By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A bill expanding the authority of the office responsible for investigating Kansas’ Medicaid program was regarded Tuesday by some Democrats as a “power grab” from Attorney General Kris Kobach.
The legislation would authorize the Kansas Medicaid inspector general to go beyond Medicaid and audit and investigate all state cash, food or health assistance programs. The inspector also would have the power to subpoena, administer oaths and carry out search warrants.
Republicans say it’s a way to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse.
Traditionally, the inspector general, which is housed under the Attorney General’s Office, reviews allegations relating to the state’s Medicaid program, the MediKan program that covers adults with disabilities who don’t qualify for Medicaid, and the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP. Current inspector general Steven Anderson, who has been in the post since his appointment in 2021, was supportive in February testimony to the House Health and Human Services Committee.
House Bill 2217 would create nine new full-time positions in the office, adding around $1 million in costs each year so new staff could conduct at least five additional audits, two reviews and 80 investigations per year. The inspector general had the equivalent of about nine full-time employees in fiscal year 2024.
During debate Tuesday in the House, Rep. Nikki McDonald, an Olathe Democrat, called the legislation “unnecessary,” “wasteful” and “duplicative.” She said the bill was a “big power grab” and pointed out that the Kansas Attorney General’s Office currently has nine vacant positions.
McDonald proposed an amendment to limit the number of additional staff the attorney general could hire in future years, but the amendment failed.
Rep. Carl Turner, a Leawood Republican, supported the legislation Tuesday on the House floor.
“How much fraud do we want to accept?” he asked legislators.
The House advanced the bill on a voice vote. Final action is pending.
Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said the bill is really about “expanding the power of our attorney general.”
He harkened back to previous requests from Kobach when he was secretary of state to attempt to prosecute election crimes, as well as his role as chair of the federal voter fraud commission in 2017, which was dissolved in 2018.
Carmichael also alluded to the vacancies in the office.
“He has open positions because decent lawyers — excuse me, good lawyers — don’t go to work there,” Carmichael said.
He continued: “And so what do we propose to do here today? Give him more responsibilities for more witch hunts and more jousting at windmills?”
Republican Rep. Ron Bryce, a physician from Coffeyville, said he supported the bill because Kansas’ public assistance programs, including Medicaid, haven’t had meaningful oversight.
Marc Altenbernt, general counsel for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said in February testimony that federal law already requires DCF to conduct audits and investigations of the cash and food assistance programs it administers, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance programs. About 30 positions within DCF’s general counsel department make up existing fraud investigation and audit groups.
“Neither DCF nor its clients would benefit from the proposed legislation as it would only result in a costly duplication of efforts,” Altenbernt wrote.
Inspector general investigations typically focus on specific programs or components of programs, said Andy Brown, the deputy secretary for programs for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which oversees certain Medicaid programs, including substance use and nursing facilities.
Brown wrote in February testimony that those investigations can “veer off into other programs, agency operations, or unrelated topics that use up valuable time of cash strapped providers.”
In response to the attorney general for a request for comment, Sen. J.R. Claeys, a Salina Republican acting as a senior adviser to the Attorney General, wrote in a statement: “The inspector general is a bloodhound — the original DOGE — and he needs to be given the ability to investigate state agencies that pretend to investigate themselves. Listen to the absurdity of that? DCF has oversight because DCF investigates DCF. Surprise surprise, DCF has never found DCF to be engaged in waste or fraud. What a spectacular example DCF is of government efficiency. There must not be one instance of a citizen complaint with that type of track record. Eyeroll emoji.”
Before the House vote, in an exchange between Rep. Melissa Oropeza, a Democrat from Kansas City, and Rep. Patrick Penn, a Republican from Wichita, intensity of the debate escalated after Penn criticized Oropeza’s intent behind her second of two proposed amendments to the bill.
Oropeza wanted to add provisions that would exempt violations of federal immigration law from being included in the bill’s catch-all term “other illegal acts.” The bill would permit the inspector general to report findings of “significant levels of fraud, waste, abuse or other illegal acts,” to the attorney general.
She said she wanted to ensure that in the future the expanded authority within the bill is applied appropriately and not in a fashion outside of the bill’s purpose.
“I am truly just thinking of the future,” Oropeza said.
Penn questioned whether the amendment would prohibit state-level funding or operations related to immigration enforcement, to which Oropeza said that was outside of her intent.
“Her intent is unclear. Our intent is clear. Let’s vote this down,” Penn said.
Oropeza said, “I think I made it very clear what my intent was, and to have my motives impugned … is ridiculous.” Her amendment failed 35-82.
At the end of the day’s floor session, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, lectured legislators to be mindful of their words. He acknowledged the 2025 legislative session has been different than those of recent years.
“But all of a sudden tensions are high,” Hawkins said.
In the remaining three weeks of the session, Hawkins said legislators must be careful to avoid aggressive language to minimize tension.
He acknowledged Penn’s word choice was “probably not” the most appropriate. He implored legislators to get along. Typically they do, he said.
“Right now we’re just in a funk, for whatever reason that is, whether it’s a cultural thing or whatever it is,” he said.
Caustic commentary shouldn’t undermine House deliberations, Hawkins said.
“So I’m asking you just to step back,” he said. “Have some grace. Have some love. And let’s not go through these constant little bickerings back and forth.”
