Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 2 (January 20-24, 2014)
• New Committee Appointment
• Here is a Chance to get Personally Involved
• House Approves First Bill of the 2014 Session
• State of the Judiciary
• Agriculture Committee Hears Presentation on the Commerce Clause of
the US Constitution
• Keep in Touch
New Committee Appointment
Big news! I have been appointed to my fourth committee this session:
the House Utilities and Telecommunications Committee. It meets on
Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 am in room 582-N.
Here is a chance to get personally involved
The Coalition for KS Public Retirees is holding a Rally at the Capitol
on February 5th, to raise awareness about the underfunding of KPERS (the
State employee retirement system) and to make people aware of the
changes being proposed to the state's retirement system. There will be
a bus available for those wanting a ride to Capitol from the Leavenworth
Heritage Center on Delaware. It will leave at 8:30 am and return by
3:00. The cost is $5 per person. Email or call me for more information.
House Approves First Bill of the 2014 Session
On Wednesday morning, the House passed its first bill of the 2014
session. This bill increases fines for DUI convictions and fees for
reinstatement of a driver's license following a DUI conviction. The
bill was a Conference Committee Report that was passed by the Senate
last session by a vote of 34-6 and held over to this year. After quite
a bit of debate, CCR 2303 passed the House on a vote of 109-11 and the
bill now advances to the Governor for his signature.
In addition to the increase in fines, 33% of the fees and fines
collected for DUI's through 2017 will be dedicated to a salary
adjustment fund for non-judicial employees of the Kansas Judicial
Branch. These are the clerks and community corrections employees who
have not received the under market pay adjustments that the other
branches of government have received in the past few years. "Under
market adjustments" were determined based on a study of state employee
wages that found many employees were paid far less for their work than
their counterparts in the private sector and other states. Many were
even paid below the federal poverty level.
The debate focused on technicalities of how the money was to be handled.
Because this bill only affects fines and fees, it does not involve the
state general fund. Some legislators argued that the state should pay
for these programs with State general funds through the legislative
appropriations committees. They said this would make the use of the
money more transparent. Others argued that if user fee funds are not
set up as they are now and instead go straight into the general fund,
the money will be used for other purposes with no transparency at all.
With no transparency, the fees cannot be adjusted up or down as
necessary to meet their purposes.
State of the Judiciary
Chief Justice Nuss of the Kansas Supreme Court presented his State of
the Judiciary Address this week in the Kansas Supreme Courtroom. He
noted this was the first time in the 153 year history of the State that
his address was given in the courtroom and it is also the first time
that it was broadcast live over the internet. The Supreme Courtroom is
now wired with cameras and microphones so that anyone can observe its
activities, and they are archived so that anyone can access past
activities as well. There has been a bill introduced this year to do
the same thing in the legislative committee rooms, but without the
archiving.
Other technological innovations in the Judicial Branch this past year
include e-filing of court documents and video teleconferencing to cut
down on travel costs. The Supreme Court has also hit the road this last
year, holding court throughout the state to cut down the cost of
bringing everyone to Topeka as well as being open to anyone wishing to
attend and observe Supreme Court proceedings in person.
Chief Justice Nuss announced he had just received the results of the
Specialty Courts Commission that was established last year to determine
the effectiveness of specialty courts, such as mental health courts and
veteran courts. The Commission determined that specialty courts need to
be standardized across the state and recommended a pilot project on the
use of mediation. Mediation is actually required by some appellate
courts and is much more economical than court proceedings.
After the address I spoke to Chief Justice Nuss about establishing
veterans courts in the state of Kansas, as he had mentioned them in last
year's State of the Judiciary Address. He stated that he is still
very interested in veterans courts and believes they would be very
beneficial for assisting veterans in need and reducing crime by
addressing the root cause of some combat veterans' difficulties in
re-adjusting back into civilian life. He is meeting with experts who
have been instrumental in other states establishing such specialty
courts.
You can access the 2014 State of the Judiciary Address at
www.kscourts.org.
Agriculture Committee Hears Presentation on the Commerce Clause of the
US Constitution
This week the AG Committee was presented the findings of an Advisory
Committee that was formed in 2013 to determine the constitutionality of
the Kansas Corporate Farming Law. The Secretary of Agriculture brought
the issue to the legislature last session because corporate farming laws
in Iowa and South Dakota had recently been found unconstitutional.
The current corporate farming law aims to protect family farms in Kansas
as well as make it more difficult for out-of-state corporations to build
large-scale farming operations in the state. Currently, if a large
corporate farming operation seeks to locate in Kansas, citizens of the
county where the operation would be located have the option to
disapprove the request if at least 5% of the registered voters in the
county sign a petition to have it placed on the ballot for a vote.
The committee found that this law could be ruled unconstitutional if
challenged in the courts, because it may violate the dormant commerce
clause. This clause prohibits states from discriminating against
out-of-state businesses. Some provisions of our state's law explicitly
favor Kansas residents. The Commission suggests that the wording of the
current law be revised in order to make the law more constitutionally
sound.
This reminds me of the issue of self distribution of Kansas produced
wine and beer. Currently Kansas law requires all sales of alcoholic
beverages by producers to go through wholesale distributers to
retailers. There is one exemption for Kansas wineries that meet certain
criteria. When the legislature was made aware that this exception for
wineries violated the commerce clause by giving special treatment to
Kansas businesses, the Kansas law was amended to say that if an
out-of-state winery challenged the law, then the exemption would be
repealed.
This is the same thing that happened with government retirement benefits
more than 20 years ago. When federal retirees challenged the Kansas law
that exempted state retirement from being taxed, they had to go to court
and the state lost. The state was given the choice of exempting all
government (federal and state) employee/military retirement benefits or
none. Kansas chose all.
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
