Is this the year state lawmakers take advantage of the federal Affordable Care Act and extend Medicaid, thus providing access to more affordable health care to an additional 150,000 Kansans?

Yes, say Sen. Richard Wilborn, R-McPherson, and Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Assaria, who represent Ellsworth County in Topeka.

“Some form of Medicaid expansion will pass,” Wilborn predicted this past week during a telephone interview with the I-R.

The 2020 session of the Kansas Legislature opens Jan. 13 with at least two issues not as pressing as they have been in years past.

Several months ago, the Kansas Supreme Court approved an education plan, which eliminated the legal dark cloud lawmakers have worked under for several sessions. The budget also looks better, following reversal in 2017 of most of the Brownback tax cuts and a windfall from other tax cuts at the federal level. Both legislators, however, use the phrase “short-term” to describe the current condition of both issues.

“We have the largest ending balance I’ve ever seen,” said Johnson, who has represented the 108th District in the House of Representatives since 2010.

“We have the ability to do some things ... We just need to make sure we can live with the long-term consequences.”

Medicaid — known as KanCare in Kansas — is a holdover from the 2019 session. Extension has the support of many lawmakers and a majority of Kansans, according to surveys; however, Republican leadership in the Senate stalled the legislation.

In response, Gov. Laura Kelly established a bipartisan Governor’s Council on Medicaid Expansion to determine the best plan for Kansas. The group is to present a final report this month. The day of these interviews, Gov. Kelly and Sen. Jim Denning, the main roadblock to expansion during the 2019 session, met to talk about the future of the state’s Medicaid program. “The Senate will take the lead on that right out of the gate,” Johnson said. “I believe that the Senate will act in good faith, that we will find a way forward.” Both legislators agree this session will be influenced by the elections. It’s a presidential election year and seats in both chambers are open, which probably means residents are safe from any kind of tax increase. That doesn’t mean lawmakers will be immune from tough issues. Wilborn, who chairs the Senate Judicial Committee, said he already has been told anti-abortion forces plan to push for a constitutional amendment that would outlaw the practice in Kansas. The action is in response to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that said the Kansas Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion. Wilborn, who expects a proposed amendment to land in his judicial committee, said even if the legislation passes the Legislature, it still must be approved by Kansas voters. It also could face a court challenge, given that the Kansas Supreme Court decision followed current law. The other issue of particular interest to Ellsworth County voters is expected to be reform of the state’s criminal justice system. Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the state’s top law enforcement official, recently urged more spending on services for the mentally ill and those fighting substance abuse. Schmidt, a Republican, argued that extra funding for such services, especially in rural communities, will deal with underlying problems that fuel many crimes. Without such services, the attorney general said, local officials frequently face the difficult choice of locking up someone who wold benefit more from treatment or leaving that person in the community to cause more harm. At present, the state’s inmate population of almost 10,000 is slightly more than capacity. It is expected to grow nearly 14 percent over the next decade. “We need to find a way to lock up fewer people,” said Johnson, who agrees with many of Schmidt’s points, including the need for more funding for mental health services. He’s not the only one. Johnson said such diverse groups as Americans for Prosperity and the American Civil Liberties Union have indicated support for reform. Wilborn will be in the thick of the reform effort because of his leadership role on the Judiciary Committee. He points to the Ellsworth Correctional Facility and the success officials there have had with programs to educate inmates and teach them work skills. Inmates can receive similar instruction at other state prisons, Wilborn said, but the programs aren’t as sophisticated as they are at ECF. “Ellsworth — that’s a model out there that needs to be emulated more and more,” Wilborn said.