KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment notified 56 employees that Thursday would be their last day at the department.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly blamed the reduction in force on the loss of $33 million in federal health care and mental health grants.
Kelly’s office said the Trump Administration notified KDHE and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services on March 25 that six grants would have funding terminated. Kelly's office says the grants were terminated the next day.
Kelly says the round of cuts also eliminated $7.4 million in funding that went to local nonprofits across the state.
“The Trump Administration’s abrupt and unilateral funding cuts will have severe and immediate consequences for the health, safety and quality of life of Kansans across the state, especially in rural areas,” Kelly said in a release. “These cuts come when Kansas is in the midst of fighting two outbreaks - tuberculosis and measles - and has no additional resources to continue this work.”
In its weekly update Wednesday, KDHE reported the number of measles cases in the state had increased to 49 from the previous week’s 46. The May 7 update also expanded the number of counties reporting cases to nine and now includes the state’s second-largest county, Sedgwick. Previously, the cases had been limited to eight counties in southwest Kansas.
Earlier this year, KDHE officials provided an update to a Kansas legislative committee on the agency’s ongoing work to battle a tuberculosis outbreak in Wyandotte and Johnson Counties. Health officials described it as one of the most widespread tuberculosis outbreaks since health officials started tracking the disease.
In Thursday’s release announcing the job cuts from KDHE, Kelly said she asked Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach to file a federal lawsuit seeking to restore the funding. Kelly said Kobach’s office declined the request.
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