, Senate Bill 123, calling legislators’ attention to the shortsightedness of repealing a 13-year-old law without first knowing the policies that would take its place.
Though SB 123 passed the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, it later stalled in the full Senate.
The new measure, Bruffett said, likely will include stipulations that:
Allow mental health patients to maintain their current drug regimens if the regimens are known to be successful.
Limit prior-authorization requirements to “outlier” prescriptions, such as those for toddlers who take more than one or two antipsychotics meant for adults.
Prevent the KanCare managed care organizations from adopting drug formulary policies until after the formulary framework is approved by KDADS and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Appoint an advisory committee to help oversee implementation of the new policies.
Bruffett repeated the long-standing concern at KDHE and KDADS that more than 6,500 at-risk children are taking one or more antipsychotics intended for adults.
She also assured the audience that the recent KDADS decision not to renew its prevention grants with five programs, including the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Keys for Networking, was driven by its desire to make more services — and more funding — available to more organizations.
The department’s recent “request for information” on how best to reconfigure the grants prompted input from 21 organizations.
“Our intention is to innovate and integrate mental health prevention with outcome-based programs,” Bruffett said. “We’re doing this to reduce some of our administrative costs and to better leverage our available resources.”
Mark Wiebe, a member of the mental health coalition’s advocacy committee, attended Bruffett’s presentation.
“We appreciate her reaching out to us on these issues and her willingness to include us in the process,” Wiebe said. “If there is, in fact, a need for the reforms that she talked about today, we’ll be participating in that process to make sure that it protects consumers’ access to the medications they need to help in their recovery and toward their being productive members of society.”
Eric Harkness, a licensed pharmacist and a past president of the NAMI group in Topeka, said he suspected the reforms have more to do with the KanCare companies wanting to cut costs than with ensuring patient safety.
“We’ve heard this before: ‘We’ve got all these kids taking antipsychotics, and that can’t be good,’” Harkness said. “I get that, but don’t you have to wonder where all these kids are? I’m sure there are some out there, but if we’ve got way too many kids taking way too many antipsychotics, don’t you think we’d be hearing from their families or whoever it is that’s taking care of them?”
Dr. Ty Porter, a psychiatrist and medical director at Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, recently joined the work group that’s helping KDADS and KDHE determine how to prevent overprescribing without limiting patients’ access to much-needed drugs.
“I’m new,” he said. “I went to my first meeting last week. But so far, I have to say the focus has been on patient safety and not on costs.”
Porter testified against SB 123 during a Feb. 11 appearance before the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.
He also cautioned against reading too much into the managed care organization reports that show thousands of children taking antipsychotic medications.
“The inconvenient truth is that a lot of who we’re talking about here are highly, highly disturbed young children who are born to drug-addicted parents who’ve been subjected to horrific abuse,” Porter said. “I don’t like saying it, but it’s almost like they are feral children, and they can be a danger to other children and to themselves.”
Members of the work group that is helping KDADS and KDHE develop a mental health drug formulary include:
Dr. Eric Atwood, medical director at Family Service & Guidance Center, Topeka.
Dr. Michael Leeson, a psychiatrist at Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Topeka.
Kyle Kessler, executive director with the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, Topeka.
David Johnson, chief executive at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Lawrence.
Dr. James Rider, a physician who consults with several nursing homes.
Jane Adams, executive director, Keys for Networking, Topeka.
Pete Stern, chief executive with the Kansas Independent Pharmacy Service Corporation, Topeka.
Dr. Brad Grinage, a psychiatrist at Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Topeka.
David Wiebe, president of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition.
Dr. Ty Porter, medical director at Valeo Behavioral Health Care, Topeka.
Laura Hopkins, president at Amerigroup Kansas, Overland Park.
Tim Spilker, plan president at UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Overland Park.
Dr. Mike McKinney, chief executive with Sunflower Health Plan, Lenexa.
Greg Hennen, executive director at Four County Mental Health Center, Independence.
Jared Holroyd, senior executive director at Atria Senior Living Group, Topeka.
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have shown little interest in allowing public scrutiny of officials’ private emails about government business despite scrutiny of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s communications and a case involving the governor’s office.
The Kansas Open Records Act doesn’t specifically cover emails or other communications with private accounts or devices, even if they involve government business.
Democratic legislators introduced proposals in both chambers of the GOP-dominated Legislature to allow scrutiny of such communications.
The proposals were a response to disclosures that Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director used a private email account at least twice in December to circulate details about potential budget proposals.
Then, Clinton came under scrutiny for using personal email exclusively for official non-classified business as U.S. secretary of state.
Neither Kansas bill has received a committee hearing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell says 16.4 million people have gained insurance coverage as a result of President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Burwell announced the latest estimates Monday as the administration prepares to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the law’s signing on March 23.
Most of those gaining coverage — 14.1 million people — got their insurance after the law’s big expansion began at the end of 2013. The program offers subsidized private coverage for people who don’t have health insurance on the job, along with an expanded Medicaid program that many states have accepted.
Another 2.3 million people previously gained coverage. Those were young adults allowed to remain on a parent’s plan until age 26 under one of the law’s most popular provisions.
The Emergency Manager for the City of St Joseph has lifted the evacuation order for Elwood Street in St Joseph.
Authorities ordered residents of at least three houses on Elwood St. to evacuate Sunday after a brush fire threatened the area. City crews set up roadblocks and police redirected traffic away from the area for several hours.
The fire apparently started when a controlled burn in Doniphan County, Kansas burned out of control. The fire produced embers that were caught in the wind and blown over the Missouri River into St Joseph.
The National Weather Service has issued another Red Flag Warning for the area. High winds, warm temperatures and low humidity increase the chances of a fire spreading.
Doniphan County has continued its outdoor burning ban until further notice.
Some areas of a brush fire that threatened St Joseph over the weekend are still smoldering. But officials say fire crews were not actively fighting the fire overnight.
St Joseph Police say persistent smoke in the area is coming from the Elwood side of the Missouri River.
A controlled burn in Elwood burned out of control Sunday, and with the help of the wind, jumped the river.
Police on Sunday ordered the evacuations of a least three houses on Elwood Street in St Joe, and a little later, the St Jo Frontier Casino was evacuated. Roads were closed between Wyeth Hill and Riverfront Park in downtown St Joseph.
By late Sunday, residents had not been allowed back into their homes. The American Red Cross is lending assistance.
Smoke from at least a dozen brush fires in the area turned skies gray Sunday. Chief Training Officer and Public Information Officer Mike Neylon says gusty winds helped spread and combine those fires. The Elwood/St Joe fire charred at least 100 acres.
A “red-flag” warning goes back into effect starting Monday at noon, as low humidity and gusty winds combine to bring “extreme fire growth potential” to the area. This latest warning was set to expire at 8pm Monday.
Saint Joseph Police are investigating a wreck that they say may have been deliberate. Sergeant Brett Kelly says the vehicle collided with a light pole and a fire hydrant near 33rd and Pickett at about 3:30 Monday morning.
Two people were in the vehicle. One ran off. The other told police the driver deliberately drove off the street during a domestic argument. Officers are looking for the driver. The accident is still under investigation.
A traveling exhibit, “The Road to Freedom,” that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act will be on display Wednesday at the Statehouse.
“We’re lucky,” said Kevin Siek, a spokesman for the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, which is hosting the exhibit.
“Most of the stops are in major metropolitan areas — much larger than Topeka. And we’re one of only three stops in the Midwestern part of the country.”
The exhibit coincides with events on Wednesday marking the Topeka resource center’s 35th anniversary. They include an 11 a.m. march from the organization’s headquarters, 501 SW Jackson, to the Statehouse — a distance of three blocks — followed by a rally and box lunch in the first-floor rotunda.
Enacted in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life. “Before passage of the ADA, it was perfectly legal for a private business to turn someone away because they had a disability,” Siek said.
“Buses didn’t have lifts on them, and there weren’t all that many curb cuts. So if you were in a wheelchair, you were pretty much segregated from the mainstream of society.” Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole was instrumental in the Americans with Disabilities Act becoming law.
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A suspended Topeka birthing center is in talks with two hospitals as it seeks to reopen.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment suspended the Topeka Birth and Women’s Center last month. A report found, among other things, that it was placing women at unnecessary risk.
The center says just one issue hasn’t been addressed. Neither Stormont-Vail Hospital nor St. Francis Health has signed an agreement to take transfer patients from the center. Office manager Kelly Greene says that piece is required for the center to get back to deliveries.
Representatives from both hospitals on Friday said they were considering the transfer agreements, but had yet to reach a decision.
