Members of the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Education recognized March Students of the Month at the March 25 Board of Education meeting. Students honored were, from left, Joshua Quinones, New Stanley Elementary; Juan Tirado Garcia, Harmon High School; and Sydney Riley, Welborn Elementary School. (Photo from Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools)
Students of the month were honored recently by the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Education.
“What can I say about Joshua? He is a great student. He comes to school every day with a smile on his face, ready to take on the challenges of the day. He strives to learn something new each day. Joshua does not complain or give up when he is presented with something new or challenging. Joshua’s peers look up to him as well. He is dedicated to his schoolwork and puts in 100 percent all the time. Joshua is a member of our school’s Safety Patrol. He comes to school a little early and stays a little late to fulfill his commitment. Joshua has a bright future and his possibilities are endless!”
Juan Tirado Garcia, 11th grade Harmon High School
Nominated by: Steve Howard, teacher and coach at Harmon High School
“I first met Juan last summer, and had the pleasure of having him on our cross country team. His energy and natural leadership skills made the decision easy to name him the captain. I found it interesting that he had made a commitment to get involved in sports during his junior year, once he had made his grades, developed a work/study skills that would maintain his high academic standards. Juan is an honor roll student, and taking college credit courses. His list of inside and outside school activities is remarkable. Leadership 20-20, Bio-Science Academy, Math and Science Saturday Academy, KU Talent Search, not to mention the band, Pep Club, and Student Council. It is my privilege to write this recommendation.”
Sydney Riley, 5th grade, Welborn Elementary School
Nominated by: Stacey Chatmon, teacher and Jamila Harris, counselor
“Sydney is the student’s student. She is an advocate for fair treatment of all students. She models what it means to be bully-free. She always stands up to other students who are bullies by reporting bullying incidents to teachers and administration. She encourages the victim to stand up for themselves and be honest. She also tries to befriend the bully knowing they often don’t have friends. She is an Honor Roll Student, Student Council, Safety Patrol, and Battle of the Books participant, all while battling with some health issues. Yet she perseveres through her daily battles and school work never complaining about her struggles. Sydney is a model student that we want to recognize.”
– Story and photo from Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools
I was rather disappointed to see in the past week that a bill that would open more public records in Kansas had run into some delays.
House Bill 2555 would have made more information available to the public from search warrant affidavits and arrest reports.
The bill passed the House, and when it was in a Senate committee, amendments took out some of the basic changes it was proposing. Some opposition to it surfaced from some organizations supporting law enforcement and prosecutors.
According to open records advocates, Kansas is one of the few, if not the only state, in the nation that did not allow the public to view these records. I am a member of a group of journalists that is advocating for this change. A change in the law would allow journalists, as well as anyone interested, to see these records.
A House committee received testimony from two residents of Leawood who wanted to see the records when their home was raided by police a few years ago. The couple, who was innocent, ended up in a court fight and had to spend $25,000 to finally be allowed to see the records. In other states, they wouldn’t have had to pay anything other than a small copying fee to see the records.
The proposed bill to open the records suffered a severe setback last week. While the prospect of the bill’s passage this year does not appear very good at the present time, as long as the Legislature is still in session, there is still a chance it may be passed.
Today I talked with Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who said that there might still be a chance for the bill. He said he voted against the changes the Senate committee made to it, and that he agreed with the House version.
“It is my hope that we will reconcile the bill favorable to the House version. Kansas is the only state in the union that does not have the full disclosure or transparency for search and arrest warrants,” Sen. Haley said.
As it is, current law allows for actions to be taken in near secrecy.
“I have heard innumerable complaints,” Sen. Haley said, from people who felt set upon, detained and arrested, for which there was no response, no answer to their questions about why their homes were being searched.
Most of his constituents, unlike the couple in Johnson County, did not have the money or the time off work to go to court to find out why, he added.
The bill as originally proposed in the House would have exempted from the open records certain categories, such as minors and anyone whose life may be in danger.
I have seen a few Missouri arrest reports that go into detail about why a person was arrested, detailing the complaint. In Kansas, the part of the reports that the public may see usually don’t give very many details. Because of lack of details, it is sometimes hard to gauge the importance of a case, difficult to tell whether a charge for aggravated robbery involved someone walking into a bank holding a shotgun, or was it someone snatching a family pet away from an ex while holding up a fist.
In the past week, we have seen several reports on this topic of open affidavits. One of the best is from KSHB-TV, Channel 41, and is online at www.kshb.com/news/investigators/openrecords.
I think a change in favor of more openness is always a good idea. After many years as a journalist, I believe that more openness is better in the long run. Opening records and meetings to the public may not always get the result that governments want immediately, but it does further communication with the public. Every time you hold an open meeting or open a record, governments will not necessarily get a result that they are looking for, but in the long run, increasing communication is a desirable goal, eventually leading to more public confidence in government.
Our government can’t be run under a veil of secrecy, and to do so invites the public to be suspicious of it. The public has the right to know what its government is doing. If the other states in the nation can deal with affidavits being open, why can’t Kansas?
• Appropriations Committee hears legislative pay raise bill
• Full House amends and advances financial literacy bill
• “Gotcha” amendment proposed on the House floor
• House Democratic Caucus receives update on status of early childhood policy
• House debates Health Care Compact
• Keep in touch
This week at the Statehouse
It has been another very busy week at the Capitol as we get closer and closer to first adjournment.
We debated numerous bills on the House floor and continued to work bills in committee as we awaited movement on school finance.
A lot of the bills debated in the House and brought forth in committee are a true testament to this year’s session.
We have yet to vote on the main issues before us: funding our schools, passing the remainder of the budget for Fiscal Year 2015, and creating jobs for Kansans.
This week truly showed how much of a circus the legislature has been this year.
Friday was the last day for bill introductions in non-exempt committees. Next week we will be on the House floor all day, Monday through Thursday.
As always, complete daily calendars are available at www.kslegislature.org along with other useful information. I am also working to keep constituents more informed via Facebook and Twitter, so be sure to follow me at www.facebook.com/username and www.twitter.com/username. 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.
Appropriations Committee hears legislative pay raise bill
On Thursday the Appropriations Committee heard testimony for House Bill 2740, which would increase legislators’ salaries. Legislators would see an increase in pay from the current $88.66 to $203.70 per day in session, totaling about $10,000 more a year.
Only one person spoke in favor of HB 2740, the introducer of the bill and Appropriations Committee member Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro. The bill has the pay increase going into effect starting with the 2017 Legislative Session. The pay scale would be shifted from being based on classified employee’s income to teacher’s income. The pay raise would be based on 80% of what the average teacher, grades 1st-11th, makes annually.
Rep. Peck testified that he hasn’t spoken to any legislator who is satisfied with their current level of pay and he feels they are too nervous about addressing compensation. He stated his job as a legislator, “… is a full time job with part time pay.” The most recent legislative salary raise came in 2009.
Full House amends and advances financial literacy bill
On Tuesday, the House debated HB 2475. This bill started as a requirement for all high school students to take a one semester class on financial literacy during the junior or senior year in order to graduate.
The bill had been amended in committee to infuse financial literacy standards throughout the curriculum in all grades and to test financial literacy standards on the state assessments.
The State Department would report on progress to the legislature. The curriculum would be taught in math classes or other appropriate courses such as family and consumer science or economics.
Proponents say students need to know more about managing money. Topics to be covered in the instruction include saving and investing, credit and debt and the importance of setting a budget.
St. Francis) to require schools to teach handshaking. Cassidy argued that a good handshake is critical to success in business and life. The amendment was adopted.
Rep. Pete DeGraaf then proposed an amendment that would take the bill back to its original form requiring a financial literacy class for graduation.
Education Committee Chair Kasha Kelley supported the amendment even though her committee had amended the bill.
This amendment failed on a vote of 31 to 86.
The bill as it came out of committee plus the handshaking amendment was then advanced on a voice vote.
On Wednesday, the House passed the bill on final action 110-12 sending the measure to the Senate.
Proponents say students need to know more about managing money.
Topics to be covered in the instruction include saving and investing, credit and debt and the importance of setting a budget.
The bill also requires the State Board of Education to give lawmakers a report on student scores on financial literacy tests before the start of the 2015 legislative session.
‘Gotcha’ amendment proposed on the House floor
On Wednesday, Rep. Scott Schwab offered an amendment on a bill creating an income tax deduction on the sale of certain livestock during floor debate that was characterized as “political gamesmanship.”
His amendment would have restored the income tax back to the rates used before the Brownback cuts were enacted in 2012.
Schwab announced that he would vote against his own amendment but merely wanted to show Kansans who complained about the tax cuts that there was not the “political will” to repeal them.
Representatives from both sides of the aisle came to the well to speak against the amendment which they said was an inappropriate tactic designed merely to embarrass those who think the cuts were reckless by making them vote for full repeal – a vote which would be characterized as a vote for a massive tax increase. No one took the bait and the amendment failed 0 to 120.
House Democratic Caucus receives update on status of early childhood policy
On Thursday, our caucus met for our weekly luncheon that we call “Thursday Summit” where we receive updates and invaluable information from various organizations and advocates from around the state. This week, we heard from April Holman with Kansas Action for Children. April gave us a presentation on the status of early childhood policy in the state and Kansas Action for Children’s top priorities.
One of the top priorities for KAC this year has been HB 2767, which would allow researchers and public health officials to access data from the State Child Death Review Board in order to identify risk factors which contribute to child death. This would be a huge step forward in child death prevention. The bill preserves confidentiality of child death cases through the use of de-identified data, and the data is released only when approved by the State Child Death Review Board.
April provided some staggering numbers which reinforce the need to release this data – Kansas’ infant mortality rate for 2011 was 6.23 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is more than the national average at 6.05 deaths per 1,000 births. Since its inception, the State Child Death Review Board has reviewed nearly 8,700 child deaths. I support releasing this data, as it would shed light on the risk factors facing Kansas children, yet would cost taxpayers nothing.
We also received some background on the Children’s Initiative Fund (or CIF) which is funded by payments made to the state from the master tobacco settlement. The CIF is administered by the Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, and serves nearly 200,000, roughly one-third of Kansas children.
April explained that Kansas recently entered into a settlement with tobacco companies, providing the state with $46 million that the state did not receive during arbitration with tobacco companies. In 2014, Kansas is to receive $17.2 million
House debates health care compact
On Friday, the House debated at length HB 2553, which would allow Kansas to join the Interstate Health Care Compact.
Under the compact, member states would be able to regulate health care within their boundaries, and to secure federal funding. More precisely, federal funding for all health care services and health plans would be placed under the control of the state legislature and governor.
This bill is potentially harmful to Kansas’ most vulnerable. Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger has pointed out that this legislation would include but is not limited to Medicare, Medicaid, the children’s health insurance program (HealthWave), rural hospitals, Hospice and federally qualified health centers. The funding would be received in a block grant to the state, and the state legislature would decide how to spend those health care dollars.
In response to the potential harm that would be caused by this bill to Kansas’ most vulnerable, several legislators proposed amendments. Rep. Wilson first proposed essentially transforming the bill into legislation which would carve out all managed care for individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability from KanCare, as favored by the I/DD community. The amendment was ruled not germane.
As we continued to debate the bill, Rep. Ward proposed an amendment which would exempt Medicare from the Health Care Compact. Under this bill, Medicare would essentially become privatized, yet again harming Kansas seniors.
The original Health Care Compact bill passed in its original form on a voice vote and will be voted on final action on Monday.
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 561-W, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at 785-296-7648 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
