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.
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