By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 19
A bill designed to help safety-net clinics finance much-needed expansion projects hit a snag Monday when an attorney with the Kansas Development Finance Authority said lawmakers couldn”t guarantee the clinics” loans without putting a few million dollars in a special reserve fund.
“Without an appropriation, we wouldn”t be comfortable” with the state guaranteeing the loans, said finance authority general counsel Rebecca Floyd, testifying before the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Lawmakers had assumed the state”s $5.9 billion general fund would suffice as collateral, but Floyd said both the finance authority and the banks loaning the clinics money would want there to be a reserve fund.
Unless the state”s guarantee is “backed by real dollars,” Floyd said, “I”m not sure what the real benefit would be.” She suggested setting aside $3 million to guarantee $12 million in loans.
No one on the committee appeared to welcome Floyd”s recommendation.
“I believe there”s a lot of support for this bill, but it doesn”t look like it will get out of committee today,” said committee chairman Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer. “It appears some of the mechanics need to be worked out.”
It”s not yet clear when the committee will resume deliberations on Senate Bill 365.
Another stumbling block: Sen. Donald Betts, D-Wichita, said his constituents were upset over GraceMed Health Clinic”s plans to build a new facility a few blocks from the Center for Health and Wellness. Both are safety-net clinics.
Betts said he didn”t want to see the clinics compete for clientele.
GraceMed has proposed building a $500,000 satellite clinic in an elementary school planned for northeast Wichita. The new site will see only children in its medical clinic; children and adults in its dental clinic. The Center for Health and Wellness serves children and adults in its medical clinic. It does not have a dental clinic.
Betts asked Umbarger to postpone further hearings on the bill. Umbarger fielded other committee members” concerns without responding to Betts” request. Umbarger later told KHI News Service that he”s confident the loan guarantees will be worked out.
“It shouldn”t be an issue,” said GraceMed Executive Director Dave Sanford. “There are 11,000 children
many of whom are uninsured
within walking distance of the school. Center for Health and Wellness has six examining rooms, we”ll be adding three. Both clinics will be beyond capacity if they show they”re there to provide access to quality care, which, I”m sure, they will.”
Cara Greve, a health policy analyst at the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, said safety-net clinics in Topeka, Hutchinson, Independence and Kansas City are planning major expansions and would benefit by the state backing their loans.
“Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg is getting ready to move into its new facility,” Greve said. “With this bill, the interest rate on their loan could be reduced by $250,000
that”s money that could be put back into patient services.”
House Social Services Budget Committee Chairman Bob Bethell, R-Alden, disputed Floyd”s call for a separate reserve fund.
“If there is a claim, it can go through “claims against the state,”” Bethell said, referring to the legislative processes for handling claims against the state. “We fund those all the time.”
Bethell said he expects the bill to pass both chambers. “I”m optimistic,” he said.
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.