Opinion column
by Rep. Pam Curtis, D-32nd Dist.
This week I had the special honor to carry House Bill 2646, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, on the House floor.
HB 2646 was introduced by my friend and seat-mate Rep. Ponka-We Victors. She did a wonderful job advocating and building support for this critical legislation. It is a very important first step that will allow Kansas to join other states to address the current crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and people across America. HB 2646 passed the House with a unanimous vote and now advances to the Senate for consideration.
Our Tuesday delegation luncheon was sponsored by the Kansas Bankers Association. Alex Orel did a wonderful job of sharing information about the KBA. Of particular interest was the outreach that KBA is doing to attract students to consider a career in banking. The banking industry offers opportunities not only in traditional banking roles but also in the areas of compliance, IT and marketing to name a few. Very proud of Alex, who grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, in the St. Peter’s neighborhood, he does a great job and represents our community very well.
In honor of “Black History Month” Friends of Yates held their 40th Annual Men and Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony. I very much appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this special celebration. My congratulations to all of the honorees and a special thanks to the board and staff at Friends of Yates for the work they do to make our community a better place for everyone. Here is a link to learn more about the important work Friends of Yates provides in our community: http://friendsofyates.org/.
On Friday, Rep. Jerry Stogsdill and I participated in a panel discussion at the ArtsKC Advocacy Workshop. We were joined by Rep Greg Razer and Rep Keri Ingle on the Missouri side to share our thoughts about best practices to advocate at the state level for the arts. Last year Rep. Stogsdill and I successfully advocated for an increase in funding for the arts to make available additional grant money to communities throughout Kansas. We still have a long way to go to restore the funding that was available prior to Gov. Brownback eliminating the Kansas Arts Commission and welcome the opportunity to help build advocacy for this effort.
It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and appreciate your input on issues facing state government. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 452-S, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at 785-296-7430 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. You can also e-mail me at [email protected].
Word of the week
This week’s word of the week from the Civil Discourse Committee is trust – the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, and strength of someone, and believing that someone is good and honest and will do you no harm.
Legislative progress
The House spent two full days on the floor this week, working nearly 40 pieces of legislation. All of these bills received the constitutional majority vote, and now move on to the Senate for consideration. Post turnaround, legislators will take a short break and return for session on Wednesday, March 4th. The House will then begin to work Senate bills, as well as House bills that have been “blessed.”
“Blessed” bills were announced on Wednesday. These bills are moved from non-exempt committees to exempt committees so that they can continue to be worked. The Speaker of the House determines which bills are blessed and which are not. Additionally, bills originating in exempt committees will also continue to be worked. You can find the full list of blessed bills in the House Journal (on page 2178), http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2019_20/chamber/documents/daily_journal_house_20200226120005.pdf.
Notable bills on the House floor
HB 2438- “Allowing certain exceptions to the confidentiality of state child death review board documents.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2452- “Providing certain KP&F tier II spousal and children’s benefits for death resulting from a service-connected disability.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2469- “Extending terminal medical release to inmates in the custody of the department of corrections with a condition likely to cause death within 90 days.” — Passed 120-5
HB 2480- “Updating the definition of long-term care insurance contained in the long-term care insurance act.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2495- “Authorizing the crime victims compensation board to waive application time restrictions for a victim of a sexually violent crime to receive compensation for mental health counseling.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2516- “Enacting the first-time home buyer savings account act.” — Passed 123-2
HB 2518- “Counting any crime with a domestic violence designation as a prior conviction under domestic battery.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2546- “Creating the crime of sexual extortion and adding the crime to the Kansas offender registration act.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2646- “Requiring the attorney general to coordinate training for law enforcement agencies on missing and murdered indigenous people.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2585- “Exempting the retail sale of electricity for electric vehicle charging stations from the jurisdiction of the state corporation commission and requiring a siting permit from the commission for the construction of certain electric transmission lines.” — Passed 123-2
HB 2702- “Decoupling the KIT and KIR workforce training programs from the high-performance incentive fund program and enhancing the workforce training tax credit.” — Passed 125-0
HB 2618- “Establishing a state broadband grant program under the department of commerce to encourage the deployment of broadband in the state.” — Passed 120-5
HB 2540- “Requiring moneys attributable to at-risk student weighting be expended for approved at-risk educational programs.” — Passed 111-14
Washington Days
The Kansas Democrats’ annual convention is next weekend, March 6 and 7. The convention, Washington Days, is the largest gathering of Democrats in the state. Speakers for the weekend include Nicole Galloway, candidate for governor of Missouri; Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers; former Rep. Jim Slattery, D-2nd Dist.; and Gov. Laura Kelly.
In addition to an auction, luncheon, banquet, and featured speakers, auxiliary caucuses hold their annual meetings, and many other activities are planned. The full Washington Days schedule is at https://kansasdems.org/washingtondays.
Kansas State Library – Getting ready to apply for college?
Improving your test scores just got easier with LearningExpress Library, available from the State Library of Kansas. LearningExpress Library is an online resource that includes practice tests and tutorials for PSAT, ACT and SAT as well as AP and essay writing help. There is no charge to use LearningExpress and no limit to the number of times you can take the practice tests. Becoming familiar with and comfortable with the testing format and the types of questions helps to improve test scores. Go to https://kslib.info/LearningExpress click on College Preparation Center.
Resources
My Legislative Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PamCurtisKCK/?ref=bookmarks
My Twitter account, https://twitter.com/pcurtiskck.
My website, https://www.curtisforkck.com/?utm_campaign=2020ksleg4&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pamcurtis.
Kansas Legislature website, http://kslegislature.org/li/.