February 5, 2005 Newsletter

Legislative Update-Week Four

Not much has happened yet on Education funding, but that is to be expected. The Session is still very young and Wednesday (2/4/04) was the last day for most Committees to request bills. For progress made prior to this week see: http://www.dougpatterson.org/newsletter/2004/2004-01-27

There were, however, some interesting positions taken by folks here in Topeka.

1. The Governor maintains her Education First Tax-School funding plan. The tax portion of her plan is very clear but how it benefits education is still fuzzy. We do know that the special education funding portion of her plan would be a disaster, so she has pulled that and is trying to fix it. Nonetheless, she did come out with a plan on day #1. In the ""Success has many authors, but failure has none" test, chalk one up for Governor Sebelius. At least she put a plan in play.

2. Some organizations have come out with clear positions on the Governors Tax Plan. These are as follows:

In response, I sent an e-mail to United Families which read as follows:

"Dave & Pat

Then what, in concept, does Kansas Families United for Public Education stand for?

1. Do you support the Governer's tax proposal?

2. Do you support an increase in LOB only?

3. Do you support a mix of a tax increase less than the Governor's and if so, what is it.

4. Do you support the above mix of a tax inrease (3) and an increase in the LOB?

6. Do you support any of the above, so long as the right of locals to raise local funds used locally is an absolute and non-negotiable condition?

7. Do you support what KASB [Kansas Association of School Boards] wants, and what do you understand that to be.

8. Do you support what KNEA [the teacher’s union] wants, and what do you understand that to be.

9. What level do you want us to raise the BSAPP to, and how do you want us to fund the increase.

10. What do you support that is not in the above.

It's fine to write "open letters", but I need to know what you want the legislature to do."

3. There are some promising developments on adjusting the current school finance formula in consideration of Johnson County. You will recall that the base amount paid to students in any school district (the "BSAPP") is adjusted for certain area cost adjustments. We are working on legislation to raise the BSAPP by a "weighting" factor which considers the higher cost of living for teachers here in Johnson County. More to come on that later in the session.

I am proud of the entire Johnson County legislative delegation and their commitment to working on a long term solution to fair and equitable funding of education while at the same time preserving our local control and local funding. With Judge Bullock fighting us on that and with our own local Kansas Families United for Public Education making it sound like we need to abandon local control until Johnson County solves the rest of the state’s problems, this might take longer than we had hoped before the Session began.

And speaking of timing, while Judge Bullock said that under existing court procedure laws, the parties to the case, i.e., the Kansas State School Board and the Attorney General Phill Kline cannot appeal his order now, we are going to try to change that law to allow General Kline to take an immediate appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. We can do that because we are the Legislature and we write those laws. Whose idea was that? Members of the Johnson County legislative delegation.

That’s about all this week on education funding.

On February 6, 2004, the Kansas House of Representatives is honoring some very distinguished Americans. President Ronald Reagan’s birthday is the 6^th of February. The 40^th President of the United States of America will turn 93. The House is recognizing his popularity and political successes. The most prestigious of which was his fight against communism that ended the cold war.

The House is also honoring veterans who participated in United States nuclear weapon activity. House Concurrent Resolution 6007 will officially designate July 16, 2004 as Atomic Veterans Day in remembrance of the first atomic test that took place on July 16, 1945. The resolution was introduced by Representative Everett Johnson (R-Augusta) who actually participated in the detonation of three atomic bombs. This resolution will make Kansas the first state to honor Atomic Veterans.

Although Governor Sebelius did not recommend the Kansas Economic Growth Act (KEGA), it appears likely she will support it. In fact, on Tuesday night at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual dinner, Governor Kathleen Sebelius insinuated that KEGA was going to be a great accomplishment for her administration. Unfortunately, she has had nothing to do with KEGA.

KEGA was the brainchild of Representative Kenny Wilk (R-Lansing) and Senator Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee). Representative Wilk has introduced the Kansas Bioscience Initiative portion of KEGA in House Bill 2647, and the House Economic and Development Committee is currently having hearings on it. Senator Jordan introduced the Kansas Entrepreneurial Initiative portion of KEGA in Senate Bill 393. The Senate Commerce Committee is going to be hearing SB 393.

Earlier this week, House Concurrent Resolution 5033 was introduced in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee. The resolution is designed to create an amendment to the Kansas Constitution to read like the current Kansas law defining marriage as a civil contract between one man and one woman. Any other marriages would be void and not recognized by the State of Kansas. This amendment is being offered to prevent the courts from deciding the Kansas law defining marriage unconstitutional, like the outcome of Massachusetts’ marriage law.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that their state law limiting marriage to include only civil unions between one man and one woman to violate the due process rights of homosexuals under the Massachusetts Constitution. By amending our state constitution, such a decision could not be reached by our supreme court.

In order for this resolution to pass, it must obtain a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. If passed, it would be placed on the November ballot for voter approval. In order to be implemented, the voters would have to approve it by a simple majority.

Another Constitutional Amendment was introduced, House Concurrent Resolution 5034. The amendment will do the following:

2. Require voter approval for tax and fee increases;

Proponents of the amendment believe funding government should be no different than the financial realities that Kansas families live with. They have to adjust their budgets to live within their means. Those in favor also site that in just the past ten years, the state all funds budget has increased over 50%. States like Colorado have experienced great economic growth do to similar amendments in their state constitutions.

Opponents of the measure claim that you cannot predict what type of needs the state will need in the future. They claim the responsible thing to do is not to tie government’s hands with such an amendment. Instead, legislators would be able to determine the appropriate amount of money to spend on government each year.

For this resolution to pass, it too must obtain a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. If passed, it would be placed on the November ballot for voter approval. In order to be implemented, the voters would have to approve it by a simple majority. What do you think of this

Taxpayers Bill of Rights?

Attorney General Phill Kline outlined his legislative initiatives in the House Chamber on Thursday in front of more than 100 law enforcement officials, and he noted his task force’s recent success in apprehending 65 violent parole absconders. General Kline is requesting the legislature address three areas of concern: increase investigative measures; increase the penalties to crimes and create new crimes; and address prison space issues.

To catch criminals, the Attorney General wants to add money to the KBI’s budget to hire cyber-crime and public wrongdoing investigators. Many of today’s sexual predators hunt for victims over the internet. This initiative would help law enforcement to locate these predators before they can meet children in person. Due to increased incidences of public corruption, public wrongdoing investigators would focus on white-collar crimes, such as embezzlement.

The Attorney General also plans to deter sex crimes by requesting an increase in the penalties for the crime of soliciting a child so it carries an automatic prison term. Currently, a sexual predator can solicit a minor to engage in sexual activity and, unless that criminal has a very significant criminal history, they would face a mandatory probation sentence.

Despite General Kline’s attempt to apprehend parole violators, these criminals are only looking at being sent back to prison under current Department of Corrections guidelines for 90 days. After that, they will once again be released back onto parole. By making the act of absconding from parole a new crime, these violent criminals would serve a new prison sentence on top of their original prison sentence.

Lastly, the Attorney General wants the legislature to add a new $7.5 million, 256-bed prison facility at the El Dorado Prison, and he wants the Department of Corrections to have the ability to allow prisons to be run by privately owned groups. Both initiatives would help increase the state’s prison space, so more criminals could be sentenced to prison instead of being released on probation or parole.

House Bill 2668 was introduced last week. This bill would allow a county commission to request the Secretary of Wildlife to declare a hunting season on antlerless deer if 25% or more of that county’s auto accidents are caused by deer. The new hunting season could not coincide or overlap with any other deer season. As long as someone has a valid hunting license, they would be able to take one antlerless deer per day.

This legislation was introduced due to the high percentage of accidents attributable to deer in some rural counties. Proponents of the bill want to give counties such an option because it would be an easy solution to make Kansas roads safer. Some hunters will actually oppose this measure, because they don’t believe there are enough available deer to hunt as it is.

The House Tourism Committee will be holding hearings on HB 2668 on Wednesday, February 11, 2004.

The House passed Senate Bill 153. This legislation, known as the Wireless Enhanced 911 Act, would create a monthly $.50 customer service fee. Half of the money generated would be allocated to local entities responsible for each counties’ 911 services. A newly created advisory board would then disperse the remaining money to localities in the form of grants for special projects.

These grants could be used to update equipment in areas with already established wireless 911 service or provide maintenance, but its primary focus is on expanding wireless 911 services in rural counties that would have difficulty raising the funds themselves. This legislation is designed to allow 911 centers to be able to track where a citizen is calling from on their wireless phone.

Proponents of the bill argued that enabling 911 centers to be able to track calls would save lives, particularly in rural areas. If someone was in an accident and didn’t know where they were or had trouble communicating to the dispatcher, 911 could still send help.

The opponents of the bill were concerned about having another fee added to wireless phones, because they felt cell phone users were taxed too much already. They also expressed concern for not having the fee sunset after rural counties had implemented wireless tracking technology.

The House debated the issue on the floor for several hours. On Thursday, the issue passed by a two-to-one margin. The bill will now be sent over to the Senate for approval. I supported this measure at the request of Leawood and Overland Park.

Agriculture- This week the committee held hearings regarding the identification of livestock.

Appropriations- The Appropriations Committee will begin the task of sorting out the Governor’s budget. One issue that has perplexed representatives is how, after the KBI told legislators that they are out of money, they were able to give over 12% raises to their agents.

Commerce and Labor- A bill prohibiting the sale of gas below cost was passed out of committee. They have also heard testimony on raising Kansas’ minimum wage requirement. I am one of the two sponsors of this bill.

Corrections and Juvenile Justice- CJJ will be busy next week holding hearings on methamphetamine, truancy, and HB 2649, which will make the internal possession of controlled substances.

Education- The committee heard testimony from Speaker Pro Tem John Ballou (R-Gardner) regarding House Concurrent Resolution 5030, which would dissolve the State Board of Education and replace it with governor-appointed Secretary of Education. Next Week they will hear testimony regarding charter schools.

Ethics and Elections- Hearings on campaign finance may begin as early as next week.

Local Government- The Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) is currently being reviewed by working groups that will report back to the committee concerning any changes that need to be made.

The committee will also begin discussing HB 2601, which would permit the awarding of attorney’s fees to litigants that win open records lawsuits against state agencies the same way that an agency can collect fees. Currently, if a party sued a state agency and lost, they would have to pay all of an agency’s legal fees associated with the lawsuit if the suit was brought in bad faith. However, if the state agency lost and the court found the agency litigation was in bad faith, the agency would only have to pay costs up to the point the suit was filed.

Taxation- HB 2700 will be heard. If passed, this bill would repeal the streamline sales tax. Although the Governor’s administration has taken measures to correct the current problems with implementing the tax, numerous small business are adversely affected by it.

Tourism- Yacht owners have began registering as boat dealers so they can escape property taxes on luxury items. The committee is investigating how to remedy the problem.

Transportation- HB 2522, a measure that would outlaw mobile infrared transmitter devices that could change traffic signals, was passed on the House floor this week after being passed out of committee last week. Currently, the committee is working on specialized plates. They are not going forward with the issue of placing cameras at traffic lights to catch people running red lights, because home rule law allows municipalities to install such devices as they see fit.

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The snow here in Topeka is about as it is in Johnson County.

As I have done in the past, I hope to get you a report weekly. Please e-mail me (at Patter@ink.org) or call at 785-296-7604 if you have questions.

ALSO, if you have others who you believe would find these legislative reports of use, Please e_mail me their e_mail addresses and I will add them to my address book.

Respectfully,

Rep, Doug Patterson

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