(Jan. 3, 2025) – Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that we have wrapped up 2024 and have entered the new year. I hope 2025 has started positively and is filled with many opportunities ahead. For KHA, our attention continues to be focused on the beginning of the 2025 Kansas legislative session. The 2025 legislative session will begin Jan. 13, when incoming Kansas House and Senate members will be sworn into office. If you haven't yet welcomed your legislator and congratulated them on their election, this is a great time to do so. You can find your policymakers by visiting the Kansas Legislature website, which will be updated with all incoming legislators on Jan. 6.
KHA staff looks forward to spending the legislative session working with our elected officials on your behalf. We will focus on three main areas identified by the KHA membership as important: finance, workforce and patient access to care. We hope that as we embark on the new year and new session, you will take this opportunity to join us in exploring our annual legislative priorities brochure that highlights the issues we will be focusing on with our state lawmakers during the 2025 legislative session. This document includes essential statistics and information about key issues facing hospitals that we want our policymakers to hear about from you. Please feel free to use it in your conversations or share it directly with our state policymakers as they head into the legislative session.
One easy way for KHA members to stay informed on legislative happenings during the legislative session is through our frequent Capitol Comments newsletter. We encourage the KHA members to share their perspectives as issues are discussed. KHA also will be utilizing our grassroots tool, VoterVoice. This platform allows members to sign up for alerts, find legislation and connect with their elected officials via the web or cell phone. If you have not yet registered to receive these updates, you can go here to sign up.
Lastly, we hope you will join us in getting a jump start on advocacy by attending KHA's Advocacy Day on Jan. 23 in Topeka. Register today. This event will include comments from several elected officials and the opportunity to recognize our recent KHA Advocacy All-Star graduates. We hope to see you on Jan. 23! Thank you in advance for your support and engagement in our advocacy efforts.
--Chad Austin