Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2013 Issue 5

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 5: February 11 - 15, 2013

In This Issue

- Busy Week
- Veterans, Military & Homeland Security
- Enhanced Penalties for Theft of Firearms
- Proposed Cuts to our Corrections System
- Interesting Bills Awaiting Debate in the House
- Keep in Touch

Busy Week

Week 5 was a crazy busy week in the Statehouse! Many groups were here
to bring attention to their causes: The Kansas Realtors, the Early
Childhood Education Coalition, the Higher Education Coalition, several
Veteran groups, the Travel Industry Association of Kansas, the Kansas
Bankers, the Pork Association, Advocates against Sexual & Domestic
Violence, and more. These groups usually have rallies or demonstrations
in the Capitol as well as make appointments to meet with as many of the
Legislators as possible.

A surprising number of bills were placed on the House Consent Calendar
this Friday. When a bill is considered by a committee as being
non-controversial in nature, such as a language clean up, the committee
will place it on the Consent Calendar. It remains on the calendar for 3
days unless any legislator objects. Once it is on the calendar for 3
days with no objection, it automatically moves to final action for a
vote without debate. Ten bills are now on the Consent Calendar this
week from several committees. You can check the calendar on
kslegislature.org.

Veterans, Military & Homeland Security

Friday was the deadline for bill introductions by most committees.
Three more veteran related bills were read in: HB2356 proposing an
Honor & Remember Flag license plate to assist Honor & Remember, Inc. in
raising money for the personalized flags they present to families of
fallen servicemembers; HB2357 that would designate a portion of HWY 169
the 242nd Engineer Company (Kansas National Guard) Memorial Highway; and
HB2360 that would enhance protections for deployed military
servicemembers and their families.

This coming week the Committee has two hearings. The hearing Tuesday,
19 February, is for HB2212. This is a very important bill regarding the
Veteran Service Representatives that assist our Kansas veterans in
submitting their claims and navigating the bureaucracy of the federal
Veteran Administration system. They were once state workers, but are
now paid through a grant program to Kansas veteran service
organizations. This bill would amend and stabilize the grant program
with oversight of the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs. The hearing
on Thursday, 21 February, is for HB2303. This bill would allow a
veteran to have the designation of "Veteran" placed on their
driver's license if requested and would allow the drivers' license
bureau to share the list of veterans with the Kansas Commission on
Veterans Affairs so that they can better ensure our Kansas veterans are
receiving the services they earned.

Enhanced Penalties for Theft of Firearms

This week in Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee our own
Leavenworth County Attorney and the Lansing Police Department will be
testifying on HB2278, a bill to enhance the penalties for theft or
burglary of firearms. Under current law, the theft of a firearm has the
same penalty as stealing a dvd player or bicycle. I have not heard the
proponents' testimony for the bill yet but as I see it, the state of
Kansas has very good laws on the sale of firearms, so thieves enable
criminals to circumvent our laws by not only obtaining a firearm
illegally, but also providing the stolen firearms to others who are
unable to purchase them legally or try to hide their purchase.

Proposed Cuts to our Corrections System

The Transportation & Public Safety Budget Committee worked the budgets
for the Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA),
and all their facilities. After representing our corrections facility
community and serving on the Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee
for several years, I have heard the concerns of our Corrections officers
and have seen the effects of our budget cuts on our Corrections systems.

This committee voted 7 – 2 to make some significant cuts to our
corrections system. It actually recommended to spend $0 (nothing) on
highschool education for juveniles in detention, cutting personnel
positions in JJA (after we received the legislative audit last summer
about the dangerous personnel shortages and turnover) and not to fund
the two psychologists for intensive sex offender programming (which
means juvenile sex offenders will be released into our communities with
no treatment). Rep Clayton from Johnson County and I were the
dissenting votes. The committee recommendation also cut offender
rehabilitation programs in half and the Kansas Sentencing Commission's
program for substance abuse treatment programs that are mandated by
Kansas statute and were expanded by the legislature last year, by
$198,000.

Kansas used to be a leader in low recidivism rates and emulated by the
rest of the country, but we have now eliminated almost all of our
offender and reentry programs over the last 4-5 years. The Secretary of
Corrections described the situation by saying that these programs have
been cut so severely that if we cut anymore it may actually raise the
cost of trying to keep them going. Lower recidivism means more
offenders behaving once they are released and hopefully becoming
contributing members of society. It means less victims because the
released inmates do not reoffend (commit a new crime). It is less cost
for court proceedings and it is huge savings of less people in prison.

Interesting Bills Awaiting Debate in the House

The number of bills that have been passed out of committees to the House
as a whole for debate is growing. As I scan the list, I noticed some
that I have been hearing from home about and others that may interest
you. You can look them up at kslegislature.org and let me know any
input, suggestions or comments you may have: HB2118 - historic
preservation, HB2075 - disposition of abandoned property, HB2037 –
religious displays on public property, HB2095 – term limits for the
members of the ethics commission, HB2221 – the equal access act,
HB2112 – the use of unexpended campaign funds, HB2153 – disposition
of unused medication, are just a few. There are a couple of bills that
directly affect our community: HB2109 – funding of education for
military pupils, and HB2135 – concerning property tax on military
housing.

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 on the 4th floor of the Capitol, Room
451-S. 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. And do not forget to 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.