Month: February 2015

In this issue:
• Last week at the Capitol
• January revenue
• Cuts to schools
• Body cameras
• Senate Bill 60
• Safe communities amendment
• Over at the House
• KCK issues addressed
• KCK officials visit
• Turner Middle School pages

Last week at the Capitol

Legislators, other Kansas dignitaries, and hundreds of visitors celebrated Kansas Day – the 154th anniversary of our statehood – on Thursday. I spent the rest of the week in committee meetings, where a number of bills have scheduled hearings and a few have passed out of committee.

Action on the Senate floor was taken on the first bill of the session, Senate Bill 4. The bill passed unanimously as it is a simple measure that establishes an already existing department within the Department of Administration as an agency for budgetary purposes.

To track bills, go to www.kslegislature.org and click on the Bills and Laws link. You are also welcome to testify before a committee on any issue important to you. A written copy of your testimony is required at least 24 hours prior to the committee hearing.

If you have any questions about testifying or about bills in general, feel free to contact my office at 785-2967375 or stop by my legislative office, located in 125-E of the Topeka Statehouse.

Daily calendars, committee and district information, and full text and summaries of bills are all available online at www.kslegislature.org. To hear legislative proceedings, just click on “Listen in Live.”

January revenue

The Kansas Department of Revenue has released that revenue came in $47.2 million for the month of January.

Budget Director Shawn Sullivan indicated the state will face cash flow problems mid-February if no action is taken to revise the current fiscal year’s budget. This month’s loss in revenue only makes it worse.

Cuts to schools

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means is scheduled to hold a hearing on Senate Bill 71, which would change the method of computing supplemental general state aid and cut $39 million from our state’s schools. This bill comes less than year after the Kansas Legislature passed a bill to increase supplemental aid to school districts to satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court’s equity ruling. I am wholly opposed to this bill.
Cuts to my school districts for the 2014-2015 school year:
Turner-$178.946
Kansas City, Kansas-$1,068,655
Bonner Springs-$213.725
Shawnee Mission-$4,189,594.

Body cameras

The Senate Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice heard testimony this week on a bill introduced by Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist. Senate Bill 18 would require any law enforcement officer “who is primarily assigned to patrol duties” to be equipped with a body camera while performing such duties. The camera would be used to record interactions between residents and the police, including motor vehicle stops. For non-emergency situations, residents would be allowed the option to request the recording be stopped.

Supporters of the bill argue it would help reduce ambiguity and create more transparency. Opponents argue it would be a challenge for local governments to cover the cost of the cameras and the additional personnel required to review the footage.

The intent of this bill is good, but the mechanisms in the bill and the lack of concern for the local control are big issues.

Senate Bill 60

This bill addresses participation by home-schooled students in school district activities regulated by KSHSAA.
This bill would allow students that live in a district’s boundaries, but do not attend the public school, to participate in the extra curricular activities. If you have any interest in this issue, please share your thoughts with me.

Safe communities amendment

Last Thursday Rep. Nancy Lusk and I introduced what we call a “safe communities” revision of the Personal Family Protection Act regulating holders of conceal-and-carry licenses.
The new legislation would authorize administrators of a post-secondary educational institution, state or municipally owned medical care facility or adult care home, a community mental health center or an indigent health care clinic to go beyond the current cap of a single four-year exemption from the law.

I feel that locally elected leaders have already heard from their communities and have made the tough decision of whether to allow guns or not in their municipal buildings or educational institutions. This legislation allows them to continue on the path of using local control to make decisions based on what is best and safest for their citizens.

Action in the Kansas House
• Rules change – Every two years the House must pass a set of rules by which to govern itself. It’s not a high profile debate, but is has a significant impact on the legislative process. This year, the house adopted two new rules. One rule prevents any work from being done after midnight or before 8 a.m. by the House. This makes it so there will not be late night sessions like we have seen in previous years where laws are passed literally while Kansans slept.

The other rule is a joint rule so it applies to the House and Senate. It limits the number bills that can be bundled together for a final vote. In the past, it has been known for conference committee reports to include up to a dozen bills. This is done as a strategy to pass bills that may otherwise not pass if they stood alone.

The Senate will be working these rule changes this week.

• Straight ticket voting – Secretary of State Kris Kobach testified in the House Committee on Elections on House Bill 2108 that would allow voters to simply cast ballots for all candidates of their preferred party with one check of a box rather than having to fill in a box for each candidate. The committee plans to work the bill next week. I do not support it.

Issues from KCK addressed

I am pleased to report that beginning today, Feb. 2, the bus system in KCK will accept one ride tickets. This is due to the work of Sister Bridget Dickason from the Keeler Women’s Center. They provide assistance in bus tickets to people looking for employment. This is a great use of resources to get potential employees to employers.

KCK officials visit

I had the opportunity to see both Wyandotte County Sheriff Don Ash and County Appraiser Gene Bryan while they were in Topeka for their organizations’ annual meetings.

Senate pages

Today I had five students from Turner Middle School brave the cold temperatures to come to Topeka to be Senate pages. They were Ricardo Alvarado, Rebecca Russell, Matt Jones, Joanna Torres and Nathan Zager.