Legislation in the works
Sen. Mitch Holmes talked about several pieces of legislation he’s working with. They include, a bill to require water be pumped into Rattlesnake Creek to flow into Quivira. The bill, he said, originated in Denver, and has several farmers concerned.
Northern Natural Gas has proposed a bill to allow them to be able to chase gas stored in underground caverns past their property lines. In the 1970s, they were latecomers to extracting natural Gas in the Pratt area, and claim some who have been pumping gas since the 1930s are stealing gas that has seeped from their caverns. Other landowners claim the gas is theirs, and if it has seeped, it’s because Northern Natural Gas is applying too much pressure in their own caverns.
To combat those convicted for DUI who circumvent the requirement of using ignition interlock devices by borrowing vehicles from others, Holmes is working to make those who knowingly lend vehicles to such a person to be held responsible.
He’s also working to redefine the term “civil hold” as it relates to those who commit felonies while being held as sexually violent predators at the Larned State Hospital. Rather than the cost of medications, room and board for these felons that come from all over the state becoming the responsibility of one county, Holmes wants to require the state to continue to cover these costs while the offenders serve their time. He is also working to alter the sentencing grid to remove presumptive probation and to allow their status as sexually violent offenders to be considered an aggravating factor in their sentencing, making their original sentence longer. This would save the state money because it costs about a third as much to keep the offender in prison than to keep them in the sexual predator program at the hospital.
Sen. Mitch Holmes, Rep. John Edmonds and Rep. Troy Waymaster attended a legislative coffee held at the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce meeting room Saturday morning. School funding and April elections were the main points of discussion.
A contingency of teachers from USD 428, including Superintendent Brad Reed came to ask about SB71, the bill to rescind funding to K-12 schools for the current school year, and a surprise “allotment” taken back by order of Governor Sam Brownback, which if all is passed will reduce by nearly $400,000 the funds already budgeted for by the district.
Voting act questioned
Least popular was the Help Kansans Vote Act, which would eliminate April elections and would require all races to be partisan. Several teachers and administration from USD 428 expressed disapproval because school board elections are held in April allowing new members to be installed at the beginning of the school’s fiscal year.
Other constituents also stated they did not support the bill because they felt it was a local issue, not a state issue, and that it would make it more difficult to compete against state and national candidates to get their message out. Representative Troy Waymaster, who represents northern Barton County, said he too opposed the bill because it is already difficult for some city councils to find candidates to run for office, and requiring them to declare party affiliation would bar some, such as U.S. Postal Service employees, from being able to serve their communities.
Holmes said the majority of people who voted in April elections were people who benefitted from the decisions made by those local boards. As chair of the Special Committee for Ethics, Elections and Local Government, he cited legislative research by a non-partisan organization which included polls taken by several entities, including one by the University of California at Berkeley as the source for this data.
Rep. John Edmonds addressed his concerns about the recent budget rescissions advanced by the Governor that will affect education at both the K-12 and Regents levels. He said he voted against them.
He also said he is against the Governor’s proposed “sin” taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. He asserted that the tax would have a detrimental affect on those who are poor. Smokers, he pointed out, do not quit smoking because the price per package of cigarettes goes up. Instead, it takes away money from their budgets that could be spent on nutrition and medication for children of smokers.
Budget take-backs not over
One attendee asked when the state would have a firm report on tax receipts, which both Waymaster and Edmonds agreed may not be until April or even May. They warned that any budget projections reported between now and that time were moving targets. Chances are, there will be more rescissions announced. One reason for this is the drop in price per barrel for oil. Severance tax, the money collected from the oil and gas industry, is based on the this sales price. In November, when the current projection was made, oil was at nearly $80 bbl. Today, it is at $38 bbl. This will make a huge difference in the budget, especially at the county level.
Legislators are now revisiting the 2012 tax plan. He echoed a statement by Senator Ralph Ostmeyer, “We need to acknowledge that we made a mistake and fix it, because we can’t go forward with that tax plan currently on the books. There is just no way this state fiscally can survive.”
The statement was met by applause.
Reed asks for commitment
Superintendent Brad Reed addressed all three of the legislators, expressing his dismay and disappointment about recent reductions taking back funds the school district had already budgeted for the current school year.
Senate bill 71 will take back $209,000. The allotment plan the Governor passed last week takes away an additional $182,000.
“We have a top ten school system in this state in the whole country, by any metric you want to use. We do that by funding it in the bottom ten,” he said. “Now, if you can get a top 10 performing state by only funding in the bottom 10, I don’t know how much more bang for your buck you can get.”
He asked all three if they would make a commitment to oppose anything that takes money away from K-12 education from the current year’s budget and to do their best to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future as well.
Waymaster responded that although he supports Kansas public education, he could not commit to Reeds request because the tax plan needs to be stabilized first in order to fix the budget shortfalls and maintain a sustainability of revenue stream. He opposes SB71. Every single district would have to cut a check back to the state of Kansas. For very small districts, this is a huge deal.
Edmonds said he does not make promises like that on any subject.
Holmes said any kind of promise is hard to keep if you don’t know what is coming up.
“K-12 has always gotten favored treatment when it comes to budgeting,” he said. “I’ve voted on a lot of budget bills, and its very painful and difficult to do, and then find that people back home who were getting favored treatment angry because they didn’t get it all, I say we did what we could and we’ll continue to do what we can but to make a promise, we can’t do that.”
