Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 13: May 8-10, 2013
In This Issue
- Back in the Capitol for the Wrap Up Session
- Passed Some Conference Committee Reports
- The Developmentally Disabled and KANCARE
- Keep in Touch
Back in the Capitol for the Wrap Up Session
The members of the Legislature returned to Topeka this week for the Wrap
Up Session. We are off to a slow start in regards to the budget – the
only bill that the Legislature has to pass each year. The newspapers
have quoted the President of the Senate saying that the Senate will not
meet with the House until the House agrees to the Senate's tax plan.
This may be a long Wrap Up Session! I am so happy that I had four pages
this week. They are a great help to the Legislators, bring a smile to
our faces and keep us on task.
Often this is called the Veto Session, but this year the Governor has
only vetoed one bill so far. SB37 was a non-controversial bill that
originally passed the House 102-17 and the Senate 36-3. It would make
the Kansas Home Inspectors Professional Competence and Financial
Responsibility Act permanent. In 2008, this Act created a temporary fee
funded board, and scheduled it to end in 2013, to give it time to see if
the board would be successful. The Kansas Association of Real Estate
Inspectors and the Kansas Association of Realtors spoke in favor of
SB37, stating the 2008 enacted consumer protection legislation has
worked well to assure that the public has access to home inspections
which are objective and competent. There were no opponents and no State
funds are used. In fact, this year there was $46,000 sitting in the
fund that is proposed to be swept into the State General Fund for the
fiscal years 2014 and 2015. In the Governor's veto message, he stated
that he saw "little evidence of large numbers of Kansas citizens being
economically harmed by home inspectors." He went on to say that he
believed the Home Inspectors Board simply adds unnecessary fees and
regulations to law abiding citizens. So far, there has been no motion
to try and override the veto.
Passed Some Conference Committee Reports
The House voted on six conference committee reports this week with
various subjects. They all passed and are on their way to the
Governor's desk for signature or veto.
1. HB2120 amends the criminal code concerning the Kansas Bureau of
Investigation's (KBI) collection of DNA samples, gambling crimes, and
a special sentencing rule related to firearms. The Conference Committee
Report contained three bills. The original HB2120 updated statutes on
the collection of DNA because DNA is now collected by swabbing inside
the cheek rather than through blood samples. SB148 was added, which
takes raffles conducted by non-profit organizations and government
entities out of the definition of illegal betting. SB41 amends a
special sentencing rule that applies when an offender carries a firearm
while committing a drug crime, changing the wording from "carries"
to "possesses a readily accessible" firearm.
2. HB2218 amends DUI statutes as to when law enforcement officers are
required to request a drug or alcohol test and includes the contents of
HB 2043, concerning aggravated battery while DUI.
3. SB20 makes updates and adjustments to the Kansas Offender
Registration Act. The conference committee created the report by
putting the contents of HB2209 into SB20, which was originally a bill
about poverty affidavits in lieu of docket fees!
4. HB2261 creates "Celebrate Freedom Week" in public schools for
kindergarten and grades one through eight, extends fund flexibility for
public school districts, and amends current law related to school
districts' bullying policies. This is a combination of three bills:
HB2261 , HB2222, and HB2280.
5. HB2081 adds the crimes of identity theft and identity fraud to the
Kansas Consumer Protection Act, allows a court to issue a temporary
restraining order or temporary injunction, modifies the requirements for
poverty affidavits, adds crimes to the list of crimes subject to
forfeiture of property used in the crime, and modifies the amount of
time required in a mortgage for redemption of property. This report was
a compilation of HB2081, HB2093, HB2204 and SB18.
6. HB2015 modifies how "marital gifts" are treated in divorce
proceeding, adds types of income subject to withholding for child
support, including one time payments and unemployment insurance
payments, and modifies procedures for collection of child support. This
report was a compilation of HB2015, HB2259 and SB125.
The Developmentally Disabled and KanCare
When we returned to the Capitol on there were over 1000 advocates and
developmentally disabled Kansans waiting for us. Last year, the
developmentally disabled were allowed to continue working with their
current community providers rather than falling under the new KanCare
system that turned over administration of the State's Medicaid
services to three insurance companies. This exemption ends in January
2014 and the families of the developmentally disabled are still not
convinced that putting an insurance agent between their loved one and
their non-medical service providers is the right thing to do. They
maintain that "KanCare is a program for managing medical services; but
IDD services are not medical services, and managing them as a medical
program will not save money, it will cost more." They have
recommended that the Legislature wait to include the non-medical
developmentally disabled community programs until KanCare gets on its
feet and/or a pilot program can be completed and evaluated in order to
make an evidence based decision.
On Thursday, May 9th, a Representative on the House Appropriations
Committee offered an amendment to the House version of the budget. It
was a proviso that states if the Developmentally Disabled are excluded
from KanCare like they are requesting, then they would not receive the
$4 million that the Governor recently proposed to use to provide
services to disabled Kansans currently waiting for services. The
Representative says he believes $4 million would be lost if the
non-medical services are not managed by KanCare. Advocates for the
developmentally disabled say this is a way to force them to fall under
KanCare and to stop their campaign against it. The Committee adopted
the proviso.
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.
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 13: May 8-10, 2013
In This Issue
- Back in the Capitol for the Wrap Up Session
- Passed Some Conference Committee Reports
- The Developmentally Disabled and KANCARE
- Keep in Touch
Back in the Capitol for the Wrap Up Session
The members of the Legislature returned to Topeka this week for the Wrap
Up Session. We are off to a slow start in regards to the budget – the
only bill that the Legislature has to pass each year. The newspapers
have quoted the President of the Senate saying that the Senate will not
meet with the House until the House agrees to the Senate's tax plan.
This may be a long Wrap Up Session! I am so happy that I had four pages
this week. They are a great help to the Legislators, bring a smile to
our faces and keep us on task.
Often this is called the Veto Session, but this year the Governor has
only vetoed one bill so far. SB37 was a non-controversial bill that
originally passed the House 102-17 and the Senate 36-3. It would make
the Kansas Home Inspectors Professional Competence and Financial
Responsibility Act permanent. In 2008, this Act created a temporary fee
funded board, and scheduled it to end in 2013, to give it time to see if
the board would be successful. The Kansas Association of Real Estate
Inspectors and the Kansas Association of Realtors spoke in favor of
SB37, stating the 2008 enacted consumer protection legislation has
worked well to assure that the public has access to home inspections
which are objective and competent. There were no opponents and no State
funds are used. In fact, this year there was $46,000 sitting in the
fund that is proposed to be swept into the State General Fund for the
fiscal years 2014 and 2015. In the Governor's veto message, he stated
that he saw "little evidence of large numbers of Kansas citizens being
economically harmed by home inspectors." He went on to say that he
believed the Home Inspectors Board simply adds unnecessary fees and
regulations to law abiding citizens. So far, there has been no motion
to try and override the veto.
Passed Some Conference Committee Reports
The House voted on six conference committee reports this week with
various subjects. They all passed and are on their way to the
Governor's desk for signature or veto.
1. HB2120 amends the criminal code concerning the Kansas Bureau of
Investigation's (KBI) collection of DNA samples, gambling crimes, and
a special sentencing rule related to firearms. The Conference Committee
Report contained three bills. The original HB2120 updated statutes on
the collection of DNA because DNA is now collected by swabbing inside
the cheek rather than through blood samples. SB148 was added, which
takes raffles conducted by non-profit organizations and government
entities out of the definition of illegal betting. SB41 amends a
special sentencing rule that applies when an offender carries a firearm
while committing a drug crime, changing the wording from "carries"
to "possesses a readily accessible" firearm.
2. HB2218 amends DUI statutes as to when law enforcement officers are
required to request a drug or alcohol test and includes the contents of
HB 2043, concerning aggravated battery while DUI.
3. SB20 makes updates and adjustments to the Kansas Offender
Registration Act. The conference committee created the report by
putting the contents of HB2209 into SB20, which was originally a bill
about poverty affidavits in lieu of docket fees!
4. HB2261 creates "Celebrate Freedom Week" in public schools for
kindergarten and grades one through eight, extends fund flexibility for
public school districts, and amends current law related to school
districts' bullying policies. This is a combination of three bills:
HB2261 , HB2222, and HB2280.
5. HB2081 adds the crimes of identity theft and identity fraud to the
Kansas Consumer Protection Act, allows a court to issue a temporary
restraining order or temporary injunction, modifies the requirements for
poverty affidavits, adds crimes to the list of crimes subject to
forfeiture of property used in the crime, and modifies the amount of
time required in a mortgage for redemption of property. This report was
a compilation of HB2081, HB2093, HB2204 and SB18.
6. HB2015 modifies how "marital gifts" are treated in divorce
proceeding, adds types of income subject to withholding for child
support, including one time payments and unemployment insurance
payments, and modifies procedures for collection of child support. This
report was a compilation of HB2015, HB2259 and SB125.
The Developmentally Disabled and KanCare
When we returned to the Capitol on there were over 1000 advocates and
developmentally disabled Kansans waiting for us. Last year, the
developmentally disabled were allowed to continue working with their
current community providers rather than falling under the new KanCare
system that turned over administration of the State's Medicaid
services to three insurance companies. This exemption ends in January
2014 and the families of the developmentally disabled are still not
convinced that putting an insurance agent between their loved one and
their non-medical service providers is the right thing to do. They
maintain that "KanCare is a program for managing medical services; but
IDD services are not medical services, and managing them as a medical
program will not save money, it will cost more." They have
recommended that the Legislature wait to include the non-medical
developmentally disabled community programs until KanCare gets on its
feet and/or a pilot program can be completed and evaluated in order to
make an evidence based decision.
On Thursday, May 9th, a Representative on the House Appropriations
Committee offered an amendment to the House version of the budget. It
was a proviso that states if the Developmentally Disabled are excluded
from KanCare like they are requesting, then they would not receive the
$4 million that the Governor recently proposed to use to provide
services to disabled Kansans currently waiting for services. The
Representative says he believes $4 million would be lost if the
non-medical services are not managed by KanCare. Advocates for the
developmentally disabled say this is a way to force them to fall under
KanCare and to stop their campaign against it. The Committee adopted
the proviso.
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.
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