Legislative update from Sen. Pat Pettey, D-6th Dist.
Jan. 27, 2015
The 2015 legislative session is just getting underway, and I am looking forward to representing our District 6 community in the Kansas Senate. As your senator, one of my top priorities is ensuring that I remain accountable and accessible to the people I serve. In order to do this, I attend community meetings and events. If you have an upcoming neighborhood meeting or event, please let me know. While the Legislature is in Session in Topeka, I remain available to be of service to you, call my office at 785-296-7375, or email me at [email protected].
In this issue:
• Last week at the Capitol
• President Obama’s visit
• Budget update
• Minimum wage
• New state education chief to tour
• Capitol visitor
Last week at the Capitol
With the holiday on Monday, it was a short week at the Capitol. It was spent in committee meetings, where a number of bills now have scheduled hearings.
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.
I welcome your input on any of these issues. Please feel free to visit or contact me at 785-296-7375 if you should have any questions. Or stop by my legislative office, located in room 125 E of the Topeka Statehouse.
The Kansas Association of School Boards also has a calendar of upcoming education hearings, testimony, an archive of news briefs and more! Just go to www.kasb.org and click on the “Advocacy Services” tab.
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”.
Budget update
After taking the past week to give the governor’s budget proposal fair consideration, there are now more questions than answers, and the answers we do have are problematic. Here are just a few of my objections:
• The governor is proposing to repeal the school finance formula and use block grants until a new formula is developed. The block grants reduce education funding by $127 million.
• The governor’s proposal also relies on continuing the raids on the highway fund, which will only jeopardize future projects and prevents the creation of good, quality jobs. Further, it prevents regular upkeep of our roads.
• The governor proposes to save the state money with the employee pension system (KPERS) by extending the date of when it would be fully funded by 10 years – from 2033 to 2043 – by getting $1.5 billion in bonds. The problem with this is it would end up costing the state $3.7 billion over that ten year period. If the state did not use the bonds, it would cost $9.1 billion.
• The governor proposes continued cuts of 4 percent to all state agencies.
• The governor has proposed a tax plan that further shifts the burden to low income and middle class families.
When it comes to the governor’s budget proposal, the bottom line is that it is simply a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. It does not provide any real solutions because there is nothing to address the reckless economic experiment that created the budget crisis in the first place. You can read more about the budget at http://www.kansasbudget.com/2015/01/the-budget-is-not-fixed-yet.html.
Minimum wage
Senate Democrats introduced a bill yesterday (Jan. 26) that would increase the state’s minimum wage by $3 by 2018. If passed, wages would go up to $8.25 in 2016; $9.25 in 2017; and, $10.25 by Jan. 1, 2018. The bill would also increase wages paid to employees who receive tips and gratuities to $3.08 by January 1, 2018. The senate bill is the same as what has already been introduced in the House of Representatives (House Bill 2012).
New state education chief to tour
Incoming Kansas education commissioner Randy Watson will host community discussions this month and next month on the direction of K-12 education.
He will be in the Greater Kansas City area on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in two different locations:
9-11 a.m. at KCK Central Office
2010 N. 59th St., Kansas City, Kan.
1-3 pm at Olathe Education Center
14160 Black Bob Road, Olathe.
The discussions are open to the public and interested parties are welcome.
Capitol visitor
Matt Payne, Kansas Highway patrolman and former 1st grade student of mine, was here at the Capitol to testify against Senate Bill 9, which would legalize marijuana for health purposes. I love seeing my former students. Matt’s wife teaches at Junction Elementary.
President Obama’s visit
I had the honor of attending President Obama’s speech Thursday at the University of Kansas. He spoke of the importance of high quality child care and early childhood education as well as an increase in minimum wage to help strengthen the middle class. These are all issues I fully support for the people of Kansas.