JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A measure requiring women seeking an abortion to watch a video with information about the procedure and alternatives is moving forward in the Missouri House
A House committee on Tuesday gave initial approval to the first piece of abortion-related legislation this session. It requires the state’s health department to create a video containing state-mandated information about abortion.
The video would have to be shown to the woman at least 72 hours before the abortion. The information already is provided verbally and in a written packet.
Supporters say the additional method of providing the information will ensure women understand it. Opponents say it’s another way to shame and intimidate women seeking to end a pregnancy.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence police officers will soon be able to call two dogs their partners in fighting crime.

The City Commission approved funds to create the new K-9 unit on Tuesday night. The money will be used to purchase the animals and equip vehicles for them, along with paying for veterinarian bills and food.

A police officer says Lawrence is one of 10 largest cities in Kansas that doesn’t have its own canine unit. He says the department has depended on requesting dogs from neighboring law enforcement agencies when needed.

The city’s police chief says the department will interview officers to select who will serve as the dogs’ handlers.

The Lawrence Journal-World (http://bit.ly/1C0iXoz ) reports officers will purchase the dogs from a Texas breeder used by the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Police Service Dog Unit.

By Jim McLean

Kansas’ worsening budget problems are making it harder to generate a legislative discussion about expanding Medicaid. Rep. Tom Sloan, a moderate Republican from Lawrence, is attempting to piece together an expansion proposal that he hopes Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP conservatives might be willing to consider. He’s borrowing elements from plans crafted by conservative Republican governors in Indiana, Tennessee, Wyoming and other states that have received or are seeking federal approval for more private-sector approaches to expansion.

But adopting a more conservative approach won’t be enough, he said. With state revenues plummeting and lawmakers scrambling to close gaping holes in this and next year’s budgets, any bill also must propose a way to cover the state’s share of expansion costs for several years.

“If we’re going to put something on the table, there has to be a financing component,” said Sloan, who plans to start working on an expansion bill next week in his committee. State revenues fell $47.2 million short of already lowered projections in January, increasing this budget year’s projected revenue shortfall to more than $325 million. The federal government has promised to pay the full cost of a state’s Medicaid expansion through 2016 and at least 90 percent after that.

A study commissioned by the Kansas Hospital Association estimated expansion would cost the state an additional $312 million through 2020. The same study said that savings and tax revenues resulting from expansion would more than offset that cost.

“Our feeling is that this is a program that on its face funds itself,” said Tom Bell, chief executive of the hospital association. But Sloan said even if the study is correct, the promised benefits will take time to materialize. “Even if the advocates are right and the expansion of Medicaid, or KanCare, will result in economic growth that the state will partially capture, you still have to have the interim financing,” Sloan said. “You’ve got to match the federal dollars that will come.”

Initially, hospital association officials said they would be willing to increase an assessment on hospital revenues to pay for expansion. But in recent days Bell has said other options also should be on the table. “We’re willing to talk about all kinds of funding sources, and that is one of them,” he said. “But that’s not the starting point. We first need to agree to have a serious discussion about expansion, and we haven’t done that yet.”

Bell said while it’s encouraging that Sloan’s committee is talking about expansion, neither Brownback nor the conservatives who control the Legislature have given any indication that they are willing to drop their opposition to it. Any proposal that emerges from Sloan’s committee would face barriers. For one thing, it is likely to face competition. The hospitals are writing their own bill. And Rep.

Dan Hawkins, the Wichita Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, is working on what could be a third, more conservative alternative. Kansas’ privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare, provides insurance to nearly 370,000 needy and disabled Kansans, but it doesn’t cover able-bodied adults without children no matter how poor they are. It’s estimated that Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to between 140,000 and 170,000 more Kansans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level: annually $16,105 for an individual and $32,913 for a family of four.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is encouraging state businesses to grow and expand.

Brownback met with entrepreneurs from around the state at the annual Small Business Day event on Tuesday organized by National Federation of Independent Businesses, a national association that includes 4,000 Kansas companies.

Brownback says the state’s economy is still recovering from downturns in small aircraft manufacturing but is on a strong footing for growth.

The governor has been lauded by some pro-business groups for urging the Legislature to drastically lower state income taxes and eliminate the small-business tax in 2012 and 2013.

However, the current legislative session has been dominated by work to fill a budget shortfall of more than $330 million in the current fiscal year, which arose after the state’s massive tax cuts.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is speaking at the annual Small Business Day forum at the Kansas Capitol.

Brownback is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Tuesday, followed by speeches by Attorney General Derek Schmidt and the chairmen of the House and Senate tax committees.

The annual event is organized by National Federation of Independent Businesses, the state’s oldest and largest small-business association. It has 4,000 members in Kansas.

Brownback has been lauded by some pro-business groups for urging the Legislature to drastically lower state income taxes and eliminate the small-business tax in 2012 and 2013.

However, the current legislative session has been dominated by work to fill a budget shortfall of more than $330 million in the current fiscal year, which arose after the state’s massive tax cuts.

MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The white potato has been ostracized by health officials for several years — but no more. It’s now back in favor.

The Institute of Medicine says people aren’t getting enough starchy vegetables or potassium and fiber, nutrients that are plentiful in potatoes.

In a new report released Tuesday, the agency reversed itself and said white potatoes should be eligible for subsidized vouchers under the government’s Women, Infants and Children program. The program gives needy pregnant women and mothers government-subsidized food vouchers to ensure good nutrition for their families.

The Institute of Medicine recommendations are used by the Agriculture Department in setting its list of foods eligible for the program.

Congress voted to make white potatoes eligible for the WIC program late last year.

LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are facing questioning about why this year’s flu vaccine isn’t giving good protection against the winter menace.

This is a particularly bad flu season, and one reason is that the most common flu strain isn’t a good match to this year’s vaccine. Lawmakers on Tuesday asked why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t act months ago when concerns first arose to create a better-matched vaccine.

CDC immunization chief Dr. Anne Schuchat says it wasn’t possible to change course. While CDC first noticed a slight change in that strain last March, by the time the shift had become common in September, it was too late.

At the same, lawmakers urged that kids be vaccinated against measles amid an outbreak that has sickened more than 100.

By ANDY MARSO

A prison space crunch amid a state budget crisis is lending urgency to legislative proposals aimed at steering drug offenders toward community treatment rather than prison time.

The House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, chaired by Rep. John Rubin, is looking at a couple of bills that he said are meant to try a new approach after decades of stiff penalties spurred by the unsuccessful “War on Drugs.”

Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts has said for years that a significant portion of the state’s prison population has diagnosed mental illnesses, documented substance abuse issues or both.

Rubin, a Republican from Shawnee who is a former judge, said research has shown that treating those conditions outside of prison is cheaper and more effective in reducing re-offense rates.

“It’s obviously better for the individual if we can get them treatment in the community where possible,” Rubin said. “It’s closer to home with more supports and that sort of thing. And it’s also better for society and public safety. It’s better all the way around.”

Treatment options

It’s not the first time Kansas legislators have tried to steer drug users to treatment rather than prison.

A major effort in 2003 culminated in Senate Bill 123, which allowed nonviolent drug offenders to be sentenced to community corrections supervision and drug rehab.

Gary Lee, director of the substance abuse programs at Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, said that legislation has made an impact on his community.

“We’re treating nonviolent drug offenders — first-time offenders — and the recidivism rate back to prison is much, much lower,” Lee said.

Lee said he hoped the Legislature will pass the recently introduced legislation on drug sentences as well.

“I’m supportive any time we intervene on nonviolent people and get them the help they need,” Lee said. “I think it’s ridiculous to incarcerate people for smoking marijuana.”

Rubin said such sentencing proposals sometimes face resistance from fellow conservative Republicans who say they are “tough on crime” and espouse a “lock ’em up and throw away the key” philosophy.

But with the state’s prisons over capacity, no extra money in the budget and other bills already proposed to increase the penalties for things like burglary, something has to give.

“You’ve got two choices,” Rubin said he tells his colleagues who are opposed to drug sentencing reform. “Either raise taxes so you can build more prison beds, or have our overcrowding problem explode to where we wind up subject to a federal court order to release dangerous felons early to free up prison bed space, like California’s under. Now that’s what’s soft on crime, because some of these people need to stay there.”

As legislators across the country face similar choices, people from different places on the political spectrum are finding common ground on sentencing reform.

Conservative billionaire Charles Koch, a Wichita resident and Republican mega-donor, said last year he’s making sentencing reform a top priority. His philanthropic institute offered a seminar on the topic titled “Reaching the Tipping Point” at a Congressional office building in November.

Over capacity

Kansas, like many states, is reaching that tipping point where the state must start incarcerating fewer people or build more prison space.

The state prison system’s capacity is 9,582. Jeremy Barclay, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections, said 9,612 people were serving time in state prisons last week.

Barclay said drug offenses were the most serious charges against 18.1 percent of those in the system.

The measures that the House corrections committee is considering have the potential to free up some of those beds.

This week Rubin’s committee unanimously approved House Bill 2049, which would make possession of a small amount of marijuana a felony after the third offense rather than the second.

Under current state law, the second conviction for marijuana possession is a Level 5 felony on the sentencing grid that can carry with it a prison term of up to 42 months.

When told last week that was the penalty, Rep. Tom Moxley, a Republican from Council Grove, expressed shock.

“How did we get to a Level 5 felony on a product that is used in 27 states legally for medicative purposes?” Moxley asked.

“That’s what the Legislature has deemed it to be,” answered Scott Schultz, executive director of the Kansas Sentencing Commission.

According to the sentencing commission, 448 people were convicted of a second marijuana possession charge last year and 45 were sentenced to prison terms. The rest received probation or community supervision under SB 123.

Rep. Boog Highberger, a Democrat from Lawrence, said he would prefer legalization of marijuana possession similar to Colorado law, but voted for HB 2049 as a smarter use of state resources.

He pointed to a fiscal note that estimates the bill will save the Kansas Department of Corrections more than $1 million per year by fiscal year 2017.

“I really didn’t know how much we were spending incarcerating people for simple marijuana possession,” Highberger said. “Given our current budget situation, it’s a pretty significant number.”

Diversion program for drug offenders

The corrections committee also held a hearing on House Bill 2052, which would allow prosecutors to seek diversions, coupled with drug treatment programs, for drug possession crimes.

The diversions would not count against offenders’ criminal records unless they reoffend, a change that Lee said would make it easier for them to find jobs after completing drug treatment.

Jennifer Roth, who represents criminal defense attorneys in Kansas, told the committee her organization would prefer that the diversions allowed for in the bill not count against offenders’ criminal records after they reoffend. She said state law currently treats no other diversions that way, except for diversions for driving while intoxicated.

Rubin said after the hearing that he thinks having that provision in the bill will make it more likely for prosecutors to actually use the diversion program for drug offenders.

Even with that clause in the bill, Roth said she was happy to see the focus turning to treatment rather than incarceration for low-level drug crimes.

She said the Department of Corrections does not have enough resources to treat all of the substance abusers in state prisons. A program set up to grant early release to offenders who complete treatment was never funded, she said.

“That’s always troubled me,” Roth said. “Just another argument for keeping people in the community to get those services.”

Lee, who has been at Valeo for 30 years, said treating drug addiction has always been a “low priority” for the state judging by the amount of money appropriated for treatment programs.

But he says there seems to be a growing realization that putting people with a drug addiction in prison does not solve their problems.

“When they leave prison, unless they die there, they’re going to be in our communities,” Lee said.

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

DENVER (AP) — Federal investigators say selfies were a likely factor in a small plane crash near Denver last year that killed two.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it appears likely the pilot was disoriented and lost control of the airplane. Recordings from a GoPro camera found in the wreckage show the pilot and passenger repeatedly taking photographs of themselves with their cellphones during previous flights that day, although there was no video of the deadly flight.

The NTSB said evidence of the pilot’s previous cellphone use made it likely he was distracted by such use during his last flight.

The crash killed 29-year-old pilot Amritpal Singh and his passenger shortly after they took off May 31from Front Range Airport in Adams County.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a Jefferson City man convicted of killing a woman in 2009, despite claims that police unfairly tracked him through his cellphone.

The court on Tuesday didn’t rule on whether police violated David Hosier’s rights by tracing his location via his phone.

Hosier is set to be executed for killing Gilpin, with whom he had a relationship while she was separated from her husband. Ronald Gilpin also was shot to death in Angela Gilpin’s Jefferson City apartment.

Hosier led Oklahoma police on a chase after he fled, and the judges said that gave officers cause to search his vehicle.

Jefferson City -Gov. Jay Nixon announced in a media release that the annual Autism Report from the Missouri Department of Insuranceshows that more Missouri children are benefiting from the landmark law that requires insurance companies to cover treatment for autism-related conditions. The number of individuals treated for autism-related conditions increased by over 20 percent for the second consecutive year.

“Five years ago folks came together to expand health care access for Missouri children with autism, and today, that legislation continues to change lives,” Gov. Nixon said. “This latest report demonstrates what can be accomplished when leaders come together to improve the lives of Missourians through common-sense health care reform.”

The number of individuals receiving covered treatment in 2014 was 3,825 – up from 3,070 in 2013 and 2,508 in 2012. Even as the number of Missourians receiving covered treatments rises, claims for autism-related treatments make up only a small fraction of the more than $4.7 billion in claims paid by Missouri health insurers during 2014.

“The landmark legislation signed by Gov. Nixon in 2010 continues to make a real and lasting difference for thousands of Missouri families,” said John M. Huff, Director of the Missouri Department of Insurance. “Nearly all Missourians in the fully insured market now have access to coverage for autism treatments. These claims make up only a small fraction of the total claims paid by health insurers, but they make a huge difference for the families who benefit.”

The 2010 law, signed by Gov. Jay Nixon, requires health insurance companies to cover specific autism therapies, including applied behavior analysis (ABA). Payments for autism treatment increased 127 percent from 2011 to 2014. The number of individuals treated increased by a little over 50 percent from 2012-2014.

Using data supplied by insurance companies, the report says claims for autism-related treatments totaled nearly $10 million in 2014 – just a small fraction of the more than $4.7 billion in claims paid by Missouri health insurers during 2014.

The number of licensed professionals providing ABA treatment also continues to grow, with more than 288 providers currently licensed in Missouri. In 2014, the average policyholder seeking ABA treatment received $1,848 in autism services, just 4.6 percent of the annual maximum benefit of $43,427.

Other findings from the department’s report:

Across all market segments, the average per member, per month cost in 2014 for all autism-related claims was 50 cents and was just 26 cents for ABA treatments.
Nearly 1.3 million individuals received coverage from a licensed insurer. Adding public employees and other self-insured entities, the department estimates that as many as 1.6 million individuals have benefited from the autism mandate.
In 2014, treatment for autism became a required benefit for most large-group, small-group and individual plans. More than 92 percent of insureds in the individual market received coverage for autism treatments. That is up from last year when about one-third of consumers enrolled in the individual market had autism coverage. Previously, it was required in small- and large-group markets, but was optional coverage for individual policyholders.