Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2010, Issue 1: I'm Back!
Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers throughout the last year as I completed my tour of duty in Iraq. I am so happy to be safely home with my family, friends and neighbors. It was a good tour of duty and I learned so much, but I am ready to get back to work for my District and the State of Kansas.
I really appreciate all the cards, letters, emails and care packages. Being so far from home in such a different environment, sometimes it can be easy to feel you have lost something. But when the folks from home let you know that you are thought of, prayed for, missed, and that they want you to come home, it gives you a good grounding that the deployment environment is not forever. If you know someone or have friends who know someone who is in the military and far from home, I encourage you to write or email even if you don't know them very well. For many young people especially, it is difficult for them to see just how short the deployment is in the grand scheme of things, and that it is a TEMPORARY absence from the world back home.
Budget Update
Even while overseas, I could see that the Budget would be the subject that will dominate the thoughts of all Kansans this year. But before we can begin work on the budget for FY 2011, we must first pass an FY 2010 rescission bill. The rescission bill is necessary to officially enact cuts made by Governor Parkinson during the interim and ensures that Kansas meets its constitutional requirement to end the fiscal year with a positive ending balance.
In the House's version of the rescission bill, the Governor's original recommendations were accepted for the most part, with the exception of the following amendments:
- An amendment limiting the number of leadership days that leaders of the Senate and House can claim in any one fiscal year to 25. This would be a retroactive measure, starting on June 1st 2009 until June 1st of 2010.
- An amendment with an 11.1% reduction in legislative pay, totaling $247,000. This would be a 5% salary cut (not per diem), a $7 a day cut in per diem, and three furlough days. Overall, this is equivalent to a 15% reduction in legislative compensation.
There were many amendments that failed. One of them that caught my attention was the failed amendment that would have transferred $180,000 from the hazardous mitigation fund to the Kansas National Guard. The funding would have allowed the 18 National Guard Armories slated for closure to remain open until the end of the fiscal year. It would not have stopped the closing of the armories but would have allowed time to set up procedures to close armories with dignity and respect. I know the Guard unit from Troy is currently deployed and now they will return to no armory.
With a $40 million gap still left to fill in FY 2010, this is far from the final product. The committee passed the bill out on Thursday. We will hopefully see it on the House floor next week so we can begin to work through some of those tough decisions.
The Governor's Proposed Sales Tax Increase
The House Tax Committee voted on 27 January, to recommend HB 2475, the Governor's proposed one percent sales tax increase for three years, not be passed. The vote effectively killed the bill. With little discussion among the Committee members, the majority voted to report the measure unfavorably after rejecting a motion to table the Bill. Few legislators would support the Bill at this time so early in the session. The rescission bill for 2009 has not passed, the work on the fiscal year 2010 budget has not begun and final revenue reports are not in, so it is too early to know how much revenue will actually need to be raised. Sales tax increases are an easy and quick way to raise revenue but may not be the most fair and are not the only option. Although it seems imprudent to rush the Bill through, the Tax Committee is exempt from legislative deadlines for proposing Bills, so they can introduce a new tax bill at anytime.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs (KCVA) gave an update on how budget cuts have affected our state's veterans. Since the 2009 state budget bill passed, funding for the KCVA service centers have been cut to less than the initial funding it was allotted when the program started 3 years ago. Even before these cuts, Kansas was last among all U.S. states in the number of veteran service offices and Veteran Service Representatives (VSR) per veteran in the state (1 VSR to 11,000 veterans). Of 15 service offices in Kansas, 3 offices have already been closed and 7 more are at risk of closure.
Cutting services to veterans might save the state money in this fiscal year, but there is a heavy price tag for its long-term implications. Veteran service representatives (whose salaries are funded by the KCVA and have been frozen because of cuts) help veterans navigate the complex VA system in order to receive compensation. Those veterans who do not receive the federal benefits they need are then forced to rely on state-funded assistance. In Kansas, only 13% of our vets are receiving the benefits they are owed. There is a clear connection between the money our state provides for veterans and their inability to obtain the federal benefits.
The Veteran's Scratch off Lottery ticket proceeds to establish mobile VSR offices have been "swept" to fill gaps in the budget so the program is now on hold. "Swept" is the finance term used when funds are diverted from their intended part of the budget to another. The mobile offices would have provided an outreach to older veterans and veterans in rural areas far from VA Centers. The KCVA estimates that over 100,000 older veterans do not even realize that their short enlistments and drafts into the military years ago make them eligible for federal benefits.
Our veterans are heroes who left their homes and risked their lives to defend our way of life. These men and women deserve our deepest gratitude, respect, and access to the first-rate care they have earned for their service and sacrifice.
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Medicaid cuts have devastating impact
There have been hearings in multiple committees for the last three weeks regarding the impact of the recently imposed 10% Medicaid cut. Kansas has cut more from Medicaid than almost any state in the union. Because the state receives 50-90% in matching funds from the federal government for this program, the total loss in revenue for health care providers who serve Medicaid patients is three times greater than the savings to the state. Cuts of this magnitude force providers to cut staff, salaries, and critical health services for our most vulnerable citizens. If funding is not restored in FY 2011 the impact will be twice as damaging, with a $130 million cut to providers in exchange for only a $70 million savings to the state.
Keep in Touch
It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and need your input on the various issues facing state government. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 722, Docking State Office Building, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at (785) 296-7668 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can e-mail me at Melanie.meier@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
Please be sure to let me know if you are coming to Topeka so that I can be sure to meet you. I have had the pleasure of visits from the City of Lansing, Saint Vincent Clinic, Parents as Teachers, pediatric dentist Dr. Kittle, and more.
I have slots for Statehouse pages coming up on March 2nd and April 28th. If you know of a young person who would like to come spend the day in Topeka with me to see how the legislature works, please let me know. The slots are filling up!
As always, if you no longer desire to receive updates and information from me, just let me know and I will take you off the mailing list.
Useful Numbers and Resources:
Adjutant General: Department on Aging: Attorney General:
785.274.1001 800.432.3535 785.296.2215
Better Business Bureau: Child/Adult Abuse Hotline: Child and Family Services:
Commerce: Consumer Protection: Crime Tip Hotline:
Crime Victim Assistance: Driver's License Bureau: Gov. Mark Parkinson:
800.828.9745 785.296.3963 800.748.4408
Kansas Health Wave: Highway Road Conditions: Housing Hotline:
800.792.4884 800.585.7623 800.752.4422
Mental Health Services: Department of Revenue: School Safety Hotline:
888.582.3759 877.526.7738 877.626.8203
800.772.1213 785.296.3966 800.259.2829
Unemployment: Vital Statistics: Voter Registration:
785.296.5074 785.296.1405 785.296.4561
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