A group of Kansas legislators concerned about health issues is doing something unusual in politics today – going bipartisan.
The newly formed Healthy Kansans Caucus is aiming to build a consensus on things like how to eliminate health disparities between counties and reduce early childhood trauma.
The first meeting of the caucus drew about a dozen lawmakers.
Many of them are new to the Legislature, including Rep. Tom Cox, a Republican from Shawnee.
“I think people are up here interested in learning more about what the problems are and figuring out what the solutions are and less focused on 'how do I push my specific ideology,' 'how do I force the solution to match my ideology,'” Cox says.
The members of the group plan to meet every two weeks during the session and ultimately make recommendations to legislative committees.