Kansas won’t have legal medical pot or expand Medicaid for at least another year

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will remain among the handful of states that haven’t legalized the medical use of marijuana or expanded their Medicaid programs for at least another year.

Republican state senators on Friday blocked efforts to force debates on both issues before the GOP-controlled Legislature’s scheduled adjournment for the year Tuesday. Supporters of each measure fell short of the 24 of 40 votes required to pull a bill on each subject out of committee.

Backers of both proposals argue that they have popular support yet have been thwarted going on a decade in each case. Kansas doesn’t allow voters to put proposed laws on the ballot statewide, a path that has led to approval for each measure in other states.

All but 12 states have legalized medical marijuana, and all but 10 have expanded Medicaid in line with the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act and its promise to cover almost all of the cost. Besides Kansas, only Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming have done neither, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“We’re behind the times,” state Sen. John Doll, a western Kansas Republican who voted for both measures, said after Friday’s votes.

Republican leaders had expected both efforts to fail, given the GOP’s 29-11 Senate majority, and viewed them largely as politi