Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2011, Issue 10: March 14 – 20, 2011
In This Issue
• Final Week of Committee Meetings
• Around Home
• Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
• Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee
• Judiciary Committee
• Keep in Touch
Final Week of Committee Meetings
The pace picked up quite a bit this week as it was the last week for
regular committee meetings. Only two weeks remain before First
Adjournment, so this was the last week to pass out bills from committee.
However, bills that were never worked in committee may still find a way
onto legislation as amendments or provisos.
Thursday was "Tax Day" on the floor of the House. The most
interesting of the Bills were SB2091 and SB1. SB2091 was the repeal of
last year's one cent sales tax increase; it was defeated with 39 yeas
to 80 nays. SB1 was the next Bill debated and it would have made last
year's one cent sales tax permanent rather than expiring; it was more
narrowly defeated with 56 yeas and 61 nays. SB1 was resurrected the
next day by taking out the section that made the sales tax permanent.
It now states that any recovery we have in the budget based on 2010,
must go to get rid of corporate and income taxes. While getting rid of
income taxes sounds great, this is also making every cut we have made
since the recession permanent. Other States have tried to set arbitrary
limits on their budgets such as this, but have run into problems,
especially if there is any kind of emergency such as tornado or flood
damage. Amendments were introduced to send the recovery funds to pay
down debt or to go only to income tax, but they were unsuccessful. SB1
was passed with significant changes and will go to a conference
committee.
Next week the House will be on the floor all day Monday-Wednesday in an
effort to get as much done as possible before the end of the regular
session. We will not convene on the floor Thursday and Friday, although
conference committees will continue to meet. The Conference Committees
are made up of 3 House and 3 Senate members and meet to work out the
differences between Senate and House versions of the same Bills.
Around Home
Monday the 14th, I had 7 pages here to help me at the Capitol: Ashley
Nooner, Benjamin Brungardt, Tory Chavez, Alana Gibson, Ariel Gibson,
Morgan Law and Madison Moreau. Several were scheduled for earlier in
the session when we had some big snow storms and they were from all our
school districts, Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Lansing and Pleasant
Ridge.
Monday evening and Tuesday morning, I was able to attend part of the
Homeland Security Symposium sponsored by the CGSC Foundation at Fort
Leavenworth. Tuesday evening, 300 members of the Kansas Organization of
State Employees were here in Topeka to visit with us, including many
from the Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF). Three members testified
for the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee on Wed, along with
the Secretary of Corrections, about the state of the Department of
Corrections; Laura Calhoun presented testimony for LCF.
I was able to get an important amendment adopted this week. The
Leavenworth County Development Corporation has visited with me in the
past about its mission to bring new business to the county. LCDC
assists businesses in taking advantage of State programs such as
Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) and the High Performance
Incentive Program (HPIP) in conjunction with the Department of Commerce.
SB196 which makes amendments to both these programs came to the floor
of the House for debate this week. Unfortunately, last year Leavenworth
County was added to a list of the top 6 performing counties in the
State, which sounds complementary, but in reality shuts us out of the
HPIP program by requiring a business to invest over $1 million rather
than the $50,000 required in the other 99 counties. We were added to
the top 6 because of the higher salaries that federal employees receive
on Fort Leavenworth, but we cannot compete with Topeka, Wichita, Kansas
City, etc, for infrastructure support for a new business. My amendment
took the county out of the top six so now we can bring in businesses
that can invest at least $50,000.
Veterans, Military & Homeland Security Committee
Several veteran and military related Bills made it out of committees
this week, in time for a vote on the floor. Monday, the Senate will
debate HB2060 and HB2132. HB2060 is the Bill that requires Kansas
courts to recognize the Department of Defense form 93, that shows the
service member's designee who will receive their remains from the DoD,
if they pass away while on active duty. HB2132 is the license plate for
the Families of the Fallen, to be available to the family of service
members who have passed away while on active duty or while in drill
status. Both of these Bills have already passed the House.
The House has HB2178 and SB103 below the line, which means they are out
of committee and waiting for debate on the House floor. HB2178 is a
Bill that will allow the spouses of active duty service members to
transfer their professional licenses more easily to Kansas so that they
can continue their careers. SB103 would expand voting in Kansas
elections to comply with federal law, the Uniformed Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act, and the Military & Overseas Voter Empowerment Act
of 2009. This would allow military, federal employees and their family
members to register to vote electronically, to submit federal write-in
ballots, and to vote on local issues.
HB2178 was a Bill to create the "Hometown Heroes Fund" check off box
on the Kansas income tax form. By checking the box, tax filers can
donate money to the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs to help fund
the operation of Veteran Service Representatives offices throughout the
state. This Bill did not get a hearing before the end of the week so I
offered it as an amendment to SB196, the Governor's Roadmap for Kansas
Economic Growth. It was adopted on a voice vote and is on its way to
conference committee with the Senate.
Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee
The Committee spent most of the week working through the details of the
Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act and the Kansas DUI
laws. I heard from local municipalities and counties in opposition to
HB2277, the House version of amendments to Kansas DUI laws. This Bill
would give a first time offender the choice of having a restricted
license or having an unrestricted license with the use of an interlock
device on their vehicle. It also allows the courts to send a 3rd or 4th
time offender to community corrections after their time in prison is
complete rather than serving their time on parole. If the offender
breaks the conditions of community corrections supervision, they would
be put in County prisons, rather than State facilities. This would most
likely result in higher costs for counties in prison spaces and higher
case loads. The Kansas Community Corrections Association testified that
more and more offenders are being taken out of parole and are being sent
to community corrections because of the Department of Corrections' $8
million in budget cuts and the planned cutting of 66 parole officer
positions this year. They went so far as to say that this Bill would
"put the integrity of the entire system and public safety at risk."
In addition to working as many Bills as possible, to get them to the
House calendar for debate, the Committee visited the Topeka Correctional
Facility. Tuesday night we attended a play that was written and
performed by women inmates called "Into the Fire." The inmates are
part of a group called "Reaching out from Within – Stop Violence."
There are 45 members of this group that believes through forgiveness
and family, victims of abuse can put the past behind them and have a
future of non-violence. It was very moving, especially to meet the
folks face to face that we hear about daily in our Committee hearings.
Judiciary Committee
The Committee held a hearing on SB135 which would create the Kansas RICO
Act. RICO stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization.
Currently, Kansas must ask for federal assistance to adopt the case so
that the entire criminal history can be used to convict criminals that
organize crime and encourage the formation of gangs. We also held a
hearing on SB93 concerning racial or other biased-based policing. The
Governor's Task Force on Racial Profiling introduced the Bill. It
defines biased based policing and makes it unlawful. The Bill requires
law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with community advisory boards,
to adopt written policies and training, and requires an annual report to
the Attorney General's office on the number, action and disposition of
complaints filed. The Kansas Human Rights Commission would conduct the
initial investigations of complaints against officers accused of racial
or other biased policing.
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.
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