Melanie's Memos: February 2012

Feb 27, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012, Issue 7

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

Volume 2012, Issue 7: February 20-24, 2012

In This Issue

- Turnaround Is Here
- Property Tax Relief
- A Couple of Taxation Committee Updates
- Redistricting
- Education Budget Bills
- Coming up this Week
- Keep in Touch

Turnaround is Here

Last week the legislature made it to "turnaround" which is the
mid-point of the session when the House sends all the bills they have
passed to the Senate and the Senate sends all their bills to the House.
We worked mostly "on the floor" debating and voting on the bills
that had made it out of committee. Unfortunately, that meant I was
unable to spend much time with my pages on Wednesday between testifying
on a last minute bill in the Senate Agriculture Committee, keeping track
of the debate on the House floor, and preparing to present an amendment.
This coming week we will start hearings on Senate bills.

Property Tax Relief

Last Thursday, the Kansas House of Representatives approved House Bill
2212 on a final action vote of 122-2. During debate, the bill was
amended to include a property tax reduction plan. This plan was
initially offered by Democrats in their "Kansas First" proposal at the
start of the 2012 legislative session and was defeated in an attempt to
amend it into a bill earlier in the week. The property tax plan will
apply $90 million of the state's $351+ million surplus over the next
two fiscal years to the Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund (LAVTRF).
The LAVTRF was first established in 1938 so that the Legislature would
help local government keep property taxes down. Funds were distributed
to each of the state's 105 counties and the local units of government
are required to use the money to reduce the local property tax rate.
The Legislature stopped funding the account in 2004. Property taxes have
increased 65 percent over the last decade, while incomes have either
remained stagnant or declined. House Bill 2212 is now at the Senate for
consideration.

A Couple of Taxation Committee Updates

The House taxation Committee will have a hearing on February 29th, on
HB2717. This bill proposes an exemption from Kansas State Income Taxes
"for all taxable years beginning after December 31, 2011, for amounts
paid for health insurance premiums for any individually underwritten,
privately purchased health insurance policy …" this appears to be
retroactive. There is no fiscal note available yet, to see how it could
affect the state or individuals.

HB2480, is a bill that would tax federal employee and military TSP is
still on the House calendar. The Kansas National Guard Association
wrote a letter to all the Representatives explaining how the Thrift
Savings Program works and their concern for the perception that Kansas
wants to lower income taxes for some, while raising it for military
retirees. The Chairman of the Taxation Committee sent a response from
the Department of Revenue that said it has always been DOR's policy to
tax TSP distributions, but when I look at the statute, it clearly says
that "Amounts received as annuities under the federal civil service
retirement system ….and other amounts received as retirement benefits
IN WHATEVER FORM which were earned for being employed by the federal
government or for service in the armed forces of the United States"
are to be deducted from federal adjusted gross income. The CPAs in
Leavenworth know the law and have filed their clients' tax returns
appropriately. I know this because a few years ago they contacted me
about the DOR's "policy" that contradicts the law. Their clients
receive the exemption.

Redistricting

This Wednesday at noon, the House Redistricting Committee will hold a
hearing on its proposed Congressional maps in the Capitol's Old
Supreme Courtroom. Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties are spotlighted
in several of the proposed maps that move them into the 1st District,
along with counties on the Colorado border. The hearing is open to the
public and I encourage anyone interested to attend and testify.

Leavenworth County is also making the news in the Senate redistricting
process. You may have read the reports of the Governor's chief of
staff testifying that our county needs one Senator who lives in the
county, rather than be represented by two Senators who currently live in
other counties. Some numbers about our county: the census reports that
76,227 people live here and Kansas adjusted the number to 76,562, to
account for permanent addresses of the military and college students.
The ideal Senate district would be 70,986. With the 5% variable
allowed, the most a district should have is 74,535 and the least is
67,437. Leavenworth County is actually a little too big for just one
Senate district, so every resident of the county would not be able to
have the same Senator. The Senate Redistricting Committee is expected
to work on its map on Wed, February 29th, at noon in room 159-S.

Education Budget Bills

The House Education Budget Committee remained busy this week as they
always are. There are over 60 bills currently listed as being assigned
to the Education and Education Budget Committees. Those are just bills
that are in committee and have not been passed out to the House for
debate and a vote. Just on Monday they had a hearing on HB 2652 that
would allow certain qualified veterans to be eligible for in-state
tuition rates at Kansas universities. Proponents testifying for the
bill included two young veterans who currently attend the University of
Kansas along with representatives of the American Legion of Kansas.
Proponents highlighted the need to address last year's changes to the
Post-9/11 GI Bill which eliminated the $420 per credit hour cap paid by
the VA to help cover the difference between in-state and out-of-state
rates. The proponents also spoke to the positive impact of attracting
active duty military and veterans to Kansas. The bill was passed out of
the committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee, which
keeps it alive for debate and vote on the House floor.

Two other Education Budget bills had hearings but were not advanced out
of committee: HB 2566 would exclude full-time virtual school students
who do not reside within a particular school district from the
determination of capital improvement aid and HB2580 would create the
Kansas Public Charter School Act. Proponents testified that Kansas
needs to improve educational performance by encouraging healthy
competition with traditional public schools. Opponents of the bill
testified that the charter school law is already strong in the state,
and this bill is unnecessary. There was also concern that this bill
would abolish all accountability for educational performance in these
schools with the abolition of teacher certification and standardized
testing.

Coming Up This Week

Monday and Tuesday, the staff will be getting all the bills from the
House to the Senate and all the bills from the Senate to the House.
Wednesday, hearings are starting back up and I noticed a few that may
interest our district hunters.
- March 1st there will be a hearing in the Senate Natural Resources
Committee on SB314. This is the bill that the Secretary of Wildlife and
Parks requested that would end the free hunting licenses for anyone 65
years old or older.
- March 1st, there is a hearing in the House Agriculture & Natural
Resources Committee on HB2709. This bill would provide a system for
determining restitution that the state can sue someone for unlawfully
taking antlered deer.
- March 2nd, in the Senate Natural Resources Committee there is a
hearing on SB380 that would allow people to use crossbows during big
game archery season. The House amended similar language into HB2295,
which passed the House 101 to 22 on Wed, Feb 22nd. I also had an
amendment that was adopted that would require Wild Life & Parks to make
an effort to verify that the people who apply for landowner hunting
permits actually own or lease 80 acres of land. This was prompted by a
constituent who was told by the agency that they knew there was fraud
but they did not investigate or verify unless someone complained.

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.

Feb 20, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012, Issue 6

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

Volume 2012, Issue 6: February 13-17, 2012

In This Issue

• Excitement in the Statehouse
• House Republicans Tax Plan
• Redistricting
• Veterans Affairs
• Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees
• Coming up this Week
• Keep in Touch

Excitement in the Statehouse

This past week was very busy and full of excitement. This coming week
is "turnaround" so our committees were working late to get bills
passed out on time so that they can be voted on and sent to the Senate.
Turnaround is what the legislature calls the day when bills passed by
the house are sent over to the senate for consideration, and vice versa
with the Senate's bills coming over to the house for consideration.
Over 100 additional bills were introduced in the House last week to meet
the introduction deadline!

We had a bit of excitement around the Capitol this week as two unrelated
security incidents kept Capitol Police very busy on Wednesday and
hearings in committees were drowned out by protesters chanting and
cheering in the Capitol. In the first case, two explosive devices were
discovered in an unattended pickup truck across the street from the
Capitol. The Topeka Police Department's bomb squad was summoned and
the vehicle owner was apprehended in the tunnel between the Statehouse
and the Docking State Office Building. In the second incident, a man was
arrested after issuing several threats in a telephone call to Governor
Brownback's office. The man was located via caller ID, questioned,
then arrested. Then that same day protesters came inside after
gathering on the grounds most the day, to deliver thousands of letters
to the Governor. Capitol Police did an excellent job of managing these
situations. I am grateful for their service.

Three shadows and six pages assisted me this week. I enjoyed having
them in committee with me and showing them around the Capitol and hope
each one felt their day was worthwhile. Sunday night I enjoyed
attending the 4H Citizenship in Action banquet before the 4H'ers
headed over to the Capitol to hold a mock session. They had three bills
to debate and vote on.

House Republicans Tax Plan

This week, the House Republican tax plan was published in writing. In
order to pay for their tax plan, the House GOP proposes to adjust the
percentage of general sales taxes that are sent to the Department of
Transportation. This adjustment would result in a cut of $300 million
from the Highway Fund over the next two years (and perhaps more money
over a longer period of time). The Highway Fund is the revenue source
for the comprehensive transportation plan that was signed into law in
2010, also known as T-Works. T-Works is projected to create 175,000 new
jobs and generate $6.4 billion to our state's economy over the next
ten years.

Redistricting

Even though the House seemed to have passed its new map of Kansas House
Districts out easily, the redistricting discussion has started to heat
up. There has been some contention with proposed Senate districts,
especially with a map that would separate folks that have already
declared they are running against incumbents from the districts they
have already filed in. There is also contention with the many versions
of the Congressional map that have been introduced in the House. One
proposal introduced by the Speaker of the House is very similar to the
"salamander map" that was being shown across Kansas last summer in
the traveling redistricting committee. It would put Leavenworth and
Wyandotte Counties in the same district as counties that border
Colorado. There are at least 2 other proposals that have a district
that stretches across the top of Kansas, from Colorado to Missouri, and
includes Leavenworth County. You can see the proposals at
redistrictingks.com.

Veterans Affairs

HB2480 was passed out of the House Taxation Committee and placed on the
consent calendar. This bill would make the federal and military
retiree's "Thrift Savings Program" distributions taxable in
Kansas. Currently, all public retiree plans are exempt. As the
Governor and House Republicans' goals are supposed to be lowering
income taxes, this does not make sense to start taxing retirees. I
objected to this bill being on the consent calendar and it was taken
off. I do not know if it will be brought to the floor for debate in the
next few days, but be sure to let your voices be heard. Because it is
from the Taxation Committee, it is exempt from the normal deadline for
"turnaround." Information on how to contact the taxation committee
and all legislators is found at kslegislature.org.

Monday, there are a couple of hearings related to veterans. In the
House Education Budget Committee there will be a hearing on HB2652 which
is a bill to grant in-state tuition to any veteran who served their
country honorably for at least 3 years. In the Social Services Budget
Committee there will be a hearing on HB2696 which is a proposal to
develop a central database of information on Kansas resources supporting
veterans. In other words, a "one stop shop" for veterans to find
services.

Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committees

We were very busy in both committees again. We passed out two bills
that were introduced in response to tragic events in the national news
last week: "Caylee's Law" and the "Penn State Law." I carried
the bill on electronic cigarettes that the Leavenworth County Attorney
and the Leavenworth City Police Department introduced. It passed the
House 112 to 6 and is on its way to the Senate. We tabled a couple of
bills: one about tracking information on anyone selling to a second-hand
store and another on further definition of support when determining
severance of parental rights in adoption cases.

Coming Up This Week

As of Friday morning, we had over 65 bills waiting to be voted on in the
House. There were many more added Friday afternoon and will be still
more on Monday. Starting Tuesday and the rest of the week, we should be
in the House Chambers most of the day to debate and vote on bills. I
will have pages again on Wednesday. They should stay busy!

Feb 13, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2012, Issue 5

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

Volume 2012, Issue 5: February 6-10, 2012

In This Issue
• My Shadow
• House Republicans Release their Tax Plan
• Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs (KCVA)Budget Setbacks
• Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committee Hearings
• Coming up this Week
• Keep in Touch

My Shadow

This past Friday was the last day for non-exempt committees to get their
bills introduced and assigned bill numbers, so (needless to say) it was
a hectic week. I was happy to have Lauren Cline from the
Basehor/Linwood Gifted and Talented Program here as my shadow. She
stayed with me as I met with State statute revisors, ran back and forth
with me through the tunnel between the Capitol and my office in the
Docking State Office Building, watched as I was grabbed by lobbyists in
the hallways, and was able to be on the floor of the House while we
worked. She was there for the vote on the House Redistricting map,
"Cottonwood 1." It passed the House 109-14, you can see the
proposed changes at redistricting.ks.gov. The Congressional
redistricting map, "Sunflower 9c," passed the Senate and will come
over to the House for debate and voting after 'turn around'.

House Republicans Release their Tax Plan

This week, as the House heard from proponents and opponents to the
Governor's Tax plan, the House Republican tax plan was being
finalized. The details of the plan were finally announced Friday by the
Speaker of the House and the Chairman of House Taxation Committee in a
Press Conference..

The House plan proposes to keep the existing three income tax brackets
but reduce the tax rates over several years. In 2013, families with
incomes less than $30k go from a 3.5% tax rate to 3.34%, incomes $30k to
$60k go from 6.25% to 5.99%, and incomes over $60k go from 6.45% to
6.21%. In 2014, families with incomes less than $30k go to 3.24%,
incomes $30k to 60k go to 5.85%, and incomes over $60k to 6.1%. The
plan allows the 2010 temporary 1% sales tax to expire, eliminates the
two year exemption for new oil wells with sizable production, reduces
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 18% to 9% in 2014, and increases
the head of household exemption to $9000. This plan would cap growth
for the State General Fund (SGF) at 2% and uses anything over to further
reduce taxes. It exempts income from LLCs and S Corps for those with
less than $100k income in 2013-2015, raises the exemption to LLCs and S
Corps with less than $250k income in 2016-17, and exempts them all in
2018. It also expands Rural Opportunity Zones to 21 more counties,
making the total 71 counties that would exempt a person from their
income tax if they move there from out of state.

The plan has many differences from the Governor's tax plan. It keeps
existing exemptions, except for the 2 year exemption for new oil wells.
It stays with three tax brackets rather than flattening down to two
brackets as the Governor proposes. It gradually lowers the tax rates
over several years and reduces EITC rather than eliminating it totally.
The House plan proposes a 2% cap on SGF revenue immediately which is
similar to the Governor's plan, but the Governor's plan would only
cap after the revenues hit the statutory 7.5% positive ending balance.
The House plan gradually eliminates taxes on LLCs and S Corps, where the
Governor's plan does it all at once. The cost of the Governor's
plan for the next fiscal year would be $89.9 million in less revenues
and these revenue losses would continue for a number of years in to the
future, and the cost of the House plan would be $41.7 million.

There are some other plans out there. One Senator has developed his own
plan and the Democrats have introduced a plan in the Senate. More to
follow.

Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs (KCVA) Budget Setbacks

In keeping with his policy of not accepting federal monies for the State
of Kansas, the Governor's budget does not allow the KCVA to draw down
available federal funds that would have made 40 more beds available to
Kansas veterans at Triplett Hall in South Central Kansas. This federal
funding would have doubled the number of Alzheimer/Dementia beds from 25
to 50 and increased long-term care beds from 75-90. In South Central
Kansas alone, there are an estimated 1200 veterans who qualify for these
federally funded services.

Rep Jerry Henry, from Atchison, proposed several amendments to the
Governor's proposed budget in the House Appropriations Committee to
accept and make use of these federal funds, but his amendments were
rejected. Another amendment was offered to increase the funding for
the Veterans Claims Assistance Program (VCAP). This is the grant
program that pays the salaries for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and
American Legion Service Representatives at the VA hospitals. These
Representatives are the heroes that assist veterans in navigating the
cumbersome bureaucracy of the federal VA system. Just a few years ago,
these representatives were state employees, but the State cut their
positions and promised grants to the service organizations to continue
the much needed program. This saved the State money because they are no
longer responsible for benefits or retirement and were able to cut
positions. Unfortunately, the State has not kept up its end of the
bargain and has steadily been cutting the grant money so the program is
now in jeopardy. Nationally, Kansas ranks 49 out of 50 in its support
to veterans attempting to navigate the VA system. Each service
representative in Kansas is responsible for a daunting 5,923 Kansas
veterans. In addition to assisting Kansas veterans, this program also
brings jobs and federal money into the State as the VA spends the money
to provide these earned benefits to Kansas veterans. However, this
amendment also failed.

Corrections & Juvenile Justice and Judiciary Committee Hearings

We were very busy in both committees this week. We held hearings on at
over 14 bills and worked on many others. Included were several proposed
Amendments to statutes dealing with sexual offenders: HB2494, HB2465,
HB2568, HB2530. Two bills that were prompted by tragic national
headlines were also heard. HB2534, making it a crime to fail to report
the disappearance or death of a child, also known as "Caylee's
Law;" and HB2533, making it a crime to fail to report child abuse is
referred to as the "Penn State" law. Two bills dealt with the
handling of public records in the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) and the
Kansas Public Records Preservation Act.

HB2513 would allow for the extension of protective orders. Currently,
protective orders are only good for one year and the victim must return
to court to request a new one each year. Often, the victim must face
the offender again in the court, which is contrary to the purpose of a
protective order and may allow the offender to find the victim again and
reveal new identities and locations. We also heard and passed out to
the House for a vote, HB2324, which is the Leavenworth County
Attorney's bill to make it illegal to sell electronic cigarettes to
minors.

Coming up this Week

Several Committees are holding hearings on subjects that will pack their
audiences:
-Appropriations: budget recommendations from all the State
Correctional Facilities and Universities.
-Pensions and Benefits: "Kansas Public Employees Retirement System Act
of 2014" that is proposed by the special Committee on KPERS.
-Commerce & Economic Development: Workers Compensation and Employment
Security Law.
-Federal and State Affairs: Immigration law.
-Judiciary: Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act and abortion
law.
You can see these proposed bills and all the hearings scheduled at
kslegislature.org – look under the House Calendar for Monday for the
hearing schedule.

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.

Feb 6, 2012

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2012, Issue 4

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

Volume 2012, Issue 4: January 30 - February 3, 2012

In This Issue
• Immigration and Liquor Back in Debate
• More on Budget and Taxes
• Veterans, Military Affairs & Homeland Security
• Corrections & Juvenile Justice
• Judiciary
• Keep in Touch

Immigration and Liquor Back in Debate This Year

Illegal Immigration is back in the spotlight this year but with a
different twist. Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman announced
this week that he is seeking a federal waiver to allow illegal
immigrants to work in the state. He stated that he is under pressure
from large dairies and feedlots that are desperate for workers. If
approved by Homeland Security, a state-sponsored network would match
sponsor companies wishing to participate with illegal immigrants who
have been in Kansas at least 5 years with no criminal background. The
idea is to create a legal and organized system to manage the existing
immigrant labor and it is backed by organizations such as the Kansas
Farm Bureau, the Kansas Livestock Association, and the Kansas Chamber of
Commerce. The programs would be funded by fees paid by the sponsor
companies and the immigrant workers. This is quite a bit different from
what the Kansas Secretary of State wants.

A coalition of grocery, and convenience stores have unveiled a campaign
called "Uncork Kansas," reviving a debate about allowing liquor and
wine to be sold in grocery and convenience stores. Under current law,
liquor and full strength beer is only sold in liquor stores. This
proposal, which was also considered last year, would remove that
restriction. It would also remove the "liquor only" sales
restriction that now apply to liquor stores, so that liquor stores could
also expand their sales (presumably to include mixers, ice, etc.). The
bill includes last session's provision for liquor stores to sell their
licenses to grocery/convenience stores before the law takes effect at
presumably premium prices. Proponents include grocery stores and
convenience stores that would like to expand their sales to include
alcohol. They argue that the current law is antiquated and limits
consumer choice. Opponents of the proposal primarily include
neighborhood liquor stores that fear that they would be driven out of
business if large discount retailers can sell wine and liquor. There are
also concerns that this measure would lead to an easier path for minors
to obtain liquor as the bill allows 18 year olds to work at the
registers and sell liquor.