2/21/10 Rep. Wetta Legislative Report
FROM THE STATEHOUSE - Vince Wetta Report
Vince Wetta, Representative, 80th District * 1204 N. Poplar * Wellington, KS 67152 * 620-326-5205 (home)
Sumner & Harper Counties
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From The Statehouse: Week 6
We spent most of the week on the House floor in an effort to push through bills before the halfway point of the session, referred to as the Turnaround Deadline. At this point, House bills that were adopted by the chamber will go to the Senate and Senate bills will come to the House. These bills will now go through the committee process on the other side of the rotunda. With the exception of a few exempt committees, neither chamber will introduce new legislation. However, it is possible that some proposals that did not pass out of committee before Turnaround could be amended on to other pieces of germane legislation later in the session.
Last Wednesday, three girls from Caldwell were pages and hopefully they had a great experience. Ryann Sturm, Alexis Rice, and Rachel Arnold came to Topeka with their mothers and spent the day learning about state government. Thursday, leaders from the Oxford and South Haven schools came to Topeka and we had a great visit. Supt. Deborah Hamm from Oxford along with teachers and board members came. Supt. John Showman and teachers and board members from South Haven came. With all the talk of consolidation and cutting school budgets, we had much to talk about. On Saturday, I attended a town hall meeting in the morning at Conway Springs at the community building arranged by Supt. of schools, Clay Murphy. That afternoon, I attended another town hall meeting at Argonia arranged by Supt. Julie Dolley. Senator Steve Abrams and Representative Pat Maloney from Kingman, who represents the district just west of ours, attended. It was a great turnout and we discussed many issues and answered many questions. There will be other meetings in Caldwell, Oxford, and Anthony coming up as we can arrange them. We will arrange our other meetings in Wellington later as we can work them in. These are unprecedented times and people are rightfully concerned about the future.
Budget Update: Rescission bill sent to Governor
There is not much to report from the House Appropriations Committee. The committee continued to hear agency briefings but for the most part attention was fixed on the House floor.
The rescission bill passed the House last week and was reconciled with the Senate version this week. The final product cuts $92 million from the current budget. The House voted to concur with the conference committee report on Thursday and it will now head to the Governor for his signature or veto. It is likely that the FY 2010 budget will still be approximately $40 million short by July. If revenues continue to come in lower than expected, we will need to revisit the FY 2010 budget for a sixth time. If that becomes necessary, we will probably wait until the most updated revenue estimates become available in April to take any further action.
Legislative post audit reveals problems with Kansas tax policy
On Wednesday, the Legislative Post Audit Committee heard two new reports from the nonpartisan Post Audit division about the impact and effectiveness of tax credits and exemptions in Kansas. Their findings validate the concerns many Kansans have had about the state’s tax policy. For years, the Legislature has arbitrarily granted or denied tax exemptions and credits with no set criteria on which to base its decision. As the number of tax exemptions and credits has skyrocketed, the need for clearly defined and consistent guidelines has become more pressing.
The two audits confirmed that the excessive number of credits and exemptions cost the state a significant amount of revenue but have little benefit to the Kansas as a whole. They recommended that the Legislature enact specific criteria for granting exemptions. Additionally, the audits encourage the Legislature to review approved exemptions and credits periodically and to not grant them in perpetuity. This ensures that all credits and exemptions remain in the public’s best interest over time.
The problems associated with excessive tax credits and exemptions have surfaced repeatedly throughout the current budget debate. Both the auditors and Kansas Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations agree that it would be a better policy for the state not to specifically exempt organizations by name from the sales tax, but rather to exempt categories. Unless Kansans are willing to accept deeper cuts to schools, seniors, and other critical services, a serious review and change in tax policy must eventually be part of the discussion.
New commission to “streamline government”
The House voted 73 to 47 to create the “Kansas Streamlining Government Commission” on Wednesday. The seven-member commission is charged with the task of reviewing agencies and programs to determine which could be eliminated or combined.
Although I believe it is important to ensure government runs efficiently, more government commissions increase government size, not efficiency. The Kansas Taxpayers Transparency Commission, which we created in 2008, serves the same purpose as this commission. I am not enthusiastic about allocating state dollars to duplicate work. It is also worth noting that the state budget has been cut by $1billion in the last year. At this point, agencies are already operating on skeleton crews. Only the most essential services and programs remain intact, and even those programs have been dramatically scaled back. One employee in the Ag. Dept. compared it to a basketball team playing with five players or sometimes four. Everything is stretched to the limit and government agencies are struggling to perform their duties.
Bill protects insurance consumers
On Tuesday February 16th, the Committee on Insurance held a hearing on House Bill 2563, which would help protect consumers’ credit scores during difficult times. If a consumer undergoes extraordinary life circumstances, this legislation will enable them to freeze the credit score on file with his/her insurance company, preventing increased premiums. Extraordinary life circumstances include: 1) a declared state or federal catastrophic event; (2) a serious illness or injury to the consumer or the consumer’s immediate family; (3) the death of a spouse, child or parent of the insured; (4) divorce or involuntary interruption of alimony or support payments; (5) identity theft; (6) military deployment; (7) involuntary loss of employment for more than three months; and (8) any other events as determined by the insurer. The bill would also eliminate the mandated updates of scores every 36 months.
At a time when thousands of Kansans are being laid off at no fault of their own, we must lessen the long-term impact of temporary circumstances. With no regular source of income, it is easy for even the most financially responsible families to fall behind. Missed bills and late payments lower credit scores almost immediately. In turn, consumers are faced with increased interest rates, decreased opportunities for employment or housing, and higher insurance premiums. It only takes one missed payment to lower a credit score, but it takes years to improve a score that contains negative marks.
Lawmakers have a vested interest in protecting consumers’ financial viability. The economy will not recover until consumers have money to spend. This legislation helps accomplish that.
Annexation Bill
The “snake annexation” bill passed out of the House with 119 votes on Friday. Representative Pete DeGraaf and I again sponsored it. He represents the Mulvane area. It now goes to the Senate and we will try to get it to the Governor as is. It was lumped together with two other annexation bills last year and the Governor vetoed the bill. He said that this issue should be brought back and be signed into a law clarifying that this is illegal. Hopefully, we can get it to his desk this year and lay this thing to rest. This bill is important because it looks like we are going to build a casino at Exit 33. We are the ones who wanted it, worked for it, elected a representative to get it, and voted for it so Sumner County should get 2 percent of the money. If this annexation is successful, 2 percent of the money will end up in Sedgwick County through Mulvane and Sumner would end up with 1 percent even though Sedgwick County voted against a casino. Each percent represents between $1½ and $2 million per year.
Unemployment
I have been trying to help several laid off workers get their unemployment checks. Sumner County is now at 8 percent unemployment and Harper County is at 4.6 percent. The Labor Dept. has hired three times the normal amount of employees to answer phones and still cannot keep up. We passed a bill last week to help employers with their UI taxes. It could cost the state $100 million in the next two years but we could keep enough workers employed to more than pay for it. Many constituents have called or emailed with ideas concerning taxes. Believe me, the House and Senate tax committees along with the Governor are looking at any and all ideas.
Keep in Touch
It is a special honor to serve as your state representative. I value and need your input on the various issues facing state government. Please feel free to contact me with your comments and questions. My office address is Room L 8, Docking State Office Building, Topeka, KS 66612. You can reach me at (785) 296-7665 or call the legislative hotline at 1-800-432-3924 to leave a message for me. Additionally, you can e-mail me at vince.wetta@house.ks.gov. You can also follow the legislative session online at www.kslegislature.org.
