Month: April 2016
Abandoned housing bill vetoed
Last week, Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for the Unified Government and other local governments to gain control of abandoned houses and give them to nonprofit agencies for rehabilitation.
The bill had split the Wyandotte County legislative delegation, with Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist., supporting it, and Sen. David Haley, D-4th DIst., opposing it. In debate in the Kansas House, many urban minority legislators joined opposition against the bill, which they said would have affected urban minority areas more than other areas.
In a veto message last week, Gov. Brownback stated that he was defending the principles of individual liberty and private property rights.
The governor issued the following statement:
“Government should protect property rights and ensure the less advantaged are not denied the liberty to which every citizen is entitled. Governmental authority to take property from one private citizen and give it to another private citizen should be limited, but this bill would have the effect of expanding such authority without adequate safeguards. The potential for abuse of this new statutory process cannot be ignored.”
Sen. Haley said that he believes owning real property is a right. While the government can deprive property owners of the right to own property for certain reasons, they should not be flimsy reasons, he said. There were already enough opportunities for the government to take real property, usually through means such as code enforcement, he said.
The governor’s veto statement is at this web address: http://governor.ks.gov/docs/default-source/documents/april-2016-sb-338-veto-message.pdf?sfvrsn=2
To see earlier stories on this subject, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/split-seen-in-wyandotte-county-legislative-delegation-over-housing-bill/
and
https://wyandotteonline.com/two-wyandotte-county-legislators-take-opposite-sides-on-abandoned-housing-bill/
Florida financial services firm banned in Kansas
A Florida-based financial services company has been banned from doing business in Kansas until it cooperates with the attorney general’s investigation into its business practices, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced.
In a lawsuit filed in Shawnee County District Court last month, Schmidt accused Financial Help Services, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., of violating the Kansas Credit Services Organization Act and the Kansas Consumer Protection Act while operating in Kansas.
The lawsuit accuses the company of advertising and providing debt management services to Kansas consumers without a license and of charging Kansas consumers a price that grossly exceeded the price at which similar services were readily obtainable from licensed credit services organizations.
The investigation stemmed from a notification in late 2014 from the Better Business Bureau in Florida, which had received complaints from Kansas consumers who had done business with the defendant. The complaints alleged that the defendant had withdrawn money from consumers’ bank accounts but failed to remit those funds to the consumers’ creditors in a timely manner. At least one other Kansas consumer filed a similar complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
District Judge Rebecca Crotty last week entered a temporary restraining order prohibiting the company from operating in Kansas pending the outcome of the case. The attorney general is seeking civil penalties, investigative fees and restitution for all affected Kansas consumers.
Any Kansas consumers who may have done business with this company are asked to contact the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division at 800-432-2310 or online at www.InYourCornerKansas.org .