Key issues for Kansans—public education, a balanced budget, health care—are key issues for Cindy Holscher, and her collaborative work style has contributed to significant progress on those issues since she joined the Kansas House. When the Legislature stalled over taxes, budget and school funding, Cindy reached across the aisle and helped form the House Bipartisan Women’s Caucus. Members of that group worked together to develop a common sense remedy that provided a balanced budget, increased school funding and ended the disastrous Brownback tax experiment. But the job isn’t done, which is why we need her in the Kansas Senate.
Schools
Cindy consistently advocates and votes to provide funding for our public K-12 schools. She understands that post-high school education is critical to the future of the state and that educators deserve respect, fair pay and stable employment.
- Voted in 2018 to add over $500 million to public school funding and in 2019 to allocate an additional $90 million to maintain compliance with constitutional requirements.
- Works to restore funding for higher education, which faced $100 million in cuts over the last ten years.
- Voted to restore employment due process for public school teachers and continues to work toward this goal.
Health Care
Cindy is committed to expanding Medicaid for the nearly 150,000 Kansans living in the gap between eligibility and being able to afford increasingly expensive private insurance. By refusing to expand health care access, Kansas has forfeited over $3.7 billion in funding, which could have helped save some now-closed rural hospitals and could strengthen the struggling rural hospitals that remain.
- Voted for Medicaid expansion in the House and consistently advocates for its passage in the Senate, where it has been blocked by the Senate Majority Leader despite bipartisan support.
- Consistently advocates for Medicaid expansion on the House floor and as a member of the health care committee.
- Co-authored legislation to legalize medicinal cannabis.
- Supports greater health care access and affordability for all Kansans.
- Voted for expansion of telemedicine, leading to broader coverage by health insurers.
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Stability
Cindy supports the provision in our state constitution that requires a balanced budget. A stable budget ensures the continual ability to pay for essential programs and supports a strong environment for economic and business growth.
- Voted to end the worst parts of the Brownback tax experiment that nearly bankrupted the state and voted to return to responsible fiscal policy, while keeping taxes at the lowest levels since 2012.
- Has worked to reduce or eliminate the sales tax on food, which disproportionately affects the working class.
- Helped prevent the return of extremist tax policy in the 2018 and 2019 sessions.
Public Safety and Sexual Harassment
Cindy has worked tirelessly to update antiquated laws regarding sexual harassment and coercion, to protect women, domestic violence survivors and children.
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Introduced several pieces of legislation that became law. These laws:
- prohibit the labeling of children under age 14 as aggressors in sexually violent crimes,
- provide housing protections for survivors of domestic abuse crimes, and
- prohibit on-duty law enforcement officers from engaging in sexual relations with detainees.
- Ended the use of taxpayer funds in paying fines or settlements for sexual harassment cases involving state officials.
- Voted to keep guns out of the hands of those convicted of domestic abuse, which became law.
Fairness and Transparency
Cindy Holscher understands that government works best when lawmakers and state employees operate in the open and promote fairness.
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Advocated for bill that compensates those wrongly convicted and imprisoned. Bill became law.
- Cindy continues to work on behalf of exonerees who have been told by state officials to seek compensation through expensive and unnecessary legal battles, rather than the procedures laid out in the new law.
- Co-sponsored a bill to prohibit the “gut-and-go” maneuver in the Legislature, wherein legislative leaders replace the content of a bill passed in one chamber with unrelated language and then pass it in the other chamber with little further discussion.
- Supported legislation to require that the names of lawmakers be included on bills they introduce, which was blocked by both House and Senate leadership. This would help prevent the practice of blindly introducing lobbyist-drafted legislation from radical interest groups.
Representation and Governing by Consensus
Cindy believes that her constituents have the best answers to their problems, which is why she regularly hosts listening sessions, convenes expert panels and is always available to speak with community members.
- Hosted expert panel and Q&A session on Medicaid expansion with health care advocates and executives from a non-profit health services charity and regional health system.
- Convened community panel on gun violence prevention and engaged more than 100 citizens in public discussion of the issue to inform her work in the upcoming legislative session.
- Regularly participates in community events and public speaking engagements with schools, charitable organizations and any other constituent groups which request her presence.
