Tom Swartz, a member of the Kansas Silver Haired Legislature, told the Dickinson County Commission on Friday that the group met in Topeka in October and adopted five resolutions focused on issues affecting residents age 60 and older.

The priorities, Swartz said, are support for medical cannabis access, property tax relief for seniors, preserving Medicaid and food assistance benefits, opposing restrictions on voting access for seniors and increased emphasis on senior transportation funding.

"Our resolution says we support senate bill 2 94 to regulate and license the cultivation processing and use of medical cannabis in Kansas," Swartz said, describing the first resolution passed at the three-day session. He said the measure responds to seniors reporting chronic pain and interest in medical cannabis as an option.

Swartz said the Legislature also approved a resolution urging property-tax relief for seniors and backing Senate Bill 215, and discussed the Golden Years Homestead Property Tax Freeze Act passed in 2023. "Anybody over the, anybody who is a senior age 65 or older, for the whole entire tax year, if their property taxes are more than what they paid in 2021, then Kansas can go through a process and Kansas will then repay or pay no difference between what it was in 2021 and what it would be at that point," Swartz said, describing how the 2023 law functions as a baseline benefit.

He said the group emphasized preserving Medicaid, home- and community-based services, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits; Swartz warned commissioners that recent federal changes could reduce federal payments to hospitals and states. "Medicare is being cut or will be in the next 10 years by that bill. Medicaid will be cut to the state, and it's gonna make a big difference on what's paid to hospitals," he said.

Swartz said Kansas remains one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid and urged local officials to track potential state obligations if federal funding declines: "Medicaid expansion, we're 1 of only 10 states that haven't done it. ... But we still can do Medicaid expansion and still get on the 90. So that's something that we would really urge that we, that's what we're gonna be fighting for down there and speaking with legislators."

The Silver Haired Legislaturealso adopted a resolution opposing any bills that would restrict voting access, "because sometimes [seniors] can't get to that poll on the day because all kinds of reasons," and a resolution urging continued or expanded funding for senior transportation programs administered by the Kansas Department of Transportation and the North Central Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging.

Swartz described the group's funding model as donation- and candidate-fee supported, and said delegates often pay travel costs to Topeka out of pocket. He encouraged continued county attention to federal- and state-level funding changes that could shift costs to counties and cities.

The commission did not take formal action on the presentation; commissioners thanked Swartz and asked that staff circulate the Silver Haired Legislature's press release and resolutions.