Melanie's Memos: March 2014

Mar 31, 2014

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Representative Melanie Meier

Adventures in the Statehouse

Volume 2014, Issue 10 (March 17-26, 2014)

- Crunch Time

- Creating Jobs for the Disabled

- Interesting Sausage Making Example DUI Law

- Keep in Touch

Crunch Time

The last week of the regular 2014 Legislative session is here. We just finished hearing the bills of the session and now it is Conference Committee time when legislators from the House and Senate meet in six member conference committees meet to work out the differences in each other’s versions of bills. I will be on a few conference committees this year as some of our Veteran, Military Affairs & Homeland Security committee bills were amended by the Senate. HB2655 on special sentencing options combat veterans and SB263 on military funeral honors funding and the reorganization of the Kansas Commission of Veteran Affairs should be two of the bills.

The Legislative website lists all the assigned conference committees, their members and scheduled meetings under the “Committees” tab.

Creating Jobs for the Disabled

HB 2675 is a bill that would encourage companies to hire Kansas citizens with disabilities. The bill outlines tax incentives that are available to companies whose workforce is comprised of at least 10% of employees with a disability. A company may also receive a cash reimbursement upon hiring an individual with a mental or physical disability, and if they retain the employee for a year, they will receive another cash payment.

Testimony in favor of the bill was delivered by representatives from Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation, who shared stories of their success with hiring individuals with mental or physical disabilities. These tax and cash incentives motivate companies within the private sector to give jobs to qualified Kansans, and help disabled individuals reach their employment and independence goals. The program would also save the state money as newly employed people stop taking state assistance.

During floor debate, I offered an amendment to add in the contents of HB2158 which is a bill introduced last session to create a disabled veteran owned business preference in letting State contracts. HB2158 would set a goal of contracting with disabled veteran owned businesses and require the Office of Administration to provide the Kansas Commission on Veteran Affairs and the Legislature with a report of how many such businesses applied for the preference.

Overall, this seems to be a very pro-jobs bill that proposes a great program which gives some of our most vulnerable citizens a fair chance at becoming independent and entices disabled veterans to bring their education and skills to Kansas as entrepreneurs.

HB2675 is now in the Senate awaiting a last minute hearing in the Commerce Committee.

Interesting Sausage Making Example with DUI Law

Many of you have probably heard the comparison between lawmaking and sausage making and HB2479 is a great example. As part of a comprehensive DUI reform package in 2011, a vehicle ignition lock device restriction was added in Kansas law for a first time DUI-related conviction. As a new type of restriction, this ignition lock provision was given a ‘sunset’ with this portion of the law expiring June 30, 2015, The provision stated that driving privileges are suspended for 30 days for any first-time offender, followed by a 180-day ignition interlock restriction, or a one-year ignition interlock restriction for an offender with certain previous violations. Without HB2479, the penalty for a first occurrence will return to the former provision, which was a 30-day suspension and a 330-day restriction to driving for certain purposes, with an ignition interlock option.

The bill passed out of the House Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee and sat on the House calendar for weeks. When the Committee Chairman inquired as to why the House had not been scheduled to debate and vote on the bill before the deadline, he was told that if the committee agreed to put a new expiration date for the requirement back into law, rather than making it permanent, that the bill would be scheduled for a vote. So, HB2479 was referred to the Taxation Committee so that it would become exempt from the deadline and then re-referred back to our committee. The Chairman made an announcement that we needed to meet immediately so we met out in the hallway and went through the motions to amend it and put in a new expiration date. We passed it back out to the House and were then allowed to vote on it where it passed 117 to 0.

Then HB2479 went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they amended it by making the expiration date in 2018 rather than 2020. When the bill made it to the entire Senate for debate and a vote it was further amended. The Senate removed the expiration date entirely, taking the bill back to its original form but then added in the contents of SB393, which would amend the statute governing failure to comply with a traffic citation. SB393 would allow an individual whose driver’s license expires while that license has been suspended for failure to pay fines for traffic citations to apply for a restricted license. SB393 would also extend the authorization for the Supreme Court to impose an additional charge of up to $22 to fund the costs of non-judicial personnel whenever a district or municipal court assesses a reinstatement fee for failure to comply with a traffic citation.

So to sum it up: HB2479 has the contents of the original HB2479 (after being amended several times) and SB393 in it. It will now be sent back to the House to decide whether the House will just concur with the changes the Senate made, or non-concur and appoint a conference committee. Most likely, there will be a conference committee who will meet and make further changes. Got all that?

Keep in Touch

It is a special honor to serve as your representative. I value and need your input on the various issues facing state government in order to better serve my district and this state. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 541-S, 300 SW 10th St Topeka KS, 66612. You can reach me at (785)-296-7650 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.

If you do not want to receive these updates anymore, just let me know and I will remove your email from my list.

Rep Melanie Meier

Kansas House District 41

785-296-7650

Adventures in the Statehouse

Representative Melanie Meier

Adventures in the Statehouse

Volume 2014, Issue 10 (March 17-26, 2014)

- Crunch Time

- Creating Jobs for the Disabled

- Interesting Sausage Making Example DUI Law

- Keep in Touch

Crunch Time

The Legislative website lists all the assigned conference committees, their members and scheduled meetings under the “Committees” tab.

Creating Jobs for the Disabled

HB2675 is now in the Senate awaiting a last minute hearing in the Commerce Committee.

Interesting Sausage Making Example with DUI Law

Keep in Touch

Mar 16, 2014

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2014, Issue 9

Rep Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 9 (March 10-14, 2014)

-In this issue:
-From the Statehouse
-Could the Local Ad Valorem Tax Refund Be Restored?
-Homestead Tax Refund Fix
-Charitable Raffle Constitutional Amendment

Keep in Touch

From the Statehouse

We returned this week expecting to be busy with school finance but it
looks like the House Appropriations Committee will be working on it all
next week instead. The House debated and voted on only a few bills this
week.

Could the Local Ad Valorem Tax Refund Be Restored?

The House debated and voted on a few tax bills this week including
HB2542 that would make amateur built aircraft used only for recreation
tax exempt. The carrier of the bill explained that there is a company
in Hays, KS, producing airplane kits that people can purchase to design
and build their own aircraft. Current law already exempts antique
aircraft and aircraft used for commercial purposes.

During the course of the debate on HB2542, an amendment was proposed and
adopted on a 102 to 17 vote to restore the Local Ad Valorem Tax Refund
fund. This is a fund that was created by statute in 1938 to help local
governments keep property tax down. It is a percentage of the State
Sales Tax that is offered to local taxing authorities. In order to
accept the funds, they must lower the property tax mill levy. The
LAVTRF had been funded every year until 2004 when the legislature
decided to ignore the law and did not appropriate funds. If this
amendment makes it to the Governor's desk and is signed, it would
return $54 million to Kansas counties. Leavenworth County would receive
approximately $1,081,000 to lower property taxes in 2016.

Homestead Tax Refund Fix

The legislature is still cleaning up issues with the Kansas income tax
cut law of 2012. This year as Kansans started submitting their tax
returns for 2013 under the new Kansas income tax code, the Department of
Revenue realized that many business owners that are organized as an LLC,
Single proprietorship, etc, may now qualify for the homestead exemption
credit. The purpose of the homestead exemption credit is to assist low
income households with owning their own home. To qualify for the Kansas
credit, a person must be over 55 years old, make less than $22,100 a
year, and own their home. As business owners do not pay taxes on their
income anymore – many now qualify. SB265 will correct this oversight
by considering their business income when figuring the homestead
exemption credit.

During the debate in the House, an amendment was offered to reinstate
the adoption tax credit that was repealed in the 2012 income tax cut
bill. No one offered any opposition so it is now part of SB265. There
was also an attempt at an amendment to reinstate the homestead exemption
credit to renters, but it failed by a vote of 43 to 76.

Raffle Constitutional Amendment

In the next election you may see a constitutional amendment on the
ballot. The amendment would allow nonprofit organizations to use a
raffle for fundraising purposes. If the measure passed, it would allow
the legislature to make certain provisions to authorize licensing,
conduct and regulation of any charitable raffles by a nonprofit
religious, charitable, fraternal, educational and veterans
organizations.

The constitutional amendment would include a number of limitations which
would prevent loopholes for organizations wanting to raise money for
profit, including: an organization could not use electronic gaming or
vending machines to sell raffle tickets or hire a professional raffle or
other lottery vender to manage the raffle; and all raffles will be
licensed and regulated by the Office of Charitable Gaming with the
Kansas Department of Revenue.

Last year the Governor vetoed a bill that would have removed charitable
raffles from the definition of illegal gambling. The Governor cited the
Kansas Constitution section that prohibits lotteries or the sale of
lottery tickets in his veto message, so the Senate introduced this
Constitutional Amendment. If it passes the House and the Governor signs
it, the question would be on the November ballot. The bill passed the
Senate on a vote of 35-0.

Keep in Touch

Mar 10, 2014

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2014 Iss 8

Rep Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 8 (3-7 March 2014)

In this issue:

• From the Statehouse
• Supreme Court Ruling on School Finance Case
• Transparency Act makes its way To Appropriations
• Bill Proposes Changes to Death Penalty Appeals
• Keep in Touch

From the Statehouse

We returned this week after Turnaround to start hearing the Senate's
bills. The event everyone has been waiting for finally arrived this
week, when the Kansas Supreme Court published their ruling in the case
of Gannon vs. State, otherwise known as the School Finance case. The
ruling by the Supreme Court is sure to set the stage for the rest of the
Session, and I will keep you updated as I learn more.

Supreme Court Ruling on School Finance Case

The Kansas Supreme Court issued its school funding opinion Friday the
7th of March. It upheld part of the ruling of Shawnee County District
Court and remanded part of it back for more work. It agreed that the
state has created unconstitutional wealth-based disparities between
school districts by: (1) withholding all capital outlay state aid; and
(2) prorating the supplemental general state aid payments to which
certain districts were entitled for their local option budgets. The
Supreme Court also stated that the original court did not apply the
correct constitutional standard in determining whether the state
violated the requirement of adequacy in public education, and so
remanded that part back.

The bottom line for the legislature is a deadline of July 1st to end the
unconstitutional disparities in funding. Either the legislature can pay
what the current formula requires with no proration; or the legislature
can change the current formula in a way to make the funding equitable;
or the legislature can do nothing and the referenced statutes concerning
the proration of the local option budget and the capital outlay will be
null and void.

With the current statutes that were found unconstitutional gone, two
things happen: (1) transfers from the state general fund to the capital
outlay funds of school districts will occur automatically, which would
cost approximately $25 million across the state; and (2) the local
option budget (LOB) will cease to exist, so no district could utilize it
and the State would have to cover almost $104 million.

According to a member of the Leavenworth School Board, if the
legislature complies with the court it means approximately $3.2 million
in additional state funding for Leavenworth County's six districts.
It could also mean mill levy (property tax) decreases for taxpayers:
approximately 6.14 mills for Easton USD 449, 4.62 mills for Leavenworth
USD 453, 3.03 mills for Basehor-Linwood USD 458, 4.43 mills for
Tonganoxie USD 464, and 5.02 mills for Lansing USD 469.

Transparency Act makes its way to Appropriations Committee

A Senate bill that aims to increase the transparency and accountability
of representatives in the Capitol made its way to the House this week.
SB413, also called the Transparency Act, would require audio and video
streaming in the four largest committee rooms here at the Statehouse.
Cameras would be set up in rooms that hold the committees on budget,
education, judiciary, commerce, and federal & state affairs. Proponents
want to make it easier for constituents to see their representatives in
action, and allow Kansans, especially those who can't make it to
Topeka, to get more involved in the democratic process. A two-year
trial run is proposed with an approximate annual cost of $188,000 a
year. Opponents of the bill say that political theatre is an inherent
part of committee meetings and events that take place on the floor, so
having cameras will only enhance the showboating by legislators. They
also stated that with technology today, some people may take bits and
pieces of the footage, negatively twist it and then post it on social
media. Kansas is one of only three states that permit audio-only
streaming from the House or Senate floor.

Bill Proposes Changes to Death Penalty Appeals

Earlier this session, the Senate passed a bill that would make changes
to the death penalty appeals process. The Senate put the contents of
their bill into a House Bill (2389) that had already passed last year, a
procedure called a "gut and go." That meant the House could only
concur or non-concur with the bill. This is the same process that was
used by the Senate to pass the Kansas wide smoking ban in 2010 and the
tax cuts of 2012.

But this session, in an effort to understand HB2389, the Chairman of
Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee made a motion to non-concur and
a conference committee was appointed. Now the bill will be discussed by
three Senators and three Representatives and possibly amended before a
final vote by both Chambers. The Chairman held an informational hearing
in our committee on the bill.

HB2389 would shorten the time limits for submitting appeals, restrict
the number of pages of an appeals brief, limit the review for errors to
only the sentencing phase, and would be retroactive. The proponent held
up appeals briefs that were over 400 pages and stated that they believed
defense attorneys produced such long briefs on purpose in order to delay
the process. He testified that the bill would only put the current
Kansas Supreme Courts rules into statute and shorten the process to 8-10
years.

The Board of Indigent Defense testified in the Transportation & Public
Safety Budget Committee, that they would need hundreds of thousands more
money for their budget if the bill passes. Currently, the State of
Kansas has four BIDS defense attorneys that handle death penalty cases.
They do all their research, investigations, and writing themselves with
no additional staff. The BIDS director testified that we would need to
hire more attorneys and staff to meet the deadlines proposed in the
bill.

Opponents to the bill testified that this bill would take away judicial
discretion in deciding how much time is needed and how long a brief is
required. They testified that some briefs are covering cases with tens
of thousands of pages of evidence. One opponent was a man that was
exonerated after serving 24 years; others were relatives of murder
victims. Another opponent who represented Public Defense Attorneys
testified that the bill would actually make the appeals process take
longer because it would be their duty to fight the unrealistic time and
page limits. They stated that currently the Supreme Court allows
extensions only because the public defenders have convinced the court
that they are needed to meet constitutional requirements and this
statute would conflict with US Constitutional rights.

It was a very informative and interesting hearing on the appeals process
and the committee will discuss the issue this coming week.

Keep in Touch

Mar 2, 2014

Aventures in the Statehouse Vol 2014 Issue 7

Representative Melanie Meier’s
Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 7 (February 24-28, 2014)

- Turn Around Week in the Capitol
- Two of Leavenworth County Attorney’s Bills head to the Senate
- Insurance Commissioner discusses HB2553
- Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week
- Keep in Touch

Turn Around Week in the Capitol

This was turn around week – when both houses finish working on bills and send completed ones over to the other chamber for consideration. The House finished up any remaining committee work by Wednesday and then spent the days debating and voting on a long list of bills. Bills that did not make it through the process have either been stricken from the calendar or have been “blessed.” The Speaker of the House blesses bills by transferring them to a committee that is exempt from all the deadlines. So if a bill has been sent to Taxation, Federal & State Affairs, or Appropriations Committee, it will stay alive for continued consideration.

Two of Leavenworth County Attorney’s Bills Head to the Senate

The House has debated and voted on two bills that were introduced by our own Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office this session. HB2442 was the last bill we passed this week with a vote of 111 to 12. We worked this bill in Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee where we heard testimony about repeat offenders who purposely make an overt attempt to flee and elude police. Conferees testified that the bill was designed to equalize the level of the danger of this crime to the level of punishment. Currently, the penalty is the same no matter how many times a person flees and they cited cases where the offenders did not care if they lost their drivers licenses or had to pay a fee because these offenders were fleeing because of other crimes and know running would not add any time to their sentences.

HB 2442 would establish a special sentencing rule for a third or subsequent violation of fleeing or eluding police. The sentence for such violation would be presumptive imprisonment and would be served consecutively to any prison sentence. The sentence would not be considered a departure and would not be subject to appeal. This bill’s relevance was re-illustrated last week with the case in Kansas City where a woman was struck and killed during a 3 block police chase through a city neighborhood.

HB2490 made it to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. It was also introduced by the Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office, worked through the House Judiciary Committee and passed with a 121 to 0 vote. This bill would update jury procedures concerning the review of evidence. Conferees testified that under current Kansas law, if a jury wishes to look at evidence once they have begun to deliberate that they can only review the evidence by being escorted back to the court room in the presence of the defendant. This is a cumbersome and time consuming process to bring the defendant and the jury back to the courtroom. HB2490 would allow the jury to take evidence to the courtroom at the judge’s discretion. The bill also makes amendments to the process of the jury submitting questions about their instructions and evidence.

Insurance Commissioner discusses HB2553

This week the Kansas Insurance Commissioner issued a press release about HB2553, which was worked on in the House Federal & State Affairs Committee and is on the House Calendar for possible debate and a vote. HB2553 is titled “The Health Care Compact” and would place federal funding for all health care services and health plans under the control of the state legislature and governor. The Insurance Commissioner stated, “This legislation would include but is not limited to Medicare, Medicaid, the children’s health insurance program (HealthWave), rural hospitals, Hospice and federally qualified health centers (FQHC). The funding would be received in a block grant to the state, and the state legislature would decide how to spend those health care dollars.” She went on to say that, under the legislation, if the state budget is under-funded in the future, money that should be used to support the Medicare program for seniors in Kansas could be swept from that program to support other state responsibilities. The Commissioner said that AARP has also voiced opposition to the compact legislation and Governors in Arizona, New Mexico and Montana have already vetoed similar compact legislation in their states, stating among other concerns the fact that Medicare programs in their respective states could be in jeopardy.

Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week

You can check the upcoming hearing schedule in the House Calendar on kslegislature.com. If you would like a Committee to hear your opinion and any facts you may have that are relevant a bill it is hearing, you can testify in person or in writing. I can help you submit your testimony – just let me know! Note that with turn around, the House committees are reviewing Senate Bills (abbreviated SB in front of the number). Several interesting bills in the coming week caught my eye:

Wednesday, March 5 in Federal & State Affairs: SB2598 — Alcoholic beverages; microbreweries limit on production removed.

Wednesday, March 5 in Corrections & Juvenile Justice: Informational hearing on the Death Penalty, including time limitations in death penalty appeals and collateral motions appealing a prisoner's sentence motions.

Thursday, March 6 in Veterans, Military & Homeland Security: SB263 — Establishing the military funeral honors fund under the adjutant general's office.

Thursday, March 6 in Judiciary: SB255 — Special sentencing rule for attempt to commit capital murder.

Thursday, March 6 in Taxation: HB2608 — County special road and bridge fund mill levy; rate increase; protect
petition.

Keep in Touch

It is a special honor to serve as your representative. I value and need your input on the various issues facing state government in order to better serve my district and this state. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 541-S, 300 SW 10th St Topeka KS, 66612. You can reach me at (785)-296-7650 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. Be sure to follow the legislative session online and find many useful resources at www.kslegisture.org.

Also, please let me know if you would like to be removed from my email list.