Newsletter 2-12-2010
February 12, 2010
It is hard to believe that we are already a month into the legislative session. Soon, even more time will be spent debating issues on the floor. Kansas’ financial downturn is at the forefront of discussion for both budget and policy committees. I am encouraged by the number of e-mails and contacts that I am receiving from families in Miami County detailing their concerns and priorities. I know between now and the end of the 2010 session, many differing solutions will be debated creating tough decisions and votes.
Please take time to answer the 2010 Legislative Survey. This year, the Legislature is facing numerous decisions that will be very tough. Your thoughts and concerns are extremely important to me. Issues that are covered in the survey: The Death Penalty, Smoking Ban, Liquor Sales, Late Term Abortion, National Health Care, Tax, and Budget Issues. These issues will be debated separately by both the House and Senate soon. To reconcile different versions from the two bodies is a very tedious process. Each issue will have numerous votes and often takes until the end of session to be resolved.
Rescission Bill Passes the House.
The bill is very similar to the Senate version and would adopt the Governor’s budget reductions that he had made in July and in August. During debate on the floor, an amendment to restore the 10% Medicaid cut was offered and failed even though I had voted in favor of the amendment. This still does not make sense to me that we are placing our nursing homes, home health care for seniors, Agency for the Aging, and Lake Mary in a terrible and difficult position. This is in light of the fact that we are losing about $70 million of matching funds from the Federal government. We did adopt two other amendments. The first saves $1 million by making a 5% cut in all state elected and appointed positions. Our Legislative pay was already reduced 11% in the underlying bill. The second amendment did provide a solution for our community developmental disability service providers like Lake Mary. By transferring $2.3 million from one program that doesn’t receive the 70% match to one that does, the $5.5 million Federal match will be restored. I was calling Bill Craig, Lake Mary’s Director, as I was on the way to the floor when I met him in the hall. I just wanted to check what the affect of the amendment would be and he assured me that the number of individuals affected by the change would not lose any services. He told me that he had spoken to Tri-Ko and they would together to make sure that no one loses the services that they currently receive. It is great to have one solution but several enormous challenges remain. There are difficult challenges that everyone is facing. One is the effects of the 10% Medicaid cut earlier this week. I met with Area Director for the Area Agency on Aging. I also met the owner of “Home To Home,” a business that provides the workforce for home visits with seniors and is contracted by the Area Agency on Aging. These visits are a win-win. They keep people in their homes where they want to live and keep them from going to the nursing home at a higher cost to the taxpayer. Now with the present cut, her business is really having trouble making ends meet. The rest of the story is that the budget we just passed was based on the best revenue numbers available to Governor Parkinson in November. However, the economy continues to drop and the revenues also have dropped and today the 2010 budget would still be $38.7 million dollars in the red.
Other Bills That Passed the Floor This Week:
HB 2486 Extends from 20 to 25 years the life of a school bus.
HB 2454 Would allow an additional 30 months to be added to the sentence of a felony committed if the person was wearing body armor.
HB 2469 Would continue to allow prior convictions to be used as criminal history. This corrects a problem that was discovered after an opinion issued by the Court Of Appeals.
HB 2433 Saves all Regents Schools money by purchasing non-bid items as a group.
HB 2445 To be prepared for a future BRAC commission (discussions concerning base closure), this bill will document agreements and support of local government and landowners around our Kansas Military Bases.
HB 2435 will add prior convictions even if they are in the same sentencing of a crime against a child to qualify for the tougher sentences for repeat sex offenders under Jessica’s law.
HB 2484 closes a loophole that commercial drivers had been using to avoid the consequences of DUI convictions.
HB 2482 would save postage expense by allowing a post card notification when it is time renew your driver’s license. Completion of a written test is no longer required.
Should taxpayer money pay for lawsuits against the state?
Education Committee heard HB 2539. School districts would not receive supplemental state aid in the following year if they had chosen to pay legal fees out of state aid. Although the bill did not pass out of committee, we should ask another question and that would be how did Miami County benefit from the last law suit? The settlement of the lawsuit increased funding mostly in three areas: at- risk, bi-lingual, and special education. Concerning Paola, Louisburg, and Spring Hill School Districts, all three where in the lower end of increased funding as a result and the Osawatomie District faired a little better. Funding has increased $468 million a year to pay for all the weightings with the biggest increases being for at- risk, bi-lingual, and special education. The reduction of the Base State Aid per Pupil (BSAPP) of $268 from the original 2010 amount pulls more from our Miami County Schools because the greatest increase has been in the three before mentioned weightings and not in the BSAPP.
Personalized Tags
Several friends have contacted me asking about the limit now to one specific tag per state rather than one per county. Carmen Alldritt, Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, Kansas Department of Revenue, explained that the cost to implement the software to facilitate one tag per county would cost $250,000.00. Her office has been working through 87,000 Kansas residents with personalized tags and identified around 30,000 who have the same tag. The most common duplicate tags are variations of JAYHAWK and WILDCAT. They also pulled who had bought the tags first and they have the first option. There is also a web site available to check what tag lettering would still be available. That web site is www.ksrevenue.org. Click on Personalized Plate Look-Up.
The House Tax Committee is considering HB 2549. This bill would remove sales tax exemptions for all religious organizations and would subject residential utilities to sales taxes. The bill would also eliminate tax exemptions granted by name to organizations rather than exempting all similar organizations. Some examples would be exemption of property purchased by charitable organizations such as the Kansas Mental Illness Awareness Council, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, Kansas Alliance for the Mentally Ill, American Cancer Society, PTO and PTA organizations. The bill was recommended by Department of Revenue Secretary Wagnon. The Kansas NEA testified in favor of the bill stating that education is in need of the estimated $194 million in sales tax revenue. Various Churches and Non-Profit organizations explained that the tax would reduce services to people when they need help the most, especially now. Also the increase on residential utilities would come at a time when families are all ready struggling with higher and higher utility bills that will continue to increase.
You can get copies of all bills and follow their progress by going to the state website: http://www.kslegislature.org/ or contact me at 785-296-6014. Maureen Stinson, my Legislative Assistant always knows where I am. You may also e-mail :