Category: Opinions

It is an honor to represent District 6 in the Kansas Senate.
If I can be of service to you or anyone you know, please call my office at 785-296-7375, or email me at [email protected].

In this issue:
• Legislature moving at a snail’s pace
• Proposals to increase taxes
• School finance update
• Civil service protections eliminated
• Veto override
• Judicial budget
• Fantasy football
• Foster care increases
• Working after retirement
• Changes to marijuana possession penalties
• House Tax sends out bill
• Impacts of policies on families

Legislature moving at a snail’s pace

Last week the Senate worked and approved more than a dozen bills, and committees continued to meet. Unfortunately, I do not have much good news to report.

Progress is sluggish when it comes to the biggest issues left to be resolved – taxes and the budget. House and Senate tax committees met almost daily to hear proposals such as increasing the fuel tax on gasoline by 5 cents, raising the sales tax, and eliminating the homestead exemption. In short, all proposals result in a greater burden for hardworking families and Kansans living on low and fixed incomes. However, none of the proposals have “stuck.”

Proposals to increase taxes
The Senate tax committee spent the week at an impasse for how to increase revenue to fill the $800 million budget shortfall the state currently faces. On Thursday afternoon, a week ago, they finally passed a bill out of committee that would likely result in $30 million, at best, in revenue. The committee gutted Senate Bill 234, removing nearly all of the governor’s recommendations, except tax amnesty. This program allows certain taxpayers to pay a designated amount in exchange for forgiveness for their remaining tax liability.

Proposals such as increasing sales tax – commonly being referred to as consumption tax – and raising property tax are still on the table and are likely to be seen as floor amendments during the full Senate debate. I do not support any of these unfair, unsustainable tax increases.

The House Tax Committee passed out a bill without recommendation that has many parts to address the revenue hole. The only piece that is helpful to hardworking Kansans is the reduction in food sales tax to 5.9 percent. Next step – floor debate.

School finance debate
• Emergency funds — Superintendents from eight school districts appeared before the State Finance Council this week requesting emergency funds to cover expenses for the current school year. The districts lost money after the Kansas Legislature passed the law that completely changes school funding. The finance council consists of leaders from both chambers plus the governor.
In total, the schools requested $1.2 million of the $4 million from the extraordinary needs fund. After giving superintendents an opportunity to defend their need for the additional funds, the council approved funding for five of the eight districts. Of those five schools, only three received the amount they applied for, and the other two received significantly less than requested. A total of $478K was approved. This new process pits schools against each other, picks winners and losers, and creates conflict of interest situations for legislators. It’s just one more element of the quickly passed, bad policy.

• School finance case — The three-judge panel heard oral arguments Thursday and Friday of last week related to the block grant law. Superintendent Cindy Lane, from the Kansas City, Kan., school district (USD 500) explained how the block grant system is ineffective and cut funding to their district. Additionally, an official from the Kansas Department of Education noted that nearly every district in the state received reductions to their budgets. The judges also heard from the superintendent of the Hutchinson school district and Kansas Chamber President Mike O’Neal. It is unknown when the judges will issue their ruling.

Civil service system eliminated
A bill stripping public employees of their civil service protections passed the Senate this week and now heads to the governor for final approval. House Bill 2391 removes an employee’s classified status, changing them all to an “at-will” status. Employees can now be fired without cause.

This replaces the state’s current merit based system with a system that tolerates political patronage. These changes jeopardize millions of federal dollars that are provided for a number of positions serving Kansans every day. Kansans deserve the best possible employees, regardless of their political affiliation or beliefs.

Uber veto override
While legislators were on break in April, Gov. Brownback vetoed legislation that regulates ride-sharing services by requiring drivers to complete a KBI background check and to have comprehensive and collision insurance on their vehicles. The Senate voted 34-5 and the House voted 96-25 to override the veto.

In a dramatic response, ride-sharing service Uber immediately shut down all operations in the state. The company had established services in Kansas City, but was working on expanding to other cities. The veto override in no way prevents the company from operating, as they have stated, and legislators have made it clear that they are willing to continue negotiations with Uber; there is still time during the wrap-up session to come to a compromise. This $40 billion company should provide for consumer safety.

I voted in favor of the legislation because it provides added protections for drivers and consumers that the ride-service companies don’t already provide.

Judicial budget
Legislation that contains the stand-alone budget for the judiciary is in conference committee after receiving initial approval from the Senate on a vote of 32-8. House Bill 2005 continues the trend from the 2014 session of tying judicial funding to policy reforms.

Last session, the Kansas Legislature passed, and the governor signed, changes that took away the power of the high court’s to control budgets and pick chief administrative district judges. This year’s judicial budget includes policy that would remove judiciary funding entirely if the courts rule that this piece of legislation or last year’s law is invalid or unconstitutional. I voted against this bill as it is a blatant overreach of the legislative branch.

Fantasy football
Fantasy Football fans in Kansas may soon have something to cheer about. The legislature passed Senate Substitute for House Bill 2155, which legalizes fantasy football leagues. Under current law, fantasy football leagues that disburse money as awards are considered lotteries and are illegal. The legislation that passed changes the designation from a lottery to a game of skill.
The same bill also removes restrictions related to bingo, allowing premises hosting bingo to offer it more often.
I voted in favor of the legislation. It now goes to the governor for approval.

Foster care increases likely
Reports from the Department of Children and Families indicate that a record-breaking 6,337 children are in foster care as of March 2015. This number is likely to increase as more than 700 children are dropped from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) after the new law signed earlier in April changes low-income families’ lifetime eligibility from 48 months to 36 months, effective July 1.

An additional 80 children will be dropped after July. Without the assistance, many parents may not have the ability to adequately care for their children, resulting in complaints and children taken away. In addition to an increase in foster children, food pantries and homeless shelters are likely to see a spike in demand when many are already struggling to meet their community’s needs.

Working after retirement
A bill passed unanimously in the Senate that allows public employee retirees to return to work based on current law until June 30, 2016. After that point, all retirees who have returned to work will be allowed to receive up to $25,000 in compensation annually from a contributing KPERS employer, regardless of whether the retiree is returning to work for the same or different employer. Once the cap is met, the retiree must either terminate employment or forgo monthly KPERS benefits until the end of the calendar year. Under current law, the cap is $20,000.

The caps do not apply to state hospital nurses, local elected officials, legislative staff, substitute teachers, or law enforcement officers employed by the Law Enforcement Training Center. The legislation has a sunset of July 1, 2021, to ensure the Kansas Legislature evaluates the needs of retirees and employers. Senate Substitute for House Bill 2095 now goes to the House for consideration.

Changes to marijuana possession penalties
This week the House approved HB 2049, in response to projections from the Kansas Sentencing Commission that state prison populations will soon exceed current bed capacity. The legislation would lessen the current penalties of marijuana possession for repeat offenders, lowering the first violation to a misdemeanor. A third, and subsequent , violation would still result in a felony offense. If signed into law, the state may save over $1.2 million over the next year alone.

House tax sends out bill
On Monday, the House Tax Committee sent to the full House a bill that will eliminate the zero-income tax status of thousands of LLCs, small corporations and owner-operated businesses. In total, the 333,000+ businesses that pay no income taxes share a tax savings of about $205 million a year. The bill, which would raise $133 million toward a $406 million revenue shortfall for the coming fiscal year, is the first substantial effort to balance the budget, and it stabs one of the tax cuts that Gov. Brownback has touted for the past three years- that small business exemption that he says spurs the Kansas economy.

Impact of policies on families
It is becoming more evident that the governor’s policies on food stamps (SNAP) and cash assistance (TANF) are having a negative impact on Kansas families and kids. Over the last five years the number of families enrolled in cash assistance has dropped by nearly 60 percent, from 14,200 in 2010 to 6,200. The governor says the drop was due to the parents finding jobs, but the truth is that the state just made it more difficult to get help. And with the passage of HB2258, those policies were made even more stringent.

In fact, under HB2258, 350 more families will lose benefits on July 1. And every month after that, another 40 adults and 80 children will lose benefits.
While the Department of Children and Families (DCF) says there is no direct connection, Kansas is setting records for the number of children in foster care. The state is actively recruiting foster parents, anticipating more children will wind up in foster care as families cannot afford food or housing. They are also working on a communications plan to notify food pantries and homeless shelters that they will likely get more business soon.

DCF reported that a year ago they had a record number of children in foster care (6,159 children). Since then they have broken that record four times and in March 2015 we had 6,337 children in out-of-home placements. Our foster care system was never meant to handle this many children and is already overwhelmed. But with families under stress, we can expect even more children to go into the system.

I had the pleasure of attending the KCK School Board meeting on Tuesday, May 12, to witness the number of outstanding seniors receiving a variety of scholarships. It is so wonderful to see the promises that lie ahead for these students.

I am hosting a roundtable meeting with graduating seniors at the South Branch Library from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20. All seniors are invited to attend.

Views West
by Murrel Bland

The solution to fiscal problems for state government is a one-cent hike in the sales tax.

At least that was the solution that State Sen. Steve Fitzgerald offered at as meeting of the Legislative Committee of the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce Friday, May 8. Fitzgerald represents the Fifth District that includes Western Wyandotte County.

Fitzgerald, a New Yorker turned Kansan, said he doesn’t like tax increases, but this appears to be the simplest solution to Kansas money problems that a majority of legislators could approve and that Gov. Sam Brownback would accept. Fitzgerald and fellow conservative legislators met with the governor recently to find a solution to the estimated $400 million shortfall for next year’s budget.

Legislators are meeting in Topeka, hoping to find a revenue plan before the session is scheduled to end Friday, June 5. Various solutions have been offered including hiking the tax on alcohol and tobacco and stripping money from the transportation fund.

Liberal and moderate legislators have strongly criticized the governor for a plan to eliminate the Kansas income tax. Fitzgerald made it very clear that the sales tax hike has his support only if the “overarching goal” is to eliminate income tax.

Fitzgerald said that the states of New Hampshire and Tennessee do not have a state income tax and do quite well. I would note that New Hampshire pays its legislators $100 a year with no expense account. Kansas legislators receive $88.60 a day plus $129 a day for expenses.

According to a recent article in USA Today, there are seven states with no income tax – Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Fitzgerald is partly right when he says New Hampshire and Tennessee have no tax on earned income; however both states have a tax on interest and dividend income.

The seven states with no taxes on income are not in the same category as Kansas; they are big tourism attractors and have substantial promotional budgets. Kansas ranks near the bottom in tourism promotion dollars. And these seven states are rich in mineral or oil deposits or both.

The argument against hiking the sales tax claims it is regressive — that it discourages business. Those who are advocates for the poor say that those who can least afford it would be forced to pay it on such items as food.

As a practical matter, such a sales tax hike could mean that someone buying goods in the Wyandotte Plaza Shopping Center or the Legends Outlet could be paying about 11 percent sales tax. That could put merchants there at a disadvantage and chase shoppers to Missouri where sales tax could be 1 percent less or smaller.

Over the years, Kansas has had a balance among its three basic taxing sources —sales, income and property. Property tax has been the most stable and sales tax has been the most fluid. Income tax has usually been in the middle.

Kansas doesn’t have mountains or seashores—the natural attractions. Historically, it offers a quality of life that is very much tied to good schools — from pre-schools to universities. And although there is some oil and mineral production in Kansas, it pales compared to most of the seven states without income tax.

Fitzgerald told of another discouraging fact about state revenue — that state officials aren’t certain just how much money it has because it hasn’t opened the tax payments received earlier this year. To help solve this problem, employees from other departments have been borrowed to help the Department of Revenue open mail. So much for government efficiency.

Fitzgerald said if the one-cent sales tax hike does pass, it probably would result in the largest state budget ever. So what happened to the conservative legislators who wanted to cut overall spending? It doesn’t look like it will happen; tax revenue would simply be shifted from income tax to sales tax.

This one-cent sales tax proposal may be in trouble as a result of the Kansas House Taxation Committee action Monday, May 11. The committee passed, in a bipartisan action, a bill that would rescind the tax incentives that Gov. Brownback created. The vote was 13-8. The bill goes to the full house for debate.

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

The 2015 legislative session should come to a close this week as we approach the 90th Day. However, there are issues that were not resolved during the regular session that still must be addressed before final adjournment.

The most important considerations remaining are the budgets for the next two fiscal years and whether there are sufficient revenues to fund these budgets. It is still unclear how the state will fund the cost of whatever budget emerges. The Legislature will have to address the revenue shortfall because, the state cannot deficit spend. With no clear solution in sight this could cause the veto session to go longer than the 90 days.

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]

Budget and taxes
Despite the House Appropriations Committee meeting several times this week, the legislature still does not have a comprehensive budget proposal to fund the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, or to address the looming $800 million deficit. The session is nearly over and it is still unclear how the state will be able to fund the cost of whatever budget emerges.

Several lawmakers in both chambers have proposed a number of tax increases to help the state make ends meet including increasing sales taxes, raising property taxes, taxing certain kinds of income, and taxing gas, tobacco, and alcohol at higher rates.

Kansas is the ninth most regressive tax state, and using any of these proposals to fill the deficit would disproportionally affect lower income Kansans. As proposals continue to be introduced, I will consider any plan that is fair, equitable, and sustainable and puts the needs of Kansas’ families first.

RPS
The House voted this week to approve a bill amending Kansas’ Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). Based on an agreement reached by wind and business industry leaders, the bill:
• Transitions the state’s mandate of twenty percent renewably sourced energy by 2020 to a voluntary goal.
• Replaces the indefinite property tax exemption with a ten year property tax exemption for future renewable energy projects.
• Clarifies that renewable energy is not a public utility, and is therefore not subject to a higher tax rate.
• Avoids a 4.3 percent excise tax on wind energy production.

Civil service
The Senate approved a bill, which amends the Kansas Civil Service Act and changes protections for state employees. The House passed the same bill earlier in the legislative so the bill will now be sent to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.

I voted no when it appeared before the House. The bill removes state employees’ classified status, changing them to ‘at-will’ employees who can be fired without cause.

This bill risks replacing the state’s current merit based system with a corrupt system of political patronage. Kansans deserves the best possible employees delivering services, regardless of their political affiliation or beliefs.

Kobach’s prosecutorial powers
A proposal to grant the Kansas Secretary of State the authority to criminally prosecute voter fraud was approved by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill will greatly redefine the role of the Secretary of State from Chief Elections Officer to a public prosecutor. Kansas has already vested the authority to prosecute voter fraud in county and district attorneys elected at the local level. Allowing the Secretary of State to overstep a locally elected leader’s power impedes on local control.

Another provision in the bill that is concerning would allow candidates to give gifts of no more than $3 to a voter. Under current state statute, it is illegal and considered election bribery to distribute items of tangible monetary value. Changing the law sets a dangerous precedent, and potentially exposes the democratic process to corruption. To voters $3 might seem not seem like much, but it is a matter of principle – there is not a price on democracy and votes should never be bought.

Uber
While legislators were on break in April, Gov. Brownback vetoed consumer protection legislation that regulates ride-sharing services (like Uber) by requiring drivers to complete a background check and carry comprehensive and collision insurance on their vehicles. Both the House and Senate voted this week to override the veto.

I voted to override the veto because the bill provides essential consumer protection for individuals using the ride sharing service. While the legislature’s action in no way prevents the company from operating, in a dramatic response, ride-sharing service Uber immediately shut down all operations in the state. I remain willing to continue negotiations with Uber in the future, so the state can reach a compromise that protects consumers and allows ride sharing companies to operate safely.

Changes to marijuana possession penalties
This week the House approved HB 2049, in response to projections from the Kansas Sentencing Commission that state prison populations will soon exceed current bed capacity. The legislation would lessen the current penalties of marijuana possession for repeat offenders, lowering the first violation to a less severe misdemeanor and changing the second violation from a felony to a misdemeanor. A third, and subsequent, violation would still result in a felony offense. If signed into law the state may save over $1.2 million over the next year alone.

The bill also legalized the pharmaceutical use of non-intoxicating hemp oil, which has less than 3 percent THC, to address the needs of Kansans suffering from debilitating seizure disorders who have exhausted treatment options. The regulatory framework established by the bill includes strict licensing requirements and oversight for the production, prescription, distribution, and use of hemp oil. In doing so, the bill balances the need for positive health outcomes with the need to protect public and patient safety.