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.
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