Gov. Laura Kelly calls for Medicaid expansion, offers tax cut plan that speeds up end of grocery tax

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly renewed her call Wednesday to expand Medicaid and countered an anticipated single-rate flat income tax for individuals with a plan that would instead cut taxes by doing things like accelerating the phasing out of the state’s sales tax on groceries. Kelly said in her annual State of the State address that her slate of proposals, which also includes an ongoing focus on addressing falling water levels in a vast aquifer used to irrigate crops, are key to helping rural parts of the state. “They say that Medicaid Expansion is not a silver bullet for our rural hospitals,” she said in embargoed remarks.