1.27.12 Newsletter
This week the House worked the first two bills of the session on the House Floor. The process for moving a bill to the Governor’s desk starts in committee where bills are worked after they are introduced. The committee chairman after being assigned a bill will hold hearings to receive public testimony. In our lawmaking process, any individual or group may explain as to what they agree with or don’t agree with and suggest changes to proposed legislation. After the hearings, the committee members may make amendments and modify the existing bill. This process is call “working” or “marking up” a bill. Once a bill is passed out of committee, it then goes to the Majority Leader who will decide when it will be heard on the House Floor and debated. Once a bill has been designated to be worked in the Committee of the Whole (on the House Floor), all House members have an opportunity to amend the bill. If the bill passes the Committee of the Whole, it is set on the agenda for the next day for the final vote and that vote is recorded in the journal as the public record.
If you ever wish to testify or send written testimony to any committee hearing, just let me know. You can find the house calendar at www.kslegislature.org and click the “calendar” button in the top right.
The two bills passed this week were HB 2412 and HB 2436.
HB 2412
This bill would deal with the dissolution of cities in Kansas who have been affected by lead and zinc contamination. The city of Treece on the Oklahoma border has been offered buyout money by the Environmental Protection Agency to relocate. This bill would dissolve cities which have received buyout money. Current law requires that there must be an election of the residents of the city to dissolve a city. In the city of Treece, however, there is only one resident left and an election cannot be held.
HB 2436
This bill relates to the certificate of public convenience which is an operating document required in Kansas to build transmission lines. The document details the plans the utility has for building transmission lines and where they would be built. The need for this bill arose from the building of the wind farms in western Kansas and the need to get that electricity to where it is needed. Currently there are no requirements for the Kansas Corporation Commission to act on an application. This would require the KCC to act within 180 days on a utilities application, either yes or no.
Water Policy
This week the committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources took the first step in reversing a decades old policy on water rights commonly referred to as “use it or lose it”. This controversial policy forced those with water recourses to use their cap without the possibility of carrying over their credits from year to year. It makes little sense for farmers to use water they don’t need just so they don’t lose out on it in the next year. The phrase “use it or lose it” might better be said “waste it” so you are given permission to use more.
The Governor announced his policy at the State of the State address earlier this month. The bill is now on its way to the full House for consideration and then on to the Senate.
Military Funerals
The House Judiciary Committee is considering HB 2406 which would prohibit the injury, intimidation, interference, or harassment of any member of the military or immediate family with a cause of civil action being the punishment. This bill is another attempt to provide protection for Kansas military families during the most difficult times in their life. This issue has come up before and is a very difficult subject to deal with. While I am supportive of the 1st amendment and freedom of speech, protesting military funerals crosses the line. The committee has not yet voted on the bill. I am hopeful that this bill does stop the wrongful act of protesting funerals.
School Sales Tax Holiday
The House Taxation committee held hearings on a bill to create a four day sales tax holiday in August before school starts. The tax holiday would rival a similar tax holiday currently in affect in Missouri. The tax holiday would apply to any article of clothing having a taxable value of $300 or less; all back-to-school supplies not to exceed $100 per purchase; all computer software with a taxable value of $300 or less; and all personal computers or computer peripheral devices not to exceed $2,000.
Medicaid
This week the Brownback Administration filed a waiver with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for a two-track waiver which would allow Kansas to begin its Medicaid reforms. The administration is hoping to provide for greater healthcare outcomes while reigning in the ever increasing costs to the state. This waiver would allow Kansas to move people from expensive state institutions to local and community based services.
The Governor has asked for waiver authority to move people on Medicaid populations into a person-centered integrated care system (also known as managed care), to cover all services through this model, to establish safety net care pools, and to create and support alternatives to traditional Medicaid, including programs to aid the transition to private insurance and to increase opportunities for work, particularly among disabled Kansans.
Without reforming the Medicaid system, Kansas will be caught in an ever increasing and expensive system without improving health outcomes. In the State of the State Governor Brownback had stated that our state’s MRDD constituents will be able to keep their case managers. This is extremely important to Lakemary Center and those they serve.
Education Reform Policy
In the State of the State address, Governor Brownback laid out an aggressive agenda to improve education. The Kansas State Department of Education has been developing this reform for several years. This rating system for teachers in Kansas is called the Kansas Educator Evaluation Protocol (KEEP) which would assign teachers to one of four categories; highly effective, effective, progressing, or ineffective. The evaluation would be based on 50% growth in student achievement; 40% input received by supervisors, peers, parents and families, and students during that school year, and 10% contribution by the employee to the profession.
This evaluation program is currently being piloted in 17 school districts around the state and the Governor’s goal is to get this system to all districts in the state. School districts would be able to develop their own evaluation system but it would have to be approved by the State Board of Education. To ensure students are receiving quality education, the proposal would prohibit a student from being taught two consecutive years by a teacher graded as ineffective.
Improved Career and Technical Education
Governor Sam Brownback has proposed improvements to career and technical education (CTE) programs. His plan aims to boost the percentage of students who are career and college ready upon high school graduation. The Governor’s proposal would provide a little more than $20.5 million for student tuition, school transportation costs, and incentives to high schools for certificates earned in key occupations and for marketing to increase participation.
As always if there is anything I can assist you with, please don’t hesitate to call me at 785.291.3500 or email me at jene.vickrey@house.ks.gov
Sincerely,
Jene Vickrey
Speaker Pro Tem