Category: Kansas City Kansas

Legislative update from Sen. Pat Pettey

Legislative update from Sen. Pat Pettey, D-6th Dist.

April 4, 2014

In this issue:

• Senate adjourns this week

• School finance

• Community forum

• Kansas Health Institute

• Health information

Senate adjourns this week  

Legislators worked long days this week finishing legislative business before the session break.

The session is scheduled to end April 4.

After this date, bills that haven’t passed both chambers can no longer be debated although certain bills are exempt from this deadline.

Following a short break, legislators will return for the veto session in late April. At that time, exempt bills, conference reports, and any vetoes by the governor will be considered.

If you have any questions about any of the legislation being considered, feel free to contact my office at 785-296-7375 or stop by my legislative office, located in 125-E of the Topeka Statehouse. My assistant’s name is Jennifer Parson.

School finance  

The Senate will likely not finish today, but will convene again on Saturday, April 5, to work school funding legislation in response to the Gannon decision handed down by the Supreme Court.

I have voted “no” on this legislation, and join with Sen. Anthony Hensley in his explanation of that “no” vote, offered on the Senate floor:

“Madam President:

“I vote no on HB 2506.

“Less than one month ago the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed that the legislature has created an unconstitutional school finance system and then was the time to fix it. They told us to resolve inequities by fully funding capital outlay and local option budget equalization.

“Unfortunately, we have waited until the final two days of the legislative session to address this issue. When the equity issue should have been this legislature’s first and foremost priority.

“It is absurd that we are discussing more cuts to important areas of education – at-risk, virtual schools, transportation – to fix this. More cuts are not the solution.

“This bill makes unnecessary and unvetted new education policy such as blocking the implementation of the Common Core standards, creating a corporate tax scholarship credit, eliminating due process for teachers, and establishing a property tax credit without a fiscal note for families using private schools.

“The school finance formula is not broken and should not be changed. The formula is underfunded. And, if we really want to put money into the classroom, we should be restoring the cuts and raising the base state aid per pupil.”

– Anthony Hensley

This session on the Senate floor continued until 1:45 a.m. Friday morning. We debated the education funding bill for 6 hours.

Update from the House (from the Topeka Capital-Journal):

Both Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger, House Minority Leader Paul Davis, urged the House to pass a compromise school finance bill Friday, in a bipartisan effort.

“While I was hoping to vote for a little bit better product, this does address the most important issue court set before us, which is that we need to fund the equalization pats of the (K-12 funding) formula,” Davis said about Senate Bill 218. To read this story, visit http://m.cjonline.com/news/2014-04-04/house-oks-bipartisan-school-finance-bill.

Community forum  

Members of the Wyandotte County legislative delegation will participate in a Town Hall Forum sponsored by the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce. The forum will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. April 12, at the West Wyandotte Public Library, 1737 N 82nd St., Kansas City, Kan. All are welcome to attend, and I hope to see you there. I look forward to the opportunity to speak with you and answer any questions you may have about this legislative session.

Kansas Health Institute  

According to the 2014 Rankings, the five healthiest counties in Kansas, starting with the most healthy, are Johnson, followed by Riley, Pottawatomie, Waubaunsee and Stevens. The five counties in the poorest health, starting with the least healthy, are Woodson, Elk, Wyandotte, Chautaqua, and Decatur.

The Rankings provide county-to-county comparisons within a state. In Kansas, this year’s Rankings show that within communities that rank lowest, babies are 50 percent more likely to have low birth weight and children are more than four times more likely to live in poverty than in communities that rank at the top.

Health information

From the American Heart Association:

“Children consume 45 percent more snack food when exposed to food advertising. 34 percent of food products in ads targeting children and teens are candy and snacks.”

3rd District campaign calls on women for support base

Window on the West

Opinion column

by Mary Rupert

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-3rd Dist., reported $2 million cash on hand to spend on his campaign at the end of 2013, according to campaign finance reports.

One of his Democratic challengers is Kelly Kultala of the Piper area of Kansas City, Kan., and I did not see any campaign finance reports for her on file yet at the federal level. But her fundraising has begun, and Kultala’s campaign treasurer, former Mayor Carol Marinovich, has been sending out fundraising emails.

One fundraising email, sent in late March to potential contributors who are women, was titled “Beyond the Boys’ Club,” and appeals to women, saying Kultala will focus on the “fight for equality and issues important to Kansas women and families.”

Kultala’s campaign manager, Jacob Becklund, began working a few weeks ago, having formerly worked for campaigns in Virginia and Colorado. He said he expected to see a lot of women supporting Kultala in this campaign.

So far Kultala is the only female in the campaign for 3rd District. Kultala will face Democrat Reggie Marselus of Johnson County in the primary.

One of the unexpected results of the Kultala fundraising email is that Unified Government Commissioner Ann Murguia has been getting a lot of emails forwarded to her from her acquaintances asking questions such as, “Can this be done?” That’s because the fundraising email is signed “Carol Marinovich, Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government,” not using the word “former” Mayor Marinovich.

Becklund said the title may have been an oversight on their part, and he added that many people keep their titles when they leave office.

That’s generally correct as many news stories often refer simply to “President Carter,” for example, instead of “former President Carter,” assuming that everyone knows he is a former president.

Titles, though, have been a big issue this year at the Unified Government, where a commissioner allegedly was using his title while conducting personal business, which is not allowed by the UG’s Code of Ethics. After glancing at the Code of Ethics, I saw this rule clearly does not apply to people who are no longer in office, so it would have no effect in this instance.

There’s no question that nearly all regular voters should know that Marinovich hasn’t been mayor since 2005, when Joe Reardon was elected, and that the current mayor is Mark Holland, who became mayor in 2013.  Those who don’t know who the mayor is probably will not be voting, anyway.

Marinovich was the first woman elected mayor of Kansas City, Kan.-Wyandotte County, and Kultala will be trying to be elected the second woman serving in the U.S. House from the 3rd District in Kansas. Jan Meyers was the first.

It will be hard to tell what Kultala’s biggest obstacle will be – whether it is that she is a woman running for office, whether it is that she is a Democrat in a district where there are a lot more Republicans, or whether it is that she is from Wyandotte County when most of the district’s voters are in Johnson County. But it now appears she has some skilled persons working in her campaign that will give her a fighting chance.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email maryr@wyandottepublishing.com.

Sporting KC acquires 19-year-old Brazilian Igor Julião

Sporting Kansas City has acquired 19-year-old Brazilian defender Igor Julião on loan from Fluminense FC, the club announced on Friday.

A member of Brazil’s Under-20 Men’s National Team, Julião has been added to Sporting Kansas City’s roster and will occupy an international roster spot.

“Igor is a player that once we saw him at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic, we really liked him. We scouted him for about six days and watched four of his games,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “We feel that he is a great, young talent and someone that will fit into our team with the way we like to play, particularly with how important the outside back position is to our team. We feel he will be a good addition to our group and at the same time, forge a relationship with Fluminense FC.”

“This is a new challenge for me,” Julião said. “I hope to learn a lot from this club and do everything I can to help them win another championship.”

Julião first joined Fluminense FC’s academy at age 8 in February 2003 and capped off his youth career by leading the club’s Under-20 side to back-to-back state championships in 2012 and 2013. He traveled to the United States for the 2013 Dallas Cup as Fluminense FC U19’s won Group C and reached the Super Group semifinals before falling to eventual champions Fulham FC in penalty kicks at the Cotton Bowl one year ago.

Most recently, Julião started all four games for the Fluminense FC U23’s at the 2014 Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Florida earlier this year, highlighted by a strong showing on the tournament’s final day with a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over Toronto FC.

After nine years of development in their youth system, Julião made his debut in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A as a 17-year-old in August 2012. He made three appearances in Brazil’s top division during his first professional season as Fluminense FC won their fourth league title in the club’s 111-year history.

In August 2013, Julião broke into the starting lineup for Fluminense FC en route to 20 appearances for the senior squad last season. He started 14 league matches and made appearances in each of the team’s final 10 games of the Brasileirão. In his Fluminense FC youth and professional career, Julião played in a total of 379 games with 76 goals.

Julião was selected to Brazil’s Under-20 Men’s National Team for the 2013 South American Youth Championship in Argentina and made three appearances at the competition.

Julião is the third Brazilian native on Sporting Kansas City’s roster, along with midfielders Benny Feilhaber and Paulo Nagamura. Sporting Kansas City’s loan agreement with Fluminense FC for Julião extends through the end of 2014.

– Story from Sporting KC