Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2012, Issue 3

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

Volume 2012, Issue 3: January 23-27, 2012

In This Issue
• Third Week Back in Topeka
• Governor's Tax Proposal Update
• Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security
• Corrections & Juvenile Justice
• Judiciary
• Keep in Touch

Third Week Back in Topeka

We have completed the third week of the session which means we are a
quarter of the way through the normal session already. Deadlines for
introducing bills are coming up. Monday, January 30th, is the last day
for an individual legislator to request that a bill be drafted and
Monday, February 6th is the last day for a committee to request that a
bill be drafted. The deadlines for actual introduction of bills is
February 8th for a legislator and February 10th for a committee. There
are some committees exempt from the deadlines, they include Taxation,
Federal & State Affairs, and Appropriations. Another big date for the
legislature is February 24th, or "turn around day." That is the day
that all the House bills are sent to the Senate and all the Senate bills
to the House.

Governor's Tax Proposal Update

After working on his tax plan for almost a year with his own tax
committee, the Governor's plan was finally printed and put on the
kslegislature.org website last Friday. It was introduced in the House
as HB2560 and also in the Senate as SB339. I printed it out this
weekend and worked on deciphering it. This coming week we will get
summaries from Legislative Research and the budget folks.

From my initial review it appears that your comments and contact with
the Governor were successful, because the exemptions for military,
federal government, city, railroad, and board of public utilities
retirement are still there! I had heard that when the Military Affairs
Council (MAC) in Junction City had asked the director of the
Governor's Military Council the same questions that the
Leavenworth/Lansing MAC had asked the Governor the week before, that
they got different answers. The director stated that the Governor was
mistaken about the military retirement exemption and did not intend to
end it, despite what he had told the Leavenworth/Lansing MAC the week
before. Thank you for taking action and being heard.

I highlighted several sections of the bill published Friday that had
significant proposed changes to Kansas current tax law. These sections
deal with the temporary sales tax increase that was to end next year,
federal adjusted gross income (AGI) (with respect to federal schedules
C, E, and F), standard deductions, the Homestead Property Tax Refund
program and the severance and production of oil and gas exemption.

1. The bill has the state sales tax continue at the 6.3% rate
indefinitely rather than go back to 5.7% in July 2013.
2. The bill requires any losses on schedules C, E, and F be added back
into your federal AGI but any income be subtracted. So you could no
longer claim the losses from, but you would not pay taxes on any income
from some businesses, rentals, royalties, partnerships, S corporations,
estates, trusts, residual interest in real estate mortgage investments,
and farms.
3. There are no itemized deductions allowed in the bill and the standard
deduction is changed from $4500 for the head of household filing status
to $9000. The standard deductions remain the same for single filers at
$3000 and $6000 for married filers.
4. Renters would no longer be eligible for the Homestead Property Tax
Refund program in this proposal, only owners who are actually living in
the property.
5. The bill ends the exemption of tax for severance and production of
gas after June 2012 but keeps the exemption for severance and production
of 50 or less barrels of oil starting in July 2012.

With over 63 pages, and most with some change, there is still a lot of
study to do on this bill. There will certainly be changes as the Senate
and the House prepare their own versions. In fact, the House
Republicans introduced their own version of the tax plan verbally this
past week and we should see the written bill by Thursday of next week.

Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security

Several bills that were introduced by the committee last year had
hearings in other committees this past week. Because the Senate does
not have an equivalent Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security
Committee, most all of our bills are referred to other committees for
action.

Last Monday I testified in support of HB2211 that would set up a
preference for disabled veteran owned businesses in the award of state
contracts. The bill would set a goal for the state to award 3% of its
contracts to businesses owned by disabled veterans. Because the state
has no data on how many businesses are actually owned by disabled
veterans, the bill only sets a goal. This proposal would align with the
Governor's intent to encourage veterans to choose to settle in Kansas
after their military service, and his plan to create small business
incubators for veteran entrepreneurs - especially in light of the high
unemployment rates among veterans (for many reasons), combined with the
estimate that at least 25% of today's veterans have a service
connected disability.

Other bills that had hearings included HB2298 that would give the
director of the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs more flexibility in
his budget, HB2418 that would change notification that a veteran did not
get a state job from certified mail to standard and electronic mail,
HB2273 that would designate a portion of K-99 highway as the
"Frankfurt Boys World War II Highway," and HB2406 that would assign
a civil penalty to anyone that would intimidate, injure or harass a
person based on their military status.

Corrections & Juvenile Justice

We had several hearings this week on a variety of subjects including
"sexting," firearms sales, driving under the influence (DUI) laws,
disclosure of defense information, and information sharing between the
courts and the Department of Corrections.

HB2467 is a bill that has to do with "sexting" between minors.
Under current law, the transmission of sexually explicit and nude
photographs of minors is a class 5 felony and the offender would be
required to register as a sex offender. This bill would modify the
penalties for minors who "sext" with other minors with the intent to
harass, embarrass, intimidate, defame, or otherwise inflict emotional,
psychological, or physical harm.

HB2427, is a bill written with the intent to stop "sting operations"
being conducted by non-law enforcement personnel in other states, who
are attempting to entice businesses that sell firearms to make an
illegal transaction. This would be preventative because there have been
no known attempts in Kansas to this date.
We held a joint informational hearing with the Senate Judiciary
Committee about the new DUI laws that were passed last session. We
heard from law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and others on
suggestions to clarify or improve the new procedures and penalties. We
are expecting a new bill to address these issues.

We also heard HB2468, a bill that would require defense attorneys to
provide names of witnesses, expert witness reports, and exhibits to the
prosecution 30 days before trial and HB2055, a bill that would alter the
required information that district and county attorneys must provide to
the Department of Corrections when an offender is transferred after
sentencing.

Judiciary

We were busy in Judiciary Committee this week as well. We had quite a
variety of subjects from HB2121 dealing with a coroner's release of a
body for cremation, to HB2253 which would prevent a "private cause for
action" from any legislation unless it was stated in the statute, to
HB2313 which would not allow a civilly committed patient in the Sexual
Predator Treatment Program to file a lawsuit until all administrative
remedies were exhausted, to two bills on Limited Liability Corporations
(LLC).

We had two hours of hearings Thursday afternoon, on LLCs, including a
whiteboard class on just what is a Series LLC in HB2207 and forty
procedural issues that the Secretary of State's office found in
HB2261. HB2261 is a complete rewrite of LLC law in accordance to
recommendations by the Uniform Laws Commission as the "Revised Reform
LLC Act" that four other states have enacted. We only heard about the
procedural changes this past week. We will continue the hearing this
coming week to hear the pros and cons of the actual substantive changes
in the law.

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 (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.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2012, Issue 2

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

Volume 2012, Issue 2: January 16-20, 2012

In This Issue
· Second Week Back in Topeka
· Governor's Tax Proposal Update
· Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security
· Corrections & Juvenile Justice
· Judiciary
· Redistricting
· Around Town
· Keep in Touch

Second Week Back in Topeka

We have completed the second week of the session and I have good news!
I testified for HB2178, the Non-Resident Military Spouses' Licensure
bill, this week in the Senate Committee on Federal & State Affairs. The
Committee worked the bill as I ran to the House Floor for session, and
by the time I was headed back to the committee it was over and the
Committee had passed it out to the Senate as a whole favorably for
passage! The next step is getting it on the Senate's calendar for a
vote. Since it passed the House last session and there were no
amendments made, once it passes the Senate it will head to the Governor
for signature. We have hit the ground running in Topeka this year.

Most of my spaces available for "House Pages" have been filled but
there are still a few left for March 1st. A Page gets a tour of the
Capitol, their picture with the Governor, and helps the legislators on
the floor of the house chamber. If you know of any young people from
the age of 11 through high school who would like to spend the day in the
Capitol with me, please let me know so that I can invite them over.


Governor's Tax Proposal Update

The Department of Revenue crunched the numbers for the Governor's tax
proposal this week. It turns out that under the proposal, the income
taxes for 564,328 of the 1,383,290 returns filed each year actually go
up. For everyone else, there is a tax break ranging from 14.2% to
18.5%. The higher the income, the higher the tax break. Problem is,
they did not figure in all the government and military retirees who's
retiree pay is currently exempt from income tax in Kansas. I have
requested the department to crunch those numbers also.

The Governor visited Leavenworth this past Friday to be the guest
speaker at the Leavenworth County Development Corporation's (LCDC)
annual meeting and to visit the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of
Commerce's Military Affairs Council (MAC). The Governor stressed his
support of the federal facilities in Leavenworth at the LCDC meeting.
He talked about the Military Summit he held in Leavenworth last year and
how he wants to accommodate military retirees and to keep military
entrepreneurs here in Kansas. At the MAC he was asked how he would
convince military retirees to stay in Kansas, rather than move across
the river to Missouri, if he was going to tax their retiree pay and
Missouri did not. The Governor stated that by making the income on LLCs
and S Corps non-taxable, and by building a small business incubator and
luxury condos in the area, that Leavenworth would attract the military
retirees.

That same day, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other
members of the Republican leadership held a press conference where they
announced their own tax plan. I have not seen anything in writing yet,
but the basic differences of their plan and the Governor's plan are to
let the temporary sales tax increase expire on schedule, to keep all
current statutory income tax exemptions and credits in place, except the
Earned Income Tax Credit(EITC), and to use any revenue surpluses over 2%
to incrementally reduce the income tax over time. In fact, the only
thing in common with the Governor's plan is to eliminate the EITC.

Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security

This week our committee heard more testimony about the interim work of
the various groups on how Kansas can assist our returning veterans with
the growing need for mental health services, such as The Kansas
Association of Community Mental Health, the National Guard Association
of Kansas, the Pawnee Mental Health Services, the Veteran
Administrations East Kansas Health Care System and the Kansas Commission
on Veteran Affairs. Some of the recommendations of the groups after
their interim work are:

1. Create a computer system or webpage that lists all groups that
support veterans as a "Network of Care" that anyone can access to
find services near them.
2. Increase funding for Community Mental Health programs. Such funding
has been reduced from $23 million to $10.2 million last year because of
state budget cuts. These cuts included programs for veterans such as
cutting $5 million for "Family Care Centers" for military families.
3. Improve dissemination of information about veteran programs.
4. Increase state grant money for the uninsured. They explained that
this would not only help all Kansans but also veterans because many
young veterans cannot afford the TriCare military insurance for the
guard and reserve.
5. Urge TriCare to recognize state licensed substance abuse counselors.
Currently there are only three TriCare approved outpatient substance
abuse providers in Kansas (in Salina, Shawnee Mission and Newton),and no
residential providers in the state.
6. Safeguard the veteran scratch off lottery ticket proceeds that are
meant for veteran services from being used for filling other budget
shortfalls. This could be accomplished by establishing a special fund
for the proceeds rather than sending them into the State General Fund
before allocating money to the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs.

Corrections & Juvenile Justice

This week our committee met with the Health& Human Services committee
and the House Federal & State Affairs Committee for an informational
hearing on human trafficking in Kansas. The Attorney General's
Advisory Board on Human Trafficking emphasized that this is an issue in
Kansas and it will not be solved until the demand for this illegal
activity is addressed. They stated that the facilitators and the
victims will be easily replaced as long as there is a demand for this
multi-million dollar illegal industry.

We received the results of the post audit report on the Board of
Indigent Defense Services this week. As a result of the report, there
have been a couple of bills introduced and we had hearings on them as
well. HB2419 would require anyone found guilty to pay for their defense
services by having a additional judgment entered against them for the
cost of their defense attorney. HB2413 would require the disclosure of
tax information from the Department of Revenue to the Judge to assist in
the determination if someone is actually unable to pay for their defense
services.

We also heard a presentation on the Juvenile Detention Alternatives
Initiative (JDAI) pilot programs in Kansas. Currently there are five
counties (Douglas, Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Johnson, and Shawnee)that are
receiving training and advice from the Annie E. Casey Foundation on
restructuring, cost saving and fairness measures with public safety as
the ultimate goal. Risk assessment is a large part of the process
because studies (and probably common sense) indicate that placing high
risk juvenile offenders in custody with low risk offenders normally
results in more high risk offenders.

Judiciary

The committee was fairly quiet this week. We had several bill
introductions and a hearing on HB2252, a measure to restore the former
name after divorce. It seems that under current law, if a person is
divorced in another state and the name change did not take place as part
of the divorce decree, if the person decided to change their name in
Kansas they have to go through the entire petition process of a name
change through the courts. This bill proposes that simply producing the
divorce documents should suffice.

There is a hearing scheduled on HB2297 for Monday, January 30th in
Judiciary. It is an act relating to civil relief in foreclosure
procedures for veterans while they are deployed. This bill was
introduced by the Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security
Committee last session in an attempt to avoid situations that have
occurred in the past where a deployed service member returns to the US
to find that their house was foreclosed on while they were gone despite
the federal Service members Civil Relief Act.

Redistricting Update

The Senate Committee on Redistricting has introduced their plan for the
four Congressional districts in Kansas that keeps Johnson and Wyandotte
counties, plus a slice of Leavenworth County, in the 3rd District, and
includes southeast Kansas' Montgomery and all of Douglas counties in
the 2nd District. The most remarkable part of the Senate's map is the
number of residents per district. The top priority of determining
district boundaries is supposed to be the idea of "one person, one
vote." That means each district should be made up of a number of
residents as close to the ideal number of 713,280persons as possible so
that everyone gets equal representation. This Senate proposal creates
four congressional districts with a population deviation of just 3
voters! The 1stDistrict would have 2 fewer people than ideal, the
Wichita-dominated 4thDistrict would have one more person than ideal and
the 2nd District would have1 fewer person than ideal. The 3rdDistrict
would be dead-on with 713,280 persons!

Around Town

On Friday I attended the Leavenworth County Development Corporation
(LCDC) annual membership meeting where the Governor was the guest
speaker. Congratulations to the board members who were reappointed for
another three years of service: Ron Baker (Cushing Memorial Hospital),
Steve Christensen (First State Bank), Josh Hoppes (Mutual Savings), Pete
Payne (Country Club Bank) and Rick Schneider (Exchange National Bank).

I also took part in the Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce's
first Legislative Forum of the session at the Carnegie Arts Center.
There was a great turn out and many questions on lots of issues from
taxes and education to second hand stores and term limits. The next
forum is scheduled for4 pm, February 17th at the Lansing Community
Center.

Saturday was Ladies Night Out, sponsored by the Leavenworth Times and
Cushing Memorial Hospital. There were hundreds of ladies there to enjoy
a relaxing evening and to raise money for the Alliance Against Family
Violence. I was there with the Leavenworth County Humane Society and
some adoptable pets that made fast friends with the ladies along with
some friendly dogs from the Human Animal Bond organization.

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 7thFloor, Room 722. 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. 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.

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2012, Issue 1

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

Volume 2012, Issue 1: January 9-13, 2012

In This Issue
• Back in Topeka 2012
• Governor's State of the State Address
• Governor's Budget & Tax Proposals
• Redistricting
• Coming Up
• Keep in Touch

Back in Topeka 2012

On Monday, January 9, the Kansas Legislature convened for the 2012
legislative session. It was a busy week as legislators got back into the
swing of things under the Dome. As this is the second year of the
session, most committee assignments are the same with a few new
individuals. I am still the ranking minority member of the Veterans,
Military Affairs & Homeland Security Committee and I am still on the
Judiciary Committee and Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee. The
next few weeks will be extremely busy as bills are introduced and the
committees begin their work. Complete daily calendars are available at
www.kslegislature.org along with other useful information. 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.

I have spaces available for "House Pages" on 25 January, 16
February, and 1 March this year. A Page gets a tour of the Capitol,
their picture with the Governor, and helps the legislators on the floor
of the house chamber. If you know of any young people from the age of
11 through high school who would like to spend the day in the Capitol
with me, please let me know so that I can invite them over.

Governor's State of the State Address

On Wednesday, January 11th, Governor Brownback delivered his State of
the State address to a joint session of Senate and House members, his
cabinet, the Supreme Court Justices, the Kansas School Board, the
Regents, and many more state dignitaries. The Governor stated that his
Administration has been working the past year on reforming Kansas
government and they plan to implement many initiatives. The following
is a short outline of his address:

1. Taxes – he proposes reducing the current 3 state income tax
brackets to 2 brackets and eliminating deductions, exemptions and
credits. This would include eliminating exemption for retired state,
federal, and military pay, mortgage interest and charitable
contributions. He also proposes limiting State revenue growth to 2% and
using any money over that to continue to reduce income taxes.
2. Debt – he proposes to dedicate the influx of money from the
expanding gaming facilities to paying down debt.
3. KPERS – he proposes conversion of the state government retirement
plan to a 401K type plan.
4. MEDICAID – he proposes consolidation of all MEDICAID programs under
one agency called the Department of Aging and Disability Services.
5. School Funding – he has a proposed funding plan that will put the
emphasis of school funding back at the local level and take away the
weighting system. His plan would lock in the amount of state funding
for schools at the level they receive next year and take the cap off of
school boards ability to raise the Local Option Budget. Many details of
the plan have not been worked out yet.
6. Water – he proposed the repeal of the "use it or lose it" water
law.

Governor's Budget and Tax Proposals

On Thursday, January 12th, the Governor's staff presented the
Governor's budget proposal to the House Appropriations Committee and
the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Now, the House and Senate will
study every detail of them and make adjustments.

Although the state currently has a budget surplus and does not require
any adjustment, the Governor's budget proposal includes some
additional spending in the current 2012 fiscal year that ends on June
30th. He proposes a State General Fund (SGF) adjustment giving the
Department of Education $31.6 million more, based on revised school
finance estimates, and the Department of Health & Environment (KDHE)
$25.6 million more based on revised human services caseload estimates.
He also proposes an all funds increase of $188.5 million to the
Department of Transportation for capital improvement projects, $180.9
million for Postsecondary Education System for tuition and research
grants, $140 million for KDHE for revised human services caseloads, and
$115.9 million for the Adjutant General for disaster relief. The
governor also recommends using $1.7 million Lottery money to renovate
existing buildings at the Labette Correctional Conservation Camps to
house geriatric inmates, giving the Securities Commissioner
approximately $70 thousand and using $350 thousand to pay tort claims
against the state.

The Governor's proposed 2013 budget provides for a $465 million ending
balance. His recommendation adjusts state tax policy by reducing the 3
current tax brackets to 2 brackets that charge a 3% rate for families
that make less than $30 thousand and a 4.9% rate for all others.
Itemized deductions, credits and exemptions would be eliminated. But,
beginning in Jan 2013, all non-wage business income would become exempt.
Some major parts of his budget proposal include:

1. He proposes creating a Disaster Reimbursement Fund for the Adjutant
General by taking $12 million from insurance premiums taxes (companies
that sell insurance premiums in Kansas pay a percentage of their taxable
premiums in lieu of the corporate taxes that other businesses pay).
2. He proposes reorganizing a number of health and human services
agencies and programs. This includes combining the Department on Aging
with the Division of Disabilities & Behavioral Health Services
(including Home & Community Based Services waivers, mental health &
addiction programs) of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation
Services (SRS) into a new Department for Aging & Disability Services.
He would rename SRS the Department for Children & Families. He also
proposes eliminating the program at the Department of Health &
Environment which licenses and certifies a number of health occupations
and moves those functions to other agencies.
3. He proposes eliminating the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers
Standards & Training (KCPOST) and shifting their responsibilities to the
Attorney General.
4. He proposes that the Kansas Arts Commission and the Kansas Film
Commission be combined into a new Creative Industries Commission in the
Department of Commerce.
5. He recommends setting the Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) at $3780
in FY2012 and FY2013.
6. He recommends no general state employee salary increase in FY2013 but
does propose funding for longevity bonuses.

Redistricting

While the Governor has proposed a very full agenda this year, we still
have to redistrict the political boundaries of the state. After touring
the state to hear from you, the Joint Redistricting Committee now splits
into House and Senate Committees to work on their own map proposals.

The Initial meeting of the House committee was on Jan 9th. The Speaker
of the House, who is also the House Redistricting Committee Chairman,
sent out his goals for completing the Kansas House Redistricting map
this week. He wants the House plans introduced as a bill by Jan 27th so
that public hearings can be held Jan 30-31. Once the hearings are over,
the committee is to work the bill and submit it to the House for debate
and amendment by Feb 15th. He wants the House plan to pass by Feb 24th.
Can we do it that fast? Ten years ago the redistricting session went
over the allotted 90 days to 107 and twenty years ago it went to 100.
The Speaker is optimistic that we will be done early though, his office
just released our 2012 Session Planner calendar and it shows a 74 day
session ending on March 31st with a 4 to 16 day Veto session starting on
April 25th.

Coming Up

Next Wed, Jan 18th, the Senate Federal & State Affairs Committee is
holding a hearing on HB2178, the Non-Resident Military Spouses'
Licensure bill. I encourage any military spouse that has had an issue
transferring their professional license from one state to another to
consider testifying for this bill. You can come to Topeka in person or
submit written testimony that tells your story and why you think this
bill should pass.

The Judiciary Committee may be holding a hearing on HB2297 soon,
although it is not on next week's calendar. HB2297 is an act relating
to civil relief in foreclosure procedures for veterans while they are
deployed. It requires that an affidavit is filed stating whether the
defendant is in military service or the dependent of a service member
and that the plaintiff notify the defendant of state and federal laws
that provide protections. This bill was introduced by the Veterans,
Military Affairs & Homeland Security Committee last session in an
attempt to avoid situations that have occurred in the past where a
deployed service member returns to the US to find that their house was
repossessed while they were gone despite the federal Service members
Civil Relief Act. The explanation given for most of these cases was
that the mortgage company or bank did not know the defendant was a
deployed service member. Again, I encourage anyone who has experienced
such an issue to consider testifying for this important bill.

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. 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.