By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have hit the halfway point of their annual session and they haven’t had a hearing on a Medicaid expansion plan or pushed an education funding bill out of committee in the face of a court mandate to boost spending on public schools.

And the GOP-dominated Legislature doesn’t just appear to be slow-walking new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s big initiatives. Despite Republican supermajorities, an income tax relief bill that GOP leaders consider an urgent priorityhasn’t cleared both chambers.

Top Republicans began a long weekend Thursday by arguing that lawmakers’ annual 90-or-so-day session is not unusually sluggish and that committees have laid a foundation for key debates in March and early April. But the first big votes on a wide range of big issues — including school funding, Medicaid expansion and even abortion — aren’t coming until after the second half starts next week.

The lack of movement on school funding raises the most questions about whether lawmakers are dawdling too much. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last year that funding isn’t sufficient, and the state must tell the court by April 15 how it fixed the problem. The Republican attorney general urged lawmakers to pass a bill by March 15; Kelly called on them to do it by Thursday.

“I don’t know that I’m happy with the amount of work we’ve done,” said state Sen. Randall Hardy, a moderate Republican from central Kansas. “I would have preferred to see school finance dealt with already. I would have liked to have had a discussion about Medicaid expansion.”

Kelly took office last month promising a bipartisan governing style , joining new Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin in breaking the GOP’s lock on their state governments. Her supporters believe voters repudiated her GOP predecessors’ conservative fiscal policies and want quick action to help schools and expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy.

Yet the new governor seemed destined to clash with top Republicans. The Legislature emerged from last year’s elections more conservative, and GOP leaders are a formidable obstacle to Medicaid expansion and other Kelly initiatives. Republican leaders’ top priority is seeing that individuals and businesses don’t pay more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017.

Kansas legislators typically don’t start making decisions about the state budget even in committee until March, and the final decisions on the biggest issues often get crammed into a frenetic week in May or occasionally even early June. Also, the Legislature is still far from its record 114-day sessions in 2015 and 2017, when taxes and school funding also were big issues.

“All the big stuff is still out there but, you know, that’s what the second half is for,” said House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.

But educators and some legislators, particularly Democrats, are restless about school funding because Kansas is stuck in the last stage of a lawsuit filed in 2010 by four local school districts. A Democratic effort to short-circuit the committee process failed this week in the Senate.

“It’s disappointing that the Legislature is not demonstrating urgency to meet the court deadline,” Kelly said in a statement Thursday. “It’s time for legislative leaders to put politics aside and focus on meeting the needs of our students and teachers.”

Republican leaders said a school funding bill is coming soon, and a Senate committee has a hearing set for next week on Kelly’s plan to boost education funding by roughly $90 million a year.

The Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings in recent years to force lawmakers to increase spending. A law enacted last year will phase in a $548 million increase in aid to the state’s 286 school districts by the 2022-23 school year.

The court declared it still isn’t sufficient to provide a suitable education for every child because the law didn’t properly account for inflation in recent years. Mark Desetti, a lobbyist for the state’s largest teachers’ union, said the fix is “within easy reach.”

“Just put in the additional amount of money for the inflation factor and you’re done in court,” Desetti said.

But Republican leaders contend it’s not that simple. For one thing, they question whether the state can sustain the extra spending over time without increasing taxes.

Several also said they also want to consider whether the extra dollars should be targeted to programs for at-risk students. Others contend that the state should strive to hold schools accountable by making data about students’ performance more accessible to parents.

Meanwhile, Republicans face their own frustrations with the tax relief bill. The Senate passed the measure three weeks ago, with all but two of the 28 Republicans supporting it.

Before approving it this week, a House committee added a politically popular provision to decrease the state’s sales tax on groceries. GOP leaders considered having the full House debate the bill within days, but opted to wait, acknowledging that they need to get a better handle on members’ views.

“We wanted to provide tax certainty for Kansans, because they’re filing their income taxes right now,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican. “I am disappointed that they haven’t seen it as a priority.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — After a seven-year process, construction of a new single terminal at Kansas City International Airport could begin within weeks.

The City Council on Thursday approved a development agreement between the city and developer Edgemoor. It also approved goals for women-and minority-owned business participation and community benefits for Kansas City’s construction workforce.

A fourth document, agreed to by the city and seven airlines, outlines the scope of the project, its $1.5 billion costs, and oversight of airport development and construction.

Geoffrey Stricker, managing director for Edgemoor, said early demolition work on the site could start within two weeks.

In November, Kansas City voters overwhelmingly approved demolishing the current three-terminal airport and replacing it with a single terminal.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri has received a $10 million federal grant to establish a National Center for Rural School Mental Health.

The university announced in a news release Wednesday that it received the grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The proposed center would study ways to improve programs focused on the emotional and psychological needs of rural students. Researchers and staff at the center would create online data and training systems to support the needs of rural school students.

Wendy Reinke of the College of Education has worked for four years with a team of researchers to develop a survey identifying behavioral and emotional problems in rural schools. The goal is to use the survey in at least 110 schools in Missouri, Virginia and Montana within five years.

POLK COUNTY Iowa – A cab driver convicted of vehicular homicide for a crash that killed one Kansas man and injured another has been sentenced to 17-years in prison.

According to the Polk County Attorney the sentence for 31-year-old  Mohamed Diriye of Des Moines, includes 10-years for vehicular homicide by reckless driving, 5-years for serious injury by reckless driving and 2-years for 0perating a vehicle while intoxicated. This was his second OWI conviction, according to the county attorney.

The crash occurred shortly before 4 a.m. January 19, 2017 when the cab ran off a road into a ravine.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reported 49-year-old Shawn Koltiska, of Augusta, Kansas, died in the crash. Another passenger 48-year-old Joseph Foster, of Garden Plain, Kansas was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Diriye was also treated and released.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A teenager involved in the exchange of a stolen handgun on Lawrence High School grounds has been sentenced to six months of probation.

The teenager was sentenced Wednesday in a closed hearing for criminal use of a weapon.

Court documents say another teenager had stolen the gun from his father Sept. 9 and provided it to the other teenager the next day.

The teen who was sentenced Wednesday was originally charged with felony theft for obtaining control of a stolen gun. Court documents show he pleaded no contest to criminal use of a weapon, a misdemeanor.

The other teen is charged with felony theft after allegedly stealing the gun from his father. His case is pending.

The gun was recovered off campus.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A public filing says a Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated has cash flow troubles.

EPR Properties said Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it agreed to advance Schlitterbahn additional amounts under the mortgage, which has an outstanding balance of nearly $180 million. The report noted an off-season shortfall and the cost of legal issues. It was released almost one week after a judge dismissed criminal charges stemming from Caleb Schwab’s 2016 death.

It’s unclear whether Schlitterbahn has received advances in previous off-seasons. EPR’s annual report from a year agomade no mention of advancing money.

Schlitterbahn hasn’t announced plans for the park in 2019. EPR and Schlitterbahn officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers want to give Kansas a second shot at a truce in a long-running battle over businesses in the Kansas City area.

The Missouri Senate passed legislation Thursday that would re-open a two-year window for the states to agree to quit offering tax incentives for Kansas City area businesses to move across the state line.

Missouri passed a similar measure in 2014, but Kansas never agreed, and the truce offer expired in 2016. The new legislation would give Kansas a second chance to reciprocate before the offer again expires on Aug. 28, 2021.

The bill now goes to the Missouri House.

The Kansas City Star previously reported that research by the Hall Family Foundation found Kansas spent $184 million and Missouri $151 million over the last decade enticing Kansas City area businesses to relocate.

By NOMIN UJIYEDIIN

The company hired to provide health care in Kansas prisons is getting paid millions less than its contracted amount after failing to meet the agreement’s terms.

State officials reduced payments to Corizon Health because the company failed to hire enough nurses and other health workers. Corizon lost additional money after audits found it fell short of performance standards for a range of medical services.

Now, the Kansas Department of Corrections says the contractor has one more year to look after the health of 10,000 people in its prisons.

The department’s executive finance director, Keith Bradshaw, told lawmakers this month that for now, his agency intends to renew its contract with Corizon for only a year — rather than the two-year option included in the original contract.

“If things continue to improve, we’ll go ahead and pick up that second year,” Bradshaw said. “If we continue to have issues, then we’ll look at doing a rebid.”

The state currently has a $68.8 million contract with Corizon. Kansas penalized the company $534,880 for not meeting performance standards in 2018.

The state also cut $2.82 million from its payments to Corizon because the company didn’t deliver an agreed-upon number of employees and work hours last year. 

Documents provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections show thousands of hours of missing work each month, due to unfilled jobs for nurses, behavioral health professionals and other medical staff.

Corizon currently faces 22 federal lawsuits regarding the care it provides to people in Kansas prisons. Complaints include inmates being refused medication and care for conditions such as hepatitis C. The state first awarded a contract to the company in January 2014.

The University of Kansas Medical Center audits Corizon’s performance for the state corrections department. KU Med tracks medical services such as intake health assessments, sick calls and group therapy and passes the information to the department. The state can deduct money from its payments to Corizon if the company does not meet performance standards.

According to an agreement provided by the Department of Corrections, the state penalizes Corizon $100 per incident when the company falls below 90 percent compliance with any of its 12 performance standards.

That penalty increases if the company doesn’t fix the problem within six months. It goes up again if the company doesn’t meet compliance standards in subsequent months.

Specialty services — X-rays, dermatology, chemotherapy, and obstetric and gynecological services — are penalized at a higher rate.

If the company doesn’t meet 90 percent compliance for those services, the state imposes a penalty of $300 per instance, with higher penalties the longer the problems persist.

In 2018, KU Med audited nine out of 12 performance standards. Out of those nine standards, Corizon was found to be 100 percent compliant on only one: specialty services. The company’s compliance rates for the other standards were well below the threshold of 90 percent.

Mental health groups, defined as group therapy and workshops on topics such as anger and addiction, were found to be nearly 70 percent compliant. But other services that were audited, including sick calls, intake health assessments and chronic care for conditions like diabetes and HIV, were compliant at rates of less than 10 percent.

At a presentation at the Kansas Capitol this month, state officials said the audits reviewed a small sample of the total number of medical services and do not accurately represent the overall quality of inmate health care. 

Bradshaw told lawmakers there were too few workers to conduct extensive evaluations for all 12 performance standards.

Much like its shortage of corrections officers, the state’s prisons also face a shortage of health care workers. It relies heavily on overtime and asking administrators to cover shifts.

Bradshaw said the state was having trouble hiring, despite offering signing bonuses of up to $7,000 for registered nurses and $10,000 for psychologists.

“Corizon is also facing the impact of low unemployment rates throughout the state,” he said, “as well as competition in the highly competitive health care industry.”

Documents provided by the Department of Corrections show that wages for nurses, psychologists and other health professionals working in Kansas prisons are similar to average and entry-level wages for those jobs throughout the state.

Registered nurses working for Corizon in Kansas make $25 an hour. On average, registered nurses in Kansas make an hourly wage of $28. Corizon pays dental assistants $15 an hour, while statewide average pay for the same job is $16.86 an hour. Behavioral health professionals working for Kansas prisons make $24 an hour, while average hourly wages for various mental health and counseling jobs in Kansas range between $16 and $24 an hour.

Registered nurses and behavioral health professionals comprise half of all health-related job openings, Bradshaw said.

Inmates’ health needs can also be time-consuming for corrections officers, who must accompany inmates to expensive off-site medical appointments in pairs. Bradshaw said those appointments often add to officers’ overtime shifts and to vehicle costs.

“With the small staff that we have and the size of this contract and the services being provided,” Bradshaw said, “it’s not realistic to expect every facility and every outcome to be looked at every month.”

Bradshaw said the state didn’t penalize Corizon for noncompliance from June 2017 to December 2017 because the state was moving inmates between facilities and didn’t want to blame the company for any performance issues during that period.

In an interview, he said a better measure of health care quality was the number of medical grievances filed by inmates. 

“We’re actually seeing that trend going down, while at the same time the population’s going up,” he said. “I think we have to look at it more holistically.”

People incarcerated in Kansas prisons can file a written grievance with their prison’s warden if medical issues aren’t addressed within 10 days. If the issue is still not resolved, the next step is an appeal to the secretary of corrections, Roger Werholtz.

David Tatarsky, director of health services at the Department of Corrections, said KU Med frequently fielded calls from inmates, their family members and prison staff.  He said those complaints and concerns informed where and when KU Med conducts audits of Corizon’s work.

Tatarsky told lawmakers that staff needed to be selective.  “We look for trends. We try to get the most bang for our buck,” he said.  “We try and focus where we think the need is greatest.”

In an emailed statement, Corizon spokeswoman Eve Hutcherson said the company was evaluating information from the state.

“We take all requirements very seriously in our mission to provide exceptional care to the patients we serve as the DOC’s partner,” she said. “Corizon remains committed as a strong partner with Kansas Department of Corrections and the patients we serve.”

Nomin Ujiyediin is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @NominUJ.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says his office didn’t find evidence to back up allegations that U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley misused public resources while serving as Missouri’s attorney general.

Ashcroft announced that he’s closing the investigation Thursday.

Ashcroft launched the investigation against fellow Republican Hawley following a complaint by the liberal group American Democracy Legal Fund.

The group alleged in November that Hawley misused state resources because political consultants directed taxpayer-paid staff in the Attorney General’s Office to emphasize policies that could help his Senate campaign.

Those consultants later worked for Hawley’s successful bid to unseat former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

But Ashcroft says the consultants were used to further Hawley’s priorities as attorney general. He says no evidence shows they were used to promote him as a candidate.