The Legislature will convene once again at 10 a.m. today for Sine Die – the ceremonial closing of the 2010 Legislative Session. This will be the final time the entire legislative body will be together until commencement of the 2011 Session next January.
Below I have detailed a number of the key issues that affected the legislature this session: the state budget, transportation, safety, education, and housing, among others. I hope you will find this re-cap helpful.
We faced one of the most difficult legislative sessions in our state’s history. By working in a bipartisan manner the legislature was able to uphold our commitment to our children’s education, our communities’ public safety and our aid to Kansas’ most vulnerable citizens. We also created tens of thousands of jobs and saved over 3000 jobs from being eliminated. I believe that to work our way through the national recession we have to continue to create jobs and put people back to work.
Please note that during the break, I will continue traveling to Topeka on a regular basis to attend Interim Committee meetings. I will also be in my Statehouse office on a frequent basis in order to attend to any constituent issues that may arise.
During this time, please feel free to contact me at (913) 721-0055 or kelly.kultala@senate.ks.gov.
BUDGET ISSUES:
This year, Kansas continued to suffer the trickle-down effects on a national economic recession which began in 2008. Since then, the state budget has gone to the chopping block six times – three times by the legislature and another three times through actions by the Governor. Even though we cut spending by more than $1 billion in just 18 months, we were still more than $500 million short by April 2010.
Even with these facts in mind, it still took an entire session for a budget proposal to materialize in the House Appropriations Committee. Unfortunately, that proposal demolished important investments and created more problems than it solved. I simply could not agree with a plan that inflicted such devastating harm onto Kansas families, schools and communities.
Luckily, in the final days of the session, a bipartisan coalition came together to pass a more reasonable alternative budget and a revenue enhancement package. The legislature increased the sales tax by 1 cent for three years, then at the end of the third year the sales tax increase rolls back .6 cents and .4 cents will be directed to the 2010 T-Works Comprehensive Transportation Plan. The coalition budget maintained critical investments that will both grow and preserve jobs in Northeast Kansas, while putting our state on the road to economic recovery.
While the final product is not perfect, it was by far the best proposal that surfaced this session. It stopped any further cuts to K-12 schools and added significant money to our higher education system. It prevented as many as 3,000 teachers and 125 parole officers across Kansas from being laid off. It will help more than 190,000 of Kansas’s working poor through the Earned Income Tax Credit and more than 300,000 poor Kansans receive a tax break with the Sales Tax Rebate Program.
It is also important to note that the coalition budget cut more than $200 million beyond the Governor’s recommendations (on top of the previous $1 billion cut). This is a fiscally responsible piece of legislation; only including funding for what was absolutely necessary to keep our community safe, vulnerable citizens protected and public education institutions intact.
In coordination with the coalition-approved budget, the Legislature also approved a job-creating transportation plan that will get 175,000 Kansans back to work.
The Transportation Works for Kansas Program (T-WORKS) provides a framework for the future of our state’s infrastructure. It is multi-faceted, with a focus on preservation, expansion, economic development, modernization (such as widening lanes), assistance to cities and counties, and a multi-modal economic development program, among others.
More than 1,000 Kansans participated in the development of this program, and it could not have been enacted at a more appropriate time. Kansas maintains more than 130,000 miles of local roads, 10,000 miles of highways, and 20,500 bridges. Looking ahead, the need for efficient mobilization will only increase. By enacting a transportation play this year, we will create or sustain an estimated 60,000 construction jobs and 175,000 total jobs (including local suppliers, etc).
T-WORKS was absolutely critical in ensuring that we will meet future demands of our population, solve long-term energy challenges, and emerge from the economic recession as quickly as possible.
While protecting our investments is vital to the future of our state, one of my greatest disappointments this session was the Legislature’s failure to enact a Rainy Day Fund.
A Rainy Day Fund would protect vital services in times of economic downturns by requiring the Legislature to set aside a small percentage of state general fund revenues in times of economic prosperity. This money would be locked away and could only be used if the state suffered another recession.
Governor Parkinson wholeheartedly endorsed the fund and the Senate passed the legislation. However, I wish that it had received more serious consideration by the House. Much of our current situation could have been avoided if the state had established a Rainy Day Fund years ago.
It’s unfortunate that the legislature was not able to take a more cautionary step to protect our future.
SAFETY:
The success or failure of a legislative session is often based on our ability to protect the state’s most vulnerable citizens – our children, the elderly, the disabled and victims of violence. In this respect, the 2010 session was a major success, as we enacted a number of laws that will better protect all Kansas residents.
Two transportation initiatives became law this year making every Kansas road safer. First, a primary seatbelt law will allow officers to stop a vehicle for a seatbelt violation beginning June 30, 2010. Previously, the primary seatbelt law applied only to minors.
Based on KDOT estimates, Kansas can expect a 10% increase in seatbelt usage as a result of this law. In addition to increasing the safety of everyone on the road, a primary seatbelt law will enable Kansas to take advantage of a one-time federal grant of $11.2 million, which will be enormously helpful during this difficult budget year.
Kansas also joined many other states by banning texting while operating a motor vehicle. The law will make it a traffic infraction on the first offense for texting or sending images while driving a vehicle. It covers using a telephone, pager, personal digital assistant, text messaging device and laptop computer. Exceptions would be for checking weather or traffic updates or sending a written message to report criminal activity or a traffic hazard. Warning tickets will be issued until January 1, 2011.
Studies continually prove that texting while driving is extremely dangerous. A 2007 study by Clemson University reported that drivers who were texting or using an iPod left their lanes 10% more often than non-distracted drivers. A similar report found that texting took the focus away from drivers an average of 4.6 seconds – enough time to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.
To better protect children, the Senate enacted “Lexie’s Law”, named on behalf of a 13-month-old child who died while staying at a day care provider in 2004. This law will require the state to inspect all licensed facilities and require that providers submit written self-examinations annually.
Not only will this law provide parents with better access to relevant background information on those daycare facilities located in Kansas, but it will mandate that all facilities follow the same guidelines for childcare and self-examination. It is an important step to preventing the tragic loss of any more Kansas children who are under the supervised care of a daycare provider.
To preserve and protect Kansas communities, the Kansas Legislature also passed a new law requiring persons convicted of a sex crime to register as a sex offender for life.
Currently, the Kansas Offender Registration Act requires a person convicted of a sex crime to register for 10 years. The new law requires a person convicted of certain sex crimes to register for life, including aggravated trafficking, rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated criminal sodomy, promoting prostitution if the prostitute is less than 14 years of age, and sexual exploitation of a child.
Sex offenders commit some of the most heinous acts in our society and their victims are often the most vulnerable members of our society. I am proud to vote for any legislation that helps keep Kansans informed about potentially dangerous individuals living in their neighborhoods.
EDUCATION:
School issues continued to play a key role during the 2010 session. Although the state faces an uphill battle budget-wise, properly funding education and putting our state on the path to economic recovery go hand-in-hand. To dismiss the needs of our school children just because we are in a recession would have been detrimental not only to them, but to our economy’s future.
With this in mind, the legislature approved a number of changes this year that will allow local districts to save money and more evenly distributes what money there is available to public schools across the state.
In April, the Governor signed into law changes to the current funding formula for catastrophic aid, which helps districts pay the high costs of care for students with significant needs. The previous wording of the catastrophic aid funding allowed for three major Johnson County school districts: Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission, and Olathe, to maximize their claims and receive $7.8 million out of the state’s total budget of $12 million.
Shawnee Mission alone accounted for 44% of all of the claims statewide last year, with 333 claims. The school districts’ acquisition of the large amounts of funding was done legally, but, other school districts – such as those in the 5th Senate District – were left with significantly less funds for the school year.
With the new law in place, these school districts will be unable to continue the requests for large amounts of funding and significantly reduce aid while increasing available amounts for other districts.
The legislature also made it easier for students to attend a nearby school of their choice by authorizing local school boards to provide transportation to non-resident students until the end of the school year.
These new rules will not cost the state any money, although those school districts voluntarily transporting students who live outside of the district could incur addition transportation costs.
Local districts were also given permission to cut costs by making official notices via the district’s Web site rather than in an official city or county newspaper. This is especially important in urban districts which often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to place expensive notifications in local papers.
The bill gives school districts more input in how best to use staff resources and money to meet the needs of our community. By denoting a Web site as an official publication, local districts can save thousands of dollars annually; money which I believe could be better used in the classroom.
HOUSING: HISTORIC TAX CREDITS
This year the legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 430, which is the Historic Tax Credit fix. The bill removes the hard cap on credits and the 10% "haircut" for fiscal year 2011 and in the future. It puts the historic tax cut back to where it was before the 2009 session. For more information about the program, go to the Kansas Historical Society web site: http://www.kshs.org/resource/
These tax credits provide a key tool for the rehabilitation of historic properties -- both income-producing and non income-producing by allowing developers to receive tax credits worth up to 25 percent of a historical rehabilitation or preservation project. Projects which are already exempt from federal taxes were eligible to receive a credit up to 27 percent of the projects cost.
The credit has proven to be a very productive economic development tool and it is crucial for several projects in the Leavenworth community, including the former Tire Town project to create the Stove Factory Lofts and the CPAC project that is planned for a 60,000 sq. ft. building to be rehabilitated on the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center grounds.
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