TOPEKA | Lawmakers looking to block a federal insurance mandate fell nine votes shy this morning in the Kansas House.
House lawmakers voted 75-47 in favor of a proposed state Constitutional Amendment that would attempt to prohibit the federal government from requiring almost every Kansan to have health insurance. That's one of the cornerstones of the health care reform bill passed Sunday night by the U.S. House.
But Constitutional amendments require two-thirds majorities in the state House and Senate - in the House's case that's 84 votes. If the measure did pass both chambers it would go to the voters in November.
However, no proposal ever truly dies in the Legislature, and lawmakers are likely to try again before the end of the 2010 session.
Critics of the health care reform bill have one hope: that in the final weeks of the session they can convince nine lawmakers to change their mind.
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