Month: February 2015

Legislative update from Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist.

Rep. Stan Frownfelter
Rep. Stan Frownfelter

Legislative update from Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist.
Kansans First
Gov. Brownback wants to politicize local elections
The continued assault on Kansas education
Keep in touch

Kansans First
This week I was proud to join fellow Democrats by signing onto the Kansans First initiative, a series of policies to help Kansas families who have been harmed the most by Gov. Brownback’s failed economic experiment. Kansans First is aimed at giving working Kansans the opportunity to succeed and prosper, and includes the: Hire Kansans First Act, a living wage bill, and reinstituting prevailing wages.

Hire Kansans First Act
The Hire Kansans First Act requires contractors receiving taxpayer dollars or tax incentives to hire a workforce composed of at least 70 percent Kansas residents. The bill will prevent the out of state exportation of labor and will keep jobs in Kansas.

Kansas living wage
Unfortunately, too many Kansas are trying to make ends meet with far too little. The livable wage bill will increase the Kansas minimum wage by 56-percent over five years, to $11.32. The bill then ties the livable wage to the Federal Poverty Line so it will continue to increase with inflation. A livable wage is critical to combating poverty and working towards a more prosperous Kansas.

Annual Minimum Wage (per year)
2015 $7.25
2016 $8.06
2017 $8.87
2018 $9.68
2019 $10.50
2020 $11.32
2021 and on Annually amended to 200% of Federal Poverty Line

Prevailing wage
Two years ago the Kansas Legislature prohibited municipalities from requiring contractors to pay prevailing wages, or a set market value hourly wage. This bill will reverse that action and will return local control to municipal governments, because Kansas workers deserve adequate compensation.

Gov. Brownback wants to politicize local elections
In his State of the State Address Gov. Brownback called for the partisan election of school board and municipal officials to take place in November rather than the spring, when they currently occur. Currently local elections transcend partisan politics, and focus on the issues facing communities rather than party agendas. Realizing this, local governments have almost unanimously come out opposed to this issue. If we really want to honor the principles of small government, we’ll allow local governments to keep these elections in the spring.

The continued assault on Kansas education
During the campaign the governor promised to protect education funding, but since beginning his second term, Gov. Brownback and his legislative allies have continued the assault on public education by:
• Issuing an allotment that would rescind 1.5% of each school districts budget for this year, and 2 percent from state universities, totally more than $44.5 million,
• Postponing the transfer of $20.8 million in Capital Outlay funds to June, and
• Proposing a bill which would change the way the state computes local option budgets equalization funds, immediately cutting more $39 million from local districts.

The individual cuts to education add up. As school districts begin to feel the pressure, so do students as class sizes begin to rise, teachers are laid off, and programs are cut. Failing to invest it Kansas’ most valuable asset, our children, is irresponsible and must stop.

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. Feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 174-W, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at 785-296-7691 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can email me at stan.frownfelter@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.

UG to hold public hearing on budget Thursday evening

The Unified Government Commission has scheduled a public hearing on the budget at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Commission Chambers, lobby, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

The public may make comments on budget priorities for the UG’s revised 2015 and proposed 2016 budgets, as well as for the Community Development budget and housing needs.

The UG plans to put its budget information online at www.wycokck.org.

Public comments will be taken on the Annual Action Plan, which includes the 41st Year Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), 2015 HOME Investment Partnership Grant Program, and the 2015 Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG). The Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City, Kan., Department of Community Development is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Anyone with a disability may ask about accommodations to attend the meeting, at least 48 hours in advance, by calling the UG Human Services Department, 913-573-5024.

Kansas veterans praise passage of mental health bill

But wounded soldiers from recent wars say more can be done to prevent suicides
by Andy Marso
Two Kansas soldiers treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan say a bill signed last week by President Barack Obama is a good start in preventing veterans’ suicides.

The Clay Hunt SAV Act, signed into law Thursday, is named for a Texas Marine Corps veteran who took his life after returning from Afghanistan with PTSD.

The bill requires annual independent audits of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mental health system and creates peer support groups and a loan repayment program for psychiatry students who choose to work in the VA system.

Brandon Garrison, a U.S. Army veteran from Leavenworth treated for PTSD after serving multiple deployments in Afghanistan, said the bill provides much-needed oversight for a system in which the auditing has been done internally.

“It takes that responsibility and puts it into someone else’s hands so you don’t have this big cover-up within the VA,” he said.

Garrison said he got to know some of Hunt’s family while he worked with Team Rubicon, a disaster relief nonprofit founded by Marine veterans. He said the legislation is a fitting tribute.
“I think it’s going to save lives. I really do,” Garrison said.

But he lamented how long it took for VA mental health reforms to be enacted when an average of more than 20 veterans a day were committing suicide in the United States.

Will Stucker, an Army veteran from Kansas who was wounded in Iraq, echoed those sentiments.

“I am glad that the vets today are going to be getting better treatment, but what about those of us that are still being ignored?” asked Stucker, who had served 10 years when he was hurt in 2005. He was deemed too injured to return to the fight but not injured enough to receive military medical retirement, and has since unsuccessfully petitioned for it several times.

He said he saw parallels in the story of Hunt, who was granted only a minimal disability rating despite his PTSD and was shuffled from one medication to another.
“VA and DBH (Division of Behavioral Health) providers are loaded down with too many patients and red tape,” Stucker said. “The go-to ‘fix-all’ is pills. There is little to no therapy involved. Some of the providers care but (they) are pressured to see more patients, so the quality of care suffers greatly.”

Stucker is studying clinical psychiatry at Emporia State University in the hopes of becoming a counselor who can fill a need in a VA system unprepared for the influx of veterans returning with behavioral health issues.

Garrison, who is living with debilitating muscle weakness that he fears was caused by exposure to airborne toxins from his military base burn pit, recently received a service dog courtesy of a North Carolina dog training company and a veterans nonprofit called the Food Industry Serving Heroes, or FISH.

The nonprofit KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor reporting collaboration. All stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online.

– See more at http://www.khi.org/news/article/kansas-veterans-praise-passage-of-mental-health-bill#sthash.nLYY3y6f.dpuf