Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2012, Issue 12: March 26-30, 2012
In This Issue
- Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans
- First Adjournment
- The Budget
- The Omnibus Bill
- Redistricting Still Not Decided
- Keep in Touch
Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans
On Friday, the Kansas Legislature designated March 30th as Kansas
Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. Simultaneously, the Senate adopted
Senate Resolution 1854 and the House adopted House Resolution 6027. We
were honored to have members of the Topeka and Leavenworth Chapters of
the Vietnam Veterans of America present for the unanimously sponsored
resolutions.
March 30 marks the anniversary of the date of the completion in 1973 of
the withdrawal of US combat units from the former South Vietnam under
the Treaty of Paris. In many cases, our veterans were not welcomed back
with gratitude and were too often blamed for the failings of a war waged
under four administrations. More than 58,000 members of the United
States Armed Forces lost their lives and more than 300,000 were wounded
in Vietnam. The establishment of a "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans
Day" serves as a small way to honor these men and women who served our
country in Vietnam and serve as a reminder that one generation of
veterans will not abandon another and neither should their nation.
First Adjournment
After 12 weeks, we have reached First Adjournment and completed the 2012
regular session. We will now break for a few weeks and return for the
Veto/Wrap Up Session on April 25th. Throughout the break, the Governor
will review the bills that have been sent to his desk for signature or
veto. When we return the Legislature will take up items of unfinished
business and consider override of any veto.
Every major issue of the legislative session has been pushed to the Veto
Session, including: the budget, redistricting, tax reform, school
finance, KPERS, and KanCare. No new job-creating proposals have made it
to the House Floor for debate or a vote.
The Veto Session is also known as the "Wrap Up" session, but this
year will hardly be a "wrap up." The Legislature will only have 17
days to finish the budget and redistricting, as well as any other items
(like those listed above), prior to using the 90 days budgeted for the
legislature to meet each year.
The Budget
Late this week, we were told that the House and Senate had come to an
agreement on the FY 2013 Mega Budget Bill, which was supposed to be
officially approved by both chambers on Friday. After waiting all day
on Friday, we received word that there were discrepancies so the House
members of the conference committee would not sign the report.
This version of the budget appeared to be a temporary fix to enable the
Legislature to adjourn anyway. Almost every significant difference
between the House and Senate bills, over a third of the budget, was to
be postponed until the Omnibus Bill, such as: school funding, social
services, KanCare, the Arts Commission, undermarket pay adjustments for
state employees and KPERS.
The bill also included some adjustments to the 2012 budget year that
ends this June 30th. The Judicial Branch District Courts and Kansas
Wildlife & Parks are two of the agencies that have run out of money for
the year. The courts have already scheduled a furlough day and Wildlife
& Parks will be postponing the opening of some parks.
The Omnibus Bill
One of the primary tasks of the Wrap Up Session is to approve the
Omnibus Bill. It is called the Omnibus Bill because it includes
appropriations for a wide variety of purposes and for every agency
requiring further appropriation action for the current or forthcoming
fiscal year. The Omnibus Bill normally contains three basic types of
items: technical adjustments to previous appropriations bills, financing
for Governor's budget amendments which were not considered as part of
regular appropriations bills, and financing of substantive legislation
that passed the Legislature earlier in the session.
Additionally, this bill sometimes includes various items of interest to
individual legislators that are offered as amendments during either
Appropriations/Ways and Means Committees or Committee of the Whole
deliberations. The Omnibus Bill also differs from other appropriations
bills in that the Omnibus Bill, as introduced, actually is prepared by a
legislative committee. Most other Appropriations bills, while nominally
authored by the Appropriations/Ways and Means Committees, actually begin
as the Governor's recommendations. The Omnibus Bill is one of the
last bills passed each session.
Redistricting Still Not Decided
Last month, the House attempted to split Wyandotte County between the
1st Congressional District that is made up of western rural Kansas and
the urban 3rd District. That proposal ultimately failed, but this week
House members voted 81-43 to split the City of Topeka between the 1st
and 2nd Congressional Districts instead. The map was called "Bob Dole
1." Before the Senate adjourned on Friday, it voted down the "Bob
Dole 1" map.
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.
