Starting off 2025: January State Legislative Update

Health Forward apoya y construye comunidades inclusivas, poderosas y saludables dando prioridad a las personas que sufren las mayores injusticias en materia de salud. Trabajamos para eliminar esas injusticias a través de nuestro liderazgo, defensa y recursos.

The 2025 sessions have really leapt out ahead of where we were at this point last year. Lots of legislation is moving on both sides of the state line and we’ve got our hands full tracking and weighing in on them, all while balancing our community events like our Annual Policy Forum on Jan. 9 and Missouri Advocacy Day on Feb. 4.

Take a look at our policy agendas for Kansas y Missouri, to get a sense of how the action in Kansas and Missouri impacts the outcomes we seek to advance through Health Forward’s plan de objetivos.

Kansas

• Once again, the push to eliminate the three-day grace period for returning advance mail-in ballots is on the menu for some legislators. SB 4 y HB 2017 both would require that these ballots be returned by 7 p.m. on election day, which would potentially disenfranchise thousands of voters, especially rural Kansans. We testified in opposition to SB 4 earlier in the month, but the hearing on HB 2017 was cancelled, which means SB 4 is the main bill for this.
• The post-COVID push to limit the authority of public health officials at the local and state levels continues into its third year with SBs 19 y 29. Our primary concern in these bills is that they limit the authority of local and state health officials to implement reasonable regulations, like isolation or personal protective equipment, to prevent the spread of infectious disease outbreaks. We testified in opposition to both of these bills.
• Legislation on housing is also starting to make headway in committees. HB 2119, which we oppose, would eliminate the statewide affordable housing tax credit in Kansas, which has spurred the development of thousands of homes in the state. Thank you to UCS of Johnson for their efforts to coordinate advocacy on this bill. On a brighter note, we recently supported HB 2074 when it was heard in committee, as it would restore the homestead property tax refund to renters.

Objetivo de la política de personas: la gente puede acceder fácilmente a una atención integral segura, de calidad y asequible.

Objetivo de política de poder: la participación en nuestra democracia y en el proceso de elaboración de políticas mejora los resultados sanitarios.

Objetivo de la política de lugares: Nuestras comunidades son lugares sanos donde la gente participa plenamente en la economía digital y crea riqueza a través de una vivienda segura, de calidad y asequible y de la propiedad de la vivienda.

Objetivo político de la plataforma: La salud de la comunidad se ve influida por sistemas, políticas e historias que promueven la equidad racial y la inclusión económica.

A comprehensive view of what we’re tracking can be found at our full Seguimiento de proyectos de ley en Kansas, which includes bills from last year that are still viable.

Missouri

• The House of Representatives is moving a high volume of legislation extremely fast. We’ve seen a new anti-DEI bill, HB 742, get heard quickly and move out of committee. It bans all state money spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion which jeopardizes billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of jobs, not to mention health equity programs across the state. We testified in opposition.
• We’re also watching and actively working against the slate of bills that either undermine the will of the people o make it more difficult for people to express their policy needs through the ballot initiative process. Proposition A – which voters passed to guarantee paid sick leave and raise wages for 1.1 million Missourians – would be undermined by proposed legislation. HBs 546, 567, 758y 958 would prevent Proposition A from going into effect in a variety of ways. This is in addition to the attacks on reproductive rights that were enshrined by Amendment 3, too. Some of these include HJR 54 y SJR 23 which use misleading language to ban access to reproductive health and prohibit gender affirming care.
• On top of all that, there are well over a dozen bills to undermine the initiative petition process or resolutions that go to a vote of the people. SB 22 would make it so courts couldn’t modify summary statements on resolutions coming from the General Assembly, and HBs 551 y
• Finally, we testified against the bills that preempt localities from requiring landlords to accept housing assistance for people with limited optons for affordable place to live – those are HBs 343 y 595. In a time where rents are increasing at unprecedented rates, this takes away a tool for local communities to help people secure a roof over their head and the opportunities for improved health outcomes that result

Objetivo de la política de personas: la gente puede acceder fácilmente a una atención integral segura, de calidad y asequible.

Objetivo de política de poder: la participación en nuestra democracia y en el proceso de elaboración de políticas mejora los resultados sanitarios.

Objetivo de la política de lugares: Nuestras comunidades son lugares sanos donde la gente participa plenamente en la economía digital y crea riqueza a través de una vivienda segura, de calidad y asequible y de la propiedad de la vivienda.

Objetivo político de la plataforma: La salud de la comunidad se ve influida por sistemas, políticas e historias que promueven la equidad racial y la inclusión económica.

Nos centraremos en los proyectos de ley destacados, pero aquí tiene la lista completa. proyectos de ley que seguimos en Missouri.