Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 6: February 14-20, 2011
In This Issue
Last Week before Turnaround
Workmen's Compensation
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee
Judiciary Committee
Around Home
Keep in Touch
Last Week before Turnaround
Last week was extremely busy and this coming week will be no different. Friday the 25th of February is "turnaround" when the House sends its approved Bills to the Senate and the Senate sends its approved Bills to the House. All committee work must be wrapped up by Tuesday at noon and the rest of the week will be spent on the Floor in debate and final action voting.
Workmen's Compensation
This week, we debated HB 2134 on the House Floor. For decades, workers and employers have not been able to reach an agreement on workmen's compensation that has been acceptable to both parties. Throughout this stalemate, the cost of living has skyrocketed while work compensation benefits remained stagnant, dropping Kansas to 47th in workmen's compensation benefits for the United States. HB2134 started out as an historic compromise written jointly by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO. Both agreed to the "prevailing injury" standard that when the injury was caused by the job, that recipients are now entitled to life long benefits so they will not have to prove they were injured on the job every year, the percentage of benefits will be determined by the percentage of work the injured worker can still do, and injured workers must look for new employment. Unfortunately, the House Committee that worked the Bill made several amendments and now the workers are very uncomfortable with it. They say that it is no longer their compromise and one of the amendments may even encourage a business to hire undocumented workers because the proposal would allow the denial of benefits to them no matter how long the person worked before being injured.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Committee held a hearing on HB2210 this week. This bill proposes establishment of a program "to provide mental health services for combat-related conditions including, but not limited to, combat fatigue, post-traumatic stress and depression, and readjustment counseling and services to veterans of any branch of the armed forces of the United States and their spouses and dependents." The Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs, the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, Inc., the National Guard Association of Kansas, the Kansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Legion all sent representatives to testify in support of the concept.
The Governor's Military Council and the Legislature have both recognized that although all returning veterans have six months of health care coverage as if they are still on active duty, that signs of Post Traumatic Stress do not usually manifest until a service member has been home about that same time. In addition, the veterans that return to rural Kansas often do not have access to VA services or Active Duty Bases without taking time off work to spend the day traveling.
Although everyone is in agreement of the concept, there will be many details to work out between all the service providers and the KCVA. There is currently a pilot program being run by the KU Medical Center and VA to provide services to the rural areas through tele-medicine and determine the feasibility and effectiveness of such a program. The committee has decided to work the bill next year once the results of the pilot program are available and all the health providers and the KCVA can work on the details of an all encompassing Mental Health Services Program.
Corrections & Juvenile Justice
The Committee held many hearings this week. HB2197 is a proposal to give Public Defenders the option to refuse to accept court appointed cases if their active case load is too large for them to provide an adequate defense. The chief judge of the district would then appoint attorneys from the panel for indigents' defense services to take the cases. Another hearing was on HB2044, which would raise the penalties for hit and run cases that result in injury or death. There have been instances in Kansas when drivers have been involved in accidents, but they left the scene without rendering aid or calling for help for victims who had suffered serious injury and died. The police must track the driver down, often days later, and the only consequence is probation or a fine for leaving the scene of an accident. District Attorneys and families of victims are seeking to raise the penalties to presumptive imprisonment in an attempt to get drivers to stop and do the right thing.
Judiciary
The Committee held a hearing on HB2101 this week. This Bill proposes selecting Supreme Court Appeals judges in the same manner that Federal Supreme Court judges are selected. The Chairman of the Committee introduced this proposal with the announcement that the bill already has a constitutional problem that must be amended before it goes anywhere because by the Kansas Constitution, the legislature can not set terms past 4 years. If the proposal becomes law, the judges on the Kansas Supreme Court of Appeals would be selected by the Governor and the Senate would have to confirm them within 30 days for a life long appointment. The current Nominating Commission would be abolished. We heard 21 proponents and opponents to the Bill. Most of the proponents testified that while they did not support election of judges, they felt that leaving the nominations up to lawyers is "arrogant and elitist." They testified that by having the Senate, who is elected by the people of Kansas, confirm the nominees, that the will of the people of Kansas would be served. Although when questioned, the proponents stated that all the Appeals Courts judges that have been selected since 1977 have been very good judges and that they could not name a decision that they felt was biased in anyway.
The current nominating commission system was established in 1977 and is made up of 4 lawyers with a chair that is elected by all lawyers in the State plus 4 laymen appointed by the Governor, one from each Congressional District. When a position comes open on the
Appeals Court
Every licensed lawyer in the State is notified and can submit an application. The Selection Commission reviews each application and writing samples, investigates each applicant's background, interviews the applicant and interviews others who have worked with them. The Selection Commission forwards the top 3 applicants to the Governor who chooses one and makes the appointment. All the judges stand for retention in the State general elections.
The opponents to HB2101 testified that by going to the Federal system of selecting judges the system will become political. They said that the Governor would still need help in selecting a person to nominate because he would not have the time to do the extensive background checks and interviews; then the selected nominee would have to stand to the scrutiny of the Senate, like the Federal system which would "bring the circus to town" by attempting to impose DC politics on our Kansas court system. They testified that the everyday citizen of Kansas would lose their input because they would no longer be able to vote whether to retain the judges. The opponents also pointed out that a special session of the Senate would have to be called if a nominee was selected when they were out of session and that would cost more money.
Around Home
This week I had many visitors in Topeka. Tuesday the 15th, the President of the NE Kansas Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., along with 5 other Gold Star family members testified with me before the Transportation Committee in Support of the issuance of a Kansas Gold Star Family license plate. That evening Lois Reed and other members of the Atchison Achievement Services for the developmental disabled visited. On Wednesday, Wes Williams, a Gifted and Talented Student from Tonganoxie High School, was my Legislative Shadow and two German exchange students that are living in Leavenworth visited me, the Governor and Senator Kultala at the Capitol. That evening Bill Bohne visited with the Kansas Association of School Boards as the representative of the Easton School Board. The annual American Legion/VFW Convention was also this week and I was able to visit with Ralph Beckwith, AC Byrd, George Grimm and others to discuss veterans issues. On Thursday, the Executive Director of the Guidance Center, Keith Rickard and board members, including Kathy Meyer from Leavenworth visited with me about Mental Health issues facing Kansas.
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. To write to me, my office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also 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. Don't forget that you can also follow the legislative session online at http://www.kslegislature.org/, including live broadcasts of the House and Senate while on the floor.
Feb 13, 2011
Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2011 Issue 5
Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 5: February 7-13, 2011
In This Issue
· A Busy Week
· "Pay Go" and the Budget
· Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
· Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees
· Around Home
· Keep in Touch
A Busy Week
We had more snow in Topeka this week, but I am happy to report that there were no interruptions in the Legislature's calendar. Most committees had a full schedule of hearings and we had a full week of debate on the House floor. We also reached an important legislative deadline. Wednesday was the last day for bill introductions in nonexempt committees. From now on, only exempt committees (such as Appropriations, Taxation, and Federal & State Affairs) can introduce new legislation. The halfway point of the session is next week, and "turn around" is February 25th. That is the day the House sends all its bills to the Senate and the Senate sends its bills to the House for consideration.
"Pay Go" and the Budget
Tuesday, February 8th, we debated the rescission budget on the House floor using our new House rule of "Pay Go." These are the budget cuts to get us though June 2011 under our current budget with the governor's goal of a $36 million ending balance. "Pay Go" dictates that no item on an Appropriations Committee bill can be increased without a corresponding cut in the same bill. "Pay Go" only applies to Appropriations bills, so any bill that comes from a different committee does not have to make a corresponding cut for any spending increase.
Twelve amendments to the rescission budget were proposed and debated. Three amendments to replace veterans' funds with funds from the Kansas Board of Regents and by cutting three new proposed positions in the Post Audit division were offered, but only 2 were passed. An amendment to delete the bill's proposal to move part of the Department of Corrections funding "off budget," was defeated. When an expense is moved "off budget," the legislature can no longer monitor the fund. A provision to accept $3.5 million from Aramark, the company that provides the food to Kansas corrections facilities, in exchange for signing a 10 year contract with them was included as revenues. An amendment to delete the provision for the unsigned contract, because it is counting on money that does not exist and it appears to be a payoff, was defeated.
Attempts to reinstate the $16.7 million that the House budget bill cut from special education were not allowed to be debated. The first because the amendment proposed to pay for special education with proceeds from selling Kansas assets and the second because it proposed taking the needed funds from the Kansas Information Technology Fund which is another "off budget" fund. Both amendments were found to be "out of order" because they did not cut an agency budget from the proposed bill.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee passed its own version of the budget on Thursday. They restored $25 million of proposed education cuts, including the $16.7 million for special education. The proposal was made to enable Kansas to meet its federal maintenance levels and avoid losing federal matching funds this year and in the future.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Committee has many bills it introduced that are being worked, but most of the bills have been assigned to other committees for hearing. The Gold Star Family license plate hearing will be in Transportation Committee on Tuesday, February 15th. The Check off Block on income tax forms has been assigned to Taxation Committee. A bill to allow State preference for contracts with disabled veteran owned businesses will be heard by the Commerce Committee.
We did hold hearings for two bills in our Committee this week. HB2060 directs Kansas courts to recognize the Department of Defense's Form 93, which active duty and activated service members use to designate who their remains will be released too in the case of their death. There have been issues in other States where courts did not recognize the DD93, which is the last form a deploying service member fills out, and service members' remains have had to sit at Dover AFB waiting for court decisions. We also heard HB2168, a bill that allows every person that has been honorably discharged from military service to receive free vehicle passes to Kansas State Parks and to receive free tuition to Kansas post secondary education institutions.
Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees
In addition to its scheduled hearings and working many bills, the Committee heard a report from the Kansas Sentencing Commission that affects every bill we will hear regarding judicial sentences. Kansas state prisons can hold a total of 9054 inmates, 8259 men and 785 women. Kansas is already overcapacity for male beds. For 5 years the prison population steadily declined but then spiked up 13% in 2010. The Sentencing Commission attributes this spike to several trends: the decline in the economy, a decrease in community services (especially in job placement), and a spike in probation revocations. The Sentencing Commission believes the spike in revocations could be attributed to a lack of jobs because holding a job is a condition of release. According to the current trend, by June this year Kansas will be over capacity by more than 100 beds.
The Governor's proposed budget includes $2.5 million for contract prison space in 2012. It is estimated that each prison inmate costs the state approximately $25,000 a year. The House and Senate have many proposed bills that would raise the sentences for crimes such as identity theft, blackmail and contracting fraud, and make more things illegal such as synthetic marijuana. All these bills have the propensity of adding more inmates to our already overburdened corrections system. Most of these crimes need to be addressed to protect the public, but we will have to consider the cost. Do we send more money to corrections or do we let more people out early to make space?
Around Home
This week I made it to Basehor during another Topeka blizzard for the Leavenworth County Humane Society's Annual Membership Meeting and I had many visitors in Topeka. Shanda Gilfert visited with the Kansas Credit Union Association, Connie Hachenberg visited with The Travel Industry Association of Kansas, our Atchison County and Leavenworth County Treasurers: Sheila Bilderback and Janice Young were here with the Kansas County Treasurers Association, Bob Topping from our own Prairie Queen Bed & Breakfast was here to finalize a bill about the tax classification of B&Bs and Blaine Weeks was here to testify on behalf of Geiger Ready Mix in a Judiciary Committee hearing.
Friday afternoon, February 11th, the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce held its first Legislative Forum for the session at the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth. We had a good sized group in attendance and fielded various questions concerning issues such as the Governor's proposed abolishment of the Kansas Arts Commission, the Kansas Neurological Institute, and Early Head Start, as well as budget cuts to mental health grants, schools, and proposals to change laws dealing with alcoholic beverage licenses. Unfortunately, I missed the KU basketball game on Saturday, as I was fulfilling my duties at the 35th Infantry Division. It was drill weekend!
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. To write to me, my office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also 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. Don't forget that you can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org, including live broadcasts of the House and Senate while on the floor.
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 5: February 7-13, 2011
In This Issue
· A Busy Week
· "Pay Go" and the Budget
· Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
· Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees
· Around Home
· Keep in Touch
A Busy Week
We had more snow in Topeka this week, but I am happy to report that there were no interruptions in the Legislature's calendar. Most committees had a full schedule of hearings and we had a full week of debate on the House floor. We also reached an important legislative deadline. Wednesday was the last day for bill introductions in nonexempt committees. From now on, only exempt committees (such as Appropriations, Taxation, and Federal & State Affairs) can introduce new legislation. The halfway point of the session is next week, and "turn around" is February 25th. That is the day the House sends all its bills to the Senate and the Senate sends its bills to the House for consideration.
"Pay Go" and the Budget
Tuesday, February 8th, we debated the rescission budget on the House floor using our new House rule of "Pay Go." These are the budget cuts to get us though June 2011 under our current budget with the governor's goal of a $36 million ending balance. "Pay Go" dictates that no item on an Appropriations Committee bill can be increased without a corresponding cut in the same bill. "Pay Go" only applies to Appropriations bills, so any bill that comes from a different committee does not have to make a corresponding cut for any spending increase.
Twelve amendments to the rescission budget were proposed and debated. Three amendments to replace veterans' funds with funds from the Kansas Board of Regents and by cutting three new proposed positions in the Post Audit division were offered, but only 2 were passed. An amendment to delete the bill's proposal to move part of the Department of Corrections funding "off budget," was defeated. When an expense is moved "off budget," the legislature can no longer monitor the fund. A provision to accept $3.5 million from Aramark, the company that provides the food to Kansas corrections facilities, in exchange for signing a 10 year contract with them was included as revenues. An amendment to delete the provision for the unsigned contract, because it is counting on money that does not exist and it appears to be a payoff, was defeated.
Attempts to reinstate the $16.7 million that the House budget bill cut from special education were not allowed to be debated. The first because the amendment proposed to pay for special education with proceeds from selling Kansas assets and the second because it proposed taking the needed funds from the Kansas Information Technology Fund which is another "off budget" fund. Both amendments were found to be "out of order" because they did not cut an agency budget from the proposed bill.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee passed its own version of the budget on Thursday. They restored $25 million of proposed education cuts, including the $16.7 million for special education. The proposal was made to enable Kansas to meet its federal maintenance levels and avoid losing federal matching funds this year and in the future.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Committee has many bills it introduced that are being worked, but most of the bills have been assigned to other committees for hearing. The Gold Star Family license plate hearing will be in Transportation Committee on Tuesday, February 15th. The Check off Block on income tax forms has been assigned to Taxation Committee. A bill to allow State preference for contracts with disabled veteran owned businesses will be heard by the Commerce Committee.
We did hold hearings for two bills in our Committee this week. HB2060 directs Kansas courts to recognize the Department of Defense's Form 93, which active duty and activated service members use to designate who their remains will be released too in the case of their death. There have been issues in other States where courts did not recognize the DD93, which is the last form a deploying service member fills out, and service members' remains have had to sit at Dover AFB waiting for court decisions. We also heard HB2168, a bill that allows every person that has been honorably discharged from military service to receive free vehicle passes to Kansas State Parks and to receive free tuition to Kansas post secondary education institutions.
Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees
In addition to its scheduled hearings and working many bills, the Committee heard a report from the Kansas Sentencing Commission that affects every bill we will hear regarding judicial sentences. Kansas state prisons can hold a total of 9054 inmates, 8259 men and 785 women. Kansas is already overcapacity for male beds. For 5 years the prison population steadily declined but then spiked up 13% in 2010. The Sentencing Commission attributes this spike to several trends: the decline in the economy, a decrease in community services (especially in job placement), and a spike in probation revocations. The Sentencing Commission believes the spike in revocations could be attributed to a lack of jobs because holding a job is a condition of release. According to the current trend, by June this year Kansas will be over capacity by more than 100 beds.
The Governor's proposed budget includes $2.5 million for contract prison space in 2012. It is estimated that each prison inmate costs the state approximately $25,000 a year. The House and Senate have many proposed bills that would raise the sentences for crimes such as identity theft, blackmail and contracting fraud, and make more things illegal such as synthetic marijuana. All these bills have the propensity of adding more inmates to our already overburdened corrections system. Most of these crimes need to be addressed to protect the public, but we will have to consider the cost. Do we send more money to corrections or do we let more people out early to make space?
Around Home
This week I made it to Basehor during another Topeka blizzard for the Leavenworth County Humane Society's Annual Membership Meeting and I had many visitors in Topeka. Shanda Gilfert visited with the Kansas Credit Union Association, Connie Hachenberg visited with The Travel Industry Association of Kansas, our Atchison County and Leavenworth County Treasurers: Sheila Bilderback and Janice Young were here with the Kansas County Treasurers Association, Bob Topping from our own Prairie Queen Bed & Breakfast was here to finalize a bill about the tax classification of B&Bs and Blaine Weeks was here to testify on behalf of Geiger Ready Mix in a Judiciary Committee hearing.
Friday afternoon, February 11th, the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce held its first Legislative Forum for the session at the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth. We had a good sized group in attendance and fielded various questions concerning issues such as the Governor's proposed abolishment of the Kansas Arts Commission, the Kansas Neurological Institute, and Early Head Start, as well as budget cuts to mental health grants, schools, and proposals to change laws dealing with alcoholic beverage licenses. Unfortunately, I missed the KU basketball game on Saturday, as I was fulfilling my duties at the 35th Infantry Division. It was drill weekend!
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. To write to me, my office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also 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. Don't forget that you can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org, including live broadcasts of the House and Senate while on the floor.
Feb 6, 2011
Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2011 Issue 4
Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 4: January 31 – February 6, 2011
In This Issue
Snow Daze!
Budget Update
Unemployment Benefits
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee
Judiciary Committee
Around Home
Keep in Touch
Snow Daze!
Legislative activities were canceled on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week as a blizzard swept over Northeast Kansas, which postponed the debate of the current budget. Other key committee meetings were also postponed. The House Elections committee had originally planned to hold a full week of hearings on the Secretary of State's proposed voter ID bill. They did hear from supporters on Monday and Friday, but opponent testimony will have to wait until next Wednesday. Additionally, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee had scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the repeal of the state law giving the children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition. The committee will not meet until next week.
Budget Update
Governor Brownback had originally requested that revisions to the current year budget be on his desk by the end of the month. We had expected to debate the rescission bill this week, which obviously did not happen. It is now expected that the budget debate will happen next Tuesday, February 8th. Significant work on next year's budget will not begin until the current year budget is revised.
The House Appropriations Committee produced a new version of their budget on Monday. Most notably, the across-the-board 7.5% state employee pay cut (included in the Committee's original bill) has been deleted. The cut will stay in place for legislators, justices, statewide elected officials, agency heads, and any state employees making over $100K a year. Overall, the House budget bill in its current form would end the fiscal year with a $36 million ending balance.
We received some good revenue news Monday, learning that the state collected $29.5 million more than anticipated in January. The increases were due to larger collections of individual income tax, corporate income tax and use taxes. Through January, state revenues are now running $6.5 million ahead of an estimate made in November.
Unemployment Benefits
A Senate Bill introduced Monday proposes reinstating the waiting week to unemployment benefits. For decades, unemployed workers were forced to wait a full week before receiving benefits because time was needed to manually process a claim. Current computer technology has made this practice outdated and unnecessary so in 2007, the legislature eliminated the waiting week. If passed, SB77 will go back to the waiting period used prior to 2007.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Gold Star Family license plate was designated as HB2132 this week. Although it was introduced in our Veterans Committee, the Speaker of the House will most likely assign it to the Transportation Committee to hold hearings. Our local Gold Star families who have lost a loved one while serving in the military proposed this license plate to raise public awareness across Kansas that many Kansan family members have volunteered their lives for their nation.
I introduced a Bill to add a check off block to the Kansas Income tax form so that individuals can donate money to the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs. This would establish a fund of private donations to support our "Kansas Hometown Heroes" through our Kansas Veteran Service Officers that work for veterans and get them their earned benefits. The KCVA estimates that for every State dollar that goes into Veteran Services, over $117 in federal benefits are gained for our Kansas veterans. So if the bill passes and you decide to check the box on your income tax form, just remember your $5 is bringing $585 to our Heroes!
Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee
In 2009, the Legislature established an electronic logging system to track the sale of nasal decongestants, such as "Sudafed" and "Claritin-D," containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine. This week the Committee received a status update on the tracking system. Bottom line, the electronic system is still not in place. The State has just recently come to an agreement with a company that provides the computer tracking program to states for free. It is paid for by drug manufacturing companies in an attempt to keep their products available over the counter.
Meanwhile, HB2098 has been introduced in the House to make pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. Proponents want Kansas to join Oregon and Mississippi who have already passed similar legislation and claim a 65% drop in METH labs within 6 months in Mississippi and a 96% drop in Oregon since 2006. The proponents of the Bill claim that electronic tracking systems do not work. Opponents of the Bill point out that this would force law abiding Kansans to make an appointment to see their doctor for common colds and allergies, which would result in postponing treatment and raising health care costs significantly.
Judiciary Committee
This week we had several hearings on proposals to protect consumers, especially the elderly. HB2068 was proposed by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division. The AG Division stated that the Durable Power of Attorney is being used by some to exploit the elderly because of a lack of understanding of the difference between a Durable POA and a normal POA. The proposal requires criminal charges language to be included in the paperwork and requires the person appointed as "Attorney in Fact" to sign and notarize. Opponents to the Bill fear that the criminal statements may dissuade some banks and relatives from serving as "Attorney in Fact" and the additional requirements put a burden on the Notary Public to determine if a person really understands the process. Current estate and probate attorneys expressed a concern that if the Bill passes it will make all prior Durable POAs that do not include the language void.
Around Home
On Monday night, I headed home during a lull in the snow storm to avoid being stuck in a Topeka hotel room for the week. I was able to dig out on Wednesday to attend Marguerite Strange's funeral. As the card on the large flower arrangement from Melissa Etheridge stated, Marguerite was an "Awesome Woman" who spent her life tirelessly serving our community as a public servant for the City (City Clerk, Manager, Mayor, Commissioner), leader in the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce, Chairperson of the Leavenworth County Republican Committee, board member of many charitable organizations including founding the Leavenworth Historical Museum Association, and volunteering in almost every charity in town. She will be greatly missed and we were all blessed to have had her touch our lives.
Thursday I was honored to be visited in Topeka by Dr. Paul Kittle and Dr. Joe Jones. They are both active in their respective Dental and Chiropractic Associations and willing to fight for their fellow Kansans. Saturday I joined the Atchison Chamber of Commerce and Representatives Henry and Gonzalez for a legislative update in the historic Santa Fe Depot in Atchison. It was a good sized crowd and lively discussion of their concerns. Next Friday will be the Leavenworth/ Lansing Chamber Legislative Update at the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth.
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. To write to me, my office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also 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. Don't forget that you can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 4: January 31 – February 6, 2011
In This Issue
Snow Daze!
Budget Update
Unemployment Benefits
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee
Judiciary Committee
Around Home
Keep in Touch
Snow Daze!
Legislative activities were canceled on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week as a blizzard swept over Northeast Kansas, which postponed the debate of the current budget. Other key committee meetings were also postponed. The House Elections committee had originally planned to hold a full week of hearings on the Secretary of State's proposed voter ID bill. They did hear from supporters on Monday and Friday, but opponent testimony will have to wait until next Wednesday. Additionally, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee had scheduled a hearing Wednesday on the repeal of the state law giving the children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition. The committee will not meet until next week.
Budget Update
Governor Brownback had originally requested that revisions to the current year budget be on his desk by the end of the month. We had expected to debate the rescission bill this week, which obviously did not happen. It is now expected that the budget debate will happen next Tuesday, February 8th. Significant work on next year's budget will not begin until the current year budget is revised.
The House Appropriations Committee produced a new version of their budget on Monday. Most notably, the across-the-board 7.5% state employee pay cut (included in the Committee's original bill) has been deleted. The cut will stay in place for legislators, justices, statewide elected officials, agency heads, and any state employees making over $100K a year. Overall, the House budget bill in its current form would end the fiscal year with a $36 million ending balance.
We received some good revenue news Monday, learning that the state collected $29.5 million more than anticipated in January. The increases were due to larger collections of individual income tax, corporate income tax and use taxes. Through January, state revenues are now running $6.5 million ahead of an estimate made in November.
Unemployment Benefits
A Senate Bill introduced Monday proposes reinstating the waiting week to unemployment benefits. For decades, unemployed workers were forced to wait a full week before receiving benefits because time was needed to manually process a claim. Current computer technology has made this practice outdated and unnecessary so in 2007, the legislature eliminated the waiting week. If passed, SB77 will go back to the waiting period used prior to 2007.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
The Gold Star Family license plate was designated as HB2132 this week. Although it was introduced in our Veterans Committee, the Speaker of the House will most likely assign it to the Transportation Committee to hold hearings. Our local Gold Star families who have lost a loved one while serving in the military proposed this license plate to raise public awareness across Kansas that many Kansan family members have volunteered their lives for their nation.
I introduced a Bill to add a check off block to the Kansas Income tax form so that individuals can donate money to the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs. This would establish a fund of private donations to support our "Kansas Hometown Heroes" through our Kansas Veteran Service Officers that work for veterans and get them their earned benefits. The KCVA estimates that for every State dollar that goes into Veteran Services, over $117 in federal benefits are gained for our Kansas veterans. So if the bill passes and you decide to check the box on your income tax form, just remember your $5 is bringing $585 to our Heroes!
Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee
In 2009, the Legislature established an electronic logging system to track the sale of nasal decongestants, such as "Sudafed" and "Claritin-D," containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine. This week the Committee received a status update on the tracking system. Bottom line, the electronic system is still not in place. The State has just recently come to an agreement with a company that provides the computer tracking program to states for free. It is paid for by drug manufacturing companies in an attempt to keep their products available over the counter.
Meanwhile, HB2098 has been introduced in the House to make pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. Proponents want Kansas to join Oregon and Mississippi who have already passed similar legislation and claim a 65% drop in METH labs within 6 months in Mississippi and a 96% drop in Oregon since 2006. The proponents of the Bill claim that electronic tracking systems do not work. Opponents of the Bill point out that this would force law abiding Kansans to make an appointment to see their doctor for common colds and allergies, which would result in postponing treatment and raising health care costs significantly.
Judiciary Committee
This week we had several hearings on proposals to protect consumers, especially the elderly. HB2068 was proposed by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division. The AG Division stated that the Durable Power of Attorney is being used by some to exploit the elderly because of a lack of understanding of the difference between a Durable POA and a normal POA. The proposal requires criminal charges language to be included in the paperwork and requires the person appointed as "Attorney in Fact" to sign and notarize. Opponents to the Bill fear that the criminal statements may dissuade some banks and relatives from serving as "Attorney in Fact" and the additional requirements put a burden on the Notary Public to determine if a person really understands the process. Current estate and probate attorneys expressed a concern that if the Bill passes it will make all prior Durable POAs that do not include the language void.
Around Home
On Monday night, I headed home during a lull in the snow storm to avoid being stuck in a Topeka hotel room for the week. I was able to dig out on Wednesday to attend Marguerite Strange's funeral. As the card on the large flower arrangement from Melissa Etheridge stated, Marguerite was an "Awesome Woman" who spent her life tirelessly serving our community as a public servant for the City (City Clerk, Manager, Mayor, Commissioner), leader in the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce, Chairperson of the Leavenworth County Republican Committee, board member of many charitable organizations including founding the Leavenworth Historical Museum Association, and volunteering in almost every charity in town. She will be greatly missed and we were all blessed to have had her touch our lives.
Thursday I was honored to be visited in Topeka by Dr. Paul Kittle and Dr. Joe Jones. They are both active in their respective Dental and Chiropractic Associations and willing to fight for their fellow Kansans. Saturday I joined the Atchison Chamber of Commerce and Representatives Henry and Gonzalez for a legislative update in the historic Santa Fe Depot in Atchison. It was a good sized crowd and lively discussion of their concerns. Next Friday will be the Leavenworth/ Lansing Chamber Legislative Update at the Carnegie Arts Center in Leavenworth.
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. To write to me, my office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also 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. Don't forget that you can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
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