SHL News Release on Elections and Issues

KANSAS SILVER HAIRED LEGISLATURE MEETS IN SUMMER SESSION

The Kansas Silver Haired Legislature met for their bi-annual Organization Meeting at the Salina Public Library on June 29, 2023,with several other delegates also attending by Zoom.  In addition, the SHL Executive Board also met at the same time, marking the first time both meetings met at the same location on the same day.  The purpose of the Organization Meeting is to bring the membership up to speed on the recent 2023 Kansas Legislative Session, as well as foster discussions on potential changes to the SHL body.  The meeting is also the time when the officers of the SHL are elected.  The Executive Board meeting allows the board members from each PSA region to bring forward the issues that are deemed important to Seniors in that PSA region.  These issues are then debated and discussed, and eventually whittled down to the select few that will be presented to the entire membership at the Annual Session, held in Topeka on October 3-5, 2023.  The officers of the Executive Board are also elected during the meeting. 

The issues that will be presented to the full membership are:

  1.  Support Medicaid Expansion
  2. Approve Medical Marijuana
  3. Remove the “Cliff” on the income tax on social security benefits.
  4. Fair voting rights for all
  5. Provide assistance for Grandparents and Family members as Foster Parents

In addition, several other issues that were deemed important to Kansas Seniors were also included in a Monitoring Watch List.  These items include Public Transportation, Broadband Expansion, Property tax reduction for Seniors, and Continued Full funding for the Senior Care Act by the Kansas Legislature.

Officers of the SHL Organization are as follows:  Speaker – Randall Hardy (Saline County); Speaker Pro Tem – Chuck Schmidt, Sedgwick County; Floor Leader – Leroy Burton, Butler County.

Officers of the Executive Board now include the following:  President – Thomas Gordon, Wyandotte County; First Vice President – Katy Hoffman, Johnson County; Second Vice President – Sherri Grogan, Leavenworth County; Treasurer – Gary Scott, Johnson County; and Secretary – Donna Lehane, Sedgwick County.

Kansas SHL, formed in 1982, was created by an act of Congress in 1969.  The SHL is composed of one peer-elected delegate from each of the 105 counties in Kansas, with the number in the larger counties increasing to six each.  Kansas SHL is a volunteer organization and associated with the eleven Area Agencies on Aging throughout the State of Kansas.  SHL gives a voice to approximately 600,000 Senior Citizens in Kansas. For more information visit the <kansas-shl.org> website.