Melanie's Memos

Jul 9, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012 Issue 19

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2012, Issue 19: July 4, 2012

In This Issue

- Your License Plates
- New DMV Laws Effective 1 July 2012
- Child Protection Laws
- Keep in Touch

Your License Plate Renewals

The Department of Revenue's Secretary Nick Jordan has reported that
June was a month of both progress and challenge at the Department of
Motor Vehicles across the State. The DOR is working to bring its new
computer system conversion to a successful conclusion. The prior system
was implemented 25 years ago, so county clerks and the DOR came to the
legislature in 2008 to authorize a replacement system and implement a $4
fee to pay for it.

The progress: Sec Jordan reports that the new system handled 11.5
percent more renewals, titles, and registrations in June 2012, than were
handled in the old system in June 2011. Statewide in June 2012, renewal
transactions were up 22,719 and title and registration transactions were
up 7,893 over June 2011. Despite computer glitches and learning pains,
especially in the larger counties, registration renewals were up 5.8
percent in Johnson County, 16 percent in Sedgwick County, and 28.4
percent in Shawnee County. The Secretary says that this shows there is
progress in eliminating the backlog created by the planned one-week
county treasurers' office closures in May to convert 6.8 million
records to the new system.

The challenge: Currently, because of the long wait times and complete
computer lock-outs, there is an extension of the deadline to renew tags
that were due in June. You now have until July 13th. If you want to
renew on-line, be careful not to press the payment submit button more
than once even if it is taking a long time to process. Each time you
press the submit button, the computer system will send another request
for payment to your credit card. The DOR has lodged a complaint with
the company that designed and implemented the new system and is working
with them to quickly address the transition and system issues with the
company and our 105 counties. Despite the waits Secretary Jordan says
the DOR has seen significant improvements since early May.

New DMV Laws Effective July 1st

House Bill 2459 will exempt a military applicant for a Class M
(motorcycle) driver's license who has completed motorcycle safety
training in accordance with Department of Defense (DOD) requirements
from state requirements for further written and driving testing.

Senate Bill 334 will allow the acceptance of an out-of-state learner's
permit for Non-Commercial class vehicles. An applicant must have held
an instructional permit issued from another state or the
District of Columbia, which has equivalent or greater requirements than
Kansas permits. The applicant must have an affidavit signed by the
applicant's parent or guardian for the 25/50 hours of adult supervised
driving.

Senate Bill 60 states that no driver can be issued a moped (motorized
bicycle) license if the driver has one of the following codes on his or
her driving record within the last five years: DI1 (DUI), DI5 (Chemical
test failure), DI3 (Refusal to submit to test for drugs or alcohol), DI8
(Entered Diversion after DUI arrest), A10 (DUI, BAC .15 or greater), A90
(Chemical test failure BAC .15 or greater), A61 (under 21 with BAC .02
or higher), A12 (new code, Chemical test refusal), RE8 (new code,
Diversion for chemical test refusal) or HR4 (Evading Arrest). These
codes are generally DUI related, you can look them up at
www.ksrevenue.org on the DC-9 Driving Record Codes (Rev 07/2012). A
moped license can be issued if the driving record does not contain one
of these codes, regardless of whether the person's driving privileges
are revoked or suspended.

Child Protection Laws

The State of Kansas Attorney General requested the legislature consider
several bills this past session to protect Kansas children from violent
crime. Testimony was heard in two of my committees, the Judiciary and
the Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committees. These are all issues
that the legislature came together on and passed the following new laws:

- The establishment of a dedicated Crimes Against Children investigation
unit at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI).
- The expansion of the digital forensics capacity at the KBI to improve
the ability to investigate on-line crimes against children.
- The extension of the statute of limitations for prosecuting violent
sex crimes against children until the victim's 23rd birthday, making
it more difficult for predators to avoid prosecution by intimidating
children under their influence.
- The prohibition of the reproduction of child pornography images during
criminal discovery, preventing the re-victimization of child victims
during prosecution of the crimes against them.
- The reduction of the amount of times a child victim must testify
during proceedings to civilly commit sexually violent predators (In
Kansas, if a sexually violent predator is determined to still be a
threat after their prison sentence, they can be committed to treatment
through civil court proceedings.)
- The strengthening of the prohibition on sexual relations between
foster parents and foster children.
- The restoration of the original intent of Jessica's Law that certain
predators who prey on children can be sentenced to lifetime supervision
by the sentencing court rather than waiting for later consideration by
the prisoner review board.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My
Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can
also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.

Jun 22, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012, Issue: 18

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District

Volume 2012, Issue 18: June 4 –22, 2012

In This Issue

- Redistricting Results in a New Legislature, 2013 Session
- New Laws effective July 1st
- Keep in Touch

Redistricting Results in a New Legislature, 2013 Session

By now, many have heard and read about the redistricting results for
Kansas. The court released their decision after 9:30 pm on Thursday
night, June 7th. The court did not use any of the maps that were
previously drawn by the Legislature and, in their words, "pressed the
reset button" on Kansas. They drew the maps based solely on
population and communities of interest, with no regard to where
incumbents lived. The filing deadline for State offices was Monday,
June 11th, so the floodgates opened and candidates flocked to the
Secretary of State's office to file, un-file, or re-file for the
upcoming August 7th Primary election. It appears that all this
remapping has gotten people excited to run for the House or Senate.
There are only 20 uncontested races this year, compared to 39 two years
ago.

By my count of the 48 districts with no incumbent, the 20 incumbents who
chose not to run, the 27 incumbents running against another incumbent
(so that will be 14 less incumbents), or 17 filing for a different
office (16 Reps running for the Senate and 1 Senator running for the
House), I estimate that Kansas will have about 70 new Representatives in
the House and 12 new Senators next session.

New Laws Effective July 1st

As the redistricting unfolded, the bills signed by the Governor and
enrolled as new law were tallied. I counted 70 bills that became law
between May 20th and June 3rd. Many of these were combinations of
several bills. A few of them that go into effect on July 1st include:

- Annual State park RV permits will be available for a reduced price
($15.50), if you buy it when you renew your vehicle license plate. The
new fee for an annual pass purchased at the park is $22.50 and for a
daily pass is $3.50.
-Temporary vehicle registrations issued by vehicle dealers or county
treasurers will now be valid for 60 days, rather than 30.
-Counties will be allowed to accept credit or debit cards for any
payment, including taxes and utilities.
-County treasurers will be allowed to accept partial payments as part of
a payment plan for delinquent personal property taxes.
-The Sheriff's fees for delivering any summons, pleading, writ, order,
or notice issued by a court clerk or court will be set at $10. The fee
will increase to $15 on July 1, 2013.
-It will now be a crime for a person to refuse to submit to a test to
determine the presence of alcohol or drugs, if the person has had a
prior refusal or prior DUI conviction on or after July 1, 2001.
-The campaign contribution limit for State Board of Education candidates
will be raised from $500 to $1000 for both the primary and general
election.
- The Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bonds program was extended to July 1,
2017. It had been scheduled to end on July 1, 2012.
-Grandparents who request custody of a child who has been removed from
both parents will be given substantial consideration for custody, and if
they are not awarded custody there will be a written report that
explains the reasons why.
-The Creative Arts Industries Commission was created within the
Department of Commerce by merging together the Kansas Arts Commission
and the Kansas Film Commission.
-Liquor stores will be able to conduct wine, beer, and distilled spirits
tasting on their licensed premise or adjacent premises. The samples
must be free and consumed on the premises.
-The sale of individual drinks at different prices throughout the day
will be allowed, in other words – Happy Hour will be legal again.
-There will be a new senior hunting and fishing pass for those 65 years
or older effective January 1st 2013. You will no longer be eligible for
a free one until you are 75. The program for the new senior passes will
end on June 30, 2020.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my FaceBook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.

Jun 12, 2012

Meier Refiles for the new 41st District

June 11, 2012
Rep. Melanie Meier files for re-election to Kansas House

LEAVENWORTH – After the federal court dramatically altered the
boundaries of the 40th House District, Rep. Melanie Meier,
D-Leavenworth, today announced that she is filing for election in the
41st House District. Meier previously represented much of what is now
the 41st District, including Fort Leavenworth and the City of
Leavenworth.

"As someone who has been connected to the Leavenworth area and
veterans issues both personally and professionally for my entire life,
it is very important to me to continue representing that constituency.
Unfortunately, the court moved Ft. Leavenworth and the City of
Leavenworth into another district. I chose to relocate so I can continue
representing constituents I have represented for the last four years. I
know their values and their needs and I feel I am the best candidate to
represent them in the Legislature."

"Tom and I have been working to restore our home in the City of
Leavenworth for some time and are excited that it is in both the old
40th and new 41st District, allowing me the opportunity to continue
serving the people of Leavenworth. Although certainly the new district
maps kicked our remodeling plans into high gear - Tom is excited for the
chance to focus on this project." Meier and husband, Tom, have owned
a 1860's home just south of downtown Leavenworth for 12 years, which
is where they are relocating.

Meier is the Ranking Democrat on the Committee on Veterans, Military,
and Homeland Security in the Kansas House. Within the Kansas House,
Meier is considered the expert on Veterans and Military affairs issues.
She also serves on the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee and
the Judiciary Committee. A graduate of Leavenworth High School, she
received a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of
Kansas where she was a member of the Army ROTC and graduated as a
Distinguished Military Graduate. Meier went on active duty in 1990 as an
Army Air Defense Artillery Officer. She served in Fort Hood, Texas and
Seoul, Korea. After eight years active duty, Meier joined the Reserves,
and after a tour in Iraq in 2009, she joined the Kansas National Guard
in 2010. Meier met her husband, Tom, at Fort Hood, and they reside in
Leavenworth.

The 2012 election will take place on Nov. 6, 2012. Kansans may now
register to vote online at https://www.kdor.org/voterregistration/. A
valid driver's license or nondriver's identification card is
necessary to complete the online registration process. You must
re-register to vote if you have changed your address, your name or your
party affiliation since the last election.

# # #

Jun 5, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012 Issue 17

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District

Volume 2012, Issue 17: May 24 – June 1, 2012

In This Issue

- Sine Die
- KPERS Bill Signed
- Budget Line Item Vetoes
- Keep in Touch

Sine Die

On Friday, June 1st, the Kansas Legislature adjourned "sine die."
Sine die is a Latin term that means, "without assigning a day for a
further meeting or hearing." It is normally just a ceremonial day, with
an occasional attempt to override a veto and speeches by legislators
that have decided not to run for re-election. There were no attempts to
override a veto. This year the Speaker of the House announced that he
would not be running for a 15th term. He is retiring after 28 years in
the House of Representatives.

County Attorney Todd Thompson was also in Topeka on Friday to witness
the ceremonial signing of his bill that makes it illegal to sell
electronic cigarettes to minors. The Governor signed several bills that
morning including the bill that allows military veteran truck drivers to
obtain their Kansas Commercial Drivers Licenses without going through
all the training again – and so getting them back to work faster and
putting experienced drivers on the road in Kansas.

We are still waiting to see what happens with redistricting.

KPERS Bill Signed

Another of the bills the Governor signed Friday was the KPERS bill.
KPERS is the retirement program for Kansas State employees. The bill
makes some changes to the current Tiers 1 & 2, and adds a Tier 3 (cash
balance plan) for new employees. The details include:

- 50% of any casino money over the first $10.5 million per year, will go
to pay down the unfunded liability debt.
- Tier 3 starts January 1, 2015. It would be a cash balance plan which
is a type of defined benefit plan.
- Gives Tier 1 employees a choice of continuing their employee
contribution at 4% with a reduced multiplier (from current 1.75 to 1.4),
or increasing their contribution to 6% and increasing their multiplier
to 1.85%.
- Eliminates Tier 2 cost of living increases and raises the multiplier
from 1.75 to 1.85, retroactive to July 1, 2009.
- Increases caps on employer contributions to .9% in 2014, to 1% in
2015, to 1.1% in 2016, and 1.2% in 2017.
- Allocates $2.75 million to implement and run the new cash balance
plan, which includes an additional 11 full time employees .

Budget Line Item Vetoes

The Governor signed the budget into law on Thursday, 31 May 2012. He
made 16 line item vetoes. Of note, he did NOT veto the money for the
arts this year. He did NOT veto the pay raises for state employees that
earned less than the poverty level – part 4 of a 5 year plan to bring
up their salaries that had not been funded in several years. To read the
Governor's message to the Senate explaining the vetoes, go to
https://governor.ks.gov under latest news to press release of June 1,
2012, Gov signs & delivers budget bill….

The Items vetoed:
- Sec 12(a) and 12(b): The Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board fee
fund limitation to pay no more than $14 per square foot for leased
office space.
- Sec 35(b): Funding of $805,504 from the fiscal year 2012
appropriations for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
- Sec 35(l): Funding of $91,429 in the fiscal year 2012 for mental
health and retardation services aid and assistance.
- Sec 36(a): Funding of $99,634 in the fiscal year 2012 for Medicaid -
Sec 42(a): Additional Funds appropriated for the Department of Education
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, of $50,000 operating expenses.
- Sec 75(h) and 75(i): Fee sweeps from the Department of Revenue of
$8.15 million to the State General Fund.
- Sec 84(c): Funds appropriated from the State Water Plan Fund for
specific environmental projects ($800,000).
- Sec 88(a): Funding for Mentor Teacher Program grants of $484,337.
- Sec 113(c): Funding of $25,000 for State Fair marketing promotion.
- Sec 114(c): Funding for the Water Resource Education Program of
$40,000.
- Sec 114(d): Funding of $550,000 from the Expanded Lottery Act Revenues
Fund (ELARF) for the Wichita Aquifer Recharge Project.
assistance for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS/FE).
- Sec 119: The state agency rules for buying a new vehicle.
- Sec 122: Requirements for the State to reimburse the Home and
Community Bases Services providers at the rates in their contracts with
the State.
- Sec 156(d)(1): Requirements for the State Treasurer to make payments
to the Kansas Bioscience Authority on specific dates.

Keep in Touch

You can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my
FaceBook page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier. I am privileged and honored to be your
voice in the Kansas Capitol.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office is still in the Docking State Office
Building on the 7th Floor, Room 722. To write to me, my office address
is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also reach me at the
legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924. Additionally, you can e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session
online at www.kslegislature.org.

If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.

May 26, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012 Issue 16

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District

Volume 2012, Issue 16: May 14 - 20, 2012

In This Issue

- The Session Ends (?)
- Budget
- Redistricting
- Keep in Touch

The Session Ends (?)

The 2012 Legislative Session ended in a sad note last Sunday when
Representative Bob Bethell died in a car accident less than an hour
after adjournment. He had spent the last minutes of the session trying
to get the House to concur on a bill that would have established an
oversight committee for the State's new KAN-CARE plan that is going
into effect in January 2013. The bill failed. Rep Bethell was a 69
year old retired teacher who ran senior living centers. He was also a
pastor and headed many community projects in his town of Alden Kansas,
an annual fundraiser for the Special Olympics in Topeka, and a ministry
for the women in the Topeka Corrections Facility. This was his 12th
session. He always had a smile for you and wore a "Veggie Tales"
tomato pin and a Mickey Mouse tie. He was the Chairman of the Longterm
Care and Aging Committee. We will all miss him.

We wrapped up the session on the 99th day, but I am hesitant to say that
we finished. We managed to finally get a budget agreed upon but failed
in passing a redistricting map. At the end, the two chambers did not
even look at each other's bills. When I asked the research staff
person that had been making all the maps for us for this past year how
it was going during the last week, he told me that he had been told that
he was finished and the maps were just going to the courts.

Now we wait to see what happens with the courts and which of the bills
that actually made it to the Governor's desk get signed. Then maybe
we will be finished.

Budget

After working until midnight on Saturday, May 19th, the Budget
Conference Committee finally came to an agreement. The bill is SB294,
if you would like to look it up on www.kslegislature.org. There are some
good things in the budget and some areas that are lacking. The budget
ended up with the 7.5% statutory positive ending balance that I have
been told, has never happened before. This is good, because we will
need the money to offset the income tax cuts that also passed this year.
Of course, this budget will only be final when the Governor signs it
and he has line item veto power. Some of the big line items in this
years' budget:

- $60 per student was added to the base for education funding. This
included $40 million to K-12 and $27 million to other education funding.
None of the money for education came out of the Highway plan.
- The plan to raise the undermarket pay of State employees was funded.
This was a promise made by the legislature to employees that earned
wages below the poverty level years ago but had not been funded because
of budget shortfalls in the past. This is the 4th year of the 5 year
plan.
- The Veterans Claims Assistance Program was fully funded for the first
time in many years.
- The Children's Initiative Fund was funded. This is the fund that
pays for important early childhood education programs such as Parents as
Teachers, Early Headstart and Pre-School.

Some things that could have been better:

- Money was taken from the death and disability portion of KPERS. No
money should ever be borrowed from KPERS.
- No money was appropriated for the Local Ad Valorem Tax Refund Fund,
which means no property tax relief, despite both chambers voting for it.
- Money the House voted in for Meals on Wheels was taken out.
- The House had voted to appropriate enough money to end the physically
and developmentally disabled waiting lists for services. The amount was
reduced so much that while 100 will be able to gain services, 3900 will
remain on the waiting list.

Redistricting

The House passed a new Congressional Map this past week. It is called
"Kansas Six" and you can see it at www.redistrictingks.com. This
map extends the 1st District of Western Kansas, across the top of the
state, down through Leavenworth County to pick up half of Lawrence.
Fort Riley remains in the 2nd District, while Fort Leavenworth becomes
part of the 1st. It looks very similar to the map that was shown as an
example of gerrymandering throughout last year, except that it splits
Douglas County (Lawrence) rather than Wyandotte. The Senate did not
consider it.

You have probably seen in the news that the redistricting issue is now a
federal court case. At least 27 parties have filed to try and influence
how the maps are drawn. There is a 3 judge panel that will now decide
what to do. The case starts on May 29th. Depending on who you ask,
there are several possibilities of what the judges may decide:

1. The judges may draw the Congressional districts because they are a
federal issue, but tell the Legislature it has to draw the State House,
Senate, and Board of Education districts itself.
2. The judges may tell the Legislature that according to the Kansas
Constitution it is the legislature's job to redraw, and refuse to draw
anything.
3. The judges may draw the Congressional districts and leave the State
level districts alone, because the "1 person, 1 vote" requirement is
a federal requirement.
4. The judges may draw all the districts themselves.
5. Some other outcome?

Keep in Touch

If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.

May 13, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012, Issue 15

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District

Volume 2012, Issue 15: May 7 - 11, 2012

In This Issue

- Past Day 90
- Tax Work Derailed
- Budget Progress Slow
- Redistricting
- Keep in Touch

Past Day 90

The 90th day of the 2012 Legislative Session has come and gone. This
past week there was some debate on the House floor and some bills have
made it to the Governor's desk, but the State of Kansas still does not
have a budget or redistricting map. We will be back to Topeka on Monday
morning.

Some of the bills on the Governor's desk: the Leavenworth County
Attorney's e-cigarette bill, a bill streamlining the process of
obtaining a CDL for military truck drivers, and a mega bill of 12
changes to Kansas liquor laws.

I was also able to amend in a couple of bills I have been working on
this year during debate. By passing at least one of the chambers, they
are now eligible to be considered in a conference committee. One is a
bill clarifying the definition of a residential bed & breakfast and the
other is a bill giving instate tuition to any veteran living in Kansas
who had at least 3 years honorable service. Currently serving military
and their families would still be eligible no matter how long they have
served.

Tax Work Derailed

This past Wednesday, the House concurred with the Senate version of
HB2117 and sent it to the Governor's desk. This was not the version
that the joint taxation committee of Senators and Representatives have
been working on for weeks. This version was passed by the Senate on
March 21st to become the starting point for the conference committee
negotiations. Wednesday's motion passed, 64 to 59. This version that
is awaiting the Governor's signature makes all its changes in 2013:

- reduces the current 3 income brackets (3.5, 6.25, and 6.45%) to 2
brackets (3 and 4.9%)
- exempts all non-wage business income (LLCs, S Corps, and sole
proprietorships – anyone that does NOT receive a W-2)
- increases the head of house hold standard deductions (from %4500 to
$9000 for single and from $6000 to $9000 for joint)
- eliminates renters participation in Homestead Property Tax Refund
- repeals the food sales tax rebate
- repeals the severance tax exemption for any oil production in excess
of 50 barrels per day
- repeals many tax credits for items such as: abandoned well plugging,
adoption, agritourism, alternative fuel equipment, assistive technology,
child and dependent care, child day care, disabled access improvements,
environmental compliance, law enforcement training center contributions,
small employer health benefit plan contributions, swine facility
improvement, port authority contributions, telecommunications property
tax payments, venture capital contributions, and temporary assistance to
family contributions.

This is basically the Governor's original plan, but the Senate did not
eliminate all the tax credits and exemptions that the Governor had
proposed eliminating. The plan allows the temporary sales tax increase
to expire next year as scheduled. This makes the plan cut revenues even
more than the Governor's original plan, leaving Kansas with a deficit
by 2014 that would require even more cuts to education, public safety
and services for the disabled.

We have not received the estimates of how this plan will affect Kansans
with different income levels yet, but in the Governor's original plan
the taxes of Kansans making less than $30,000 a year actually went up.
This plan leaves in place the Earned Income Tax Credits for the working
poor, but eliminates the food sales tax rebate and credits for child
care and small employer health benefit plans (items that help to keep
people off of State assistance and in their jobs).

After this bill passed, the Governor announced in a press conference
that he hopes the conference committee is able to come up with a less
costly plan before he allows HB2117 to become law.

Budget Progress Slow

The Joint Senate and House Budget Conference Committee met twice on
Saturday, May 12th, bringing the number of meetings on the mega budget
bill to 12. Most of the line items have been negotiated, but big items
are still to be decided, such as: K-12 education, technical/vocational
education, the Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund, state employee pay,
and transfers to the Kansas Bio-Science Authority. Monday, the meetings
will start again. The tax plan will also have to be figured in as the
conference committee had been using the costs of the negotiated plan and
not the plan that is currently on the Governor's desk.

Redistricting

The House Redistricting Committee held a hearing this past week on what
the Senate districts should look like. Seven Senators testified and
asked the House Committee to draw a map for them that would not collapse
a Senate district in rural Kansas and would not give a new district to
Johnson County. The House Committee passed out a map called "For the
People 13b" and brought it to the full House for a vote. After
several Representatives attempted to alter this map unsuccessfully, it
passed 67 to 50.

Another attempted amendment proposed using a non-partisan commission to
do redistricting in the future. 26 other states have already gone to
such a commission. The amendment failed on a vote of 35 to 66. Kansas
is the last state to complete its redistricting process and we are not
finished. Historically, the two chambers have respected each other's
redistricting plans, with congressional maps being the focus of the
conference committees. This year the House non-concurred with the
Senate's redistricting plan so the redistricting process has been
extended.

Keep in Touch

You can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my
FaceBook page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier. I am privileged and honored to be your
voice in the Kansas Capitol.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office is still in the Docking State Office
Building on the 7th Floor, Room 722. To write to me, my office address
is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also reach me at the
legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924. Additionally, you can e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session
online at www.kslegislature.org.

If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.

May 7, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012, Issue 14

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District

Volume 2012, Issue 14: April 30 – May 4, 2012

In This Issue

- House is Crawling Along
- Sgt. Enzbrenner Honored
- Redistricting
- Tax Plan Confusion

- Keep in Touch

House is Crawling Along

Week 14 was a long week for the House, as we watched the Senate debate
and vote on their plans for redistricting, the tax plan, the budget and
KPERS. As the Senate worked on the stated priorities of this session,
the House voted on several non controversial conference committee
reports Monday through Thursday, and debated 5 bills on Friday.

The 90th day of the Legislative Session, Friday May 11th, is nearing.
The Speaker of the House told us to be prepared for a long week of hard
work, but many are worried that we will not be done by Friday.

Our office assistants have been let go for the session, so if you call
my office number you will only get an answering machine that is shared
with two other Representatives. Please call the Legislative hotline or
my cell phone to reach me.

Sgt. Enzbrenner Honored

Friday, May 4th was Kansas Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Day. The
day was marked by a ceremony at the Kansas Law Enforcement Officer
memorial on the Capitol grounds with the addition of Sgt. David
Enzbrenner's name. On December 9, 2011, Atchison Police Department
Sgt. David Enzbrenner was killed on duty. Sgt. Enzbrenner was 46 years
old and a 24-year veteran of the Atchison Police Department.
Representative Jerry Henry of Atchison, invited the members of the
Atchison Police Force, Sgt. Enzbrenner's wife Kerri, and their three
daughters: Avery, Abbi, and Celia, to the House Chamber prior to the
ceremony. At that time, we were able to express our gratitude for Sgt.
Enzbrenner's services, and condolences to his family and fellow
officers.

Redistricting

The Senate debated and passed their map of Senate Districts this week.
The Senate chamber was full of House members, there to check out the
action. The debate went on for hours after two amendments were
initially made to adjust the boundaries of two districts that the
Senators stated were part of a compromise with House leadership.

Most of the debate centered on whether a district in western rural
Kansas should be collapsed so that a new district could be formed in
Johnson County, where most of the population growth over the last 10
years has taken place. The result was a map that collapsed a western
district.

The next morning in the House, a motion was made to concur with the
Senate map. Despite all the talk of a compromise, the Representative
that made the motion stated that he was voting against his own motion
and urged the House to also vote no in order to kill the Senate map.
This is an unprecedented motion, as there has been a long-standing, yet
unwritten, agreement between the House and Senate that neither would
interfere with the other in determining their own districts. Despite
this, arguments were made that the Senate's map would be determined
unconstitutional because of the percentages of deviation in each
district being between 3 and 5% and that it would split a 48% Hispanic
community in rural Kansas. The map was defeated.

The Kansas rules allow no larger than a 5% deviation in population from
the targeted amount of residents and Federal law requires that
"majority minority" districts can not be split. Kansas only has one
district at this time that is a "majority minority" district; it is
District 4 in Wyandotte County.

A "majority minority" district must meet three criteria: first, the
minority group must be large enough and geographically situated such
that a relatively compact district in which they are a majority can be
drawn up; secondly, there must be a history of cohesive voting among the
minority group; and thirdly, there must be a history of racially
cohesive majority voting behavior sufficient to prevent the election of
most of the minority group's favored candidates. The creation of
majority-minority districts has had a substantial effect in increasing
African-American, Hispanic, and Native American representation in state
legislatures across the country.

Tax Plan Confusion

The Senate and House Taxation Conference Committee met again this week
to make adjustments to their Conference Committee Report from the prior
week. Three separate sets of cost figures had been released by the
Kansas Legislature Research Department in as many days with very
different bottom lines. The Department of Revenue also produced their
own estimates that were different than the others. The differences were
attributed to things such as not figuring in the loss of revenue when
the temporary sales tax increase expired and bills that have passed this
session that would cost money.

The Conference Committee's new plan would phase in the reduction in
the income tax rate for residents with incomes over $30,000 over 5 years
and by 2017, taxes would be eliminated on LLCs, S Corporations, and Sole
proprietorships. Some parts that make me uncomfortable with the
Conference Committee Report include the Committee's addition of at
least 6 more bills that were never debated in the House and their
assumption of a 4% growth in the economy each year, which has been
criticized as being too optimistic as we slowly come out of the
recession.

Two of the six members of the Committee refused to sign the Conference
Committee Report, so a few more procedural steps are required before the
report comes to the House floor for a vote. When that happens, it is
called an "Agree to Disagree" report.