Category: Opinions

by Rep. Pam Curtis

This past week has been especially busy with turnaround deadline on Thursday, Feb. 28th. We are officially halfway through session. Turnaround is when all bills in non-exempt committees must be passed through their committee, and the House.

Only “blessed” bills, outside of the exempt committees may continue to be worked. The Speaker of the House decides which bills will be blessed. After turnaround, we will work the bills that are sent to the House from the Senate. Turnaround rules do not apply to exempt committees, which are: Federal and State Affairs, Taxation, and Appropriations.

On Wednesday, HB 2279 passed the House of Representatives in final action. This is the bill that Rep. Ponka-We Victors and I sponsored to provide better information to victims of domestic violence at the time of arrest so they can make safe decisions. We appreciate everyone’s help in working to reach consensus on language to get this bill passed. The bill now heads to the Senate.

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 at the Statehouse 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: pam.curtis@house.ks.gov

Brownback tax plan 2.0 Passes House committee, heads to floor
This week, SB 22 passed through the House Taxation Committee. It will head to the floor. This bill is designed to benefit giant, multi-national corporations. At a minimum, this bill is estimated to cost Kansas $187.3 million for fiscal year 2020 alone, however, estimates could be much more. By fiscal year 2022, it’s estimated to cost Kansas upwards of $416 million. This would steal more money out of our state, local economies, and Kansans’ pockets. This is a repeat of the failed Brownback tax plan that was repealed less than two years ago.

Additionally, a 2016 study by a nonpartisan nonprofit, Feeding America, found that the cost of eliminating hunger in Kansas is $185 million. Furthermore, the failed Brownback tax plan left Kansas bankrupt, with crumbling infrastructure, dangerously underfunded state agencies, struggling schools, decreases in Kansans’ pocketbooks, and more. The recent state of emergency declared at El Dorado by the governor and the Kansas Department of Corrections is a prime example of the threats these policies still hold – and how dangerous the passage of another tax experiment will be.

This further calls into question the priorities of our Republican colleagues. We should put Kansans first, instead of more tax handouts to giant, multi-national corporations.

House Democrats reject any legislation that doesn’t put Kansas on a path to fiscal responsibility and that will harm hardworking Kansans. We’ve only just begun to stabilize our economy after the failed Brownback tax plan and cannot go backward.

Link to Feeding America study: http://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2016/overall/kansas

Washington Days state convention
This past weekend was our annual Democratic Convention, Washington Days, held in Topeka. It’s the largest gathering of Democrats in the state. Activities ranged from rallies to caucus meetings and auctions to luncheons – as well as a special dinner with speakers. This year, the featured speakers were Gov. Laura Kelly and Montana Sen. John Tester.
Alongside the festivities, this year is also the biennial election of the chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer of the Kansas Democratic Party.

This week on the floor

This week, the House worked several bills on the floor. All of these bills passed through the chamber. They include:

HB 2201: Updates statutory references necessitated by 2012 executive reorganization order No. 41 related to administration of tuberculosis programs.
HB 2215: Kansas state fair board is authorized to create a nonprofit corporation for the benefit of the state fair.
HB 2365: Provides for confidential communications of Kansas National Guard members in peer support counseling sessions.
HB 2006: Requires the Department of Commerce to create a database of economic development incentive program information.
HB 2103: Amends the revised Kansas code for care of children to provide requirements for placement of a child in a qualified residential treatment program.
HB 2290: Creates a crime victims compensation division within the attorney general’s office.
HB 2031: Amends the definition of “service-connected” in the Kansas police and firemen’s retirement system.
HB 2140: Allows agents of the KBI to participate in the Kansas DROP act and extending the sunset date for the act.
HB 2147: Increases bond maturity limitations in the Kansas rural housing incentive district act.
HB 2174: Extends the sunset date of the state use law for five years.
HB 2177: Pertains to the accounting treatment of certain derivative instruments of fixed index annuities.
HB 2191: Amends the procedure for execution of a search warrant for electronically stored information.
HB 2209: Authorizes the state Board of Regents to purchase cybersecurity insurance.
HB 2211: Allows judges to waive or reduce driver’s license reinstatement fees.
HB 2239: Liquor sales by licensees in common consumption areas.
HB 2281: Provides that a court order modifying a criminal sentence only modifies the portion of the sentence referenced by the court and not remaining portions of the original sentence.
HB 2084: Amends the Kansas 911 act.
HB 2126: Regulates the operation of electric-assisted scooters on roads and highways.
HB 2167: Establishes a system for the transfer of certain deer hunting permits to nonresidents.
HB 2168: Authorizes the state Board of Regents to sell and convey certain real property in Cherokee County and Riley County on behalf of Kansas State University.
HB 2174: Extends the sunset date of the state use law for five years.
HB 2177: Pertains to the accounting treatment of certain derivative instruments of fixed index annuities.
HB 2178: Amends the Kansas underground utility damage prevention act.
HB 2185: Clarifies the naturopathic medicine scope of practice to include diagnostic imaging.
HB 2191: Amends the procedure for execution of a search warrant for electronically stored information.
HB 2198: Allows the use of expedited partner therapy to treat a sexually transmitted disease.
HB 2206: Changes the bonding and cost requirements for animals taken into custody under a violation of cruelty to animals.
HB 2209: Authorizes the state Board of Regents to purchase cybersecurity insurance.
HB 2211: Allows judges to waive or reduce driver’s license reinstatement fees.
HB 2214: Changes the definition of a school bus for purposes of the motor-fuel tax law.
HB 2225: Adds on-track train equipment to the circumstances that a vehicle driver must stop at railroad crossings.
HB 2239: Liquor sales by licensees in common consumption areas.
HB 2243: Exempts animal shelters from registration requirements as a charitable organization.
HB 2248: Allows all-terrain vehicles to cross federal or state highways.
HB 2281: Provides that a court order modifying a criminal sentence only modifies the portion of the sentence referenced by the court and not remaining portions of the original sentence.
HB 2290: Creates a crime victims compensation division within the attorney general’s office.
HB 2203: Exempts individuals employed by the Kansas academies of U.S. Department of Defense STARBASE program from KPERS working after retirement requirements and authorizing reimbursement of suspended retirement benefits for certain retirants.
HB 2048: Clarifies the definition of a comparable offense under the Kansas criminal code.
HB 2144: Creates budget and taxing authority of community colleges; articulation of credits; and student residency requirements.
HB 2223: Replaces vineyard permits with producer permits to allow individuals to use a wider variety of agricultural products in the production of wine under such permit.
HB 2336: Clarifies when offenders under the supervision of the secretary of corrections are awarded jail credit.
HB 2360: Concerning background checks of employees and volunteers that have unsupervised access to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities.
HB 2346: Relating to standards for school-administered vision screenings.
HB 2279: Requires law enforcement officers to provide information about timing of release from custody when an arrest is made following a domestic violence call.

State Library of Kansas
Small business owners and would-be entrepreneurs, as well as others, might be interested in the Small Business Reference Center provided by the State Library of Kansas. It’s a vast resource that provides industry-specific data, sample business plans, marketing guides, business start-up kits, and Nolo legal guides. Business Basics covers starting a business, managing employees and more. This center includes more than 400 full-text magazines with articles that can be printed, saved or emailed and 450 full-text reference books: https://kslib.info/SmBiz

Resources

My Legislative Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PamCurtisKCK.
My Twitter account, https://twitter.com/pcurtiskck
My website, https://www.curtisforkck.com/
Kansas Legislature website, http://kslegislature.org/

by Rep. Pam Curtis

Last week was the final week for committees to meet as we head toward the “turnaround deadline” where we push bills from the House to the Senate and vice versa. We will spend most of this week on the “floor” voting on bills that have advanced through the committee process.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce was the host of the Wyandotte-Leavenworth County Tuesday Luncheon. We discussed a number of issues of importance to the KCK business community.

HB 2279, that Rep. Ponka-We Victors and I introduced passed out of committee on Friday. The bill will enhance notifications for victims of domestic violence to aid them in making safe decisions. It will require that law enforcement inform a victim that the person arrested can be released from custody in a short amount of time, and that there may be a 72-hour no-contact order imposed, and that they can sign up for “VINE” (Kansas Victim Information Notification Everyday) to know when the person arrested has been released. We appreciate everyone’s assistance in reaching consensus to pass HB 2279 out of committee. It now heads to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

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 at the Statehouse 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 email me at: pam.curtis@house.ks.gov

Kansas Black Legislative Day
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Kansas African American Legislative Caucus and the KS Quad-Caucus, in cooperation with the Kansas Black Leadership Council, held Black Legislative Day at the Capitol. There were many in attendance, with special guests from the Kansas Black Farmers Association, the NAACP Youth, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and the Kansas African American Affairs Commission. They held advocacy training workshops, forums on issues, and met with legislators, as well as the governor.

Anti-LGBTQ bills receive bipartisan backlash
Kansas made national headlines when a group of Republican legislators introduced and sponsored several radical bills targeting the LGBTQ community. The bills declare same-sex marriages as “parody marriages” and would disallow the state from recognizing them, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Another bill creates a special category of “elevated marriage” that requires counseling before a divorce is permitted.

The Republican legislators modeled these bills after drafts given to them by a controversial anti-gay activist.

A few Republican lawmakers that signed onto the bills denounced their support, claiming they hadn’t fully read the bills.

This week on the floor

This week, the House worked several bills on the floor. All of these bills passed through the chamber. They are as follows:

HB 2070: Designates a portion of United States highway 75 as the John Armstrong memorial highway.
HB 2123: Amends the Kansas national guard educational assistance act.
HB 2143: Updates the version of risk-based capital instructions in effect.
HB 2199: Amends documentation requirements related to the preparation of dead bodies.
HB 2087: Allows certain light screening material on motor vehicle windows.
HB 2097: Provides a method for calculating the cost of keeping civil prisoners in a county jail.
HB 2104: Amendments related to driving under the influence, including preliminary screening tests, implied consent advisories and test refusal.
HB 2105: Updates laws concerning limited liability companies.
HB 2125: Requires licensees operating a motor vehicle to promptly deliver driver’s license upon demand by authorized persons.
HB 2127: Eliminates the marking requirements for certain truck and truck tractors.
SB 9: Authorizes the transfer of $115,000,000 from the state general fund to the Kansas public employees retirement fund during the fiscal year 2019.
HB 2085: Adds a time requirement for reinstatement of a forfeited benefit unit of a rural water district.
HB 2007: Creates the United States army, navy, air force, marine corps, and coast guard veteran license plates.
HB 2101: Updates state credit union statutes.
HB 2119: Empowers the KPERS board to develop policies and procedures relating to procurement, enter into certain contracts and allow travel for trustees and employees of the system.

Resources
My Legislative Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PamCurtisKCK.
My Twitter account, https://twitter.com/pcurtiskck
My website, https://www.curtisforkck.com/
Kansas Legislature website, http://kslegislature.org/

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

In 2005 I was working with a friend who had the contract to produce a technical manual for the Vactor truck. Part of that project was to show how this truck cleans out sewers and catch basins. The Vactor truck is manufactured in Streeter, Illinois.

I had arranged for a photo shoot near 17th Street and Central Avenue that would show the truck in action. I hadn’t been at the location more than a few minutes when area residents approached me — they thought I was from the Unified Government. They wanted to know when I was going to solve their sewer problems — when it rained a lot, storm water mixed with sewer water.

This problem continues today, particularly in the eastern areas of Kansas City, Kansas. This became painfully apparent to Jeff Fisher who became public works director for the Unified Government about two and one-half years ago.

One of the first things Fisher did after taking the job here was to establish priority for needed infrastructure. Among other things, he visited the Argentine community where a home was immersed in two feet of storm water.

Fisher commissioned Black and Veatch, a consulting engineering firm based in Overland Park, to study how to deal with the storm water problem in Kansas City, Kansas. Currently everyone in Kansas City, Kansas, who receives a water bill from the Board of Public Utilities receives a monthly charge of $4.50 for storm water maintenance. The Unified Government is saying that such a flat fee is unfair as the charge is not proportional. The Unified Government has suggested a proposed fee based on the size of impervious areas. An impervious area is all types of hard surfaces such as pavements, buildings, patios, driveways, compacted soil and gravel.

Most residential properties would pay $5.90 a month according to the new proposed fee schedule. A typical non-residential property would pay $49.50 a month.

There has been a substantial objection to high fees that non-residential properties would have to pay. That was quite evident from meetings convened by the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Businesses hit particularly hard have included The Woodlands, the Kansas Speedway and car dealers in Village West. The Community College, which has about 125 acres covering its two campuses, would pay about $71,000 a year in storm water fees.

Fisher told the chamber members and other interested parties that he has agreed to reduce the amount of fees by about half. Eric Gentry, who owns two auto dealerships in Village West, said that the reduction is a move in the right direction, but that it needs to be more.

Phil Gibbs, a consulting engineer who has done considerable work in the Village West area, said that businesses in the area should receive discounts on their efforts to control storm water. Rusty Roberts, owner of Reece Nichols Roberts Realtors, said that he had to invest a substantial amount of money in a retention pond that is near his office building.

The low-lying areas of Kansas City, Kansas, have long suffered from the storm water problem. About one-fifth of the city’s land mass is in a flood plain. During the 1950s, there was a push to develop a flood control program by building a series of upstream reservoirs. One of the strongest supporters of this program came from the Fairfax Industrial Area.

I recall taking a geological course at the University of Kansas in Lawrence in the early 1960s. The instructor was Dr. Andrew Ireland. He was adamantly opposed to the reservoir plan, saying that it was taking thousands of acres of quality farmland out of production. He railed about substantially interfering with the natural flow of water. Dr. Ireland said anyone who builds in a flood plain runs the risk of being flooded.

When I was doing research for my book on “The 50s in Wyandotte County,” I talked with Rex Buchanan, who was then the director of the Kansas Geological Survey. He said that the reservoir system has worked fairly well in preventing floods. However, the reservoirs have serious silting problems. And the dam at the Tuttle Creek Reservoir near Manhattan is built on an earthquake fault.

Kansas City, Kansas, dodged the flood bullet in 1993. During that same period, the BPU nearly lost its water system. That motivated the utility to build a new water system that wasn’t vulnerable to flooding.

The argument can be made that development should not have been built in a flood plain. But now that it has happened, it makes sense to protect what is there, even though it will be quite expensive. The Unified Government is to be commended for facing the problem. However, its proposal is too much too soon. And those in the Village West Area who have invested in infrastructure to deal with storm water need to receive more credit for their efforts.

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