Welcome!
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Statehouse Observer
The intent of this document is to keep you updated on the news and activities in the Statehouse.
See the December edition here.
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Kansas State Board of Education Meeting
See the notes from the November meeting as prepared by Sue Storm, District 25's elected BOE member here.
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Legislators grill Kan. social services official
A glimpse of reactions to Kansas reform of social services.
See the full article by John Milburn here.
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Rep. Don Hineman's questions about tax cut plan
Many who attended Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan's tax tour of Western
Kansas were impressed with the comments of State Representative Don
Hineman (R-Dighton), who posed some questions about what the
Governor will propose.
Find the comments in their entirety here.
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Grading Florida (op ed from the Hays Daily News)
By now, most Kansans paying attention to K-12 public education are aware change is coming both in terms of school finance as well as how students are taught. Gov. Sam Brownback has promised as much. We're just not sure exactly what to expect.
See the full editorial by Patrick Lowry here.
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Kansas PTA Legislative Connection
The Kansas PTA Advocacy Team is dedicated to providing the public with accurate and timely information on policies and practices that impact our public schools.
Check out their website here.
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Early Head Start slots to underwrite fatherhood initiative
Scaled-back Manhattan program means money for SRS fatherhood push
By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
Oct. 3, 2011
TOPEKA — Officials at the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services plan to use a portion of the state’s Early Head Start budget to promote fatherhood.
See the article here.
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Lawmakers get school funding report
See the article here.
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Kansas Interim Health Committee meeting 9/19
See the Lawrence Journal World Report here.
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Kansas State Board of Education Meeting 9/13
See my notes from the meeting here.
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KDOT Project in the Running for National Award
I have good news to share and I want to tell you how you can help make it
even better.
We just received word that the practical design project on K-23 in Gove
County has been named one of 10 national finalists in AASHTO's
America's Transportation Award competition. In July, we learned the
project had been selected as a regional finalist at the Mid-America
Association of State Transportation Officials meeting in Cincinnati, winning
the innovative management category. We thought that was pretty good so
we were ecstatic to hear that the project has moved on to the final, national
competition.
See full article here.
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Jobless Claims and Economic Recovery
August 26th, 2011 KC Chamber Current Article:
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits went up again this week but this time
there is an explanation that has kept the markets from over reacting.
See full article here.
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Mid-America Arts Alliance Response to Kansas Arts
Commission's Status
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (August 24, 2011) – The National Endowment for the
Arts (NEA) has determined that the Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) is not fully
operational in ways that comply with NEA?s eligibility requirements. The KAC
thereby is not currently a qualified member partner of Mid-America Arts Alliance
(M-AAA).
See full article here.
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Judge blocks Kan. law defunding Planned Parenthood
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An incredulous federal judge on Monday rejected the state's claim that a new Kansas statute that denied Planned Parenthood federal funding did not target the group, ruling that the law unconstitutionally intended to punish Planned Parenthood for advocating for abortion rights and would likely be overturned.
See full article here.
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Kansas Hires Koch Brothers' Attorneys To Defend Against Planned Parenthood
After passing a measure to defund Planned Parenthood over the non-issue of "taxpayer-funded abortions" last month, the state of Kansas has hired an expensive team of private attorneys — the same attorneys who represent the billionaire Koch brothers — to defend the state against Planned Parenthood in court.
See full article here.
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In April, Governor Brownback invited 20 people to a closed-door
meeting in Topeka to share marriage program ideas. Unfortunately, I
was not invited, so am unable to share more about the meeting than
what has been reported here.
I believe that it is important for you, my constituents, to know about
this so that you have the opportunity to provide input. You
can contact Gov. Brownback directly by emailing governor@ks.gov. Or
you can send your comments to me and I'll share them as opportunity
presents.
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See April news "From the Governor's Office"
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KEPC Legislative Update - May 17, 2011
by Kansas Economic Progress Council on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 2:05pm
No budget without House GOP Moderates
An analysis of the House vote on the budget last week indicates House moderate Republicans were a major factor in its passage. Without their support, the Kansas Legislature might still be at the Statehouse this week.
The vote on House Bill 2014 was 69 to 55. Republican moderates supplied at least 13 of those yes votes. Without them, the vote count would stand at 56 in support, short of the 63 votes necessary to pass legislation.
Determining who is a moderate and who is not is somewhat problematic, but for purposes of this analysis, we looked at the returning House Republicans who voted in 2010 for the one-cent sales tax increase AND voted for the budget this year.
Those 13 are:
Bob Bethell (R-Alden)
Barbara Bollier (R-Mission Hills)
Bob Brookens (R-Marion)
Pat Colloton (R-Leawood)
Don Hill (R-Emporia)
Don Hineman (R-Dighton)
Tom Moxley (R-Council Grove)
JoAnn Pottorff (R-Wichita)
Richard Proehl (R-Parsons)
Charles Roth (R-Salina)
Tom Sloan (R-Lawrence)
Vern Swanson (R-Clay Center)
Ron Worley (R-Lenexa)
I had a conversation the Friday morning the legislature ended with three of the moderate GOP members of the House. The said some of the new House Republicans thanked them for their yes votes. The freshman legislators indicated they wanted the budget to pass, but did not feel they could vote yes after promises they made during the 2010 election campaign.
There was also discussion that the moderates were more helpful to Speaker of the House Mike O'Neal this session than most of the new so-called "tea party" Republicans elected in November and the more conservative members who were re-elected.
In fact, three of the Speaker's appointees on the powerful House Appropriations Committee staged something of a revolt with an amendment to cut additional millions from the budget. They are Rep. Kasha Kelley (R-Arkansas City), Rep. Anthony Brown (R-Eurora), and Rep. Owen Donohoe (R-Shawnee). Kelley, who serves as Appropriations Vice-Chair, was removed from the budget conference committee by Speaker O'Neal and replaced with Rep. Richard Carlson (R-St. Marys).
The moderate Republicans probably supported the budget because they realized if it failed, the next budget would likely cut more, in an effort to attract the more conservative House members.
After forming a coalition with House Democrats the past two sessions to control the budget and pass the 2010 transportation program, GOP moderates were somewhat isolated by Speaker O'Neal. Will that isolation end now that they supported him, while the more conservative elements of the party proved somewhat troublesome?
For their part, the moderates seemed pleased they are still able to influence legislation by voting in a block. In other words, despite pronouncements to the contrary, they were relevant and remain so.
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UPDATE - Friday, May 6, 2011
The Kansas House continues with conference committee meetings to iron out a final budget and to negotiate agreements on bills that at least one body altered before passing. We will continue meeting next week when hopefully an agreement between the House and Senate can be reached on the budget. Below is a copy of news posted by the KNEA. Their summary is excellent and worth sharing with you.
Budget negotiations crawl to a halt
A couple of budget meetings today resulted in no noticeable progress and it appears that the budget negotiations between the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee are approaching stalemate.
At issue is how big of an ending balance the budget should have. House members are demanding a large ending balance at the expense of services to Kansas citizens while Senators would prefer a modest ending balance and preserving as many services as they can during the economic recovery.
Senate Chair Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick) was quoted in Martin Hawver's Capitol Flash as saying, "We need to know the philosophy, how much we cut for an ending balance and cripple services and programs that are going to cost more in the future to repair."
Education conference committee hits impasse on critical school funding issues
The education conference committee, which has made little progress trying to package a number of bills into one big report, changed tactics and tried taking up individual items.
Agreed to today was House Bill 2191 with language crafted by Sen. John Vratil (R-Leawood) and agreed to by KNEA that would allow an extension of the probationary period from three to four or five years, under certain circumstances. This bill will now go to both chambers for adoption. Its provisions would not be available until next school year. As soon as the report is posted, we will provide a link for our readers.
The Senators then tried to get the House to approve a two-year extension of the 20 mill statewide property tax levy for schools (this must be done every two years and if not passed will put the bulk of school funding in jeopardy). The Senate has passed the extension while the House has not. Senators agreed to attach to it a provision passed by the House that would allow school districts to calculate the LOB as if base state aid per pupil was $4,433 for two more years.
House chairman Clay Aurand would not agree however, saying he had to talk to House leadership. This is quite surprising given the critical importance of the 20 mill levy and the almost universal support for the LOB "hold harmless." It would appear as if some games are afoot!
Meanwhile, on the House Floor...
Two bills we reported on earlier were both passed on final action.
Senate Bill 21, passed on a vote of 116 to 1, would do three things: it clears up an issue on the calculation and use of motor vehicle taxes on certain weightings, allows Ft. Leavenworth students to be transported to Leavenworth High School, and it establishes a uniform accounting system for school districts.
Senate Bill 111, passed on a vote of 82 to 33, provides a one-year "flexibility" provision to let school districts spend moeny from restricted funds for general purposes, delays by one year the implementation of a special education reimbursement "floor" and "ceiling" which would have been harmful to a large number of school districts, and permits school districts to use capital outlay funds for building insurance and utilities for one year.