Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2012, Issue 15: May 7 - 11, 2012
In This Issue
- Past Day 90
- Tax Work Derailed
- Budget Progress Slow
- Redistricting
- Keep in Touch
Past Day 90
The 90th day of the 2012 Legislative Session has come and gone. This
past week there was some debate on the House floor and some bills have
made it to the Governor's desk, but the State of Kansas still does not
have a budget or redistricting map. We will be back to Topeka on Monday
morning.
Some of the bills on the Governor's desk: the Leavenworth County
Attorney's e-cigarette bill, a bill streamlining the process of
obtaining a CDL for military truck drivers, and a mega bill of 12
changes to Kansas liquor laws.
I was also able to amend in a couple of bills I have been working on
this year during debate. By passing at least one of the chambers, they
are now eligible to be considered in a conference committee. One is a
bill clarifying the definition of a residential bed & breakfast and the
other is a bill giving instate tuition to any veteran living in Kansas
who had at least 3 years honorable service. Currently serving military
and their families would still be eligible no matter how long they have
served.
Tax Work Derailed
This past Wednesday, the House concurred with the Senate version of
HB2117 and sent it to the Governor's desk. This was not the version
that the joint taxation committee of Senators and Representatives have
been working on for weeks. This version was passed by the Senate on
March 21st to become the starting point for the conference committee
negotiations. Wednesday's motion passed, 64 to 59. This version that
is awaiting the Governor's signature makes all its changes in 2013:
- reduces the current 3 income brackets (3.5, 6.25, and 6.45%) to 2
brackets (3 and 4.9%)
- exempts all non-wage business income (LLCs, S Corps, and sole
proprietorships – anyone that does NOT receive a W-2)
- increases the head of house hold standard deductions (from %4500 to
$9000 for single and from $6000 to $9000 for joint)
- eliminates renters participation in Homestead Property Tax Refund
- repeals the food sales tax rebate
- repeals the severance tax exemption for any oil production in excess
of 50 barrels per day
- repeals many tax credits for items such as: abandoned well plugging,
adoption, agritourism, alternative fuel equipment, assistive technology,
child and dependent care, child day care, disabled access improvements,
environmental compliance, law enforcement training center contributions,
small employer health benefit plan contributions, swine facility
improvement, port authority contributions, telecommunications property
tax payments, venture capital contributions, and temporary assistance to
family contributions.
This is basically the Governor's original plan, but the Senate did not
eliminate all the tax credits and exemptions that the Governor had
proposed eliminating. The plan allows the temporary sales tax increase
to expire next year as scheduled. This makes the plan cut revenues even
more than the Governor's original plan, leaving Kansas with a deficit
by 2014 that would require even more cuts to education, public safety
and services for the disabled.
We have not received the estimates of how this plan will affect Kansans
with different income levels yet, but in the Governor's original plan
the taxes of Kansans making less than $30,000 a year actually went up.
This plan leaves in place the Earned Income Tax Credits for the working
poor, but eliminates the food sales tax rebate and credits for child
care and small employer health benefit plans (items that help to keep
people off of State assistance and in their jobs).
After this bill passed, the Governor announced in a press conference
that he hopes the conference committee is able to come up with a less
costly plan before he allows HB2117 to become law.
Budget Progress Slow
The Joint Senate and House Budget Conference Committee met twice on
Saturday, May 12th, bringing the number of meetings on the mega budget
bill to 12. Most of the line items have been negotiated, but big items
are still to be decided, such as: K-12 education, technical/vocational
education, the Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund, state employee pay,
and transfers to the Kansas Bio-Science Authority. Monday, the meetings
will start again. The tax plan will also have to be figured in as the
conference committee had been using the costs of the negotiated plan and
not the plan that is currently on the Governor's desk.
Redistricting
The House Redistricting Committee held a hearing this past week on what
the Senate districts should look like. Seven Senators testified and
asked the House Committee to draw a map for them that would not collapse
a Senate district in rural Kansas and would not give a new district to
Johnson County. The House Committee passed out a map called "For the
People 13b" and brought it to the full House for a vote. After
several Representatives attempted to alter this map unsuccessfully, it
passed 67 to 50.
Another attempted amendment proposed using a non-partisan commission to
do redistricting in the future. 26 other states have already gone to
such a commission. The amendment failed on a vote of 35 to 66. Kansas
is the last state to complete its redistricting process and we are not
finished. Historically, the two chambers have respected each other's
redistricting plans, with congressional maps being the focus of the
conference committees. This year the House non-concurred with the
Senate's redistricting plan so the redistricting process has been
extended.
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 the
legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924. 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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