Melanie's Adventure in the Statehouse, Vol 2014 Issue 4

Representative Melanie Meier's
Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 4 (February 3-7, 2014)

• The First Debated Bills in the House
• Kansas Bureau of Investigation Budget
• Out of State Online Classes
• Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week
• Keep in Touch

The First Debated Bills in the House

This is the first week that the House debated "General Orders."
General Orders is when the Speaker of the House pulls a bill that made
it out of Committee to the top of the calendar for debate by the full
House. The House had four bills to debate Friday and all were
recommended for passage and will be voted on in "final action" on
Monday morning.

HB2514 clarifies Kansas law to end uncertainties that could result in
insurance company members being treated less favorably than bank of
credit union members if the sale of collateral in an insurance company
insolvency proceeding was necessary. Proponents testified that the
uncertainties in the law could result in extensive delays in the sale
and in the possible loss of some collateral.

HB2516 would add licensed physician assistants, licensed advanced
practice nurses, licensed nursing facilities, licensed living facilities
and licensed residential health care facilities to the list of health
care providers covered by the Health Care Stabilization Fund (HCSF). It
also increases HCSF coverage for retired or inactive providers. The
HCSF provides professional liability coverage for health care providers
who practice in Kansas.

HB2223 would allow a homemade fermented beverage to be provided to
guests, or judges in a contest, so long as no compensation is provided
to the brewer. This was a bill that was held over from last year and
would ensure that there would be no penalty or taxes enforced on such
private home beer brewers.

HB2420 would allow the governing body of any township in Johnson County
to appoint, equip and train volunteers and employees as school crossing
guards. Under current law, only school districts, nonpublic schools,
cities and counties are authorized to provide school crossing guard
services.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation Budget

We heard the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's budget proposal this
week in the House Transportation & Public Safety Budget Committee. The
KBI Director testified that their biggest challenge is the back-log of
lab and forensic evidence processing. The KBI's new Forensic Lab at
Washburn University is scheduled to be complete in October 2015 and the
KBI was able to fund the construction entirely through bonding, so it
did not need to use the $300,000 that was appropriated for them last
year from Kansas Department of Transportation funds.

The Director also testified that much of the back-log is because of the
Bureau's large turnover of forensic scientists. He stated that it
costs approximately $190,000 to train a forensic scientist and once they
are fully trained, many leave for better paying jobs elsewhere.
Forensic scientist education requirements include a bachelor's degree
in a hard science, plus 18 or more month's additional training by the
KBI itself. The KBI pays a starting forensic scientist approximately
$60,000 in pay and benefits, $71,000 in pay and benefits for a
journeyman level forensic scientist, and $74,000 in pay and benefits to
senior level scientists. Benefits are figured at approximately 20% of
pay.

Additional challenges cited by the Director included the loss of federal
funding for three scientists in their drug analysis lab. The Director
testified that these three scientists completed 52% of the forensic
testing of drug samples in 2012, so the loss of these three positions
would greatly increase backlogs in pending drug cases across Kansas.

Out of State Online Classes

This week the House Appropriations Committee heard testimony from higher
education officials in favor of HB 2544, which would allow Kansas to the
State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) that establishes
standards for online courses and automatically authorizes the member
states to deliver distance education courses in each state. Under
current law, each school must individually pursue needed approvals in
each state where it enrolls students, which has proven to be complicated
and expensive. The Kansas Board of Regents testified that such a
reciprocity agreement could save our State public universities an
estimated $529,000 annually.

Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week

You can check the upcoming hearing schedule in the House Calendar on
kslegislature.com. If you would like the Committee that is scheduled to
hold the hearing to hear your opinion and any facts you may have that
are relevant to the bill, you can testify in person or in writing. I
can help you submit your testimony – just let me know! Several
interesting bills in the coming week caught my eye:

HB 2564 is being heard in Pensions & Benefits Committee on Wednesday,
Feb 12th. It would provide for a cost of living allowance for Kansas
Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) retirees: .5% for those
retired on or before July 2014; 1% for those retired on or before July
2004; 1.5% for those retired on or before July 1999; 2% for those
retired on or before 1994; 2.5% for those retired on or before 1989; and
3% for those retired on or before 1984.

HB 2449 and HB2498 are now being heard in Judiciary and Taxation on
Tuesday, Feb 11th. They were postponed because of the snow last week.
HB2449 is the bill on the Kansas Historic Preservation Act and HB2498 is
the bill that proposes taking away the property tax exemption for
certain humanitarian service organizations. This means you have more
time to submit testimony in writing or in person.

HB2557 is being heard in Taxation on Wednesday, Feb 12th. This bill
would exempt a taxpayer from the current 50% penalty for filing an
incomplete or incorrect Kansas tax return, if the taxpayer resubmits
voluntarily within 30 days of notification of their tax liability.

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

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2014 Issue 3 (try again)

Due to an error with my website, I am resending. Please excuse any
repeat messages!

Representative Melanie Meier's
Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 3 (January 27-31, 2014)

• New Sub-Committee Appointment on Juvenile Justice Reform
• PEAK hearings in Commerce & Labor Committee
• Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week
• Keep in Touch

New Sub-Committee Appointment on Juvenile Justice Reform

Big news! I have been appointed to a sub-committee in Corrections and
Juvenile Justice to study possible reform of the Kansas Juvenile Justice
System. During the week we the Corrections & Juvenile Justice
Committee heard an informational hearing on Juvenile Justice Reform
Initiatives. Representatives from the National Campaign to Reform State
Juvenile Justice Systems, the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law & Justice,
the Texas Right-On-Crime, and the Kansas Department of Corrections
discussed the current system in Kansas and other states and made
recommendations for improvements.

Our current Juvenile Justice system was created in 1996, with a goal to
promote public safety, hold juvenile offenders accountable for their
behavior and improve their ability to live more productively and
responsibly in the community. Kansas is among the 12 states with the
highest rates of juveniles in custody and 40% of our 320 incarcerated
youth have not committed a crime against another person.
Recommendations by the conferees include applying for a federal waiver
to use funds for a greater range of intervention programs to be used
before a youth is removed from their home. Our sub-committee will take
a deeper look at the recommendations and decide whether there is
legislation that should be proposed or if more study is warranted.

PEAK hearings in Commerce & Labor

The Promoting Employment Across Kansas (or PEAK) Act that was enacted in
2009, offers incentives for start-up companies, encourages businesses to
relocate to Kansas, and aids expansion of existing Kansas businesses.
Qualifying companies are allowed to keep up to 95% of the income
withholding taxes for employees that are paid at or above the median
wage of the county in which the business is located for a number of
years determined by contract with the KS Department of Commerce.

In September 2013, the nonpartisan Legislative Division of Post Audit
issued a report that says, "Assessing the benefits of the Promoting
Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) program is difficult because the
Department of Commerce has not compiled meaningful information on the
program." Auditors were unable to evaluate the benefit to the state
versus the $21 million spent since 2009.

Post Audit reported that nearly 80% of the jobs credited to PEAK are
located in the Kansas City metropolitan area, with many relocating from
Missouri and that the Department of Commerce had exceeded the limit
existing in the law for authorized tax incentive payments. The law
limits PEAK to a total of $6 million per year for in-state companies
that expand, yet in the current fiscal year nearly $7.5 million has been
contracted for deferred withholding tax. Over the next ten years, the
Departments commitments exceed what is allowed in the law by $22.5
million.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, members of the House Committee on
Commerce & Labor heard testimony on House Bill 2430 which would allow
the Department of Commerce to extend by two years, the PEAK benefits for
companies who entered into an agreement to participate in PEAK prior to
January 1, 2013. Secretary of Commerce Pat George told Legislators that
the bill was intended to address the concerns raised by Post Audit by
making minor fixes to the program. Some Legislators expressed concerns
the bill extends benefits while doing little to address the
accountability and reporting concerns found by Post Audit.

Interesting Hearings Scheduled this Week

You can check the upcoming hearing schedule in the House Calendar on
the Kansas Legislature webiste. Several interesting ones caught my eye
for this
comming week:

HB 2463 is being heard in Corrections & Juvenile Justice on Monday. It
would create a crime at the felony level for raising, soliciting,
collecting or providing material support/resources with the intent that
such will be used to plan, prepare, carry out or aid in acts of
terrorism. It also includes, the acts of indecent solicitation of a
minor and sexual exploitation of a child to the list of crimes subject
to forfeiture of seized property.

HB 2372 is being heard in Health & Human Services on Wednesday. It
would require that all local governments that provide artificially
fluoridated water notify consumers of certain findings regarding the
ingestion of fluoride. The bill would permit the notice to be included
with or printed on water bills or by any other means that the city felt
would adequately make the consumers aware of the findings.

HB 2449 is being heard in Judiciary on Tuesday. Currently if the State
Historical Preservation Officer determines that a building project will
damage or destroy a historic property, the project cannot proceed until
the Governor or a governing body has determined that there is no
feasible and prudent alternative to the proposal and that the project
includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the property. This
bill would change the law to require that the decision be based only on
substantial evidence that the project is planned to minimize harm, and
would limit the person who can seek a review of the decision to the
proposed project applicant or the owner of an historic property who is
directly involved with the proposed project (rather than just anyone).

HB 2498 is being heard in Taxation on Tuesday. It would change the
definition of a non-profit humanitarian service organization that is
exempt from property tax. It would add the stipulation that if such
organization receives 40% or more of its funding from membership dues or
providing services that other for profit businesses provide, it would no
longer be exempt from property tax. This bill appears to be related to
SB 72 that would grant property tax exemption to health clubs. This
bill concerns me because our veteran service organizations receive a
large proportion of their funding through membership fees!

SB 72 is being heard in Taxation on Monday. This is the bill that would
grant an exemption from property taxes for health clubs. It has
received quite a bit of attention since the Senate passed it last year.
The Senators' explanations of votes in the journal for the day of
their debate explained their vote by saying that the YMCA is no longer a
humanitarian service organization and received unfair advantages by
their exemption to property tax. This is why I think HB 2498 is related
to this bill.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2014 Issue 2

Representative Melanie Meier's
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

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2014 Issue 1

Rep Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2014, Issue 1

In this Issue:
• Back in the Statehouse
• Kansas House Elections Committee hears from Revenue Secretary
• Governor's Budget Proposals
• All-Day Kindergarten Plans

- Back in the Statehouse

The Kansas Legislature convened for the 2014 legislative session this
past Monday, the 13th of January. It was a busy week as legislators got
into the swing of things under the Dome. At the start of this session,
we welcomed seven new members to the House, which is an unusually large
number, not to mention the fact that last year we had over 50 freshmen
legislators. Nearly half of the House has turned over since 2011. We
jumped right into committee hearings on Monday, and Governor Brownback
delivered his annual State of the State address on Wednesday evening.
To watch it and the minority response, visit WIBW's website at
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Brownback-Prepares-State-Of-The-State-240260471.html.

We returned this year to the absence of plywood and construction
barriers. After 13 years, the Capitol renovation was finally completed
just days before the start of session. If you have a chance to visit,
you won't be disappointed by the new visitor center which includes
many images and artifacts tracing the history of our great Statehouse,
as and a beautiful new gift shop where you can purchase pieces of copper
from the old dome.

My calendar will remain full over the next few weeks as bills are
introduced and committees begin their work. This year I continue to
serve on the Veteran, Military & Homeland Security; the Transportation &
Public Safety Budget; and the Corrections & Juvenile Justice committees.
Complete daily calendars are available at www.kslegislature.org along
with other useful information. In addition to this newsletter, I am
also working to keep constituents more informed via Facebook and Twitter
on a daily basis, so be sure to follow me at
www.facebook.com/meier4kansas and www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.

- Kansas House Elections Committee hears from Revenue Secretary

On Tuesday, Nick Jordan, the Kansas Secretary of Revenue, gave a
presentation to the Elections Committee to provide information and
answer questions. Discussion centered on the procedures currently in
place by the Department of Revenue regarding the distribution/renewal of
driver's licenses and voting registration. In compliance with the
Federal Motor Voter Act, citizens who want to register to vote can do so
when renewing their license.

Secretary Jordan stated that for those who want to register to vote but
do not have the proper documents to prove citizenship with them, an
electronic version of their application is sent to the Kansas Secretary
of State's office, and the DMV will inform them verbally and in
writing that they have not completed the voting registration process.
This system is in place in order to help the Secretary of State's
office register voters in Kansas. But Sec Jordan explained that there
are actually thousands of citizens who have had their voter registration
status placed in suspension because of problems in transmitting proof of
citizenship documents from the Department of Motor Vehicles to the
Secretary of State. These are citizens who had the proper documentation
with them. As of this week, it is estimated that nearly 19,800 Kansans
who registered through their DMV office currently have their voter
registration suspended.

These are citizens who have provided sufficient documentation to prove
that they are citizens and have the right to vote, but they find their
registration suspended because the process to transmit that
documentation from the DMV to the Secretary of State is not working.
Unfortunately, unless this is corrected, many may not even know that
their registration has been suspended until they attempt to vote.

If you would like to know more about your own registration, you can
visit this site http://bit.ly/1asWmSk, call the Leavenworth County
Clerk, or you can always contact my office.

- Governor's Budget Proposals

The Governor's Budget Proposals were unveiled Thursday during the
Appropriations Committee meeting. Highlights of the budget proposal
include funding for increased veteran care, all-day kindergarten and
after school literacy programs, the restoration of the regents salary
cap, a pay increase for classified state employees, and additional
funding for the Kansas State Housing Trust Fund.

According to the Governor's office, his proposed changes to the budget
for the 2014 Fiscal Year increase government spending by $30.7 million
over what the 2013 Legislature authorized, and spends $429.8 million
more in 2015. The majority of this increase is the $362.9 million to
the Department of Corrections.

The Governor's proposal relies heavily on spending the ending balance
from last year. I am sure the final budget product for the session will
look very different than this initial proposal. Because the legislature
passed a 2 year budget last session (for 2014 and 2015), the only budget
work that is really required this session is for the Department of
Corrections. Their approved 2014 budget is grossly inadequate and there
is NO money in the 2015 budget for Corrections (due to the Governor's
line item veto last year).

- All-Day Kindergarten Plans

A hot topic during the first week of the legislative session was the
Governor's proposal to fully fund all-day kindergarten. Legislators on
both sides of the aisle have a long history of supporting all-day
kindergarten initiatives, but the plan has been met with mixed reviews.

Evidenced based benefits of all-day kindergarten include: reduction in
childhood poverty, more 4th graders reading at or above grade level, and
more high school graduates who are college or career ready. According
to the Kansas State Department of Education, the cumulative cost for the
proposed five-year phase-in would be about $244.5 million.

Keep in Touch

It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value
and need your input on the various issues facing state government.
Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My
office address is Room 451-S, 300 SW 10th, 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 at www.kslegislature.org.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2013 Issue 16

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 16: May 28 – June 20, 2013

In This Issue

- Finally Wrapped Up (Part 1)
- The Tax Plan
- Keep in Touch

Finally Wrapped Up (Part 1)

In the early hours of Sunday, June 2nd, the Kansas Legislature closed
the wrap up session on Day 99 of the 2013 Legislative Session. Since
then Governor has signed conference committee reports of the wrap up
session into law. Thursday, June 20th, was the final day -- the
ceremonial Sine Die, or "official end of the session." Because of
the extent of the changes in tax policy, the budget and other bills, I
am going to give my wrap up report in Parts. This is Part 1 – The Tax
Plan.

The Tax Plan

In the end, the House of Representatives gave in to the Governor's
demand to raise the sales tax. It joined the Senate in passing a new
tax plan on Day 99 of the session and sending it to the Governor's
desk for signature. Included in the final tax plan was a permanent
sales tax increase to 6.15%.

The tax plan cuts the standard deductions on single heads of households
and married filing jointly by $311 million and reduces all itemized
deductions for items such as home mortgage interest and property taxes
paid by an additional $664 million. The only itemized deduction left
untouched was for charitable contributions. There was a partial
restoration of the refundable food sales tax rebate program, which had
been repealed in 2012.

A new series of individual income tax rate cuts per year will be
provided beginning in tax year 2014, when the current bottom bracket of
3.0 percent would be reduced to 2.7 percent, and the current top bracket
of 4.9 percent would be reduced to 4.8 percent. By the tax year 2018,
the top bracket would be further reduced to 3.9 percent and the lower to
2.3. Future income tax rate relief would be based on any revenues that
exceeds the previous fiscal year's levels by 2 percent.

The new sales tax law generates over $777 million in revenue for the
state.

Several bills were added to the tax conference committee report:

- A change to the definition of natural gas for severance tax purposes
by adding helium.
- The addition of an additional 23 counties (generally those with
populations of 15,000 or less) into the ROZ program. That is the Rural
Opportunity Zone program that offers individuals who relocate from
outside of the state to qualifying counties a full state income tax
exemption through tax year 2016, and the opportunity to receive student
loan repayments from those qualifying counties that also have opted to
participate in a special repayment-matching program with the state.
- Repeal of the requirement that the title of certain tax-exempt
property constructed or purchased with the proceeds of Industrial
Revenue Bonds (IRBs) be transferred to the city or county issuing the
IRBs during the duration of the exemption.
- The authorization for counties to grant property tax abatement or
credits to owners of homesteads destroyed or substantially destroyed by
earthquake, flood, tornado, fire, storm, or other event that the
Governor has declared a disaster, taking effect for taxable years after
December 31, 2011, and ending before January 1, 2014.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Vol 2013 Issue 15

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 15: May 20-24, 2013

In This Issue

- Going Overtime Over Taxes
- Passed A Few Conference Committee Reports
- Governor Vetoes Charitable Raffles
- Keep in Touch

Going Overtime Over Taxes

Unfortunately, this last week did not see much progress toward bringing
the session to a close. There was no action on the budget. There is no
constitutional requirement to raise sales tax and the legislature can
balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting your deductions this
year; but the Governor is still saying that he will veto any budget
passed until a tax bill is passed to raise taxes.

Most of the week was a show down between the House and Senate members of
the Tax Conference Committee. So far the biggest concession made by the
House is a proposal to raise the state sales tax rate to 6%. The Senate
proposals have fluctuated between 6.3% and 6.25%. The Senate's
biggest concession was a proposal to move the sales tax rate on food to
4.95%. At one point, the Senate abandoned the negotiation table,
debated their own proposal, and passed out a bill with which they hoped
the House would concur. The House did not concur (with a vote of 5 to
109), so now we are back at square one.

Passed A Few Conference Committee Reports

The House voted on four conference committee reports this week. They
all passed and are on their way to the Governor's desk for signature
or veto.

1. HB2213 also contains the contents of HB2352. It makes technical
changes to the bill on KPERS passed last year and adds amendments to the
Retirement System for Judges and the Kansas Police and Fireman's
(KP&F) Retirement System.

2. HB2162 is no longer a bill about elections. It now prohibits the
use of state money to lobby for or against gun control, aside from
normal and recognized executive and legislative relationships. That
means that people who receive state money can still introduce
legislation and testify in hearings, but there can be no radio, tv ads,
or mailers (think of public awareness campaigns against smoking or
teenage drinking or texting while driving, etc. that State governments
have spent money on).

3. HB2199 makes several changes to the laws on alcoholic beverages. It
allows licensees to provide free samples; allows hotels to give coupons
for free drinks at the hotel bar; allows the sale of 64 ounce pitchers
of certain mixed drinks (such as margaritas and sangria); allows liquor
stores to conduct tastings; and more. It also includes some changes to
the requirements for obtaining a liquor license.

4. HB2149 eliminates a $500,000 transfer from the Highway Patrol
Training Center Fund to the
State General Fund that occurs each fiscal year. All monies credited to
the Highway Patrol Training Center Fund will now remain with the Highway
Patrol.

Governor Vetoes Charitable Raffles

On Thursday, May 23rd, the Governor vetoed HB2120. It was a combination
of 3 bills: 1) technical updates to the methods of collection of DNA
evidence by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation; 2) penalty enhancements
to committing drug crimes while in possession of a firearm; and 3)
removal of charitable raffles from the criminal code's definition of
illegal betting. The Governor's veto message stated that he felt the
section on charitable raffles was in violation of the Kansas
Constitution; yet he voiced his support of the measure and encouraged
the Legislature to initiate a constitutional amendment.

The entire text of Article 15, Section 3 of the Kansas Constitution
says: "Lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets are forever
prohibited."

I am not a constitutional lawyer, but I am not sure how HB2120 violates
Article 15, Section 3. Article 15, Section 3 is not all encompassing
because Section 3c goes on to allow state owned lotteries. Is a raffle
the same thing as a lottery? There is no definition of lottery in the
Constitution, only in the statute that HB2120 was amending by adding the
definition of raffle.

The definition of a raffle in HB2120 says, "raffle" means a fundraising
event in which: (1) Participants donate or agree to donate something of
value for an opportunity to win something of value; (2) winning
opportunities are represented by tickets differentiated by sequential
enumeration; (3) winners are picked by a random drawing of tickets or
some other similar method of determining a winner or by a race utilizing
inanimate objects floated along a river, stream, canal or other body of
water; and (4) the raffle is conducted for the benefit of a nonprofit
organization, an agency of the United States government, an agency of
the state of Kansas or a political subdivision.

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.

Adventures in the Statehouse, Volume 2013 Issue 14

Melanie Meier's Adventures in the Statehouse
Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2013, Issue 14: May 13-17, 2013

In This Issue

- Wrap Up Session Continues
- Passed Some Conference Committee Reports
- "What ifs?" on the Budget and Taxes
- Keep in Touch

Wrap Up Session Continues

The Legislature has passed day 80 of the 2013 Session. An 80 day
session was the goal set at the beginning of the Session this year, but
stalemate seems to have arrived in Kansas. The House and Senate Tax
Conference Committee met on Wed (their first since the wrap up session
started). The House offered a tax plan that would raise the sales tax
by half of what the Senate proposed during the session. The Senate
quickly turned it down. The Senate President had originally stated that
the Senate budget negotiators would not meet with the House negotiators
until the House passed a bill to raise the sales tax, but the conference
committee on the budget finally met this week also. The committee
started its negotiations between the House and Senate positions on at
least 99 lines of the budget and many proposed provisos. Although there
is no constitutional requirement to raise sales tax and the budget will
balance without an increase, the Governor has warned that he will veto
any budget passed until a tax bill is passed to raise sales taxes. Day
90 will be on Thursday, May 23rd.

The House did Pass Some Conference Committee Reports

The House voted on three conference committee reports this week. They
all passed and are on their way to the Governor's desk for signature
or veto.

1. HB2204 extends the judicial branch surcharge for two more years and
allows the judicial branch to use the money to fund the support
staff's salaries. This bill was originally about mortgages but the
language was replaced with SB218. SB218 is the bill that would have
also taken the portion of docket fees that go to organizations such as
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children), the Kansas
Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, and Kansas Legal Services,
and sent it to the State General Fund. If that were to happen, all
these individual organizations would have to appear before the
Legislature to ask for money. That section was removed and HB2204 now
only extends the surcharge.

2. HB2115 is the combination of HB2115 and HB2114. It amends the rules
for temporarily hiring a retired judge when needed and it requires a
debtor to pay the cost of debt collection, rather than just deducting it
from the debtor's original debt to the court.

3. HB2249 is a combination of three bills, as HB2074 and HB2118 were
added. The original HB2249 provides a refund of property tax for fire
services if your property falls within two tax districts due to
annexation or boundary changes – intent is to protect a property owner
from being double taxed for fire services. HB2074 prohibits a city or
county from adopting restrictions on solid waste if such restrictions
interfere with another city or county that is serviced by the same
disposal site and requires the Sec of Health & Environment to prepare a
report on solid waste management with recommendations on legislative
changes and the cost associated with the changes. HB2118 removes the
requirement that proposed projects within 500 feet of a historic
property in the city and 1000 feet outside the city, be subject to
historic design and appearance restrictions. It restricts historic
reviews to projects that would involve, damage or destroy properties on
the national or state registries of historic places.

"What Ifs?" on the Budget and Taxes

Now that the large income tax cuts made last year are coming into
effect, it seems half the legislature has changed how it looks at the
budget. The Senate has become very concerned with the projections of
revenue out to 2018, but the House is still focused on the budget being
formed this session. While the Revenue Consensus folks (that the
legislature uses for future revenue projections in the budget process)
have been very accurate in the past, they normally just look one year
ahead. They do not have a track record for long term projections.

While the Senate is now insisting that the sales tax be raised to offset
the income tax cuts made last year and that "sales taxes do not matter
to economic growth," the House has not agreed. Kansas has the largest
state sales tax rate in our region (KS: 6.3%, MO: 4.22%, NE: 5.5%, CO:
2.9%, OK: 4.5%). This is especially concerning to communities such as
ours, on the border where it is easy for our residents to go next door
to Missouri to make their large purchases at a reduced sales tax rate.

The continuation of higher sales taxes will be used to counteract the
income tax cuts made last year, without giving Kansas the chance to see
if the promised results will come true. Will they produce thousands of
new jobs and entice more businesses to move to Kansas and spur economic
growth? Or, will a higher sales tax bring in the money to run our state
schools and public safety services, but possibly deter some businesses
from making the move for fear of lower sales? Or, will a higher sales
tax allow Kansas to go to zero income taxes without significant loss of
infrastructure? Will the House hold firm and give the tax cuts from
last year a chance? Maybe we will know by day 90.


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.