Category: Opinions

Guest column

by State Rep. Pam Curtis

The 2019 legislative session commenced on Monday, Jan. 14, and is off to a fast pace.

The Legislature has several major issues to address this year, and we are ready to get to work on finding commonsense, bipartisan solutions. Kansas works better when we work together.

The first week of the legislative session brought many Kansans to the Capitol to share information, ideas and to celebrate the beginning of a new legislative session and a new administration.

OnTuesday the halls of the Statehouse filled with Kansans for the annual “People’s Agenda.” It was wonderful to see so many from Wyandotte County participating in this event as well as the many other events happening at the Capitol this past week.

It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and appreciate your input on issues facing state government. Feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room 452-S, 300 SW 10th, Topeka, Kansas, 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.

Inauguration of Gov. Laura Kelly

On Monday, Jan. 14, former State Sen. Laura Kelly was sworn in as the 48th governor of Kansas. Despite the freezing weather, a crowd gathered around the south steps of the Statehouse to witness the ceremony held beneath banners reading “Equality,” “Education” and “Opportunity.”

Gov. Kelly’s inauguration makes Kansas a historic state, the only state to have elected three female Democratic governors. Her swearing-in followed those of Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, and State Treasurer Jake LaTurner.

That same evening, the inaugural ball was attended by more than 2,300 people at the Kansas Expocenter.

First day of the 2019 session

On Monday afternoon, the Kansas Legislature kicked off the 2019 session at 2:00pm. Returning members and newly elected officials were sworn-in during the first day on the House floor. The Kansas House has 125 representatives. The House Democratic Caucus is made up of 41 representatives.

Kansas House Democrats are ready to get to work this session to help resolve issues facing Kansans. The state works better when we work together.

2019 state of the state address

The annual state of the state address was delivered by newly-inaugurated Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday, Jan. 16.

Gov. Kelly gave a strong speech stressing the need for bipartisanship in order to achieve prosperity for all Kansans. She vowed to present a balanced budget without raising taxes.

Throughout the speech, four key priorities were thematic: fully funding Kansas schools to end the cycle of litigation, supporting rural communities, expanding Medicaid, and fixing our broken foster care system.

We must bring our school funding formula to constitutional muster and provide a quality education for every Kansas child, no matter their zip code. We all need to ensure that we are positioning our children to thrive in a changing economy, which means modern classrooms and modern technologies.

Developing infrastructure, declining rural populations, and addressing the needs of agribusiness are among a few of the priorities outlined in Gov. Kelly’s state of the state speech, and will be priorities for the House Rural Revitalization Committee.

Expanding Medicaid is one of the top shared priorities across Kansas, as research has shown that 77 percent of Kansans favor expansion. Thirty percent of our state’s hospitals are considered financially vulnerable, especially in rural communities. Expanding Medicaid would mean that more than 150,000 Kansans currently without health insurance would have coverage.

Our foster care system is in crisis and requires immediate action. House Democrats are ready to continue working towards a better system alongside Gov. Kelly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our state’s most vulnerable children.

2019 budget

On Thursday, Budget Director Larry Campbell (retained from the previous administration) presented the governor’s budget to a joint session of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Committees. The governor’s budget priorities are to achieve structural balance, rebuild the state’s savings, and reduce the state’s debt.

Highlights from the governor’s budget:
• Restoring school funding as recommended by the Kansas State Board of Education.
• Funding for 55 additional child welfare positions to help diffuse extremely high caseloads and protect our state’s most vulnerable children.
• Investing in our infrastructure and phasing out the practice of raiding “The Bank of KDOT.”
• Increased funding to help keep our communities safe. Adding $3 million in funding for Kansas corrections officers.
• In order to ensure state employee salaries, remain competitive and with inflation, the governor recommends a 2.5 percent base pay increase
• A re-amortization of KPERS to make state retirement contributions more realistic and sustainable over time.

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

During the recent race for Congress in the 3rd District, the Congressional Forum offered a debate opportunity to the Republican incumbent, Kevin Yoder, and his Democratic challenger, Sharice Davids. Yoder accepted quickly. Davids declined, citing previous commitments.

The forum was established by supporters of U.S. Rep. Larry Winn in 1968 as a nonpartisan organization to help inform constituents about what goes on in Washington, D.C. Since its founding, Republicans and one Democrat cooperated by appearing regularly at the forum.

There was concern among forum regulars that Davids didn’t show at the debate and that she might not participate in the forum. However, that concern was quickly dismissed when she received a standing ovation, when first introduced, at the meeting of the forum Friday, Jan. 18, at Children’s Mercy Park.

Sharice Lynnette Davids is an interesting study in American politics for several reasons. She is the first of two American Indian women to be elected to Congress. The other is Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo from New Mexico. Davids had a career in mixed martial arts and is openly gay. She was raised by a single mother who was a U.S. Army drill sergeant.

Davids defeated Yoder by a little more than 28,000 votes; she garnered more than 78,000 votes in traditionally Republican Johnson County. Yoder received only about 63,000 votes in Johnson County.

Davids told the forum members that her main concern now is getting federal employees back to work with pay.

Davids is a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a fact that brought applause from the forum audience. She served as a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Transportation. She said she wants to make infrastructure a high priority.

She said she plans to open an office soon in the Brotherhood Building. She said she is anxious to help constituents with concerns, such as those involving the IRS, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Davids had high praise for her alma mater, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park. She said such schools, including Kansas City Kansas Community College, play a key role in providing an educated work force.

She received a degree in business from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a law degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

She said affordable health care is also one of her high priorities. She said she believes it is important that, as a Democrat, she can be a link from the majority party in the U.S. House with the rest of the Kansas delegation, which is Republican.

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