Transcripts For CSPAN2 Kansas 20240705 : vimarsana.com

In her remarks she headed to had to policyachievements talkst unemployment and job creation in investing in Rural Communities this is about 45 minutes. Back. [applause] [applause] before i begin tonights, i want to apologize to all of the basketball fans. Ware that the ge just started at 6 00 p. M. Majority leader croft, i understand you are an alum of the losing team tonight. It. [laughter] a. [applause] okay, very good. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , madame chief justice of the entire kansas Supreme Court, members of my cabinet, leaders and all of the constitutional officers and legislatures several tonights, you. S an honor to speak with it is also my honor to welcome Lieutenant Governor david tolan along with his family his wife beth and their chi caroline and william. [applause] at this time last year i stood here r tremendous turn around our state had made in just four years. Four Straight Years of balanced budgets. Four straightfunding schools. Landing the Largest Economic Development project in the history of our states. F our state to be very strong. [applause] while achieving excellence is hard, sustaining that excellence is even harde is exactly what we done together. Last year kansas attracted more Business Investment perthan anye country. This year kansas is number one again. [applaus ago, thanks to the influx of new jobs we hit record low unemployment rates so we encoured morei force and give m the tools and training they needed. Now there are more kansas [applause] and i believe hes in the gallery its one of our newest kansas workers alan swan, if you are in the gallery could you please stand . [applause] is the president of Panasonic Energy of north america. Thank you so much for being here. [applause] alsse the bank isnt assuring infrastructure dollars were actually used for roads, bridges, trains, broadband this year alone my administration worked on 450 Infrastructure Projects and reconnected another 9000 homes and businesses to highspeed internet. Wheat made record investments to repair our foster care system. Keep Families Together in and■, impretaccess. That work has paid off. Today there are fewer children entering our foster care system then at any point in our state recorded history. We also passed a 1 billiondollar tax cuts for families for our for homeowners, for farmers and ranchers. [cheering] billion in tax cuts. Chris just last week we saw it 10. Putting an additional 150 million back into the pockets of know it it will not exist at all in 2025 a perhaps inherently total asked, gone, never to be living again. [applause] i am proud to stand here and tellitation that again this state of our state is strong. But i am also here to tell were not going to stop here were going to keep making it stronger. Not that you get the wrong impression not like we have made any mistakes. Wh i design the new state license plate for my home computer. Now that was a when you make a mistake you own it and then you fix it. So we did the right thing. Votee people. Because in kansas when the people strongly support something we listen to them and act aor right . [applause] so please hold that thought because im going to come back to in a few minutes. [laughter] listening to kansas,y prioritizing fiscal responsibility and state governance to build a Solid Foundation for our positioned tk ahead to the future. To stop worrying about each monthly revenue report and instead to dream big about the next year, the next decade, the next century. [applause] kansas forward it is critical that we not lose sight of what makes our state unique. That we preserve what it kansan. What is fundamental to our identity and that would be rural [applause] heart a small town kind of state. 1 million people, one third of our population fewer than 40 people per square mile. The people who work in our states most important industry do not wear suits. They were boots and jeans. We pride ourselves on being salt of the earth thek hard but always take time to look after our neighbors. That is not to say are more cou. But in so many ways they depend upon our rural areas. They depend upon the crops grown in western kansas the Energy Produced in Central Kansas the tourism of hunting grounds in wouldnt rural kansans are doing well, all kansans are doing well. [applause] that is why we have made empowering our rurala■p communs a focal point for our administration. First we create the office of rural prosperity. Then we revived the main program to rebuild the downtowns of our small towns. And thanks to Lieutenant Governor tolan and the depament opening in small and sl towns across our state should. Cherryville recently secured a 400 million soybean crushing plants near kobe, the current family farms be cutting the ribbon on their dairy plants this spring. And some will soon finish its facility expansion. What we know we still have many mo address. Small towns struggled to attract the workers they need. Safe, Affordable Housing is hard to come climb. Too many of our kids and our grandkids move away from home and ster opportunities. And tragically we are losing too many of our farmers and ranchers to suicide. Many ofouno me you are talking every day with kansans all over the state who are worried about the fute. Thel kansas is what i want to address this evening. Because a strong spr is a stateo reach new heights we cannot just support growth in overland park, in wichita, and in lawrence. Jk cardinal city, independence need our attention too. Tonight i want to talk about five of the challenges facing rurals what we do, i as governor and you as the legislature can do to address them. These are not onl priorities for this upcoming session but for the rest of my time in office. The vibration which we can create a Better Future for rural kansas and thus for our state as a whole. Lets start with healthcare. Simply put, our rural hospita w. And just the past decade they have closed down. Forced increase cost for patients to lay off essential top offering Important Services and then often counties resort to raising property taxes in a hospitals afloat. And when that fails, longer and longer distances basic care. So much of the problem boils down to one thing, far too many kansans dont have insurance and ■make muc money to qualify for medicaid program. These are kansans who work at the local hair salon barbershop who watch their kids so you can work. Now, remember, i was talking about license plates and what i said about listening to■fee kans when they strongly support something, over 70 support something. Y talking about the vast majority of kansans who want Medicaid Expansion. [applause] support for Medicaid Expansion has grown by leaps and bounds. Weve seen leaders communities like haze and russell, farmers and ranchers and a Cross Section of Business Leaders jump on the band wagon. What i also heard the oppositions concerns about the cost and about■u last month i proposed a bill that was crafted with their concerns in mind. The Cutting Health care costs for those of you who worry that Medicaid Expansion would allow ablebody adults to scam the system, the bill work requirement with common sense exemptions for veterans, caregivers, students and people with medical conditions. Jails have been shouldering the cost for medical care for inmates, this ensures they can■f instead put money towards Public Safety and for those concerned about cost its revenue neutral and comes at no additional cost to taxpayers. Healthcare workers for 150,000, for almost everyone and taxpayers pay nothing extra. Thats the deal anyone would take . This should not be a partisan issue. In fact, i believe that if■ they loo■0e ■k away elderly citizens have to drive further and further for care or just go without. They say that medicaid is not a Silver Bullet for hospitals, you know what, i agree. Of course, its not going to solve everyhallening Rural Health Care but its a critical part of the solution, we cant solve the problem without it. Expanding medicaid is akin to rural hospitals, rural constituents. I refuse to the do that and you should too. Cutting healthcare costs will be introduced in both chambers next week. Stop ignoring constituents and give this bill a hearing by kansas day. On the 163rd anniversary of our deserve a debate and vote on medication expansion. [applause] okay, weve dealt with health care. Lets talk aboutininavg Public Schools. 90 of kansas kids go to Public School and in rural areas where there are hardlyny private schools that number is closer to 100 . When i first ran for office i pledged to be the education vernor to make fixing our School System my number one focus. Its what our state needed and its what our Rural Communities need bal years back when our state faced severe budget crisis it was rural schools that took the hardest hit. Im proud now to rept this past year my fifthiar in office was also the fifth Straight Year we came together as republicans and fully fund our schools. That consistent investment is paying off. Right now our High School Graduation rate is the its ever been. More of the students are going off to college or getting work credentials than ever before a the number of students needing remedial introduction has dropped dramatically. I said our state is back on tracks also back on track academically■o. Yet some of us want to turn back to reverse the progress that weve made by diverting Public Education dollars to private schools or flatout stripping rural schools the funds they need to stay open. Crystal clear, i will not let that happen. [applause] i will continue to reject vouchers and any attempt to send Public Education dollars private schools. Vouchers will crush our rural schools plain and simple. Our teachers dont support vouchers ouricials dont support vouchers and kansans dont support vouchers. [applause] believe me, if you represent a rural area and youre out there pushing forouchers, you will be hearing from parents back home wondering why youve turn thed your back on their schools and why youve prioritized private schools hundreds of miles away. Last session i brought out my ve p to rural schools that were facing massive and immediate funding cuts. The district facing the largest cut was usd225. On the drive between liberal and dodge city, it called itself a. If i had not line itemed veto the School Funding last by 25 and that district would have closed. Its not just the schoolrict the suffered, its the entire town that would have suffered. In recent years become more. Valor has transformed a new space in high school into incubator spewing entrepreneurship and also started Day Care Center allowing parents to participate in the usd225 were to close its doors completely, i wouldnt just shut down classrooms, it even more than that, the loss of local schools would mean the loss of a special way of life. Going right to the heart of what it mea■■ small town kansas. You lose that grocery sto runin with your kids teachers. You lose the big sales, you lose the school plays, you lose theee so much of what makes kansas towns so special. But the town of fowler isnt■ fowler is fighting to protect life. I would like to extend thank you uperintendent and president [applause] tj and jamie like so many other educators across kansas are fighting for our rural schools, fighting forhe communities and we must join them in that fight. Thats why for the sixth year in a row my budgetully fund Kansas Schools. [applause] its also why my budget will put kans track fully fund special education. Now, rie we are not funding special education at the statutorily required amount schools end up diverting funds fm other areas impacting students across the board. The idea that any Kansas School wouldnt have the resources to l needs, that should be deeply upsetting to all of us. So lets do something about i ao educate all of our children. That also means our very youngest children. We can be the wait until kindergarten to help setting our kids up for children experiences from birth to 5 determine trajectory of entire lives from social development to academic and that is why i am so focused on Early Childhood. In my budget tomorrow i will be proposing the largest made in our earlyhildhood system. Provided tax credits to make it possible for businesses to provide child care for their employees but we still have a lot more to do we need to eliminate red tape right now if a Day Care Center wants to set up shop it must work with a state agency to license and another for workforce support and third to get funding. There are too many barriers, too many portals, too much hassle, we need to fix it. [applause] last year i created a task force chargedit streamlining our Early Childhood services into a single entity. Task force met throughout the year and presented the month. Tonight im building on their plan and calling for all Early Childhood services to be put under onee of Early Childhood. Soon i will be for childhood providers and for our businesses. Now i know that many of you are also passionate about our Early Childhood system. We have an opportunity this year to the Work Together to make government more efficient and more to address a major problem facing kansas families. Now, we are able to make such important i schools and Early Childhood systems because we have grown our economy and managed the state in a physicallyresponsibl. Here in kansas instead of having to cut funding for essential Services Like other states are experiencing we are not onlyasee can also address my next priority, the far too the high cost of earlier, weve cut taxes for kansans by over 1 billion in total but with so many working famtill struggling all of us can agree that we need to cut taxes again. [applause] we must get that money back l in a fiscally and responsibly way in a way that doesnt threaten, our schools, roads, foster care and publicts exacty what one proposal, the flat tax would do. The flat tax came up last year, i expect it to come up thishe fy benefit it is super wealthy while it doing little to nothing for middleclass passed a flat tax in 2021 and now theyve facing a significant budget short fall,ss where cuts are coming from, their Public Schools, their Law Enforcement and their infrastructure. We have been down that road fo back. Not back to brown bag, not day to crumbling roads,■■nling down bridges all because some politicians want to push through another reckless taximent. [applause] on monday, i joined republican and democrat legislators to propose aspsibled affordable plan that benefits every kansan. It start by doing what we should have done in the first place,■hv completely eliminate the grocery tax on food, no waiting until 2025. We owe it to kansas now. [applause] next we need to provide relief forbed retirees, something i know is upmost importance to many of us here. Our seniors have worked their entire lives paying into its so they can enjoy a reasonable retirement. Their next chapter in life shouldnt be spent w theyll afd essential medications or whether they can put food on the table. So tonight, we are proposing tos on Social Security, all the other. [applause] but even more than Social Security tax, the tax hti our seniors most is property tax. [applause] the reality is as we s Property Values skyrocket in both rural and urban areas, elderly kansans worry that theyll be priced out of their homes, their homes where they tr lives and made precious memories. Thats exactly whats happening in iowa and kids. They retired in 2009 but they remained Committee Members of the commusiness fors and their l hospital. And friends are being overwhelmed. Away the very families who sustain our communities. Thats why im calling on the legislature to raise the residential statewide property Tax Exemption from 42,000 a year to one hundred thousand dollars. Provide relief every year and 270,000 kansans families it would wipe out all or almost all of their thats a property tax cut for 370,370,000 kansas families. [applause] so mary kay and david are here with usonight. Would you both please stand and be recognized representing thousands. [applause] you represent thousands of kansans who would benefit fromb] property tax. I said the plan was comprehensive and it is. In addition to property taxes, to making life more affordable to our seniors sales holiday and kansans would pay less when they file their taxes and it helps every parentf the table once and for the all. Instead, lets come together ou it benefits all kansans not just those at the top and it includes ideas from both republicans and democrats. [applause] and most importantly it doesnt threaten the progress on the other issues kansans care about so lets get this done. [applause] on so many issues ive outlined tonight we need to act nowa■o of rural kansans but the final challenge i want to the address tonight is longer term and its one that the viability of our agriculture industry and our entire economy and thats our water crisis. Right now we are seeing this state, recently in southeast kansas jamie had to close schools onri and shut down public restrooms. Parts of kansas have seen wells drhow that others have less than 25 years to go. Think about that. Our next generation of kansans could be left with no usable water. For too long our state leaders have not been good stewards of our natural resources. That must end now. The challenge of preserving our Water Quality and quantity illustrates what i said earlier that an rural kansas is an existential issue for our to put kansas on e path to resolving this crisis. Thankfully by working together we have made progress. Last year the lislaa bipartisana framework to ensure every community in kansas is planning for theddition to fully fundinge state water plan for the second year in a row we invested in historic 35 million for each of the next with our water issues and we are paying off Water Infrastructure debt early giving us crisis. Its crucial that we build on that progress and empower even more stakeholders to take action the that were in a better position than ever before to do that. My Budget Proposal tomorrow will fully fund the state water plan ■rfor thehi a row. [applause] it will also provide resources for the at can k state to lever expertise and Innovative Solutions to water challenges. Those momentum throughout the state, more and more kansans are recognizing that we dont have to choose between conserving water and growing our econo that one is essential to the other. That includes kansans like mitch, fourth generation his father started ground Water Management district in the 1970s recognizing even back then the need to■ our water. Startoc enhanced Management Area or as we know it alima to encourage other producers to do more with less watit wasnt eass over those years they held numerous public hearings, worked with customers and partner to ce statutes. What theyve shown that despite what people believer water is not intractable issue. Sustainability is possible. Nearly 30 reduction in water usroducers save money and met their production goals. They are a model for other communities across the state showing that Water Conservation is good for our pocketbooks and for our longterm economy. They would stand to be [applause]. Mitch and lola and others like him kansas we all know and love and we owe it to ourselves and every future generation in kansas to follow e its too late. We spent a lot of time talking about rural kansas asking futur. We need to take those challenges head on, not just because its a good thing to do for individual those Rural Communities weless who we are as a state. Thankfully, theres a goodut the future. Last month the u. S. Department of agriculture released a study showing that the population of rural areas is increasg decade. In fact, parts of rural kansas are now master than the national average. You too often seems as people, especially here in the state house believe ourmmunitieo shrink. Their hospitals are doomed to close. Their schools are doom today ur arms as if theres nothing we can do about it. I happened to think thats so here is my message tonight, step up for rural kansas, step up. This must be a priority. When rural kansas is is strong. Now maybe thats something folks arent use today hearing from the a democrat, but i didnt get here yesterday. I know f years of traveling this the great state from the one small town to another that rural kansas is not only the economic engine of ourr core, its who we are and its why we love being kansans. [applause] right now we are in a positionwo responsibly spend the surplus that we have, not how to fill in the gaps. Think of how far we have come in the las fiv by working togetherd we will only succeed in building a Brighter Future not just for rural kans but for every corner of our state by continuing to Work Together. Now, many of you have been fighting this figot the battle s to show for it. I encourage you to remember the words that great kansan had who said you know what the happiest animal on earth its a goldfish. You know why, its got a ten second memory. So lets be a lets all of us be goldfish and not let the divisions of the past prevent us from doing right future. We have a [applause] we have a unique opportunity to build on the progress weve made and to truly make a lastind the people we serve. Thank you and good night. [applause]k the New York Times is reporting 5 to 4 vote by the Supreme Court to the allow to cut razer while while lawsuit over the wire continues. Vote grants emergency appeal from Biden Administration to removing theire. The Biden Administration says the wire prevents Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants crossi roberts and amy coney barrett, samuel alito, neil gorsuch and brett kavan and t t favor of te. Tuesday night watch cspans campaign 202 liv c the New Hampshire president ial primary unfiltered and uninterrupted. We are bringing primary results as they come in, candidate spch and we will take your call and get your reaction on social media. Cspan, your unfiltegn view of politics. Healthy democracy doesnt just loo like this, like this. Where americans can see democracy at work where citizens are truly informed, a get infort from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased word for word from the nations capitol to wherever you are because the opinion that matter it is most is your own. This is what democracy looks li. Powered by cable. In his annual state of the