Guest column
Opinion
by Rep. Pam Curtis
Last week was a very busy week. The House was on the floor Monday through Thursday and took action on 34 bills. This was also the final week for committees to meet and pass out bills for consideration.
Among the 34 bills debated on the floor was HCR 5015, which urged the U.S. Congress to reject the For the People Act of 2021. After heavy discussion on HCR 5015, it was clear that Democrats wanted to protect voting rights while Republicans would prefer to strip it away. In the last couple of weeks before we recess, we anticipate hearing controversially large bills that could each have a serious impact on the state of Kansas: sports wagering, the Brownback 2.0 tax bill, the Frankenstein school voucher bill, and the budget.
In the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee we worked and passed out the STAR Bond bill, which was set to expire. I offered an amendment, which would have aligned the economically distressed urban areas with the same criteria in the bill as the rural-small cities area. My amendment failed. However, the chairman of the committee instructed the Kansas Department of Commerce staff to work with me to draft a bill based on aligning economic development tools for our most economically distressed urban areas with rural incentives for consideration next session.
If the goal is to help economic development in the most economically distressed areas of Kansas than we should not separate out urban from rural. They share many of the same issues and challenges and if we let the data determine where those areas are, whether they are in a big city or a small city, we can align the economic development tools that are available to help those areas. I am looking forward to working on this legislation for next year.
Read more about the week’s legislative actions at https://www.curtisforkck.com/2021-legislative-update-11.
Gov. Kelly announced late last week that COVID-19 vaccinations for all adults and children over the age of 16 are open beginning this week. People over the age of 16, regardless of health or employment, are encouraged to get their vaccine.
There was no action taken on the floor by the House last week, but as we look into the next few weeks there are many controversial issues coming over the horizon. These issues include medicinal marijuana, an education bill aimed at defunding public school education, a bill that would give tax cuts to giant multinational corporations, and even a bill that discriminates against transgender people.
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, 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.
Resources
My Legislative Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PamCurtisKCK.
My Twitter account, https://twitter.com/pcurtiskck.
Kansas Legislature website, http://kslegislature.org/li/.