Month: April 2015

It was a busy week under the dome as joint conference committees of the House and Senate met to negotiate compromises between bills that have passed both chambers. The regular session came to an end on Friday and the House adjourned without voting on a budget. The legislature will reconvene the week of April 27 and will focus on outstanding matters like the budget and a potential revenue package.

It remains an incredible honor to represent our community in the Kansas House of Representatives. While the Legislature is in session, I do my best to stay in touch and keep you informed by email, and I spend countless hours every week helping my constituents solve problems. If I can be of service to you or anyone you know please call my office at 785-296-7371 or email me at [email protected].

Revenue numbers
As a result of the governor’s failed economic experiment, Kansas revenue is down another $11.2 million for March. The legislature will have to address the revenue shortfall before final adjournment, because the state cannot deficit spend. It is not clear how the problem will be solved. Past budget deficits have been filled by one-time revenue sources. Over the past year the budget has been short more than $320 million, and has been shored up by:

• Transferring $158.5 million from the State Highway Fund,
• Delaying $7.9 million in investments to the Kansas Employee Retirement System (KPERS),
• Cutting more than $51 million from this year’s K-12 budget
• Cutting more $16.2 million in cuts to Kansas Regents Institutions, which was enacted unilaterally by the governor
• Cutting $66.4 million worth of cuts to various state agencies, which was also enacted unilaterally by the governor.

These one-time revenue sources are not sustainable and are not a fiscally responsible use of state funds.

A chart provided by Kansas’ nonpartisan Legislative Research Department shows how Kansas has lost revenue throughout the 2015 fiscal year.

Still no budget
Each member of the House of Representatives was duly elected to represent their constituents, but the nature of this year’s budgeting process has not allowed most members of the House input.

The House adjourned its regular session without a budget bill ever reaching the House floor. Instead, majority members of the House Appropriations committee voted to go straight into negotiations with the Senate without having formal approval from the full House.

The budget that was being negotiated before the legislative break was not a balanced budget and it relied heavily on funding from tax increases. I will not vote for a budget that does not balance and does not prioritize the needs of working and middle class Kansas families.

KPERS bonding negotiated to $1 billion
This week the House and Senate negotiated a compromise to issue $1 billion of pension bonds from the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System (KPERS) fund.

The House had originally authorized the bonding of $1.5 billion, but after negotiations the approved amount was reduced to $1 billion. I voted no because the legislature has repeatedly been warned that bonding a portion of KPERS is a bad financial investment.

Investors are not buying bonds in the current economic climate so there is no guarantee the risk will pay off. The bonds, which are to be paid off over the next 30 years, will push the cost of KPERS onto future generations of Kansans.

Uber
The House passed legislation requiring drivers for ride sharing services like Uber to purchase commercial vehicle insurance. A driver’s personal insurance is void if they are using their vehicle for commercial purposes, and will not cover the cost of damages to vehicles or medical expenses in the event of an accident.

The legislation also requires Uber drivers to undergo background checks before being listed on the mobile application. I received hundreds of emails about this bill. I voted in favor of the bill because it protects consumers and preserves public safety. The legislation will now go the Senate for approval.

Governor signs gun bill
In a public ceremony this week, the governor signed into law legislation that revokes the permit requirement for carrying concealed firearms. Individuals will now legally be able to carry hidden, loaded guns in public places without the necessary training or background checks originally required by the permit process. I voted no on the bill because it endangers our communities by removing minimum public safety standards.

TANF
Both chambers of the legislature approved a bill this week that changes the way two social service programs Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are administered by the state.

The changes will make TANF and SNAP less accessible for Kansans who need assistance in a time when childhood poverty and homelessness is on the rise. I voted against this bill. It is not prudent to restrict one of the only lifelines available to combat poverty. Kansans who are receiving assistance have fallen on hard times and are using these programs as a means to merely make ends meet.

Views West
by Murrel Bland

I received an email a few days ago from John J. Jurcyk, a lawyer, saying that O.L. Plucker had died. Jurcyk received the message from Ruth Kent, Plucker’s longtime secretary. He was 92.

Plucker served as superintendent of the Kansas City, Kan., School District from 1962 until 1986. I had much respect and admiration for Plucker as an administrator and a community leader. I usually agreed with him on most issues.

However, I do recall one disagreement that resulted in a heated conversation in 1977. We both served on the executive committee of the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce; we met monthly for breakfast at the Terrace Club atop the New Brotherhood Building to take care of chamber business.

That meeting was on a Wednesday morning. On the day before, I received a letter from Plucker that upset me. I had written an editorial opposing the federal desegregation plan. What caused me to oppose it was the one-way busing of black children for racial balance.

Plucker knew that my daughter would attend kindergarten that fall. He suggested that her mother and I would want to send her not to a nearby school that was predominantly white (Claude Huyck) but to a predominantly black school in the northeast part of town — Benjamin Banneker.

I was upset — not that Plucker disagreed with me — but that he involved my child as part of the disagreement. The conversation occurred at the end of the chamber meeting; it digressed into little more than a shouting match.

Two of the chamber board members at the meeting were rather outspoken men — Bill Little, the chamber president, and Cliff Nesselorde, a banker and a chamber officer. They and others quickly left when the shouting began.

Plucker and I sat and discussed the desegregation issue — and several other matters — for at least an hour. We shook hands at the end of the meeting; I don’t recall that we ever had any other serious disagreements.

Plucker was an excellent superintendent. But I believe his greatest contribution to the community was leading a committee that changed the form of city government from a patronage-riddled commission to a mayor-council-administrator form. I was privileged to serve on that committee during most of 1981.

The issue to change the form of city government was put on the primary election ballot in August of 1982; it passed by a slim margin of less than 100 votes as I recall. The victory was seen as a turning point that broke the stranglehold that hack politicians had on City Hall.

It was Plucker’s political expertise along with Bill Little’s fund-raising capability that assured the issue was successful. If that change in city government had not occurred, it would not have been possible to consolidate city and county government in 1997.

In the early 1980s, the Boss Lady (Carol Bland), a former elementary and junior high teacher, served on a voluntary committee that studied a proposal to change to a middle school attendance plan. I recall that the Boss Lady asked me what to expect.

I told her that Plucker will run the meeting and provide much written information about middle schools. He will lead you through the process and you will believe that the conclusion (favoring middle schools) was the group’s idea, I said. That was what happened.

I recall having a conversation I had with former Mayor Joe McDowell about my work on the change of government study committee.

“You know, O.L. Plucker is the smartest person to ever hit this town,” McDowell said. I agreed.

Services for Orvin Lowell Plucker will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Old Mission United Methodist Church, 5519 State Park Rd., Fairway. Memorial contribution to the church or Cross-Lines Community Outreach, 736 Shawnee Ave., are suggested.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.