Kansas House of Representatives
40th District
Volume 2012, Issue 17: May 24 – June 1, 2012
In This Issue
- Sine Die
- KPERS Bill Signed
- Budget Line Item Vetoes
- Keep in Touch
Sine Die
On Friday, June 1st, the Kansas Legislature adjourned "sine die."
Sine die is a Latin term that means, "without assigning a day for a
further meeting or hearing." It is normally just a ceremonial day, with
an occasional attempt to override a veto and speeches by legislators
that have decided not to run for re-election. There were no attempts to
override a veto. This year the Speaker of the House announced that he
would not be running for a 15th term. He is retiring after 28 years in
the House of Representatives.
County Attorney Todd Thompson was also in Topeka on Friday to witness
the ceremonial signing of his bill that makes it illegal to sell
electronic cigarettes to minors. The Governor signed several bills that
morning including the bill that allows military veteran truck drivers to
obtain their Kansas Commercial Drivers Licenses without going through
all the training again – and so getting them back to work faster and
putting experienced drivers on the road in Kansas.
We are still waiting to see what happens with redistricting.
KPERS Bill Signed
Another of the bills the Governor signed Friday was the KPERS bill.
KPERS is the retirement program for Kansas State employees. The bill
makes some changes to the current Tiers 1 & 2, and adds a Tier 3 (cash
balance plan) for new employees. The details include:
- 50% of any casino money over the first $10.5 million per year, will go
to pay down the unfunded liability debt.
- Tier 3 starts January 1, 2015. It would be a cash balance plan which
is a type of defined benefit plan.
- Gives Tier 1 employees a choice of continuing their employee
contribution at 4% with a reduced multiplier (from current 1.75 to 1.4),
or increasing their contribution to 6% and increasing their multiplier
to 1.85%.
- Eliminates Tier 2 cost of living increases and raises the multiplier
from 1.75 to 1.85, retroactive to July 1, 2009.
- Increases caps on employer contributions to .9% in 2014, to 1% in
2015, to 1.1% in 2016, and 1.2% in 2017.
- Allocates $2.75 million to implement and run the new cash balance
plan, which includes an additional 11 full time employees .
Budget Line Item Vetoes
The Governor signed the budget into law on Thursday, 31 May 2012. He
made 16 line item vetoes. Of note, he did NOT veto the money for the
arts this year. He did NOT veto the pay raises for state employees that
earned less than the poverty level – part 4 of a 5 year plan to bring
up their salaries that had not been funded in several years. To read the
Governor's message to the Senate explaining the vetoes, go to
https://governor.ks.gov under latest news to press release of June 1,
2012, Gov signs & delivers budget bill….
The Items vetoed:
- Sec 12(a) and 12(b): The Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board fee
fund limitation to pay no more than $14 per square foot for leased
office space.
- Sec 35(b): Funding of $805,504 from the fiscal year 2012
appropriations for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
- Sec 35(l): Funding of $91,429 in the fiscal year 2012 for mental
health and retardation services aid and assistance.
- Sec 36(a): Funding of $99,634 in the fiscal year 2012 for Medicaid -
Sec 42(a): Additional Funds appropriated for the Department of Education
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, of $50,000 operating expenses.
- Sec 75(h) and 75(i): Fee sweeps from the Department of Revenue of
$8.15 million to the State General Fund.
- Sec 84(c): Funds appropriated from the State Water Plan Fund for
specific environmental projects ($800,000).
- Sec 88(a): Funding for Mentor Teacher Program grants of $484,337.
- Sec 113(c): Funding of $25,000 for State Fair marketing promotion.
- Sec 114(c): Funding for the Water Resource Education Program of
$40,000.
- Sec 114(d): Funding of $550,000 from the Expanded Lottery Act Revenues
Fund (ELARF) for the Wichita Aquifer Recharge Project.
assistance for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS/FE).
- Sec 119: The state agency rules for buying a new vehicle.
- Sec 122: Requirements for the State to reimburse the Home and
Community Bases Services providers at the rates in their contracts with
the State.
- Sec 156(d)(1): Requirements for the State Treasurer to make payments
to the Kansas Bioscience Authority on specific dates.
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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