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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2013 Issue 4

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2013, Issue 4: February 10, 2013

In This Issue

- State of the Judiciary
- Executive Reorganization Order No. 42
- Keep in Touch

State of the Judiciary

In past sessions, the House of Representatives has held a joint session
with the Senate to hear the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court present
the State of the Judiciary. This year the new Speaker of the House
denied the Chief Justice's request so we received the report in writing
and it was dated January 31, 2013. I have summarized some of the
report:

Chief Justice Nuss gave an update on "Project Pegasus," a two part
project designed to study the Kansas Judicial system and make
recommendations on efficiency. The first part was a weighted caseload
study to measure the actual workloads of all Kansas district courts and
services. The Judges and employees kept track of their tasks and how
long it took to perform them. The second part was a Blue Ribbon
Commission, made up of 24 Kansans of various professions, that reviewed
the caseload study and Judicial operations across the state in order to
make the recommendations. The Project was completed last year.

The Chief Justice stated that the study showed Kansas has the correct
number of Judges to handle the caseload, but they are not in the most
efficient locations. There is a Kansas statute that requires at least
one judge to live and work in each county, so some Judges are under
utilized in counties with lower populations. The Judicial branch
requested legislation last year to allow them to manage the judges and
locate them where they are best utilized, but the legislation failed.
This year they are asking for the legislature to create and fund the 22
new judges and staff that are needed to complete the caseloads in the
most populated counties, since they cannot move them around.

The study also showed the possibility of better efficiency by using
electronic filing of documents, so pilot projects were started in
Douglas, Leavenworth, and Sedgwick Counties. The Judicial Branch's goal
this year is to centralize this "e-court" system and to use it statewide
in order to allow court personnel to work on cases anywhere in the state
enabling Kansas to keep all 105 county court clerk offices open and
utilized. The pilot program was paid for using a Justice Assistance
Grant at no cost to Kansas. In 2012, the Judicial branch had asked the
legislature for the ability to raise the $2 million necessary to pay for
a statewide system by assessing fees on the users of the system. That
legislation also failed.

The Chief Justice described other cost saving measures the Judicial
Branch has implemented:
- The Court of Appeals has started using video conferencing instead of
personal appearances for certain activities in order to save travel
costs
- The Court of Appeals is developing a program for mediation of appeals
in order to save time and money, plus reduce of the number of cases that
go to court
- The Supreme Court has partnered with KU Law to allow students to
perform legal research. This allows research at no cost to Kansas and
gives the students experience.

He closed by stating that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has ranked the
Kansas courts 5th among the states for their liability system that makes
Kansas more business friendly. He warned that an inadequately funded
court system will cause Kansas to drop in its national rankings and
affect our competiveness in attracting new business.

Executive Reorganization Order (ERO) No. 42

We heard and discussed the Governor's ERO 42, in the Corrections &
Juvenile Justice Committee this week. It is the order to move the
Juvenile Justice Authority under the Department of Corrections.

The proponents were the Secretary of Corrections and the Acting
Commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA). They stated that
the motivation for the move is public safety and not efficiency. There
was a Legislative Post Audit of the JJA last year that produced some
alarming findings about the security posture of the facility in Topeka.
The Department of Corrections stepped in to help remedy the situation by
providing the current Acting Commissioner and supporting her with
equipment and measures such as search dogs. They testified that they
already share some training and the Information Technology Department
and could possibly save money through sharing health care and food
programs. The Secretary of Corrections stated that he intends on
keeping the budgets separate and that he cannot transfer personnel
between the two because the training to work with juveniles is so
specialized. They also stated that 9 other states have their JJA work
under the Department of Corrections, and the Juveniles would just be
another specialized population that the Secretary would be responsible
for.

The opponents were a Senator that was in the legislature when the JJA
was formed, a Representative that has worked on the joint commissions
for corrections and juvenile justice and the KS Association of Counties.
The KS Community Corrections Association stated that they were a
proponent, but started their testimony by saying that they were under no
illusion that the ERO would be defeated and feared that the JJA programs
are more likely to succumb to future budget reductions if they are under
the Department of Corrections. The opponents testified that the
legislature spent several years studying evidence based on research by
experts in working with juveniles when they formed the JJA and that this
move does nothing to fix the public safety issues addressed by the
audit. They pointed out that both the proponents testified that they
had already remedied the issues identified in the Legislative Post Audit
report, which were attributed to hiring underqualified and unqualified
individuals to lead the JJA, large funding cuts, and inequities in
salaries. The opponents testified that the juvenile and adult systems
are two very different cultures that juveniles are much more than just a
specialized population. The opponents stated that this ERO was just a
"knee jerk reaction" to bad audit findings, with no input by the
stakeholders and the only proponents work directly for the Governor.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me.
My Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You
can also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail
me at melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2013 Issue 3

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 3: January 28 – February 1, 2013

In This Issue

- Kansas Day
- Veterans, Military & Homeland Security
- Corrections & Juvenile Justice
- Health Exchanges
- Transportation & Public Safety
- Keep in Touch

Kansas Day

Tuesday was Kansas' 152nd Birthday. As we celebrated 152 years as a
state, action in the Capitol picked up with hearings and voting in the
separate chambers. The new legislators jumped right into all the
protocol and procedure – sink or swim!

Our own Leavenworth County Attorney, Todd Thompson, was in the Capitol
to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. He
introduced a bill through the Kansas District/County Attorney
Association to make it a crime to possess with intent to distribute
someone else's prescription drugs. This bill is in response to the
growing national trend of "pharm" or "skittles" or "trail
mix" parties. At these parties multiple types of prescription drugs
are combined in a bowl or bag and then taken randomly (often with
alcohol) to just see what happens. As the drugs are only prescription
drugs and not on the controlled substance schedule, there is no law
against providing them to others.

Veterans, Military & Homeland Security

We had some great testimony this week. We heard from the Kansas Center
for Safe and Prepared Schools and the Kansas Commission of Veteran
Affairs. We had hearings on HB2077 and HB2078, which are bills that
would help translate military training into civilian education
requirements. Many military occupational specialties require more
training than the civilian equivalents professions, so this bill could
aid many unemployed veterans in getting to work soon after their release
from the military without having to repeat training in the civilian
education system. The national rate of unemployment for veterans is
twice the rate of others, so this is a priority issue.

We also introduced a number of bills including the following issues:
- Creating a disabled veteran owned business preference in state
contracting
- Expanding protection from foreclosure for deployed service members
- Allowing veteran service organizations to have slot machines in their
facilities (the Darlene Kenny Memorial Bill)

Corrections and Juvenile Justice

The committee was assigned the Governor's Executive Reorganization
Order to combine the Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice
Authority. We will have a hearing over several days next week to decide
if the committee agrees. An ERO will automatically go into effect if
neither the House nor Senate disapproves. February 7th is the deadline
for submitting a resolution to disapprove.

This week we had several hearings on various issues including:
- HB2034, that would create a new type of search warrant for law
enforcement's use of GPS tracking devices in investigations.
-HB2044 would create 2 new crimes of distribution of a controlled
substance that causes great bodily harm and the distribution of a
controlled substance that causes death. The premise behind the bill is
that anyone who is distributing drugs illegally is acting recklessly.
The opponents stated that the law would place all the blame of a tragedy
on the person who distributed the substance, no matter the
circumstances.
- HB2043 brought in the TV cameras. It proposes creating 2 new crimes
of aggravated battery by DUI. Several District Attorneys testified that
there is a gap in the penalties between manslaughter by DUI and the
Class B misdemeanor of DUI. This bill would make a DUI in itself a
reckless act, therefore if anyone suffers severe bodily harm as a result
of a DUI the driver would be charged with aggravated battery.
- HB2065 creates the crime of home improvement fraud. It targets "fly
by night" operations that take a homeowners money with no intent to do
the work. We heard this bill last year in Judiciary Committee.
- HB2080 is another bill we heard in Judiciary last year. It would add
the intent to commit various domestic offenses, such as the violation of
restraining orders, to the crime of burglary. Burglary is the crime of
breaking and entering with the intent to commit further felony crime.

Health Exchanges

With open enrollment for the new Kansas Health Exchange just around the
corner (October 1, 2013), the Kansas Health Institute was here to give
legislators an idea of what it will look like. They explained that
starting in 2014, there will be no more exclusions for pre-existing
conditions. Your premium rates will be based on 4 factors: your age,
family status, geographical location and tobacco use. They said that
there will be 3 risk adjustment programs at first, to mitigate all the
new rules going into effect at once. The federal statute calls for 10
categories of essential health benefits that must be included in all
insurance plans, so the Kansas Health Institute is using the Kansas Blue
Cross and Blue Shield plan as a benchmark. As Blue Cross & Blue Shield
is the largest plan in Kansas and already has 8 of the 10 categories,
they believe it is the best system to estimate what the new plans and
cost will be. The only 2 categories that have to be added are pediatric
dental/vision benefits and habilitative services. To see what the
exchange will actually look like, there are now videos on the internet
that you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/user/CMSHHSgov.

Transportation & Public Safety Budget

We heard from various agencies this week in preparation to going through
their proposed budgets next week including: the Kansas Highway Patrol,
Department of Corrections, Juvenile Justice Authority, Board of
Indigents' Defense Services, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, State
Fire Marshal, and Department of Transportation. These are just some of
the 17 budgets the committee is responsible for. The Speaker has set a
strict timeline to get the budget put together and we have a lot of work
to do in a short time. We also heard from the Department of Corrections
and the Juvenile Justice Authority and what they think of the
Governor's Executive Reorganization Order to combine them. They
briefed their plan, so I had a short pre-view of the agency view of the
ERO prior to our hearings next week in Corrections & Juvenile Justice
Committee.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2013 Issue 2

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2013, Issue 2: January 27, 2013

In This Issue

- Kansas Armed Forces Appreciation
- Veteran, Military & Homeland Security Committee
- Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee
- Governor's Budget
- Arguing the Rules
- Keep in Touch

Kansas Armed Forces Appreciation Day

Surrounded by members of the Governor's Military Council, the Governor
signed a proclamation on Wednesday, January 23rd, declaring it as Kansas
Armed Forces Appreciation Day. After the ceremonies, the Governor's
Military Council convened in his office. The Council is made up of
representatives of our Kansas military installations, the Governor and
his staff, state and federal legislators, and the business community
throughout the state. This week's meeting focused mainly on a report
from Hyjek & Fix, the State's hired lobbyist firm in Washington DC, on
the current environment in DC and the Pentagon and the likelihood of
future BRAC and/or draw downs. The Council's focus is on what Kansas
can do to prepare and make Kansas as friendly to our military
installations as possible.

Veteran, Military & Homeland Security Committee

We have been busy in Committee, holding our first hearing and
introducing a number of bill concepts to be drafted into bills. The
Hearing was on HB2001, a bill introduced by Legislative Post Audit to
update the language in the statute that outlines the National Guard
Scholarship program in Kansas. The new bill introductions included
subjects such as: the acceptance of military experience and training in
lieu of some requirements for professional licensure in Kansas;
clarification of the language in the statute that outlines the state
grant program that enables Veteran Service Organizations to provide
Veteran Service Representatives across the state; where the money from
the Veteran Lottery Scratch Off Tickets goes; and exempting active duty
military Kansas residents from paying income tax.

Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee

We heard reports from the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the Secretary of
Corrections, and the Justice Reinvestment Workgroup. The Justice
Reinvestment Workgroup was commissioned by the Kansas Legislature last
year to study the Kansas corrections system including recidivism rates.
It is part of a National Council of State Legislatures, non-partisan
data driven approach to reduce corrections spending and reinvest savings
in strategies that can decrease recidivism and increase public safety.
The workgroup came up with seven recommendations that could save over
$53.1 million over the next five years, with the further recommendation
to reinvest the savings in community based substance abuse programs.
The Secretary of Corrections, Kansas Sentencing Commission, and the
Legislature will determine if they accept the recommendations and what
steps to take for implementation.

Governor's Budget Proposal

The Legislative Research Department briefed the legislature this week on
its analysis of the Governor's proposed budget. The Governor recommends
expenditures of $14.6 billion from all funding sources in FY2014, which
includes $6.1 billion from the State General Fund (SGF) - the part
controlled by the legislature.
It increases spending from all funding sources by 1.3%, but decreases
spending from SGF by 1.9%. There is a proposed ending balance of $455.7
million. It depends on certain adjustments to tax policy to pass this
session including a bill to raise state sales tax to 6.3% and a bill to
eliminate the state income tax deductions for mortgage interest and
property tax while itemizing.

Many cuts in programs are proposed in order to send $115.7 million to
SGF including: $25 million from the Bioscience Authority, $15 million
from State Highway Fund, $14.7 million from the Oil & Gas Valuation
Depletion Trust Fund, $10.2 million from the Economic Development
Initiatives Fund, $300,000 from the State Fair Capital Improvement Fund,
$5 million from the Attorney General's Court Cost Fund, $1.1 million
from the Department of Education's State Safety Fund, and more.

Base State Aid Per Pupil is held at $3,838 for FY2014 and $107.3 million
is to come from the State Highway Fund to pay for student
transportation.

Arguing the Rules

We had our first debates in the House this week over setting the House
and Joint rules for the two year session. There were many amendments to
the House rules proposed, but none of them were accepted. The
amendments included things such as keeping the House session from going
past eleven pm and giving at least a ten hour break before gaveling back
in the next day unless the House voted to stay; allowing the use of
funds in the ending balance of the budget proposed by the Appropriations
Committee to be used in House debate; and limiting the bundling of bills
in conference committees to only two. The House will take a final
action vote on the rules on Monday morning.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My
Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can
also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse Vol 2013 Issue 1

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2013, Issue 1: January 20, 2013

In This Issue

- Back in the Statehouse
- Governor's State of the State Address

- Governor's Budget

- Surprise from the Secretary of Agriculture
- Keep in Touch

Back in the Statehouse

Monday, January 14th, 165 legislators took their oath, the new House and Senate leadership were elected and the 2013 session started. There are many changes this session in the House. We have 57 freshman legislators. I have a new office on the 4th floor of the Capitol and a new committee assignment this year to the Transportation & Public Safety Budget Committee. I am still the Ranking Minority Member of the Veteran Military & Homeland Security Committee and serve on the Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committee.

Governor's State of the State Address

On Tuesday, January the 15th, the Governor gave his State of the State Address to a Joint Meeting of the House and Senate. He began the address by welcoming the first woman president of the Kansas State Senate, Susan Wagle. He reported that, "the state of our state is strong and blessed and leading America in several key arenas." He went on to outline what he would like the legislature accomplish this year. The following are some of the key proposals:

- establish the "Kansas Reads to Succeed" that includes: $12 million for reading programs, incentives to elementary schools that increase 4th grade reading scores, and holding 3rd graders back until they demonstrate their ability to read.

- raise the State sales tax to 6.3% and further cut income taxes to 1.9% and 3.5%.

- dissolve the Kansas Turnpike Authority

- redefine "suitable provision" for education in the Kansas Constitution

- elect appellate and supreme court judges (instead of the current merit system)

You can read the entire address at www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/chamber/documents/daily_journal_house_20130115113425.pdf

Governor's Budget

This year the Governor is proposing a 2 year budget and his staff presented it to the House Appropriations and the Senate Ways and Means Committees on Wednesday. These committees will start their work forming the budget with the Governor's proposal as a starting point. All the state agencies will testify before the committees about their particular sections of the budget. The House has budget sub committees, such as the Transportation & Public Safety Committee that I am on, that listen to agencies and then work those portions of the budget and bring the Committee's proposal to the full Appropriations Committee.

Some aspects of the Governor's proposed budget have already made the news. Such as his proposal to raise the State sales tax to 6.3% and eliminate the home mortgage interest tax exemption. His budget also calls for holding the K-12 Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) at the current level of $3,838, and proposes to raise it by $14 to $3,852 in the fiscal year starting July 1, 2014.

You can read the Governor's full budget proposal at the following websites (it is in 2 volumes) at http://budget.ks.gov/publications/FY2014/FY2014_GBR_Vol1.pdf and http://budget.ks.gov/publications/FY2014/FY2014_GBR_Vol2.pdf

Surprise from the Secretary of Agriculture

Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman told legislators this week that they should consider repealing the current Kansas restrictions on corporate farms because he believes they may be unconstitutional and that they hinder the recruitment of agri-business and its growth. For the past 80 years Kansas has limited corporate farming to family corporations or corporations with 15 or fewer Kansas resident shareholders.

 

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012 Issue 22

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2012, Issue 22: October 28, 2012

In This Issue

- Constitutional Amendment on Your Ballot
- Keep in Touch

Constitutional Amendment on Your Ballot

I have had several people inquire about the constitutional amendment
question at the end of this year's ballot. The explanation of vote
written on the ballot reads:

"This amendment would allow the legislature to classify and tax
watercraft upon a basis different from other property.

A vote FOR this proposition would permit the legislature to provide for
separate classification and taxation of watercraft or to exempt such
property from property taxation and impose taxes in lieu thereof.

A vote AGAINST this proposition would continue the taxation of
watercraft in the same manner as all other property."

Then the ballot includes the text of the entire section to show what the
statute would look like if the proposition passed. If you look closely,
there are two italicized words – and watercraft - in the middle of
paragraph (a). These two italicized words are the proposed change.

Some background: Currently boats are taxed in Kansas as personal
property at 30% of their fair market value. Proponents for the
constitutional amendment say that it is much less expensive to register
a boat in the surrounding states, so many Kansans register their boats
elsewhere and Kansas is losing out on the tax revenue. The Kansas
Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) is also a proponent
for the change and has released a press statement urging Kansans to vote
yes. The press release explains that when a Kansan registers their boat
in another state, Wildlife and Parks does not get its registration fee
of $32.50 every 3 years and does not get matching federal funds.

If this proposition is adopted, it is only the first step in changing
the law. The legislature would have to introduce and pass a bill to
change how a boat is taxed. For example, back in 1992, a similar
legislative authorization for "recreational vehicles" was adopted as
part of a constitutional amendment. The Kansas Legislature in 1994
subsequently enacted a new tax system for recreational vehicles where
taxes are based on the weight and the age of the vehicles, rather than
on fair market value.

This is not the first attempt to change the tax rate on boats. A
proposed constitutional amendment (SCR 1629) was placed on the 2000
general election ballot that would have authorized a new tax system for
both watercraft and aircraft. It was defeated by less than 12,000 votes
(433,499 "no" to 421,621 "yes").

There are approximately 85,000 watercraft currently registered with the
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. KDWPT estimates that
as many as 10,000 Kansans unlawfully register their boats in Oklahoma,
Nebraska and Missouri, because these states do not have a property tax
on watercraft.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My
Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can
also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2012 Issue 21

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives

Volume 2012, Issue 21: September 30, 2012

In This Issue

- NE Kansas 5 County Regional Transportation Study
- Keep in Touch

NE Kansas 5 County Regional Transportation Study

This summer, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) came to
Leavenworth to brief the county and cities on the results of their
Northeast Kansas 5 County Regional Transportation Study, in which KDOT
looked at transportation system management and travel demand. The two
phase study has three goals: assess multi-modal transportation, assess
and prioritize the needs of the region and develop strategies to address
them. This meeting was about Phase I of the study. The five counties
included in the study are Leavenworth, Douglas, Johnson, Miami and
Wyandotte.

There are five basic trends KDOT determined are affecting transportation
management and demand in the five county region: changing population,
vehicle technology, increased telecommuting/flex hours, development
patterns, and gas prices. They compared these trends to the projected
necessary funding twenty years beyond the current T-Works program.

T-WORKS is the 10-year, $8 billion transportation program designed to
preserve highway infrastructure, create jobs (175,000 jobs over the 10
years), and provide multimodal economic development opportunities across
the state that was passed in 2010. T-Works made the $8 million promise
to complete at least $8 million worth of projects in each Kansas county
and last January 32 projects were moved ahead of their original timeline
in order to accelerate $50 million worth of preservation projects to
produce jobs ahead of schedule and to take advantage of low construction
costs.

In the study, KDOT determined the area population that is aging needs
ways to stay home and not drive so far or as much, and the younger
population also wants to live closer to their place of employment and to
be able to ride their bicycles or walk. Vehicle technology is producing
more efficient vehicles and rush hour is changing because of the
increase in telecommuting and the use of flexible hours in employment.
The development patterns show that people are moving into core areas and
do not like urban sprawl. Then of course, rising gas prices are a big
factor resulting in more car pooling and less driving. As far as
funding, KDOT explained that prior to the T-Works plan they talked to
the communities of Kansas to get their input as to what each community
wants or needs in its transportation plan and then ranked them
accordingly. The KDOT priority list shows it would take $15 billion to
pay for items that are "wish list" type projects, $6.9 billion to
pay for "top tier" needs, and $5.7 billion for projects that already
have funding or can be achieved with already available funding.

KDOT explained their policy considerations used in the study to assess
the area needs. They were to manage existing road lanes before building
new ones. If new lanes were to be built in a metro area, they were to
be managed. They were to use new strategies for commute times such as
allowing buses on the shoulder, park & ride sites and ride share
programs. They were to correct any bottlenecks and expand their
incident management programs to cut down on congestion. They were to
enhance KDOT partnerships with counties and cities.

Projects for the Leavenworth County area included the bridge between
Leavenworth and Missouri and K-7. You have probably noticed the T-Works
sign on the bridge to Missouri. It is referring to an ongoing study of
the bridge as to how best to develop it for the future. It needs to be
widened so that it is not shut down when repairs are done, as we all
recently experienced, and needs to tie into the city's future and
ongoing development projects (a new National Guard Armory, the new
Hotel, etc). KDOT explained that Missouri only has the money to do road
maintenance right now, so no expansion or new projects such as work on
the roads to the airport are currently possible. KDOT said that the
study showed that K-7 needs to be a freeway with extensive intersection
and access management. They are also looking at bicycle and pedestrian
use for the future, especially on any bridges.

County officials asked questions during the meeting about several local
transportation and infrastructure issues and proposed projects including
K-5, the K-7/I-70 interchange and a possible outerloop/bypass in the
County. KDOT explained that Kansas Highway 5 was not looked at in this
study. The County and Lansing officials explained to KDOT that a study
needs to be done on K-5 because its current condition is negatively
affecting economic development. Lansing officials stated that
businesses that choose to open in Leavenworth County need more and
improved access to highways. KDOT stated that it would need more
information because the only study done on K-5 to this point was a
safety study years ago. KDOT stated that the K-7/I-70 interchange is an
approved project under the current T-Works and is scheduled to start in
May 2013, but T-Works is only funding the first few stages. KDOT also
agreed to the request of the County Commission to run a scenario on an
outerloop/bypass project from the intersection of County Road 1/I-70 to
Metropolitan in Leavenworth, to determine if the proposal should be
studied.

As the meeting came to a close, a KDOT representative explained to me
that the State has funds set aside for projects that would help a new
business decide to come to Kansas if access to infrastructure is what is
stopping them. So if a business approaches a city or the state and says
it is ready to open up shop in Kansas but access to the highways is
stopping them, that T-Works already has funds built into the program.
This is great information for economic development opportunities in our
county and cities. For more information on the five county study and to
track Phase II, go to 5countystudy.org.

Keep in Touch

I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My
Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can
also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.

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.