KANSAS SILVER HAIRED LEGISLATURE MEETS IN ANNUAL SESSION<\/p>\n
The Kansas Silver Haired Legislature held their 35th Annual Session in Topeka on October 3 \u2013 5, 2017.\u00a0 Speaker Don Woodard (Shawnee County \u2013 Auburn), and President Jay Rowh (Mitchell County \u2013 Beloit), presided over the multiple sessions of the three-day conference.\u00a0 At this Annual Session, the delegates debate and vote on the issues presented to them by the Executive Board from their July meeting.\u00a0 These issues, in the form of Bills and Resolutions, are subjected to a two-day process of committee hearings and debate, and then voted on two separate times before being considered as \u201cpassed\u201d.\u00a0 Those Bills and Resolutions that do survive this process are then sent to the Kansas State Legislature for consideration during the 2018 Legislative session.\u00a0 It is just one way for the Senior Citizens in Kansas to have their collective voice heard.<\/p>\n
Here are the Resolutions passed by the full body of the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature at this year\u2019s Annual Session:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0 Resolution No. 3501 \u2014 Urge the legislature and governor to support the expansion of Medicaid (KanCare) in Kansas.\u00a0 Currently, approximately 150,000 (of which around 16,000 are Kansas seniors between the age of 60 \u2013 65 years old) Kansans fall into the \u201ccoverage gap\u201d \u2013 they make too much money to qualify for the base Kansas KanCare program, yet not enough to be able to afford medical insurance on their own.\u00a0 Kansas has forfeited over $2.1 billion from the Federal Government by not participating in this program.\u00a0 The Kansas Hospital Association, the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, and many other health-related organizations are in full support of this resolution.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0 Resolution No. 3502 \u2014 Urge the legislature and the governor to continue to support and fund the KDOT rural public transportation program, so vitally needed by our Kansas Senior Citizens, especially in rural areas of our state.<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0 Resolution No. 3503 \u2014 Urge the Kansas Legislature and the governor to fully fund all Kansas Public Employees Retirement System\u00a0obligations (KPERS), including the interest at 8% on the bonds passed two years ago.<\/p>\n
4)\u00a0 Resolution No. 3504 \u2013\u00a0 \u00a0Urge the legislature and the governor to provide a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for each retiree who is entitled to receive a retirement benefit from KPERS.\u00a0 This has not happened since 1998.<\/p>\n
5)\u00a0 Bill 3505 \u2013 Urge the Kansas Legislature to pass Property Tax Relief for qualifying low income Senior Citizens.<\/p>\n
6)\u00a0 Resolution 3506 \u2013 Supports the repeal of the 2015 Property Tax Lid law that puts limits on the spending of city and county governments.<\/p>\n
7)\u00a0 Bill 3507 \u2013 Urges the Kansas Legislature to pass funding assistance for grandparents who become the legal caregivers and guardians of their grandchildren.<\/p>\n
8)\u00a0 Bill 3508 \u2013 Urges the Kansas Legislature to strengthen the Grandparents\u2019 Rights Law concerning child custody, visitation, and residency matters.<\/p>\n
9)\u00a0 Bill 3509 \u2013 Urges the Kansas legislature to pass a law concerning motor vehicle liability insurance coverage limits.\u00a0 It also requires insurance companies to continue covering a vehicle that has had the insurance cancelled, until such time as the insurance company contacts the Kansas Insurance Commissioner, and Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles, to inform them of an \u201cuninsured vehicle\u201d on the Kansas roadways.<\/p>\n
The Silver Haired Legislature was created by an act of Congress in 1969, with the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature being formed in 1982.\u00a0 The KSHL is charged with identifying issues important to older Kansas adults 60 years of age and older, of which there are nearly 500,000, and to educate the Kansas Legislature about those issues. \u00a0Each county is entitled to one representative, with the four largest counties having up to five additional representatives.\u00a0 This coming spring, the SHL delegates from the eleven regions across Kansas will begin meeting once again to decide the issues of importance to Kansas seniors, and preparations will be made for the 36th<\/sup> Annual Session next fall in Topeka.\u00a0 Talk to your county\u2019s SHL delegate between now and then so the issues important to you can be considered in this next cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KANSAS SILVER HAIRED LEGISLATURE MEETS IN ANNUAL SESSION The Kansas Silver Haired Legislature held their 35th Annual Session in Topeka on October 3 \u2013 5, 2017.\u00a0 Speaker Don Woodard (Shawnee County \u2013 Auburn), and President Jay Rowh (Mitchell County \u2013 Beloit), presided over the multiple sessions of the three-day conference.\u00a0 At this Annual Session, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":40,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-172","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions\/174"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}