Week Five  - February 11th – February 15th

Five weeks into the 82^nd regular legislative session and everyone is hard at work. The committee process in geared up and beginning to kick bills out.  We know that we will soon have very long days debating bills on the floor of the House.

Budget committees are working to remove funds not mandated or essential to reduce spending as much as possible. This year our budget is going to be very difficult, even with revenues up around 300+ million over last year, we have about 275 million in “required “ commitments.  We are still in doubt as to our ability to spend the 81 million gaming money.  This last week our Federal Government Passed the Stimulus Bill which will cause a drop of about 87 million in revenue to our state according to a static model.  If you apply a dynamic approach, the 1.2 million Kansas households will receive an average of $917 which is 1.1 billion dollars.  If ½ is spent on taxable items that would translate into around 29.2 million to the state.  Still it is clear that this is going to be a tough budget year.    

This week we heard from the proponents of H.B. 2747 on Wednesday in Elections and Governmental Organization Committee.  H.B. 2747 would make wholesale changes in unilateral annexation laws.  The most controversial change would be a required vote of the area proposed to be annexed.  The most notable conferee was Tom Watson.  Among other conferees were representatives of Kansas Farm Bureau and numerous citizens from around our state.  They explained their concern with the proposed annexation by Overland Park which will bring them into the city limits without a vote.  The next day we heard from the opponents.  The League of Municipalities, Realtors, Home Builders Association and others gave testimony that the provisions in the bill would make it very difficult for cities to grow and would force counties to administrate infrastructure to facilitate economic development.  At the end of the hearing our Chairman appointed a sub-committee that I will chair.  My Vice-Chair, Representative Tom Sawyer, and I plan to get to work Monday.  We will do our best to bring to bring reasonable policy back to our committee.   

This week the Senate debated and passed 33-7, Senate Sub for HB 2066, concerning the environment; electric generation; transmission and efficiency; and air emissions. After several hours of debate on Tuesday, the House Energy and Utilities committee passed its version of the bill, House Sub for SB 327, commonly referred to as the Holcomb coal-plant bill.  The bill passed the full Senate with a vote of 33-7.  The House will debate the measure early next Monday.

It is important to remember that the denial of the Holcomb plant has created an atmosphere of uncertainty for potential developers in Kansas and that there is a bi-partisan group of legislators that  are committed to finding responsible and cost effective solutions for future energy needs. A comprehensive energy policy is necessary to supply Kansans with the energy they need and balance the regulatory aspects that create a responsible and reasonable atmosphere for businesses. By working together we can ensure access to reliable, affordable energy today and for generations to come.

To date the Kansas House of Representatives has voted on eleven bills, making progress on the work load that is now starting to come out of committee to the House.

Some Items of Interest that have Passed Include: