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Greek diplomat seeks insight from Kansas Department of CommerceVisit to the heartland exposes Papoulia to Midwest politicsPosted: June 24, 2013 - 4:44pm
By Tim Carpenter
The financial crisis of debt-laden Greece wasn’t the center of attention Monday for Argyro Papoulia, a government official in Topeka as part of a U.S. Department of State educational trip.While international headlines delved into erosion of Greek financial markets and associated government stability, Papoulia sought insight into operations of the Kansas Department of Commerce, Topeka Chamber of Commerce and The Topeka Capital-Journal.Her tour in the heartland offered a slice of the United States quite different than financial or political hubs on the East and West coasts that are most often the destination of diplomats.“You don’t usually have this opportunity to visit Midwest states,” she said. “I’m really grateful.”Papoulia serves as deputy director of the North America section in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens. Her participation in the International Visitor Leadership Program is unaffiliated with her work at the ministry but allows the State Department to expose prominent foreign officials to diversity in the United States.She said outsiders shouldn’t conclude Greece to be overrun by protests tied to fiscal and structural reforms designed to improve the country’s capacity to repay massive national debt. For several years, Greece has depended on billions of dollars in rescue aid from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.“Greece is a country of many prospects and opportunities,” she said. “We are currently undergoing a very difficult program of austerity measures. The people are making a lot of sacrifices.”Papoulia said Greece has lost one-fourth of its gross domestic product since 2010. She said restructuring the economy and attraction of new foreign investment would help turn the tide.“Despite the problems we face,” she said, “the Greek people are very mature. We believe that despite the difficulties people are facing this image will gradually become positive again in the economic sector. We expect a lot of tourism to come back this year.”She said Greeks appreciated expressions of support from the administration of President Barack Obama. She said the U.S. president was generally well received in Greece and throughout Europe.
Kansas Lottery transfers record $74.5 million to stateCasinos to transfer estimated record of $79 millionPosted: June 24, 2013 - 4:27pm
By The Capital-Journal
The Kansas Lottery will set a new record for the amount of money transferred to the State in a single year, spokeswoman Sally Lunsford said Monday.The Lottery transferred $74.5 million from the sale of lottery tickets in fiscal year 2013, bettering last year’s record by $2.5 million.It also is estimated that proceeds from the three casinos with state-owned and state-operated gaming will generate an additional $79 million by the end of the fiscal year, bringing total combined transfers to approximately $153.5 million.“It’s exciting that this fiscal year marks the Kansas Lottery’s largest contribution to the state since we started selling tickets in 1987,” said Dennis Taylor, Kansas Lottery executive director. “We want to thank our players for helping make this record possible. I also want to thank each of the dedicated staff of the lottery for their hard work and commitment to continuous improvement. Their increasing collaboration, especially over the past six months, has identified and implemented greater efficiencies that are helping us significantly lower the lottery’s operating costs.”Fiscal year 2013 — July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 — saw the first full year of operations for both Kansas Star and Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway. Boot Hill Casino is in its fourth year. Through the end of May, with one more month to go in the fiscal year, the three casinos already had transferred the state’s share of $72.7 million to the Expanded Lottery Act Revenues Fund.The $74.5 million transferred to the state from traditional lottery products includes $1.59 million in profits from the sale of Veterans Benefit instant games. That is the second-highest year of transfers since the lottery began selling veterans tickets 10 years ago, Lunsford said in a news release. This money provides direct funding for Kansas veterans’ programs and Kansas National Guard scholarships.Traditional lottery revenue goes into the State Gaming Revenues Fund. On a yearly basis, the first $50 million is divided by a formula which first transfers $80,000 to the Problem Gambling and Addictions Grant Fund. Then 85 percent of the balance is transferred to the Economic Development Initiatives Fund, 10 percent to the Correctional Institutions Building Fund and 5 percent to the Juvenile Detention Facilities Fund. Any receipts in excess of $50 million must be transferred to the State General Fund.The 2007 Kansas Expanded Lottery Act created the Expanded Lottery Act Revenues Fund. The state’s share of revenue from state-owned and state-operated casino gaming is transferred from the ELARF for purposes of reduction of state debt, state infrastructure improvements and reduction of local ad valorem tax; and/or for other purposes as directed by the Kansas Legislature, such as Kan-Grow Engineering Funds at state universities and the reduction of unfunded actuarial liability of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
Kansas home sales reach highest point since 2007 market dropAvailable housing fell to four-month supplyPosted: June 24, 2013 - 4:29pm
By Megan Hart
Kansas home sales in May reached their highest levels since 2007 and climbed faster than the national average.Statewide, 3,727 housing units were sold in May, up 14.2 percent from 3,265 units in 2012, according to the Kansas Association of Realtors. Nationwide sales rose 12.9 percent.“Sales in May were the highest we have seen for this month since 2007,” Steve McCullough, president of the Kansas Association of Realtors and works with Midwest Land Specialists in Newton, said in a news release. “As a result, we are seeing a diminishing inventory of homes available for sale.”Another 3,418 sales were still pending at the end of May, up 3.4 percent from May 2012 and 16.1 percent from May 2011.At the end of May, there were 15,112 houses listed for sale across the state. If current sales rates continue, it would take about four months to run through the housing inventory currently listed.The pace of sales has picked up over the spring, because in January, 13,565 houses made up a 7.7-month supply.Houses sold in Kansas in May were on the market for an average of 85 days, making May’s sales the quickest of 2013. Homes took an average of 92 to 102 days to sell in the past 12 months, with the exception of November, when they sold in 65 days.Statewide, prices rose again in May, indicating sellers didn’t feel pressed to bring buyers into the market. The average home price reached $174,681 in May, up 9.5 percent from $159,490 in May 2012.The median sales price statewide was $156,000, up from $144,850 in May 2012. The median price is the point at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less, so it doesn’t skew as easily as the average price, which can be pulled up by a few very expensive homes.Kansas homes were still inexpensive compared to the rest of the region and the nation. The median price across the Midwest was $159,800 in May, and the nationwide median was $208,000. Both were up from the same period a year before.
Laboring arts board earmarks $58,000 for eight projectsNone of $700,000 allocated by lawmakers flowing to Topeka
Posted: June 22, 2013 - 2:26pm
By Tim Carpenter
The state's commerce secretary banked more than half the $700,000 earmarked this past year for sponsorship of creative endeavors in Kansas.Secretary Pat George — in collaboration with the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback — ordered $400,000 of the appropriation to the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission be saved and reallocated during the next two fiscal years.Despite more than 12 months to organize a distribution system, the commerce department and affiliated commission have tentatively approved only eight grants valued collectively at $58,000. The commission also worked on an arts organizational plan."I think we've done a lot of good work," said Dan Lara, the departmental spokesman. "It has taken a certain amount of time to get this rolling."Henry Schwaller, a Hays member of the Creative Arts Industries Commission and a leader of the private Kansas Citizens for the Arts, said delay in distributing resources made available by the 2012 Legislature was unfortunate.Part of the problem, he said, was that George viewed the commission as an advisory board to the commerce department — not a commission authorized to take final action on spending decisions."He has, in private, overridden the commissioners who are authorized by state statute to set policy and direction for the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission — and vote in open meetings," Schwaller said. "It's just not well organized."Lara said he wasn't aware of an instance where George countered the 11-member commission.George is expected to give final approval to spreading $58,000 available from the state commission among eight recipients, Lara said.The list included $5,000 for equipment upgrades at the Chamber Music at the Barn in Maize. The plan is to spend $10,000 on renovating an old depot in Belle Plaine to create a performance-workshop retreat and exhibition space.The Hutchinson Theatre Guild would score a $10,000 contribution to renovation of a downtown building into a permanent theater space. In Olathe, another $10,000 would be used to support development of a 250-seat space at The Culture House.Projects in Arkansas City, Wichita and Wamego are due to receive support from the commission, but Topeka wouldn't receive any aid.This arena of Kansas government became controversial in 2011 when Brownback defunded the Kansas Arts Commission, which had operated in the state for about 45 years. Without matching support from the state government, Kansas lost $1.2 million annually in National Endowment for the Arts and the Mid-America Arts Alliance.Brownback subsequently endorsed formation of a private nonprofit Kansas Arts Foundation in 2011. The organization's financial affairs are confidential, but the foundation did announce in February distribution of $6,500 to Morganville's
Community Chamber Orchestra, the Wichita Children's Theater and the Western Music Association for a poetry contest.The snail's pace by which the commerce department and the commission handled their affairs prompted the 2013 Legislature to slash appropriations to $200,000 in each of the next two years."The loss of $500,000 for each of the coming two years is a huge blow to arts organizations and artists," Schwaller said.However, Lara said, the bottom line would be inflated by the $400,000 held in reserve this fiscal year. Dividing that over the upcoming two years is expected to help convince the NEA to resume issuing arts grants to Kansas, Lara said.Schwaller said withdrawing such a large portion of this year's budget was an "underhanded tactic" that ignored the fact that "many arts organizations wasted time, effort and work to put together grant applications that they thought would be funded."
Federal Reserve report shows Kansas economy growingEmployment, land values increased in AprilPosted: June 20, 2013 - 4:45pm
By Megan Hart
The Kansas economy appears to be moving forward, if not at break-neck speed.The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s monthly report on the Kansas and Missouri economies showed unemployment remained stable in the Sunflower State while values of homes and agricultural land continued to rise. The report attempts to give an overall view of a state’s economic situation, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas spokesman Bill Medley said.Kansas had a 5.5 percent unemployment rate in April, down slightly from 5.6 percent in March and 5.8 percent in April 2012. The labor force also grew, indicating the reduction in unemployment didn’t come from people who had given up looking for work. Preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed 1.49 million Kansans either had a job or were looking for one, up by about 4,300 from March and 3,600 from April 2012.About 1.37 million people were employed in sectors other than agriculture in Kansas in April. The state gained about 10,200 jobs compared to April 2012, but about 1,700 fewer people were working than in March.Government and trade, transportation and utilities were the hottest sectors in April, adding 300 jobs each. Manufacturing added 100 jobs, and professional/business services and education/health services showed no statistically significant change.Construction took the biggest hit, employing 900 fewer workers in April than in March. Leisure and hospitality cut 500 jobs, and financial activities had 200 fewer.
Of eight major industry categories tracked by the BLS, five showed year-over-year growth from April 2012 to April 2013. Professional and business services was the big winner, adding 7,000 jobs over the year. Other growing sectors were manufacturing, 2,800; financial activities, 2,200; trade, transportation and utilities, 400; and education/health services, 300.Sectors that lost jobs were construction, with 1,600 fewer jobs; leisure and hospitality, 1,000; and government, 700.Property values also moved in the right direction overall. The price in farmland in the first quarter of 2013 was 19.1 percent higher than it was a year earlier. It posted double-digit increases from the second quarter of 2007 through the third quarter of 2008, but dropped back into the single digits as the downturn entered its second year. Prices took off again in the third quarter of 2010, and had risen by at least 20 percent from the start of 2011 through the last quarter of 2012.The growth of home prices was more tepid, with sale prices rising 0.6 percent in April 2013, compared to April 2012. From the last quarter of 2007 through the end of 2011, Kansas home prices rose in only five quarters. Growth turned positive as 2012 started, with prices rising by 3 percent, 1.7 percent, 2.8 percent and 2.7 percent in each quarter compared to the year before.
Kansas manufacturing industry ranks high, future less certainReport ranked states on manufacturing business climatesPosted: June 19, 2013 - 3:59pm
RESULTS OF THE 2013 MANUFACTURING AND LOGISTICS NATIONAL REPORTManufacturing industry health: Ranking is based on the share of total income earned by manufacturing employees in the state, how much more manufacturing employees earn than the average worker and the share of manufacturing employment per capita.Kansas: AOther A states: Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and South CarolinaF states: Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico, New YorkLogistics industry health: Share of total logistics industry income as a share of total state income, employment per capita, commodity flows data for rail and road and per capita expenditure on highway construction.Kansas: CA states: Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, PennsylvaniaF states: Hawaii, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, New HampshireHuman capital: High school and collegiate educational attainment, first-year retention rate of adults in community and technical colleges, number of associates degrees awarded annually on a per capita basis and share of adults enrolled in adult basic education.
Kansas: C+A states: Washington, Utah, Minnesota, Iowa, New HampshireF states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, West VirginiaWorker benefit costs: h=Health care premiums and longterm health care costs, workers’ compensation costs per worker and fringe benefits of all kinds as a share of worker costs.Kansas: BA states: Utah, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, AlabamaF states: Washington, California, Illinois, Delaware, MaineTax climate: Corporate taxes, income taxes, sales and use taxes, property and unemployment insurance taxes.Kansas: CA states: Montana, Utah, Missouri, Indiana, FloridaF states: Minnesota, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Rhode IslandExpected liability gap: State and local governments’ unfunded liability per capita and percentage of GDP, average benefits and bond rankings.Kansas: C-A states: Utah, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, DelawareF states: Hawaii, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky, West VirginiaGlobal reach: Per capita exported manufacturing goods and the growth of manufacturing exports, manufacturing income received annually from foreign-owned firms in a state, level of adaptability of the state’s exporters to changing demand and reach of foreign direct investment.Kansas: CA states: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, ConnecticutF states: Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, South DakotaSector diversification: Variety of types of manufacturing and whether a small number of types predominate.Kansas: C-A states: Washington, Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, VirginiaF states: Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, New MexicoProductivity and innovation: Manufacturing productivity growth, per capita industry research and development expenditures and per capita number of patents issued annually.Kansas: CA states: Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota, Massachusetts
F states: Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, Arkansas, MississippiSOURCE: BALL STATE UNIVERSITY, MUNCIE, IND.
By Megan Hart
Kansas has one of the healthiest manufacturing industries in the country, according to a new report, but its future may not be as rosy.The 2013 Manufacturing and Logistics National Report, compiled by Indiana’s Ball State University, grades all 50 states on their advanced manufacturing and logistics sectors.Kansas was one of eight states to receive an A for the health of its manufacturing industry, measured by how much of the state’s total income was earned by manufacturing workers, how much more manufacturing employees earned than the average worker, and number of manufacturing workers compared to state population.Kansas Department of Commerce spokesman Matt Keith pointed to Hostess’ decision to reopen in Emporia and expansions recently announced by chemical manufacturer PQ Corp. in Kansas City and sportswear maker GTM in Manhattan as examples of the strength of Kansas manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs typically pay well and contribute to growth, he said.“Manufacturing is certainly an important part of our economy,” he said.Other states receiving the top grade were Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Wisconsin.The logistics industry appeared less robust. Kansas got a C, based on how much total state income comes from logistics, per capita employment in logistics, per capita expenditure on highway construction, and commodity flows by rail and road. Top-ranked states in logistics were Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.The health of the manufacturing and logistics industries in a state doesn’t adjust immediately as conditions change, so those rankings may reflect decisions made 20 or 30 years ago, said Michael Hicks, director of Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research. The other rankings look at factors that are important to the future growth of manufacturing, he said, though they don’t include all relevant categories, such as a state’s regulatory environment.Kansas ranked about the middle of the pack on the report’s forward-looking metrics. It received C’s on productivity and innovation, tax climate and international connections. It received a C-grade in diversification within manufacturing and in the percentage of state and local pension obligations that are unfunded.Sherriene Jones-Sontag, spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback, attributed the diversification ranking to the large role played by Kansas’ aviation industry. Though the governor and Secretary of Commerce Pat George attended the Paris Air Show to help strengthen aviation, they also are interested in other industries, she said.“The governor supports diversification beyond aviation and has worked to bring or keep companies such as Mars, Goodyear, GM and Siemens in Kansas,” she said in an emailed statement.
While the state needs to address its unfunded liability, it doesn’t appear severe enough to drive away businesses, Hicks said. States with high unfunded liabilities become less attractive because of fears they will raise taxes or cut services to make the numbers balance.Kansas did better on worker benefit costs, earning a B, and the educational level of its work force, where it got a C+. Other studies have shown Kansas ranking near the top of the country for its efforts to develop human capital, Keith said.Jones-Sontag said developing human capital is a major priority for Brownback.“The governor recognizes the importance of having a well-trained workforce,” she said. “He has worked closely with education and business leaders to develop and implement the Career Technical Education program so high school graduates are better prepared and increasing industry recognized certifications.”Kansas may not have been a star in any of the metrics looking forward, but being average on everything can be better than having a major strength balanced by a significant weakness, Hick said.“I think it would be better to be consistently in the middle,” he said.Most of the states received a mixed bag of grades, perhaps offering low employee benefit costs but scoring poorly on education, as Alabama did, or doing well on human capital but having higher taxes, as Minnesota did.Businesses consider a variety of factors when deciding where to set up shop, Hicks said, and which ones are most important depends on the type of business. Industries that need a highly educated, innovative work force will accept higher taxes in areas like Massachusetts and California to be near their research universities, he said.“Some businesses will need very extensive public services,” he said. “To have those, they’re going to have to locate in a high-tax place.”While almost all businesses want skilled workers, in less technologically advanced industries that may not be as important as low labor costs or low taxes, Hicks said.“If you’re canning vegetables, there probably aren’t many innovations coming out of the universities to help you with that,” he said.Businesses need both an educated work force and an attractive tax structure, Keith said, so the state is working to provide both.“The Department of Commerce is trying to make sure (Kansas) has the best possible business climate,” he said.
Education department may leave positions vacant to cope with budget cutsDeputy commissioner Dale Dennis: 'There will be numerous changes we'll have to make'Posted: June 14, 2013 - 2:27pm
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
The Kansas State Department of Education is losing about 10 percent of its operating budget and may have to cut free services that schools use to analyze data on their students.Under the budget passed by lawmakers this month, the education department lost about $1.18 million for fiscal year 2014. To cope with that, the agency is expecting to leave vacant positions unfilled for longer periods, but also may need to cut free access to a University of Kansas tool that schools rely on for gauging yearly test results.“There will be numerous changes we'll have to make,” Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of education, said Friday. “A 10 percent cut is not easy.”So far, lawmakers have trimmed funding only for the next year, though that doesn’t ensure the agency won’t see cuts in fiscal 2015, too.Asked whether there would be layoffs at the department, Dennis said the agency hoped to avoid that.“We try to plan so we don’t have to terminate someone,” he said.But the agency likely will leave vacant jobs unfilled for extended periods, he said, and re-examine its contract with the KU Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation.That center handles Kansas’ annual statewide tests in subjects like mathematics and reading, long used to produce schoolwide, districtwide and statewide accountability reports.The center will continue to do so, but Dennis said one of the services his department contracts — the data analysis tool — might be in jeopardy.The department previously has covered the costs of using Kansas Computerized Assessments for school districts, but may no longer be able to do so, he said.“There will be many other smaller things we'll have to look at,” Dennis said, adding that the agency’s expenses primarily consisted of staff salaries and its contract with the evaluation center.“We'll cut corners any way possible to accomplish what we have to do,” he said. “Whatever we do it's going to affect school districts.”The budget bill also cut $112,000 for department salaries and $31,000 for longevity bonuses, though the agency is required by law to pay them. Employees of 10 years receive longevity bonuses of $400, an amount that increases by $40 per year up to 25 years.The cuts come on the heels of the federal sequester, which also hit the state education department. The agency recently learned it was losing $44,000 in federal money for administering Title I programs targeted at low-income schools.Meanwhile, the state budget adds funding for a part-time employee at the agency to focus on a new program created by the Legislature this session called Innovative Districts.
The program will allow school districts to seek waivers of state laws and regulations, including regulations set by the Kansas State Board of Education, which oversees the education department.The education department is seeking an opinion from the Kansas attorney general on the law, with department leaders saying they want to clarify before proceeding whether waiving certain laws and regulations might violate the state Constitution.
Students of Kansas universities brace for more bad newsStudent leaders at six Kansas schools are asking Congress not to let Stafford loan rates double on July 1Posted: June 24, 2013 - 6:19pm
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
An impending hike in federal student loans could mean more bad news for students at Kansas universities.Barring last-minute action from Congress, interest rates on a key source of financing for undergraduate students will double next week, rising from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.The loans — subsidized Stafford loans — allow students to borrow for their education without accruing interest while still in school.With the new rate scheduled to kick in July 1, student leaders at Kansas universities have been warning that the hike will hit students already facing a tough situation.“We’re already going to have a 7 percent tuition hike,” said Eli Schooley, president of the student senate at Kansas State University. “It would really compound the already dire nature of the student financial situation.”Schooley and student representatives at five other Kansas universities have joined a petition to Congress, asking lawmakers to prevent the increase.“Student debt is skyrocketing,” the petition says, adding that low-interest loans “are an economic necessity, allowing lower income families to reach the middle class.”Last week the Kansas Board of Regents approved tuition hikes for all six state universities, blaming the increases in large part on Kansas lawmakers, who recently cut state funding for higher education.The universities lost between 1.1 and 5.6 percent of their allocations from the state general fund, a total of $18.9 million.Washburn University, which isn’t a Regents institution but is public, lost 1.5 percent of its allocation.Marcus Tetwiler, president of the student body at The University of Kansas, said the goal of signing the petition to Congress was to send a clear signal.“Our officials that we elect have a responsibility to be public advocates,” he said. “Public education is something that should be at the forefront of their discussions.”
Student leaders from Fort Hays State, Pittsburg State, Washburn and Emporia State also signed the letter, which was launched by Georgetown University’s student association and joined by student leaders at more than 100 schools.Elaine Henrie, director of financial aid at Emporia State, said subsidized Stafford loans are the first option she recommends to students who need to borrow for their education.“It’s a really important source of financing,” Henrie said. “Part of accruing less debt (while in school) is having a lower interest rate.”Private loans require credit scores, she said, and many students haven’t had time to build their own. That means they need cosigners, and the interest rate will depend on the cosigner’s credit.At the same time, she noted, Stafford loans are need-based, meaning the impending rate hike will hit students with a proven need for financial assistance.The petition to Congress puts average student debt at $27,250 and says the hike in Stafford rates could cost students an extra $1,000 a year.The Project on Student Debt at the Institute for College Access and Success puts average debt for seniors graduating in 2011 at about $26,600. For Kansas, the institute says, the figure is about $23,300, with more than 60 percent of Kansas college students graduating with loans.Students at Kansas’ state universities face tuition hikes this year ranging from 3.4 to 8 percent. Washburn is considering an increase of about 5 percent, with a final decision expected later this week.
Analysis: Kansas higher ed debate shows differing prioritiesPosted: June 23, 2013 - 4:22pm
By John Hanna
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Higher education officials in Kansas argue that public universities and colleges are crucial to economic growth but still will see their state funding shrink because many members of the Republican-dominated Legislature believe income tax cuts will be a bigger engine of prosperity.State Board of Regents members worry that funding reductions will hinder their efforts to improve academic programs and additional doctors, nurses, engineers and professionals. Last week, the board raised tuition at state universities, and members declared that the increases were higher than they wanted because of legislators’ actions.But Kansas’ higher education system operates in the broader political context created by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s desire to eventually eliminate personal income taxes. He and his allies argue that phasing out such taxes will free up capital, spur investment, create jobs and permanently boost the state’s economy.
Brownback balanced his push for additional cuts in income tax rates this year with proposals to keep state funding for higher education flat for the next two years. But Republican majorities in both chambers demonstrated that they consider lower income taxes more important than public universities and colleges to promoting economic growth.“They’re not the main factor in economic growth in this state,” said Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a conservative Hutchinson Republican. “There’s the priority of the Kansas Legislature over the last couple of years, to focus on tax policy to create a better business environment to create growth, as opposed to investing in, or spending money on, the regents system.”The cuts approved by legislators total about $44 million over the next two fiscal years, beginning in July. For each of those years, state funding will be about 3 percent less than it is under the current budget — about $754 million instead of the current $776 million, according to the regents. The bulk of the reductions will come from universities’ budgets.Brownback’s proposals for flat funding meshed with the tax policies he’s advocated over the past two years, which stand to save Kansans a total of $4.1 billion through June 2018.The regents and other top higher education officials have been careful not to publicly criticize efforts to position Kansas to phase out personal income taxes. They supported Brownback’s proposals for flat state funding, rather than advocating for increases.“I don’t think that the two are necessarily in conflict with one another,” said incoming regents Chairman Fred Logan, of Leawood, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman. “I think you can have economic growth and tax cuts, but I don’t think you can have economic growth and cut the budgets of higher education.”The regents argue that higher education improves a worker’s potential earnings but also that university research fuels economic innovation and growth.Regent Kenny Wilk, of Lansing, a former Republican in the Kansas House who served as chairman of both its Taxation and Appropriations committees, acknowledged that the board may need to be more aggressive about presenting its case. The board’s goal is for 60 percent of the state’s population to have a university or community college degree or technical college certification by 2020, compared to the current figure of about 50 percent.“The whole strategy has been based upon a stable funding stream,” he said.Fort Hays State University President Ed Hammond said tax cuts can stimulate the economy, but businesses need trained workers to expand or come to Kansas, making a strong higher education system crucial.“It’s like the farmer who goes out and plants wheat and fertilizes it and never harvests it,” he said. “The circle has to be completed if it’s going to be successful.”Wilk said the regents “own” some responsibility for this year’s funding reductions because, “We need to get ahead of the message.” But each legislative chamber also has a strong contingent of conservative Republicans who argue that shrinking state government and cutting taxes aggressively will create prosperity.Many of them view private business investment as more potent than government spending for stimulating the economy. Rep. Scott Schwab, a conservative Olathe
Republican serving on the House Taxation Committee, said legislators have heard for years that strong education and transportation systems are vital to economic growth, only to see Kansas lag behind other states economically after making major investments.“What we need is the businesses that can say, we can make more money in Kansas, and then those students stay here,” Schwab said. “These tax cuts, they make government tight, but it’s so that we can have economic growth going in the future.”The regents are operating in an environment created by Brownback’s vision of a state without personal income taxes. Many Republican legislators not only embrace that goal but see it as the top priority in promoting economic growth.
Kansas using various tools to fight doctor shortagePosted: June 22, 2013 - 2:52pm
By John Milburn
The Associated Press
Efforts to maintain the availability of a good ol’ country doctor began more than a half-century ago when The University of Kansas chancellor sought to lure new physicians through a new tuition program.Those techniques are getting more creative as Kansas struggles like much of the nation to keep up with the demand for providers as health care coverage expands. Nationally, an Associated Press review finds doctors are preparing for backlogs, and patients could find it difficult to get quick appointments.Attempts to address the shortage have taken on increased urgency ahead of the law’s full implementation on Jan. 1.“The demand for primary care is going to far exceed supply,” said Susan Page, CEO of the Pratt Regional Medical Center in south-central Kansas.A report by the American Association of Medical Colleges found that as of 2010, there were 2,387 active primary care physicians in Kansas, or 84 doctors for every 100,000 residents. Further, the report found that 26 percent of the physicians were older than 60.Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and his fellow GOP legislators have refused a federal offer to pay for expanding Medicaid coverage for low-income and disabled residents. Instead, the state privatized the system, rebranding it as KanCare in 2012 to blunt the growth in costs of providing services to 380,000 residents. Expanding Medicaid would add as many as 240,000 to the KanCare system by some estimates.However, higher education spending cuts during the next two years could stymie Kansas’ efforts to boost the number of new providers to keep up with existing demands.The Kansas Board of Regents approved tuition increases on Wednesday for the coming year to offset the reductions. Without state support for the University of Kansas medical school many students could get priced out of the market, said Regent Dan Lykins, of Topeka. Estimates are the cuts could cost the state 30 students in training.
“These are all students — a good chance — who would have stayed in Kansas. We’re not going to have them now,” Lykins said.Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, a plastic surgeon, said the health care law wasn’t the target of a 2011 initiative to lure residents to rural Kansas, but it has become an effective tool.The changes target income tax breaks for counties that lost 10 percent of their population over the last decade. In 2012, further changes eliminating income taxes for certain businesses, including limited liability companies which include medical practices, helped sweeten the pot.Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children, said such tax breaks are “stop-gap” methods at best to address shortages.“You recycle providers in rural areas until they move on after a few years,” she said. “It’s not a sustainable solution, and it doesn’t provide stability for these residents.”Cotsoradis said keeping young doctors in rural Kansas will be continue to be a problem with the lure of more lucrative practices and quality of life in urban areas.The Pratt hospital, which serves patients as much as two hours away, is undergoing a $31 million expansion and renovation. Page said most patients are able to see a provider within 24 to 48 hours of seeking care, but that may be a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner instead of a doctor.“All of us are going to be focusing on the health of the population and keeping people well and out of the hospital,” Page said. “It’s a totally different change of thought. It’s scary. It kind of feels like you have one foot in the boat and one on the dock.”Colyer said health care was a “dynamic process” and no one solution will suffice.“I think this helps us get down the road significantly. I’m sure that we will have to do more things as this comes along,” he said.
Editorial: Legislators should visit universitiesPosted: June 21, 2013 - 6:21pm
By The Capital-Journal
The Kansas Board of Regents didn’t have any good news for students or their parents on Wednesday when the board granted requests for tuition hikes at all six of Kansas’ state universities.A university diploma has become an expensive buy in recent decades and there is no indication the trend of ever-increasing tuition rates is going to stabilize in the near future.Regents on Wednesday credited the latest tuition increases to action this spring by the Legislature, which reduced funding for higher education by $21.8 million for the next fiscal year. Of that amount, $18.9 million will come from the budgets of the six state universities.That certainly is a significant amount of money, but the amount of the tuition increases that could be attributed to the Legislature’s budget cuts, compared with the actual
tuition hikes approved by the Kansas Board of Regents, indicates tuition was going to increase at some of the universities regardless.In addition to lamenting the need for such high tuition increases this year, regents on Wednesday also passed a motion to encourage the Legislature to create an interim committee to visit the state universities, technical and community colleges to examine the role each campus plays in Kansas’ higher education system.That is a great idea and legislators should find a way to make it happen. Regent Kenny Wilk, a former legislator, had it right when he said having the lawmakers visit the campuses could help all parties.Gov. Sam Brownback, who supported maintaining funding for the regents system at its current level, and legislators found themselves painted into a corner this year by declining revenues that dictated the state reduce expenditures or increase revenues.Legislators finally agreed to extend most of a previous sales tax hike that was to sunset at the end of this month, but that didn’t create enough money to forestall spending cuts in some delicate areas.In such an environment, it’s easy to look at the big ticket items for places to save. Higher education certainly is a big ticket item, but a high-quality education system plays a very important role in the state’s economy and its quality of life and is vital to Kansas’ future.The more legislators know about what each segment of the higher education system provides and what it needs, or doesn’t need, to thrive will help them make informed decisions when they meet annually to balance the state’s revenues with expenditures.
Reading program fits Common CoreKey legislator unsure how effort to stop standards would affect Lexia fundingPosted: June 21, 2013 - 5:54pm
By Andy Marso
With the 2013 session winding down and Gov. Sam Brownback's reading retention program on the ropes, House Republicans discussed a back-up plan during a May caucus.Rep. Ward Cassidy, R-St. Francis, a former school principal, mentioned a reading intervention computer program called Lexia, saying it was recognized as one of the best in the nation."Ironically, it's tied into Common Core," Cassidy said.The irony was that House Republicans were in the midst of a burgeoning movement to halt or de-fund the Common Core educational standards adopted by the Kansas State Board of Education in 2010.That movement ultimately faltered by a razor-thin 55-58 vote. Meanwhile, $6 million for Lexia in each of the next two years was included in the budget, with a controversial boost from a key legislator.
Common Core opponents say they will renew their push to halt the program they fear is a national standardization of public education. That leaves Lexia's funding future somewhat uncertain, even for the legislator who helped it get in the budget, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Marc Rhoades, R-Newton."I don't know if it would (affect the appropriation) or not," Rhoades said Thursday.Lexia's curriculum fits the reading standards outlined in Common Core, but Rhoades said there is no formal relationship between the two."My understanding is they didn't write Lexia to match up with Common Core, but it is aligned with some of the reading (standards)," Rhoades said. "Lexia wasn't produced with Common Core in mind."Rhoades' support for Lexia didn’t stop him from voting for the unsuccessful effort to put Common Core on hold."I was willing to vote for the de-funding of Common Core because I think there's a lot of information coming out from both sides and we need to have a discussion about it," Rhoades said.Rhoades also noted that the bill that failed in the House was aimed at new educational standards, such as pending science standards, not those already approved by the state education board and being implemented by school districts, like math and reading.Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing, the leading proponent of the bill, said he was unaware that Lexia was aligned to the reading standards when he voted on the budget, but he didn't personally take issue with appropriating money for the program.“I learned about that after the budget had passed," Bradford said. "That was brought up in the legislative educational board meeting. All I knew of it at that point was that Lexia was supposed to be some outstanding reading program. My understanding (of the bill) is it would not have an effect on it, even though the statement as I understood it is it is aligned with Common Core.”Another Common Core opponent, former state board of education member Walt Chappell, said he is in the midst of educating local school boards about privacy concerns inherent in national assessments.Chappell said there will be a push next session for a bill that does more to stop Common Core than the one Bradford spearheaded in the waning days of the 2013 session."Absolutely," Chappell said of making a stronger statement of opposition. "No question."But Chappell also said even a stronger bill might not affect the state appropriation for Lexia.Chappell surmised that Lexia's ties to Common Core are likely limited to claiming alignment with the program as a marketing tool to make it more attractive to the 46 states that have signed on to the standards."I think what we've got is an example of another program that's been in existence for some time but now claims it's aligned," Chappell said. "Almost anything that's sold now will have that as a precondition."
Don Fast is the owner of Educational Design Solutions, the only Kansas company that licenses Lexia software to Kansas school districts. Fast declined to provide much information on the program's relationship to Common Core but produced a news release from Lexia that touted the program's benefits."I know that the Common Core discussion is important to Kansans and the supposed story about how Lexia was approved," Fast said via email. "But the real story is what this will do for Kansas kids, especially those who are non-proficient readers. That is the story that will resonate for years to come!"The story of Lexia's approval Fast referenced originated with reports by The Lawrence Journal-World and the Kansas Health Institute in which several people, including Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, questioned the unusual practice of designating an appropriation for a specific reading program rather than opening it up for bids.The reports also revealed that Fast's company is based in Rhoades' district.Fast said no one in his company has any relationship to Rhoades or his campaign. Rhoades said he knew nothing about Lexia until Fast visited him during the session and at that point he was floored by the success rate of the program that 150 Kansas schools were already using."The stats were phenomenal," Rhoades said. "Out of 660 first-graders, 495 were reading at or above grade level in six months. Thirty percent of them were at kindergarten level when they started."Regardless of any success rates and aside from any possible relationship to Common Core, House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said the Lexia appropriation didn't go through a proper vetting process."I wish that there could have been more committee time to really look at that carefully and see whether this is really the direction we ought to be going in," Davis said. "And I do think that should have gone through some kind of an RFP (request for proposals) process. The Legislature shouldn't try to take a page out of the Washington, D.C., playbook by earmarking appropriations to certain entities in specific legislators' home districts."Rhoades said that had nothing to do with his push for Lexia and that the appropriation was set up as a last-minute back-up plan to help struggling readers if the governor's proposal didn’t get through."There wasn't time to do an RFP process," Rhoades said. "The Lexia proviso was only in the event Read to Succeed didn't pass."
Kansas seeks delay of teacher evaluation deadlineThe state education department also wants permission to exempt some students from annual state testsPosted: June 20, 2013 - 5:57pm
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Kansas will seek an extension to a key federal deadline for new teacher evaluations, and permission not to pile extra testing on children’s plates next year during a trial of new Common Core-related tests.Deputy Education Commissioner Brad Neuenswander said Wednesday that the Kansas State Department of Education expects to pursue both options, offered recently by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.“If it’s something that will help Kansas educators focus on the important things,” Neuenswander said, “then we will be submitting an amendment to our (No Child Left Behind) waiver.”On Tuesday, Duncan announced that states could request some flexibility of federal requirements laid out in their waivers of the No Child Left Behind law.Though the details aren’t finalized, Neuenswander said Kansas schools would still roll out new teacher evaluations next year, but would have an extra year before being required to make personnel decisions based on them.Additionally, schools would be allowed to exclude some students from state math and reading tests next year. That would apply to students taking trial tests related to the Common Core math and English standards. Classes at some Kansas schools will likely take trial-run versions of proposed tests designed to fit the standards.“Both (options) are interesting to Kansas,” Neuenswander said, adding that his department was seeking more details.Big changesSchool districts across the country are facing a slew of major changes over the next few years.As part of a deal to release them from the criteria of No Child Left Behind — test score goals that are widely considered impossible to meet — states have been overhauling their teacher evaluation systems, switching to new math and English standards, and preparing for new annual tests aligned with those standards.Most states have switched to the standards known as Common Core, which came under fire in the Kansas Legislature this year.In terms of teacher evaluations, states with No Child Left Behind waivers must incorporate student achievement directly into their assessments of each teacher.Proponents say this will increase teacher accountability, but those against the plan say student test scores and other measures don’t directly correlate to teacher quality because factors like motivation and parental support come into play.In some places, such as Chicago, the push to evaluate teachers based on the performance of their students has led to rising tensions or even strikes.Some also worry that 2014 is too soon to tie student scores into personnel decisions affecting their teachers because the evaluations will still be so new and because student test scores could drop once states switch to tests based on the Common Core. Many educators expect the new tests to be more difficult than the current ones.Neuenswander said postponing the use of new teacher evaluations for personnel decisions would help ensure a smooth transition.
“It gives us another year to test drive the system,” he said. “We will still be calculating student growth — we’ll just have one more year to make sure we have quality data.”The extra year would also leave time for evaluators to better understand the new student growth data and evaluation system, Neuenswander said.Incoming testsKansas is part of Smarter Balanced, one of two consortiums working on creating tests for the Common Core standards.It is unclear whether Kansas will eventually replace its annual math and reading tests with Smarter Balanced’s tests. Whether or not Kansas chooses that option, the state is required to have new tests in place for the 2014-2015 school year.
University tuition goes up, regents blame LegislatureUndergraduate tuition will increase 7 percent at K-State and 4.95 percent at The University of KansasPosted: June 19, 2013 - 5:31pm
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Tuition rates will rise at state universities this year and the Kansas Legislature is to blame, the Kansas Board of Regents said Wednesday.Faced with requests for tuition hikes from all six of Kansas’ state universities, the regents granted their approval while offering a scathing review of the Legislature’s priorities, accusing lawmakers of doing the Kansas economy, as well as students and parents, a great disservice.“Please, Kansas Legislature, look at this again,” said regent Dan Lykins. “You have to start being more reasonable.”The new state budget cuts funding for higher education over the next two years, with a drop of $21.8 million in the first year alone. Of that amount, $18.9 million will come directly out of the budgets of the six state universities, something the regents called “a public policy nightmare.” In fiscal year 2015, state university funding will recover in part — by about $5 million — while overall higher education funding will shrink by another $578,000.Regent Robba Moran said tuition increases could cause schools to lose students and faculty members to neighboring states.“Kansas doesn’t operate in a vacuum,” Moran said.Lykins listed several states that he said had increased their higher education budgets for next year, including Nebraska and Oklahoma.“The only state in this area that has decreased is our state,” he said.The regents approved the tuition requests of each university. For undergraduate, in-state students, the increase is 7.4 percent at Pittsburg State University, 4.95 percent
at The University of Kansas, 7.3 percent at The University of Kansas Medical Center, 3.4 percent at Fort Hays State University, 7 percent at Kansas State University, 6.5 percent at Emporia State University and 8 percent at Wichita State University.At the request of the regents, each school also provided a figure that they said represented the portion of the hikes directly traceable to the budget cuts.Pittsburg State said the cuts caused a 4.4 percent hike; KU put the figure at 2.5 percent; Fort Hays, 2.5 percent; K-State, 4 percent; Emporia State, 6.4 percent, which was almost its entire increase; and Wichita State, 3.5 percent.The regents also passed a motion to write to lawmakers, asking them to create an interim committee that would visit the campuses of state universities and technical and community colleges to “take a deeper look” at higher education and the role each campus plays in Kansas.“Having folks on our campuses,” regent and former lawmaker Kenny Wilk said, “can do nothing but help all parties.”University representatives didn’t speak about the hikes during the meeting, but explained why they believed them to be necessary at a meeting earlier this month.Eric Hurtt, a senior at KU majoring in political science, called the tuition hikes disappointing, but said universities faced a difficult situation.“I think it’s very sad to see that we have to hike tuition,” said Hurtt, who serves as director of government relations for the Student Senate. “But I realize the faculty, presidents and chancellors didn’t want to do that.”“It’s going to make it more difficult for families that don’t come from an abundance of money,” he said.The Legislature’s budget cuts affect the state universities to varying degrees, with each school losing between 1 percent and 5.6 percent of its state general fund allocations.K-State is losing $3.57 million in fiscal 2014; Emporia State is losing $1.48 million; Fort Hays State, $820,000; Pittsburg State, $380,000; KU, $3.29 million; Wichita State, $2.05 million; the K-State Agricultural Research Program, $2.71 million; the K-State Veterinary Medicine program, $360,000; and the KU medical center, $4.25 million.Washburn University, which isn’t a regents institution but is public, is losing about $170,000.
Kansas graduation rates in top 25% nationallyAcross the country, more minority students are graduating, a new report foundPosted: June 19, 2013 - 11:09am
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
A new comparison of countrywide graduation rates over the past decade puts Kansas in the top quarter of states.The report, published by Education Week magazine, used data from the U.S. Department of Education to examine trends in the number of students who finish high school.Nationwide, about 75 percent of high school students graduated from high school in 2010, with Kansas’ rate of 80 percent beating the average.Kansas tied with Idaho for the No. 12 spot nationwide.Education Week looked at growth in graduation rates from 2000 to 2010. It used a cumulative calculation that aimed to identify the number of dropouts in each grade level from nine to 12 and the number of high school diplomas handed out in order to achieve uniform data across the states. States historically have used different systems of calculating their graduation rates, though that has recently changed.Overall, the report found that about 67 percent of students finished high school in 2000, compared with 75 percent a decade later. The growth was mostly because of higher rates of black and Hispanic students receiving diplomas, Education Week said. That means the graduation gap is narrowing, but still far from gone.“Graduation rates for Latino students have skyrocketed 16 percentage points over this period, reaching 68 percent for the class of 2010,” the report said. “Rates for black students, now at 62 percent, have risen 13 points.”In Kansas, graduation rates rose from 73.5 percent in 2000 to 80 percent in 2010.Graduation rates for minority students in Kansas continue to lag behind. In 2010, 64 percent of Native Americans finished high school, along with 65.3 percent of Hispanic students and 62.7 percent of black students.
Common Core not a big topic for local school groupsMany parents haven't heard of the fight over Kansas' math and English standardsPosted: June 15, 2013 - 9:38pm
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
For many parents, it is likely that a high-stakes fight over Kansas’ mathematics and English standards simply isn’t on the radar.Members of local parent-teacher groups said this past week that they hadn’t heard much discussion about the topic among parents at their schools.Over the past four months, the Common Core math and English standards have met with strong opposition from conservative Republican lawmakers, a movement spearheaded by Rep. John Bradford, of Lansing. Attempts to cut funding for the standards failed to pass the Legislature, and the debate has shifted to the Kansas
State Board of Education, where members of the public have presented hours of comments on the topic.At those sessions and in previous legislative hearings, the teachers who spoke have mostly supported the standards and parents mostly opposed them. School administrators supported them.This past week, The Topeka Capital-Journal reached out to members of local PTOs, booster clubs and site councils to ask whether the topic was controversial at their schools.Most said they hadn’t heard of the fight over the standards, and none of them had noticed a controversy among parents. At the same time, they couldn’t be certain whether there were any parents at their schools who were upset about the shift in math and English standards.“That hasn’t been a huge topic of discussion at our meetings,” said Pam Evans, president of the French Middle School PTO. “I haven’t had anybody approaching me about this.”“People aren’t really talking about it,” said Dawn Deeds-Rookstool, who was president of Highland Park’s PTO this past year and has a child at Williams Magnet. “I haven’t heard much negative.”The state school board approved the Common Core standards in 2010, and school districts have been rolling them out gradually since then.Forty-five states have adopted the standards, which proponents say set the bar higher in math and English and offer consistency across states for students who move.Opponents say the standards lower the bar in those subjects or else constitute a back-door attempt by the federal government to control local curriculum decisions or by companies to mine student data and increase profit margins.The Capital-Journal reached out to officers and other members of PTOs, booster clubs, and site councils at 21 local schools and was able to speak to a dozen parents who said they were active at 17 schools.“I don’t know how many people at my school would know about it,” said Dorothy Stegman, a former PTO president at Meadows Elementary with children at Meadows, Landon Middle School and Topeka West High School. “We had a meeting where we talked about it. I haven’t heard any complaints.”“In the site council we’ve talked about it,” said Karla Huffman, who is involved in the Tecumseh North PTO and site council. “We hear it in the news, but it’s not really any type of focus.”The Capital-Journal also spoke to parents at two local summer schools and the public library this week.Of 30 parents with children mostly at public schools, most weren’t familiar with the changes in math and English standards.A handful who were familiar with the Common Core said they were optimistic about the standards or that it was too early to give an opinion. One parent from Jefferson County said she had heard about the standards on the news and was concerned that children would be using the same textbooks across the country and that education would become overstandardized.
The Common Core standards don’t require states to use the same textbooks. In Kansas, school districts select their teaching materials.
Editorial: Protesters damage their cause at Kobach's housePosted: June 19, 2013 - 5:47pm
By The Capital-Journal
An organization that supports immigration reform probably did itself and its cause more harm than good Saturday when a large group of like-minded advocates visited Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s Wyandotte County home and veered from protest to trespass.There is a right way and a wrong way to peacefully protest. The right way does not include trespassing on private property and using someone’s home as a prop.As it is, Sunflower Community Action, a Kansas-based nonprofit group that organized the protest, likely damaged its standing among those who support immigration reform while presenting Kobach an opportunity to portray those who disagree with him on the subject as law-breaking radicals.According to news reports, Sunflower Community Action organized a rally at a Kansas City, Kan., church on Saturday, after which a group of supporters representing several organizations — estimated between 200 and 300 people — boarded buses and traveled to Kobach’s home.Once there, some of the protesters lined up 20 pairs of black shoes — to represent families that have been torn apart by deportations since 2008 — at the doorstep. No family members were home at the time, but that didn’t keep the protesters from chanting Kobach’s name and calling on him to change his stance on deportations.It’s difficult to believe anyone who participated in the rally or the visit to Kobach’s home thought their actions would cause him to reconsider his position on deportation or immigration reform. Kobach, a Republican, has been a central figure in the battle against illegal immigration for years and has given no indication his resolve is weakening.Sunflower Community Action’s website indicates that 72 percent of likely Kansas voters support immigration reform.We don’t profess to have exact data, but it’s no secret that calls for immigration reform are gaining ground and that many in Kobach’s own political party don’t support his positions. It’s doubtful, however, that many Kansans, regardless of whether they agree with Kobach on immigration issues, would support what happened Saturday at his home.Despite the protester’s enthusiasm, their actions handed Kobach a public relations victory, and he didn’t even have to be present to earn it.Before Sunflower Community Action organizes another protest, its leaders should take lessons from other groups that manage to get their message across without crossing the line onto private property.
Immigration reform group visits Kobach's houseSome members left about 20 pairs of shoes on secretary of state's doorstepPosted: June 16, 2013 - 3:15pm
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Protesters gathered outside the Wyandotte County home of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on Saturday, chanting and calling on him to change his stance on deportations.The immigration reform advocates crowded the street and driveway outside Kobach’s home and lined up pair after pair of black shoes at his doorstep.The shoes, protestors said, represented families who had been torn apart through deportations since 2008.“We are Kansas, and we demand that you stop spreading hate,” a protester is heard saying in footage of the demonstration posted online athttp://bit.ly/19ck6uw.“We’ve left these shoes here so that Mr. Kobach can maybe try to fill them,” a protester says in another clip showing his doorstep. “Because these are the shoes of the fathers that he’s deported, that have been deported by his laws that he’s lobbied for and passed.”According to Sunflower Community Action, a Wichita-based group that helped coordinate the event, dozens of organizations participated.The Kansas City Star reported that hundreds of protestors attended a town hall meeting that drew people from across the country and that a group then went to Kobach’s home, leaving the 20 pairs of shoes.Sunflower Community Action couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. On its website, it put the number of protesters at the event at 300.The website said the goal of the demonstration was to communicate to Kobach that Kansans favor immigration reform.“Contrary to popular rhetoric about Kansas, 72% of likely Kansas voters support immigration reform,” the website said.Kobach has built a national profile presenting tough policies on illegal immigration issues. He and his family apparently weren’t home during the protest.
Kansas unemployment rate climbs to 5.7 percentPrivate sector jobs expand, first-time unemployment claims risePosted: June 21, 2013 - 11:41am
By Tim Carpenter
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Kansas increased during May to 5.7 percent — the highest rate of 2013, labor officials said Friday.The 0.1 percentage point rise in the jobless figure was driven by workforce reductions at schools that reduced employment in the summer months. The rate in Kansas had fluctuated this year between 5.5 percent and 5.6 percent.Lana Gordon, secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, emphasized in a news release that the state had added 10,300 private sector jobs from April to May.“The increase in the labor force suggests that Kansans have confidence in the ability of the economy to provide employment opportunities,” she said.Efua Afful, an economist with the labor department, said the most promising areas of nonseasonal job expansion were in manufacturing, professional services and hospitality.The number of initial unemployment claims increased in May by 2,161 over the previous month to a total of 15,348.The 2013 adjustment unemployment figures are: January and February, 5.5 percent; March, 5.6 percent; and May, 5.7 percent.
Brownback donor's company gets child support contractCompany's former employee head of department to be privatizedPosted: June 19, 2013 - 3:08pm
By Andy Marso
andy.marso@cjonline
A Mississippi company run by one of Gov. Sam Brownback's donors was awarded a contract to administer Kansas child support services last week, two years after the state hired one of the firm’s former employees to head up the child support division.The Kansas Department for Children and Families announced Friday that four companies were awarded contracts to privatize Kansas child support enforcement. One of them is YoungWilliams, P.C., based in Jackson, Miss. The company's CEO, Robert Wells, and his wife, Pam Wells, both gave maximum $2,000 donations to Brownback's campaign during the 2010 primary cycle.Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said the contract had the appearance of an insider's "pay-to-play" deal.
"In my opinion, they looked at Brownback as a guy who supports the idea of privatization of government services," Hensley said. "But to me it's readily apparent there was also an intent to get the business. I think it's beyond ideology."Wells, in a phone interview Wednesday, said that is "not remotely" true. He said his interest in Kansas politics stems from having a business presence in the state for about a decade and he decided to donate to Brownback after discussing out-of-wedlock birth rates and child support with him after the governor spoke at a political function.“He seemed so educated on it and so uniquely interested as compared to other governors and people I’d talked to,” Wells said.DCF spokeswoman Theresa Freed said no one within the department had knowledge of any of the potential contractors' political affiliations or donations when the contractors were selected."The selection was based on lowest bid," Freed said.Freed said YoungWilliams has 36 offices in 11 states, has had contracts with Kansas judicial districts since Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' administration, and the state expects collections to increase by 8 percent ($52 million) in the first three years of the contract.The administration picked Trisha Thomas from YoungWilliams in June 2011 to be the director of child support services at DCF, which was then the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.In a letter dated March 1, 2013, Thomas told DCF employees that despite her best efforts, the state-run child support services program wasn’t getting the job done and would be privatized.."The current child support system is not cost effective, has an inefficient structure, and needs significant improvement," Thomas wrote. "I appreciate your dedication and the increases in performance incentives over the past year. Unfortunately, however, we still have a very inefficient system and structure that limits our performance and requires this action."Thomas noted that the contractors would be required to hire DCF child support services employees.An email Hensley provided to The Topeka Capital-Journal from one such employee stated that the state-run child support services division was "set up to fail." The email, sent the day after Thomas' privatization announcement, said the division hadn’t been fully staffed in two years and state workers' caseloads doubled as rank and file positions remained vacant and the only hires that were made were in supervisory roles. Meanwhile, new paperwork requirements were put in place."This was a manufactured crisis," Hensley said, citing the email.Hensley said the privatization of child support and the financial benefit to YoungWilliams two years after Thomas took her position "doesn't pass the smell test.""It's just more than coincidental, in my opinion, that her immediate past employer was YoungWilliams and they just happened to get one of these bids," Hensley said.When contacted Wednesday, Thomas' assistant referred questions to Freed.
Freed said DCF's child support division was never set up to fail and that even when staff reductions were made, caseloads remained low compared to other states."DCF’s Child Support Services is not and has not been understaffed," Freed said via email. "In fact, with an average of 350 to 400 cases per attorney and some with as few as 200 cases, Kansas has one of the lowest caseload averages and one of the worst cost-effective ratios in the country."Freed provided data that ranked Kansas 44th in the nation in cost-effective ratio.Freed also said Thomas had no part in selecting the contractors.Wells said he played no part in Thomas' move to DCF in 2011, other than to wish her well when she told him she was applying for a director position.“She’d aspired to that for years,” Wells said, noting Thomas' 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors.Wells gave the phone interview after speaking with an employee at DCF, which has written into the contracts that all media inquiries into the new child support program must be vetted by the department.The other contractors are the 18th Judicial District Court Trustee's office in Wichita, Hays lawyer Lee Fisher and a Denver-based company called Veritas HHS.Veritas is run by Bob Williams, a long-time child support expert who participated in a federal study on the subject in the 1980s.The companies will administer different portions of the state, with YoungWilliams assigned a broad swath of territory that includes Shawnee County.Wells said his company will charge $150 per case per year, which is $50 less than some vendors. He said technology upgrades and managerial techniques allow his firm to generally achieve better results at lower costs than the public sector.“I think it’s going to be something that in the end Children and Families and the state are going to like," Wells said of the privatization effort. "There’s going to be a lot of good things that happen in the next few months.”
D.A. takes action against KCC on meetings complaintTaylor's litigation designed to promote 'transparency'Posted: June 19, 2013 - 12:42pm
By Tim Carpenter
The district attorney in Shawnee County filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Kansas Corporation Commission alleging members of the state regulatory agency violated the open meetings law.
District Attorney Chad Taylor moved to secure a court order related to a rate increase applicable to a small water utility in Salina that was approved by the three-member KCC.Taylor's lawsuit was inspired by a complaint from the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board, which serves as a consumer advocate in utility cases. CURB alleged the KCC violated provisions of the Kansas Open Meetings Act in deciding the Howison Heights Inc. water rate case. CURB also raised questions about the KCC's practice of "pink sheeting," which is an expedited method of producing binding orders without engaging in public meetings."The primary purposes of this action are to ensure that both the statutory provisions of the KOMA are adhered to and the purposes of the act, governmental transparency, is enforced," Taylor said in a statement.Attorneys for the KCC denied all claims by CURB, but revealed what was labeled a "technical" infraction of the law by KCC chairman Mark Sievers and commission member Shari Feist-Albrecht. This infraction involved behind-the-scenes discussions between Sievers and Feist-Albrecht about details of the Salina water case.The district attorney's lawsuit, filed in Shawnee County District Court, was brought against the KCC, as well as Sievers, Feist-Albrecht and KCC member Thomas Wright.After a regular meeting of the KCC, Jackie Montfoort-Paige, interim executive director at the KCC, offered a terse "no comment" to a question about the lawsuit.She was appointed last week following the departure of Patti Petersen-Klein, who was embroiled in an internal struggle culminating in a consultant's report declaring she couldn't repair damaged relationships with agency staff members. The Topeka Capital-Journal published contents of the confidential report on May 30.Robert Fox, the KCC's senior litigation counsel, has been assigned the task of hiring another external consultant to evaluate the agency's compliance with the Kansas Open Meetings Act.Filing of a lawsuit by the district attorney was welcomed by David Springe, consumer counsel at CURB."Certainly, we feel somewhat vindicated that our reading of the law seems to have been supported by the district attorney," he said. "Hopefully, this is an opportunity for all of us to get our hands around this and make sure things are done correctly."In the petition filed by the district attorney's office, Taylor sought declaratory judgment from the court that the KCC and its commissioners violated the state meetings law while processing the Howison Heights case. Taylor asked the court to render invalid the water rate order."The state will ask the court to impose the appropriate remedies as provided by law," the lawsuit said.The KCC, headquartered in Topeka, devotes the majority of its time to regulation of Kansas' oil and natural gas, telephone, transportation, and electricity industries. The agency's docket includes a handful of water utility companies, including Howison Heights.On June 6, the three-member KCC approved a rate hike of more than 100 percent for about 65 customers of the Salina company. The proposal was criticized by one-third of
the company's customers disappointed with the price hike, tainted drinking water and inconsistent service. The water supply company is the subject of bank foreclosure actions for nonpayment of $564,000 in loans.Prior to execution of the KCC's order in the water case, according to the lawsuit, a KCC attorney met individually with each commission member to ascertain the commissioner's "position/vote as to the consumer rate increase called for in the order."During a private meeting outside of public view, Sievers and Feist-Albrecht agreed to amend the order drafted by the KCC attorney. The document was then forwarded to Wright, who signed it. Wright wasn’t aware of collaboration between the other two commissioners, the lawsuit says."The meetings were held outside of a public forum without public notice being given," Taylor's suit said.Lack of notice that the KCC would conduct business in the Howison Heights case violated state law, the lawsuit said."All ballots and/or votes cast by the commissioners that constitute or result in binding action by the KCC and/or the commissioners must be made publicly," Taylor asserted. "The votes cast by the commissioners to approve the order were not made publicly in violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act."
Top state ag officials meeting in North DakotaGathering will include panel discussions and field tripsPosted: June 20, 2013 - 9:11am
By The Associated Press
MEDORA, N.D. — Top agriculture officials from 12 Midwestern states are gathering in North Dakota.The Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture is holding its annual conference through early Monday in the Badlands town of Medora.North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says those at the meeting will get a close look at the state’s two leading industries — agriculture and energy. Medora is in the booming western North Dakota oil patch.Goehring is president of the association, which includes the top agriculture officials from the Dakotas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.The conference will include panel discussions, field trips and speakers, including Deputy U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse.
Editorial: KCC's performance not acceptablePosted: June 16, 2013 - 4:29pm
By The Capital-Journal
The vacancy in the executive director’s position at the Kansas Corporation Commission may be one positive step toward fixing what ails that agency, but there is much more work to be done before it regains the public’s trust.Patti Petersen-Klein’s departure last week from the executive director’s post, however that was accomplished, certainly appeared to be necessary to smooth a serious rift that had developed between upper management and staff employees.Equally damaging to the KCC’s credibility, and perhaps even more so, is the news that the agency’s three commissioners have a habit of ruling on issues that come before them without benefit of public hearings, which is a clear violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act.How that transgression will handled in unknown at this point, but it’s clear that Gov. Sam Brownback will have to pay closer attention to what’s going on in the KCC’s corner of the world. The governor appoints the commissioners, and the group’s chairman appoints the executive director.The recent failings, up and down the line, of those in charge at the KCC reflect badly on Brownback and the job of restoring trust in the agency falls to him.Brownback has appointed two of the current commissioners, including chairman Mark Sievers, who hired Petersen-Klein. The third member, Tom Wright, was appointed by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and re-appointed by former Gov. Mark Parkinson.The commissioners and Petersen-Klein had approved a rate increase of more than 100 percent for a small Salina utility whose customers include residents of a subdivision north of that city. Rather than conduct a public hearing on the utility’s request for an increase in rates, commissioners and Petersen-Klein met individually with a KCC attorney to give their positions on the proposed rate hike.The Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board subsequently sent letters to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Shawnee Country District Attorney Chad Taylor noting the individual meetings represented binding action on the part of the KCC without first approving the rate hike during a public meeting.Topeka lawyer Mike Merriam said the practice used to approve the rate increase constituted a serial meeting, which is illegal under the Kansas Open Meetings Act.The process used was known within the KCC as “pink sheeting” and apparently was an accepted way of doing business there.Regardless of how prevalent “pink sheeting” was, it is illegal and not an acceptable way of doing the public’s business.Before Sievers hires the KCC’s next executive director, someone needs to inform commissioners their performance is falling short of what is required from people placed in charge of such an important agency and demand better.
Legislator threat investigations winding downLocal agencies take lead on electronic threats against Johnson County legislatorsPosted: June 24, 2013 - 3:10pm
By Andy Marso
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office and Fairway Police Department took the lead investigating electronic threats against two House members and their investigations appear to be winding down.Working with the Kansas Highway Patrol's Capitol Police, the agencies looked into threats against Rep. Amanda Grosserode, R-Lenexa, and Rep. Melissa Rooker, R-Fairway.Grosserode, R-Lenexa, said a Johnson County officer took a statement from her about a threatening Facebook post last week.Grosserode reiterated that she wasn't sure how serious the threat was but felt it was her duty to put it on record.“Regardless if there’s anything done at least someone has to have the report," Grosserode said. "It’s their determination whether it is something they need to move forward on.”The threat against Grosserode occurred after she posted on Facebook comments critical of pro-immigrant protesters who sang and chanted on the front porch of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.The post touched off a long and, at times, heated debate that accrued more than 200 comments.That debate spilled onto another Facebook page, where someone created a "meme" of Grosserode, under which a commenter referred to her as "just another [filtered word] who needs to die off already."Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning said he talked about it personally with Grosserode, who reported the threat after consulting her husband, a police officer."I told her we'd look into it, which we did," Denning said. "We still are."Denning said it doesn't look like the incident rises to the level of a criminal threat, but the case remains open and ultimately that decision will rest with the district attorney. He also said his agency is passing along all its information to the Capitol Police who provide security in the Statehouse.The threat against Grosserode came days after Rooker received an emailed threat from someone on her e-newsletter mailing list.Rooker said Monday that the investigation into that incident, led by the Fairway Police Department, is now over and “we can consider the matter dead.”
“They were able to make contact with the individual,” Rooker said. “At this point I’m confident he understands what was wrong with the wording he used.”Mike Fleming, chief of police of the Fairway Police Department, investigated Rooker's complaint as a possible criminal threat under K.S.A. 21-5415(a)(1).That statute governs threats to "commit violence communicated with intent to place another in fear" and is a person felony, severity level 9.
Legislators gavel out with bipartisan tonesDem leader praises outgoing GOP rep, parties split Bethell honorPosted: June 20, 2013 - 11:16am
By Andy Marso
Rep. Brian Weber, R-Dodge City, held his infant daughter in one arm while he placed his other hand over his heart and led the House in the pledge of allegiance one last time in 2013.Then he stepped down from the podium and accepted a hearty handshake from House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence.Minutes later House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, adjourned the House sine die, but not before a session marked by conservative majorities passing bills over the objections of Democrats ended with tones of bipartisan goodwill in the House.Much of that centered on Weber, who decided to resign after three sessions to focus on his business and family.Even those who frequently disagreed with him on policy issues expressed disappointment."I have a great deal of respect for Brian Weber," Davis said after the final gavel. "He came to the Capitol for all the right reasons. He's a straightforward, honest person trying to do the right things for Kansas. I'm really sad he's not going to be around here next session. We need more like him in the Legislature."At 30 years old, Weber is believed to be the youngest legislator ever to chair a budget committee (the Social Services Budget Committee) and was praised by members on both sides of the aisle for his open leadership approach and willingness to listen.He said his responsibilities as a husband and father, as well as his burgeoning heating and cooling business in southwest Kansas, led him to conclude that he should put a promising political career on hold.“I found myself in a position in which I was trying to do too many things," Weber said. "At the risk of not doing all of them well, I decided to stop.”
Still, with his wife and child by his side, Weber choked up as he addressed his soon-to-be former House colleagues, calling it "a hard day, but a good day."“I certainly tried to conduct myself in a way that I was respectful of everyone," Weber said. "If I ever wasn’t, I apologize for that.”Weber added that he would like to depart with words of wisdom like Rep. Bob Grant, D-Frontenac, who is retiring after two decades of House service, but said he didn’t have the experience.He did drop one gem before stepping down though."Before you criticize someone, first walk a mile in their shoes," Weber said. "That way, when you do criticize them, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes."Weber's replacement, 66-year-old former Bucklin mayor Bud Estes, was sworn in Thursday, calling it "almost a dream, actually."“I know I've got a real challenge ahead trying to fill in for Rep. Weber," Estes said. "He's highly respected in our area and everyone thinks great things of him.”House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, R-Louisburg, added to the bipartisan tone of the day by honoring one legislator from each party with a Statesman award named for Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, who died in a car accident after the adjournment of the 2012 session.Vickrey presented the award to Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, and Rep. Jan Pauls, D-Hutchinson, who together lead a weekly Christian prayer group open to all legislators.“We pray for each other," Vickrey said. "That’s always just helpful that we remember each other and remember we are here to do a job for the state of Kansas, and you are great examples of what we should do here.”In presenting Siegfreid with a plaque, Vickrey quoted Luke 2:52, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," while looking up at his predecessor as majority leader.“So this says we recognize you as a man of great stature and you're also kind of tall,” Vickrey said.
County senators make all votesHensley, Kelly, Schmidt among 14 senators with the distinctionPosted: June 19, 2013 - 2:37pm
By Capital-Journal staff reports
All three Shawnee County senators had perfect voting records during the 2013 session, according to records from the Senate secretary.Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka; Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka and Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, were present for 100 percent of the 68 recorded votes taken during the 99 day session.The trio was among 14 senators in the 40-person body to achieve the distinction.
House leaders said earlier this month that 39 of 125 House members were present for all 323 votes that body took in 2013.
Statehouse cleared after fire alarmDust from construction said to have set off fifth-floor attic alarmPosted: June 20, 2013 - 8:22am
By Phil Anderson
Topeka fire crews were sent to the Statehouse shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday after a fire alarm sounded in a fifth-floor attic area.Upon entering the attic area, firefighters reported seeing “a lot of dust” but no blaze.Firefighters reported dust from ongoing construction work may have set off the alarm, which had been reset as of 8:17 a.m.Fire crews were set to air out the attic area as of 8:20 a.m.Those inside the Statehouse were evacuated for a short time while the alarm was investigated.Additional details weren’t immediately available.
Veterans still pay out-state tuition as bill faltersStudents with military experience struggle to make ends meet while paying higher ratePosted: June 16, 2013 - 5:16pm
By Vikaas Shanker
Special to The Capital-Journal
Liane Larson grew up in Kansas. Her parents are military veterans who served in Kansas. She graduated from high school in Kansas, and her husband is from Kansas.But when Larson arrived at The University of Kansas, she didn’t qualify for in-state tuition. When she joined the Air Force after graduation, she was stationed in Arizona and claimed Arizona residency.“I’m in the National Guard in Kansas (now),” said Larson, a pharmacy student. “Luckily I got a fee waiver, and my GI Bill paid for my education. But the university still didn’t recognize me as a resident.”Larson, the vice president of the KU Collegiate Veterans Association, has worked with legislators on legislation to help others in similar straits.
House Bill 2242 would have allowed all military veteran students to gain in-state status and have their tuition covered. But the measure has faltered the past two years, most recently when the Committee on Education Budget tabled the issue.With the legislative session over, advocates will have to wait until next year.“There wasn’t enough momentum last year,” said Derrick Gonzales, the communications officer for the KU Collegiate Veterans Association. “Several people testified for it. But if we have someone consistently pushing it and asking the right questions to the right people, I’m sure it could happen.”Cost is a factor in the bill's struggle to gain traction, as well as the broadness of the bill. It would apply to military veterans who don't have Larson's Kansas roots.“It’s different if they never were in Kansas and never had any ties to Kansas,” said Rep. Sydney Carlin, D-Manhattan, a champion of previous bills supporting veterans. “It is something I would like to sit down with (Kansas Board of) Regents attorneys and look at.”Meanwhile, some student veterans struggle to get by.Karen Herbert and Kevin Whaley are both military veterans who enrolled at KU after following their spouses to Kansas.Herbert joined the Army reserves in 2006 and served as a nurse in an Iraqi combat support hospital.She is now raising three children, working part-time for the Army, picking up paid nursing hours and pursuing her KU master’s degree and a doctorate in nursing practice as a full-time, out-of-state graduate student in Kansas.Whaley is an Arkansas native working for his master’s degree in global and international studies after spending six years in the Navy, including two tours in Afghanistan and other posts around the world doing search and rescue. After being honorably discharged, he finished his undergraduate degree at The University of Arkansas. He wants to work as a counterterrorism analyst either for the government or private sector.Every year Herbert and Whaley pay about $8,000 of their $15,000 in tuition out of pocket. For many veterans in Kansas, there is little assistance beyond the federal post-911 G.I. Bill, which only covers the in-state portion of tuition through the Office of Veterans Affairs.“With all the veterans, they’ve given the time to serve their country,” Whaley said. “The least they can do is allow them to go to school without worrying about tuition.”Whaley is forced to work two part-time jobs and borrow money from his parents, while Herbert took out loans and picks up additional nursing hours to pay her way.“I would have $7,000 in my pocket,” Herbert said, if she had been granted in-state tuition.At Kansas State University, five veterans are using the G.I. Bill but paying the full difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition.Sixty more are getting help from the Yellow Ribbon Program, a limited headcount program that matches a college’s contribution to the student’s tuition. But they are still paying a portion of tuition.
In comparison, 724 veterans are qualified for in-state tuition and aren’t paying any extra tuition.Larry Moeder, the assistant vice president for student life at K-State, said HB 2242 could help veterans having trouble gaining residency in Kansas and attract more veterans from other states.“With the G.I. Bill, instead of students staying in their own states, we could be competitive and give them another option,” he said.Gonzales said the state could lose that competitive advantage if it doesn't pass its bill before a similar bill at the federal level mandates in-state rates for veterans. That bill sits in a U.S. House of Representatives committee.Both could hurt universities’ revenue streams.“There should be some appreciation of the budget situation and how it would be funded,” said Mike Denning, director of the Office of Graduate Military Programs at Kansas. “With potential budget cuts, I think someone needs to take a hard look at it.”Veteran tuition bills have passed in other states. Ohio was the first to do so when lawmakers launched the "Ohio G.I. Promise" in 2008, which makes all veterans “honorary Ohioans,” who pay in-state tuition at all public universities in the state.“It’s been really great,” said Michael Forrest, director of veteran’s transition and services at Ohio State University. “A lot of veterans would never have considered coming here.”Ohio universities aren’t required to keep veteran student headcounts. But a 2010 report on the Ohio G.I. Promise shows that in two years, 1,340 of 10,876 veterans participated in the program.Herbert believes veteran students want to contribute to the state after graduation.“We are here because we have to be here,” she said. “Not here just because we decided to go to school and leave. I don’t look at it as the colleges paying more of a bill by giving us in-state, I look at it as giving us the proper status.”
Kansas delegation splits on doomed farm billJenkins, Yoder endorse bill; Pompeo, Huelskamp reject itPosted: June 20, 2013 - 4:30pm
By Tim Carpenter
The Kansas delegation in the House voted a split ticket Thursday when the trillion-dollar farm bill failed to gain passage amid bipartisan consternation with spending on the food stamp program.U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Republican representing Topeka in Congress, voted for the bill with U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, of Johnson County. Standing opposed to the measure were U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, of Wichita, and U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, of Hutchinson.
"Too many Democrats and Republicans allowed politics to trump progress and chose to defeat this bipartisan effort," Jenkins said.Pompeo said the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act was rendered unacceptable because it was laden with an "out-of-control" food stamp program and excessive incentives to green energy industries.“Kansans know that agriculture is central to the health of the Kansas economy. It’s just a shame that Washington doesn’t," Pompeo said. "I hope that Congress will take this opportunity to craft an agriculture policy that is built on the real needs of Kansas agriculture producers and rural communities, while respecting hardworking taxpayers."He said less than 0.5 percent of money allocated by the House bill would go to Kansas farmers and 99.5 percent would have been spent elsewhere.While the Senate passed a separate version of the farm legislation, the House voted 195-234 against its bill. The House has 236 Republicans, but 62 — including Pompeo and Huelskamp — voted against the farm bill.A pivotal element in House debate was a GOP-backed reduction of $2 billion per year in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps. Democrats objected to the maneuver depriving about 2 million Americans of food assistance.Republicans also added amendments to permit states to drug-test SNAP recipients and set up a requirement that SNAP beneficiaries register for training or risk losing benefits.Jenkins, who was raised on a dairy farm in Jackson County, said farmers and ranchers required a "certain and stable agriculture policy from the federal government to do their jobs."She said the current array of food and farm programs was "inefficient, outdated and badly in need of reform. We cannot make progress if we continue to do nothing.”Pompeo said House members should recast the bill in a manner that provided solutions to "Kansas farmers without bankrupting our nation."
Brownback spinning for dollars in re-election bidThe Brownback for Governor campaign moved into the overt phase with conclusion of the 2013 legislative session.A widely distributed e-mail solicitation Thursday from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback requested contributions of $20, $50, $100 -- "or whatever you can so that we'll be able to share this record of accomplishment with Kansans."Brownback, who easily won election in 2010, launched the re-election operation without knowing precisely who his opponent would be.Speculation of potential candidates has centered on Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, and Wichita resident Jill Docking, who ran against Brownback for a U.S. Senate seat. Regardless, the Kansas Democratic Party needs a candidate so that person can begin the difficult task of countering the governor's capacity to raise money and make use of the pulpit available to incumbents.
The plea for cash by Brownback identified the two greatest challenges to his re-election in November 2014.They are:1) raging leftist reporters in Kansas who conceal "many good things" that have occurred during Brownback's three years as governor.Brownback apparently requires a pile of money from donors to overcome conspiratorial lack of coverage by newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, and bloggers regarding his achievements. None of these hacks, of course, are Republicans."Usually," the text of the e-mail says, "we have to do this without the media's help (but you already knew that!)."The memorandum to potential donors did praise a June headline in the Capital-Journal, "Conservative Crew Changes Kansas," summarizing action in the 2013 session. It was among hundreds of stories published by the Capital-Journal about the agenda embraced by Brownback since he opened his first run for governor in 2010.2) raging leftists in Washington who don't want "common sense" reform advanced by Brownback to succeed in Kansas.It's hard to believe many people operating in Washington, D.C., keep their sights locked on Kansas, but from Brownback's perspective, Democratic President Barack Obama has been maneuvering political forces and policy "to make Kansas, our precious Kansas, look more like their vision for Washington."The memo goes on to declare the White House, in a strange collaboration with the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate, engaged in regular attacks "on our common sense reforms here in Kansas." The crew in Washington -- where Brownback worked more than a decade in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate before departing in 2010 -- doesn't appreciate the "real positive conservative change in America ... happening at the state level."Brownback's plea for contributions included a sweet-flavored summary of the governor's achievements, including the notion he "turned a $500 million projected deficit into a $500 million cash surplus."He neglected to mention a significant piece of that puzzle was the $300 million in revenue delivered annually by a 1-cent increase in the statewide sales tax. This three-year adjustment was passed in 2010 by a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson. Brownback opposed the tax hike and cheered Republican operatives as they destroyed careers of politicians who voted for it.However, after elected governor, Brownback sought to make permanent the temporarily elevated sales tax rate of 6.3 percent.During the 2013 session, state legislators agreed to hold the rate at 6.15 percent rather than let it fall to 5.7 percent as scheduled on July 1.The governor's campaign team also reminded folks that unemployment in Kansas had fallen during his term, the overall tax burden would be lowered during a five-year period and the state government bureaucracy was being consolidated. He takes credit for it all.
The memo declared Brownback took "unprecedented steps to bring the dignity of work to a record number of Kansans." He did endorse a bill seeking to improve hiring of people with disabilities, but also signed measures designed to diminish unemployment as well as workplace-injury benefits. He backed new testing of Kansans on unemployment or low-income people receiving cash assistance with the goal of cutting people off if their addiction to illegal drugs persisted.Brownback emphasized in the campaign piece that he had worked to expand state funding of technical and vocational training. Again, no mention was made in the appeal of his inability to block millions of dollars in cuts to state universities adopted by the 2013 Legislature.
Brownback taking applications for Court of AppealsHiring will follow federal model of selection for first timePosted: June 21, 2013 - 10:20am
By Tim Carpenter
Gov. Sam Brownback will put to the test after July 1 the state's new process for filling vacancies on the Kansas Court of Appeals.He will no longer have to adhere to advice of a nominating commission that would have previously forwarded the names of three finalists to the governor.Instead, the Republican governor will abide by the federal model adopted by the 2013 Legislature that permits him to nominate a judge subject to confirmation by the Senate.On Friday, Brownback's office said the governor was accepting applications for the new 14th position on the Court of Appeals. The slot had been sought for years, but lawmakers were hesitant to provide funding for the additional judge.The governor will have 60 days to fill the vacancy after the clerk of the Supreme Court certifies the position to be available. The Senate would be required to conduct a confirmation vote within 60 days. If not in session, the Senate would take action within 20 days of convening in the 2014 session.Brownback had sought the reform for the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Legislators authorized the change for the Court of Appeals through passage of a bill, but didn't advance the constitutional amendment necessary to adjust selection for the Supreme Court.Democrats criticized the change by arguing that placing authority in the hands of the state's chief executive and the Senate would politicize the process. However, Republicans and Brownback thought the nominating commission was too heavily influenced by members of the Kansas Bar Association.In a statement, the governor's office said it had "received a number of applications" for the 14th judge position on the Court of Appeals. Anyone interested in the job should apply through the governor's office of appointments.
The Wichita Eagle
A record $74.5 million in Kansas Lottery sales will be transferred to state
By Rick Plumlee The Wichita Eagle Published Monday, June 24, 2013, at 10:15 p.m.
The Kansas Lottery will transfer to the state a record $74.5 million from the sale of lottery tickets in fiscal year 2013, lottery officials said Monday. The amount surpassed by $2.5 million the mark set last year.
That means $24.5 million will be sent to the state’s general fund.
The first $50 million from lottery sales is divided by a formula, including the first $80,000 going to a problem gambling and addictions fund. From the balance, 85 percent is transferred to economic development, 10 percent to a building fund for correctional institutions and 5 percent to a juvenile detention facilities fund.
Any amount in excess of $50 million goes to the state’s general fund.
It’s also estimated that the state’s share of proceeds from the three state-owned casinos will be $79 million by the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30. Through the end of May, the casinos had transferred $72.7 million.
This is the first full fiscal year for Kansas Star Casino, which is near Mulvane, and Hollywood Casino at the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County. Dodge City’s Boot Hill Casino is in its fourth year.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/24/2861143/a-record-745-million-in-kansas.html#storylink=cpy
Kan. saw unemployment rate rise in May The Associated Press Published Friday, June 21, 2013, at 4:13 a.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. — A new report says the Kansas unemployment rate edged higher in May, but the state also saw modest growth in private-sector jobs over the past year.
The state Labor Department says the jobless rate stood at 5.7 percent last month, up from 5.6 percent in April but down from 6.1 percent in May 2012.
The report also says private companies employed about 14,400 more workers last month than in May 2012, an increase of 1.3 percent.
The biggest percentage increase over the year was 5.4 percent in professional and business services. Employment grew by 8,300, reaching nearly 161,000 last month.
Manufacturing firms also added 3,000 jobs, increasing employment over the year by 1.8 percent. The department says workers have seen their hours increase consistently for several months.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/21/2857243/kan-saw-unemployment-rate-rise.html#storylink=cpy
Governor among Kansas’ aviation salesmenGood for Gov. Sam Brownback and Commerce Secretary Pat George for planning to join the Greater
Wichita Economic Development Coalition and businesses such as Beechcraft Corp., Bombardier
Aerospace and Spirit AeroSystems at the Paris Air Show this week. With $2.07 billion in exports last year
and more than 30,000 workers, Kansas’ aerospace industry remains a global heavyweight. But the fight
to defend and build market share is fierce. For example, Wichita’s three business jetmakers now build 38
percent of all corporate jets, down from 70 percent less than a decade ago. As Brownback toldThe
Eagle’s Molly McMillin this month, it’s time to promote Kansas’ aviation industry to the world and drum up
new business. “We have to go sell that,” he said. He’s right to do so personally.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/governor-among-kansas-aviation-salesmen/#storylink=cpy
Goossen sees budget trouble ahead
No Kansan knows more about state budgeting than Duane Goossen, who
served three governors as budget director and is now the Kansas Health Institute’s vice president for
fiscal and health policy. And what does he make of the 2014-15 budget passed by the Legislature? He
noted this year’s tax plan is a net tax increase of $777.1 million over five years and that the fiscal-year
ending balance will be a healthy $515.6 million in 2014 but then steadily dissipate. “Policymakers have
more work to do to create a stable financial outlook,” Goossen wrote on his blog for the institute. “The
budget/tax plan now in place is only sustainable if future revenue collections exceed expectations and if
new demands on spending – school finance lawsuit, Medicaid expansion, inflation, salary increases, etc.
– are avoided.” Those are some huge “ifs.”
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/goossen-sees-budget-trouble-ahead/#storylink=cpy
Sedgwick County eyeing tax abatement for tornado victims
By Dion Lefler The Wichita Eagle Published Saturday, June 15, 2013, at 11:51 p.m. Updated Sunday, June 16, 2013, at 7:57 a.m.
Sedgwick County commissioners say they’re interested in exercising some newfound authority to abate property taxes billed on south Wichita-area homes after they were destroyed in an April 2012 tornado.
But they’re not sure yet how exactly that will work.
A new provision in state law will allow county commissions to abate property taxes for the rest of the year when the property in question is mostly or completely destroyed in a disaster.
“I’m glad we got that provision so they can do that,” said Gov. Sam Brownback, who had promised measures to help the tornado victims when he toured the shattered Pinaire Mobile Home Park after the tornado. “Those people lost everything they had, so that’s great that that could help people.”
The provision was added at the last minute to the state tax bill that passed the Legislature early this month and was signed into law by Brownback on Thursday.
On Friday, commissioners said they’ll start work on a process to relieve the tornado victims’ taxes.
“There does seem to be a certain inequity in requiring people to pay (property taxes) for property that no longer exists,” said Commissioner David Unruh. “I think if we get requests, we’ll have to evaluate them in the best way we can. I really need to see the law and what it allows us to do and if there’s any restrictions on it.”
In addition to Unruh, Commissioners Jim Skelton, Karl Peterjohn and Richard Ranzau also expressed interest in coming up with a process to relieve taxes for the families who lost their homes in the disaster. Commissioner Tim Norton was out of the office Friday, but has previously expressed his strong support.
A tortuous courseThe new law fixes a problem that was brought to the fore in a Wichita Eagle story last December, said Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, a key player in shepherding the proposal through the Legislature.
The Eagle reported on homeowners who were billed for a year’s worth of property taxes, although their homes had been destroyed in the tornado that hit the south Wichita-Oaklawn area the night of April 14, 2012.
County officials said at the time they felt that taxing the destroyed homes was unfair, but they had to because of a state law that sets the appraised value on Jan. 1 as the basis for the full year’s property tax.
Now that that’s changed, “I certainly hope they go ahead and abate these people’s taxes,” O’Donnell said. “This was a tornado affecting Sedgwick County, and Sedgwick County needs to have the tools to help these people.”
The bill took a tortuous course through a legislative session marked by deep disputes over tax policy and budget issues.
O’Donnell and fellow Wichita Republican Mike Petersen led the charge in the Senate with Wichita Democrat Oletha Faust-Goudeau.
Reps. Joe Edwards, R-Haysville, and Brandon Whipple, D-Wichita, pushed for a separate bill in the House.
The Senate passed its bill 40-0 in a rare show of bipartisan unanimity and the House bill got a committee hearing.
But both bills languished as House members grappled with larger statewide issues of rewriting income tax policy and extending part of an emergency sales tax passed during the recession in 2010.
The breakthrough came late in the session with the broader tax bill facing an uncertain vote in the House, O’Donnell said.
He said he and Petersen offered their bill as a way to potentially sway some Sedgwick County representatives who were on the fence to vote for the tax bill.
He said they contacted the head of the House tax negotiating team, Rep. Richard Carlson, R-St. Marys, who agreed to attach the tornado relief bill as a provision in the bigger tax bill.
The full bill passed in the early morning hours on June 2, after a Saturday-into-Sunday legislative marathon that marked the 99th and last day of a session that had been expected to run 80 days.
‘That’s awesome’Matthew Ratlief, who was billed $189 for property taxes after his family’s mobile home was destroyed, expressed delight that the state took action to help him and his former neighbors.
“Right on!” he said. “That’s awesome.”
Ratlief, a tattoo artist at the Body Ink and Steel parlor in Newton, rode out the tornado in a harrowing night in a shelter at the Pinaire park with his wife Shay and son Caine, then 2.
The family emerged to find that their home and virtually all their possessions had been destroyed. They now live in an apartment and have struggled financially as they try to replace their lost belongings.
The Ratliefs are the kind of people that the county needs to step in and help, said Skelton, who represents the area at the heart of the tornado damage.
“A lot of those people don’t have a lot of money,” Skelton said. “Taxing them on homes that were destroyed just makes it that much harder for them to get back on their feet.”
Ratlief said he plans to apply for a tax abatement as soon as the county can come up with a mechanism for it.
The commissioners said they expect the process to begin with meetings between county management staff and officials of the appraiser’s office, the county treasurer and the county clerk, all of whom will probably need to be involved in designing the policy and mechanism to abate the taxes.
“In initial discussions, there was a lot of interest and sympathy for trying to come up with an equitable solution,” Peterjohn said. “I don’t think that’s gone away.”
Abating the taxes would cost the county some money, but how much isn’t known yet.
According to the appraiser’s office, the tornado completely destroyed 134 mobile homes and 11 site-built houses.
The total damage from the tornado was estimated at $146 million, enough to trigger federal disaster aid to help the state and city clear debris and restore public services. But the damage was not enough to qualify for direct federal assistance to the displaced residents.
The cost to abate roughly eight months of taxes for the affected homeowners would be only a very small fraction of the overall cost of the disaster, officials said.
Ranzau said he thinks the county will probably end up with additional property tax revenue in the end, because a lot of the destroyed mobile homes were very old and the replacement homes will likely be newer models that will increase the tax base.
All the commissioners agreed that there will need to be some sort of application process and a way to check claims to make sure the tax abatements go to those who suffered real losses.
For example, mobile home owners who got an insurance settlement and quickly replaced their homes probably won’t qualify for an abatement, because they’d be liable for taxes on the new home anyway, commissioners said.
“The details need to be worked out,” Skelton said. “We have the list and we know what homes were destroyed. That’s a place to start.”
More work aheadThe state lawmakers acknowledge that although the bill they passed is adequate to address the south Wichita problem, it’s a less-than-perfect solution going forward.
Their thinking was that Sedgwick County, with a large population and tax base, can probably afford to absorb the lost tax revenue on the relatively small number of low-value homes that were destroyed in the April 2012 storm.
But if the next such incident happens in a poor and small-population rural county, it’s unlikely that local commissioners would be able to give up the tax revenue without busting their budget.
The senators and representatives who worked on this year’s effort said they plan to come back at the next session in January with a bill that would allow the state to pick up the tab for abated property-tax income in future disasters.
That’s more like the approach that was taken in the House version of the disaster tax-relief bill this year.
That bill would have set up a system for homeowners to claim a state income tax credit to offset property taxes they paid after the destruction of their home.
O’Donnell said if the Senate plan hadn’t gotten through as part of the tax bill, the people affected by the April 2012 storm would have been out of luck.
“If we waited until the next session, we’d have been two years out” from the tornado, he said. “That would have been too late.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/15/2850020/sedgwick-county-eyeing-tax-abatement.html#storylink=cpy
Kansas should be like Arizona on Medicaid expansion
Though the GOP-controlled Arizona Legislature resisted Gov. Jan Brewer’s push for
Medicaid expansion, it finallyagreed. As a result, more than 300,000 low-income Arizona citizens will be
able to get health insurance starting in January. “It will extend cost-effective care to Arizona’s working
poor using the very tax dollars our citizens already pay to the federal government,” said Brewer (in photo).
Kansas has the same opportunity, but Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature have yet to act.
Expansion in Kansas would enable more than 150,000 Kansans to get insurance, inject more than $3
billion into the state’s economy over the next seven years, and save the state more money than it costs.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/kansas-should-be-like-arizona-on-medicaid-expansion/#storylink=cpy
Board of Regents seeks legislative strategy for future funding after tuition hike
By Dion Lefler Eagle Topeka Bureau Published Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 1:56 p.m. Updated Monday, June 24, 2013, at 3:59 p.m.
TOPEKA — The morning after raising tuition at all the state’s universities, the Board of Regents began mapping strategy to try to turn up political heat on the Legislature to restore some of the state funding cut in this year’s session.
But that might not be easy. The influential chairman of the House Appropriations Committee suggested they can “give it their best shot.”
On the second day of the regents’ two-day meeting in Topeka, Mary Jane Stankiewicz, director of government relations, told them that they have a good case but need to get more people involved in taking it to the Legislature.
“The message, we think, is still sound,” Stankiewicz said. “Our higher ed is assisting people in getting a job, keeping a job and getting higher wages throughout their lifetime.”
She said the issue for the regents is: “How do we expand our messengers? How do we use more and implement more grass-roots efforts?”
Regent Kenny Wilk of Lansing said he thinks the board needs to focus on drumming up more public and legislative support for the regents’ goal of having 60 percent of adult Kansans holding some kind of post-secondary certification – college degree or technical specialty – by the year 2020.
Right now, that number is about 50 percent, which Wilk said is not good enough to keep the state competitive in a world of rapid technological change.
“I happen to believe that objective is one of the most important things that we’re going to do for our state,” said Wilk, a former Republican lawmaker appointed to the regents by Gov. Sam Brownback.
“We are not managing a status quo operation here,” Wilk said. “If we are, we need to change that goal.”
Stankiewicz said her department is looking to fill a vacancy for a communications specialist to carry the effort forward into next year’s legislative session
“We will have things to discuss with the Legislature or to make sure that we get our points out as you all did yesterday with the tuition,” Stankiewicz said.
On Wednesday, as they took a series of votes to raise tuition between 3.4 percent and 8 percent at universities across the state, regents lashed the Legislature for forcing their hand with a budget bill that reduces state funding for universities by about $33 million a year in the 2014 and 2015 budget years.
Regents suggested the entire higher-ed community – students, parents and faculty – needed to unify and tell lawmakers to restore the state funding.
As the regents discussed their strategy Thursday, lawmakers were across the street at the Capitol for “Sine Die,” the largely ceremonial session that closes the legislative year.
Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, said the cut to state university funding is minor and that the regents raise tuition whether state funding gets cut or not.
As the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the House’s lead budget negotiator, Rhoades is a key gatekeeper over state support for higher education.
Of their upcoming political effort to pressure the Legislature, Rhoades said: “They can do that. They can give it their best shot.”
He said the cuts by the Legislature represent only seven tenths of a percent of the overall funding for universities.
“That blows my mind that we’re having a conversation about point-seven percent, and everybody’s complaining about that but nobody’s looking at the universities,” he said. “Overall, all university systems, from 2002 to 2012, (had a) 137 percent rate raising tuition. Now that’s a problem.”
Rhoades said the real problem is spending escalation at the universities.
“If you look at the state support, it’s pretty much stayed at the same level and the inflation’s only gone up about 25 percent in the same time period,” e said. “So the Board of Regents are really culpable here in my impression for allowing the (tuition) increases to come in. What’s their reason for allowing it?”
Regents say that flat funding has meant state support has become an increasingly smaller piece of the funding of higher education.
On Thursday, regent Robba Moran of Hays said state support now represents only 22 percent of the cost of providing higher education, down from 75 percent in the 1970s and 1980s.
Wichita State University clocked in with the highest percentage increase in tuition, 8 percent. Of that, 3.5 percent is to offset the state cuts and 4.5 percent is for a raise pool to give employees merit increases.
WSU President John Bardo said it simply costs more to hire and equip employees than it did years ago.
He said when he started out as a young professor, about all he needed to do his job was a classroom, a chalkboard and a set-aside of time on the university mainframe computer to run punch-card research programs.
Now, professors need tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and software to do high-level research, along with expensive audio and visual presentation equipment for teaching, he said.
There’s also more competition for the best professors.
“Our tuition has not really kept pace with the costs and what we’re trying to do is to hold onto the good people we have and to deal with a very changing market where in critical fields, we’re seeing costs escalate,” Bardo said.
Rhoades said he doesn’t think some of the costs can be justified.
“Do we also need to be paying professors $200,000 and $300,000 when the governor makes $100,000?” he said. “The first three pages of all top employees (salaries) are higher ed.
“Their all-funds expenditure has gone like doubled, even during the recession. So it doesn’t wash with me. I’m not buying it.”
House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said he wants to see the cuts restored, plus “enhancements in targeted areas.”
But he said Brownback will have to spend some political capital for that to happen.
Before this year’s legislative session, the governor barnstormed the state’s college campuses and called on the Legislature to not cut funding for higher education.
“You know, he talked a good game, but in the end, he was really unwilling to go to bat for the universities,” Davis said. “It’s going to be incumbent on him to really take the lead and demonstrate to the Legislature that he’s willing to do more than just talk about how we ought to support the regents.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/20/2856314/board-of-regents-seeks-legislative.html#storylink=cpy
Funding cut, except for program KU didn’t want
The $66 million in state budget cuts to higher education over the next two fiscal
years makes the Legislature’s approval of $2 million to help start the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center
at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City seem even more ridiculous. KU never asked
for the center. It was an idea dreamed up and pushed through by Kansas senators, including Senate
President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita. Lawmakers even named the center. Kansas Board of Regents
member Ed McKechnie wondered if the money for the center could be diverted to help cover the budget
cuts, but other regents members didn’t think that wasn’t a good idea, the Lawrence Journal-
World reported.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/funding-cut-except-for-program-ku-didnt-want/#storylink=cpy
Common Core doesn’t gather data on kids
Some opponents of Common Core education standards have claimed that the
government will be collecting vast amounts of data about children, include their religious and political
affiliations. That’s completely false. Common Core does not increase data collection beyond the basic
academic information that states already gather. “There is no further data gathering because of Common
Core,” Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker told the Lawrence Journal-World.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/common-core-doesnt-gather-data-on-kids/#storylink=cpy
Kansas higher ed dealing with budget cuts By ROY WENZL The Wichita Eagle Published Sunday, June 16, 2013, at 12:07 a.m. Updated Monday, June 24, 2013, at 3:59 p.m.
Kansas universities and colleges are beginning to come to grips with what they are calling “devastating” budget cuts imposed by the state Legislature.
Leaders at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University are warning that the cuts, along with what legislators called a “salary cap,” will damage everything from farming programs to the ability to educate doctors to the ability to help Wichita’s aerospace industries create new jobs. The dean who runs K-State’s Research and Extension Service even wrote last month that the cuts would damage the state’s 4-H programs.
And the big plot twist in this narrative of dispute is that some of strongest criticism of the cuts is coming from some of the state’s better-known conservative budget hawks.
• • •
Legislators such as Ray Merrick, the Republican speaker of the House, and Marc Rhoades, chairman of the House’s appropriations committee, have said in written public statements that legislators were merely trying to hold universities more accountable when they approved budget cuts.
They chided universities for tuition increases like the 8 percent increase requested by WSU earlier this month. The Board of Regents will vote on that request, and tuition increase requests from all the other Regents universities, this week.
Merrick and Rhoades, in a statement last month, wrote that “ever increasing tuition rates … put a burden on middle class families, even when state funding has remained constant over the last 12 years. The average tuition rate at the six major state universities went up from $1,243 in 2000 to $3,195 in 2012, an increase of 157 percent over 12 years. During the same time period, the U.S. inflation rate rose about 33 percent.
“Historically, Kansas families have borne the brunt of university budgets that continue to increase every year through both higher tuition rates and state taxes,” Merrick wrote. “The House budget plan found savings across all areas of state government, including the Regents, that will ensure our ability to keep the tax burden on Kansas families low.”
Rhoades, in a letter to the editor sent to The Eagle last week, wrote, “We didn’t set out to reduce funding.”
Earlier this year, when KU pushed back and said cuts might force them to reduce medical schools in Wichita and Salina from four-year to two-year programs, Rhoades called it “a classic bully move.”
• • •
Gov. Sam Brownback, who has pushed income tax cuts to spur growth, has said he will ask the Legislature to restore the education money.
“We can do it and we should do it,” he said during a visit to Wichita on Thursday.
Brownback let stand cuts in higher-education spending in signing the state budget, even though he’d opposed any reduction in state funding and went on a statewide tour in April and May to build opposition to the idea. In a message to legislators, he called on them to work with the state Board of Regents to “craft a shared vision for higher education,” according to the Associated Press.
Susan Wagle of Wichita, the Kansas Senate president, warned that the cuts are “devastating” to some of the state’s finest educational institutions, including WSU. She said it will harm the state’s ability to create jobs if the cuts aren’t restored.
Wagle voted for the budget package that included the cuts. But she said last week that the Senate only agreed to the budget bill as a last resort, when it became apparent that the House was unwilling or unable to pass a budget without a salary cap.
Fred Logan, a Brownback appointee to the Kansas Board of Regents, said last week that the salary cap – on top of the budget cuts – is “one of the worst public policy moves I have seen in recent years.” He called the cap “a nightmare,” “horrible public policy,” and said it will do “irrational harm.”
WSU president John Bardo on Friday refused, as he said, “to be drawn into a political debate.”
“My experience over a lifetime is that any time anyone at a university argues with legislators, the university person always loses. Always,” he said.
“At the end of the day, you go home, and they vote.”
• • •
New limitations on salaries in the state university system were portrayed as a salary cap in debate in the state Legislature. But because of the way the law is written, the cap actually represents a substantial cut in funding for salaries at the universities.
Unlike most agencies, state funding for the universities’ salaries comes through a block grant to the Board of Regents. It is that grant that was reduced, leaving less money to pay employees.
Although there is an amount designated for salaries in the funding they receive from the state, universities do have the flexibility to shift money from other budget lines to employee pay.
This year, budget negotiators in the Legislature, seeking to cut state funding for universities, took money from those universities that overspent or underspent their salary budget line.
Universities that have shifted funds to pay their employees more than the state budgeted for personnel saw their salary funding cut by the amount of the additional employee pay.
Universities that spent less state money than they were budgeted for salaries, generally due to open positions, in most cases had their salary line reduced to what they actually spent.
The result is that the universities actually all received cuts in their overall funding, due to the calculated reduction of funding for salaries.
The cuts varied widely across the university system, from a minimum of $276,000 at Fort Hays State University to nearly $4 million each for KU and K-State and their affiliated programs. WSU lost $868,125 in the shuffle.
On top of the salary reduction, universities also saw their overall general fund support from the state reduced by an additional 1.5 percent.
• • •
Bardo said the salary cap may damage WSU’s ability to create jobs and retain professors for the school’s internationally known engineering college, an institution closely entwined with Wichita’s aerospace industry, Wagle has said.
Bardo said the state, years before he arrived as president last year, mandated that WSU change from a “typical regional university” into a research university. That’s much more expensive to operate, in part because to hire scientists and engineers, “you compete with the rest of the world,” Bardo said.
At K-State, the dean of agriculture on May 24 sent his staff a memo about what that salary cap would mean, especially to the Research and Extension Service he also runs. The total amount cut, with the salary cap, is about 11 percent, John Floros wrote.
“It translates into a devastating number of more than 100 staff and faculty positions. A crisis in the making!”
The crisis will damage farmers, water conservation and food systems, which he said is the biggest industry in Kansas. It will damage 4-H clubs, he wrote. It will damage the research that brings in many more dollars than the state invests, he wrote.
The problem, he wrote, “isn’t just about the 11 percent cut or about the $6 million in savings that our Legislature thinks is wasted if it were invested in Research and Extension. It’s important to realize what this loss of investment means to the people of Kansas and the state’s economy.
“For every $1 the state invested in the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension, we competed nationally and internationally to bring an additional $2 to $3 for our activities in the state. For every $1 we spend on Research and Extension today, history suggests that an additional $20 to $40 of long-term economic growth will be created.”
Doug Girod, the vice chancellor of KU’s Medical Center, warned his staff in recent weeks of “devastating” cuts he will need to make. He has said it might impact KU’s ability to produce doctors for Kansas.
“We are anticipating cuts to KU Medical Center of around $8 million over the next two fiscal years,” Girod wrote. “There is much confusion around the term ‘salary cap,’ which the Legislature is using to describe one of the cuts that is most devastating to the medical center.
“Legislators are not using the term to mean they would ‘cap’ individual employee salaries at a certain level; rather, they want to cut our budget by the amount of money we were saving on salaries for unfilled positions when they took a snapshot of our expenses back in April (essentially, this penalizes us for being frugal and planning our finances to anticipate future needs).”
The cuts, Girod wrote, “will come on top of a 13 percent cut to our state funding since 2008 – and federal budget cuts that are adding up to a 10 percent loss of research funding across our institution.”
Andy Tompkins, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, warned of one other problem this cut and past cuts might create: Some of Kansas’ finest engineers, doctors and university researchers might decide Kansas is not a good place to make a living or earn a reputation in science.
“No doubt, it might tempt some people to leave,” Tompkins said.
Bardo said he worries that the same will happen at WSU.
• • •
Rhoades declined to be interviewed for this story, but offered written comments, including in a letter to the editor published in The Eagle last week. For this story, he also offered a much longer version of that letter.
And in April, as the Legislature contemplated the cuts, he and Speaker Merrick issued a statement.
Universities, Rhoades said in that statement, “have continually asked for more money from families and state taxpayers every year.” He said he would “like to see more budget accountability from universities.”
“As a former on-campus college instructor who now teaches mostly online, I know the value of higher education,” he wrote. “Just because an institution provides a valuable service to our state does not mean they should avoid being accountable for taxpayer dollars.”
In his letter to the editor, and in the longer version of that letter, Rhoades said all the Legislature really did was impose “a 1.5 percent reduction to Regents which hardly qualifies as a slash, but that’s the narrative being used; and since State Aid represents less than half of their General Use Expenditures, a 1.5 percent reduction in their state aid amounts to a 0.7 percent reduction to that account.
“Compare a 1.5 percent state aid reduction with recent requests from Kansas colleges for increases in tuition up to 8 percent next year, even with inflation below 2 percent.”
Rhoades also wrote that universities are sitting on billions of dollars.
“Universities’ All Funds spending was $1.814 billion in 2005, $2.186 billion in 2008; and $2.421 billion in 2012 – a 33 percent increase in spending even with a recession.
“By the way, the salary cap we requested was not a cut,” he added. “You will hear it referred to as a cut, even though salaries were held level and not reduced.”
• • •
But Bardo, Logan, Wagle and other critics all said that the salary cap really is a cut.
In the case of WSU, the salary cap, WSU officials said, actually made the 1.5 percent cut more than 3 percent.
The Regents on Thursday said the salary cap by any definition left the state’s schools with $10 million less to work with for next year, on top of the 1.5 percent cut.
And Logan said the cuts fell most heavily – and unfairly – on the state’s research institutions. And those cuts, plus the 1.5 percent cuts, come on top of five straight years of state cuts in higher education, he said.
In fiscal year 2009, the state budgeted $853 million for all higher education schools. But the state cut that in the following years, budgeting $747 million in fiscal year 2010, $756.7 million in 2011 and $743.9 million in 2012.
In 2013 the number increased $20 million, to $763.4 million. But that number did not reflect the actual operating costs, said Regents spokeswoman Mary Jane Stankiewicz, because $19 million of it was earmarked not for operating costs but for special programs.
And while the Legislature was chopping millions out of budgets, Stankiewicz said, the operating costs to keep the lights on and keep health care plans paid were increasing dramatically.
Bardo, meanwhile, said universities are not sitting on a pile of money they can use for any purpose.
“If you find it, would you tell me?” Bardo joked. “Because I would really like it.”
The universities all do have large amounts of money from all the fees, research grants, private company investments and other sources, he said. But the electric bills and salaries that keep a university running come mostly from state money.
The other money, he said, can’t be used – by law – for any purpose he wants.
“If I collect money for parking, I can’t spend it on ice cream,” he said.
Stankiewicz, the Regents’ spokeswoman, said Rhoades’ assertion about the universities’ “billions” wasn’t fair.
“While state funding has decreased over the past years, the universities have aggressively sought and received federal grants, business contracts and private funds that are included in this category,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, this increase in private and federal funding coming into Kansas should be seen as a positive for our universities and our state.”
Bardo and Andy Schlapp, WSU’s executive director of government relations, said nothing more can be accomplished with complaining. They said they hope to use the months before the next legislative session to meet one on one with legislators from around the state.
Wagle and others have pointed out that the Legislature this year had dozens of new members who had to come to grips with how millions of dollars flow through universities from various sources, controlled by various laws and rules. No one could be expected to understand it all quickly, Bardo said.
“We need to do a better job,” Schlapp said. “We need to bring all these new people together and tell them what we’re doing.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/16/2850037/kansas-higher-ed-dealing-with.html#storylink=cpy
Common Core doesn’t gather data on kids
Some opponents of Common Core education standards have claimed that the
government will be collecting vast amounts of data about children, include their religious and political
affiliations. That’s completely false. Common Core does not increase data collection beyond the basic
academic information that states already gather. “There is no further data gathering because of Common
Core,” Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker told the Lawrence Journal-World.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/common-core-doesnt-gather-data-on-kids/#storylink=cpy
Gwyn Mellinger: What is behind higher-ed cuts? By Gwyn Mellinger Published Sunday, June 16, 2013, at 12 a.m.
The recent outcry against the Kansas Legislature’s whack at higher-education funding came too late to prevent a shortsighted and misguided assault on state-supported colleges and universities.
Though Gov. Sam Brownback sought to maintain current funding for higher ed, his conservative legislative majority did not fall in line on this one. Now the governor must confront cuts to higher ed that Tim Emert, chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents, has called “devastating.”
According to the regents’ numbers, the damage over the next two years will total $48.7 million across the 32 public institutions under its umbrella. Among budget areas to be reduced are student financial aid and salaries.
Kansas lawmakers passed this budget in a year when their peers in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma all increased higher-ed support.
Why is Kansas the regional outlier?
As usual in Kansas, the divide is not Republican versus Democrat. This time it’s not even conservative versus moderate.
Instead, the politics of higher-ed funding break along a fault line separating those who value the life of the mind and recognize the economic development contributions of education from anti-intellectuals who see education as a commodity that should be produced with the fewest inputs possible.
In this political environment, the governor, who is no egghead but clearly understands the universities’ links to quality of life and the state economy, parts company with those who are in his own ideological camp on most other fiscal matters.
He’s not alone among Republicans in criticizing the Legislature’s action. One of the most intriguing comments to be published after the budget vote came from Robba Moran, a regent and the wife of U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
“If you want to have outstanding universities, you have to pay for them,” she said.
That’s the crux of the problem. Those who voted to cut the regents’ budget by 6.3 percent over two years do not see outstanding universities as a desirable goal – at least not one the state treasury should pay for.
This calculation does not consider the long-term cost of deferred maintenance to university buildings or institutions’ inability to attract and retain top faculty. Nor does it take account of the burden on Kansas families when costs are shifted to household budgets in the form of tuition increases.
The Legislature’s budget vote comes at a time when institutions of higher learning are under the gun to develop online and other nontraditional programs to meet the needs of adults (and their employers) who see evenings and weekends as more appropriate times to attend classes.
At the same time, the state’s largest universities must expand the existing educational infrastructure for research and, at all institutions, increase enrollments of traditional, tuition-paying students.
Even without a budgetary whammy from the Legislature, the times demand creative responses from regents institutions. Unfortunately, innovation, a process that requires trial and error, rarely happens when resources are deficient and administrators and faculty fear being accused of extravagance.
Even if the governor finds a way to restore funding, the Legislature has made a very public statement that support for higher education is a low priority and that university systems in other states are welcome to eclipse ours.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/16/2848580/gwyn-mellinger-what-is-behind.html#storylink=cpy
Kobach protesters are not like KKK
A protest by a couple hundred people at Kansas Secretary of State Kris
Kobach’s home crossed a civility line but wasn’t “KKK type of intimidation,” as Kobach said on Glenn
Beck’s talk radio showTuesday. Kobach described the protesters as a “mob” and said he planned to seek
legal recourse under laws originally aimed at targeting the Ku Klux Klan. “They’re just not wearing white
cloaks, but this is exactly KKK type of intimidation,” Kobach told Beck. Earlier this week, Kobach told Fox
News that the protest was an example of why Americans should bear arms, though he later clarified that
he wasn’t saying he would have threatened the protesters with a gun.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/kobach-protesters-are-not-like-kkk/#storylink=cpy
Wichita unemployment rate shoots up in May to 6.6 percent
By Dan Voorhis The Wichita Eagle Published Friday, June 21, 2013, at 9:18 a.m. Updated Saturday, June 22, 2013, at 6:45 a.m.
May was a bad month for the Wichita area’s unemployment rate which jumped to 6.6 percent after falling to 6.0 percent in April, according to the Kansas Department of Labor.
About 1,900 fewer people worked during the month, about 282,800 compared about 284,700 in April.
And about 1,900 more were seeking work – 20,000 compared to about 18,100, according to the state.
The numbers are not adjusted for seasonal changes in employment.
The May unemployment rate is an improvement over the 6.7 percent rate of May 2012, which continues the long-term trend of a falling unemployment rate from its 10.6 percent peak in July 2009. However, the number of people actually working hasn’t changed much in the Wichita area in the last three years.
The area includes Sedgwick, Butler, Harvey, Sumner and Kingman counties.
Another set of data shows that non-farm jobs in the Wichita area actually increased by about 600 from April to May. The biggest gains were seen in the restaurant and hotel industries and oil production and services. The big losers were the retail and government sectors.
Jeremy Hill, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said he wasn’t alarmed by the sharp rise in the May unemployment numbers.
There is a traditional seasonal uptick in unemployment between April and May, although, he said, not usually this high.
And the April rate may simply have been lower than it should have been, he said. The March rate was 6.7 percent.
His own center’s calculations show the local economy continuing to improve, although slowly.
Hours worked and people’s earnings have increased in recent months, he said.
And a series of leading indicators show slight improvement over the next six months as well, he said.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/21/2857453/wichita-unemployment-rate-shoots.html#storylink=cpy
Two sweet deals raise questions
State government is such a small world that insider deals can be hard to avoid.
But two new ones out of Topeka are raising questions. One of the four contracts privatizing child-support
enforcement in Kansas just went to Mississippi-based YoungWilliams Child Support Services, whose
CEO and his wife each donated the maximum $2,000 to Gov. Sam Brownback’s 2010
campaign, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal, and whose former employee Trisha Thomas has
been the state’s director of child-support services since 2011. It was in that role that Thomas announced
the privatization in March, telling state employees “the current child-support system is not cost-effective,
has an inefficient structure and needs significant improvement.” In the other case, reported by the
Lawrence Journal-World and the Kansas Health Institute News Service, House Appropriations Committee
Chairman Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, successfully pushed for a budget amendment providing $12 million
in grants to schools over two years for one reading program, Lexia Reading Core5, to be administered by
Newton-based Educational Design Solutions – a no-bid arrangement for one company. The grant
program was not vetted by legislative hearings or the Kansas State Department of Education and is to be
administered by the Kansas Department for Children and Families. A DCF spokeswoman disputed any
link between the YoungWilliams contract and the Brownback political donations (“The selection was
based on lowest bid,” she said). EDS’ Newton-based sales representative has denied any political or
financial ties between Rhoades and the company, and Rhoades told KHI: “My only interest is real results
for students.”
Editor’s note: According to Angela de Rocha, DCF’s director of communications, YoungWilliams has been
a child-support contractor in the state since 2005. She called it “misleading and inaccurate” to suggest
there was any connection between the latest contract and either the governor or any state employee.
Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2013/06/two-sweet-deals-raise-questions/#storylink=cpy
Brownback donor's business gets child support contract
The Associated Press Published Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 2:44 p.m. Updated Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 5:32 p.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Mississippi company run by one of Gov. Sam Brownback's donors has been awarded one of the four contracts to privatize Kansas child support enforcement.
The Topeka Capital-Journal (http://bit.ly/12bKA9b) reported that the Kansas Department for Children and Families announced Friday the Jackson, Miss.-based YoungWilliams Child Support Services nabbed a contract for a geographic area that includes Shawnee County.
Company CEO Robert Wells and his wife, Pam, both gave maximum $2,000 donations to Brownback's campaign.
The awarding of the contract comes two years after the state hired one of the firm's former employees, Trisha Thomas, to head up the child support division.
Senate Minority Leader and Topeka Democrat Anthony Hensley says the contract has the appearance of an insider's "pay-to-play" deal.
But Wells says that's "not remotely" true, adding that his interest in Kansas politics stems from having a business presence in the state for about a decade. He said he decided to donate to Brownback after discussing out-of-wedlock birth rates and child support with him at a political function.
DCF spokeswoman Theresa Freed said the selection was based on lowest bid and that no one in the department had knowledge of any of the potential contractors' political affiliations or donations.
Thomas, who was hired from YoungWilliams in June 2011 to be the director of child support services at what was then the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, told employees in March that the state-run child support services program would be privatized.
"The current child support system is not cost effective, has an inefficient structure, and needs significant improvement," Thomas wrote.
But Hensley said an employee told him that the state-run child support division was "set up to fail." Hensley said that both the privatization effort and YoungWilliams' contract two years after Thomas took her position "doesn't pass the smell test."
Freed said Thomas had no part in selecting the contractors. And Wells said he played no part in Thomas' hire, other than to wish her well when she told him she was applying for the director position.
"I think it's going to be something that in the end Children and Families and the state are going to like," Wells said of the privatization effort. "There's going to be a lot of good things that happen in the next few months."
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/20/2856393/brownback-donors-biz-gets-child.html#storylink=cpy
Suit against Kansas Corporation Commission alleges open meetings violation in vote on water rate increase
By RICK PLUMLEE and DION LEFLER The Wichita Eagle Published Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at 10:44 p.m. Updated Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at 10:56 p.m.
A Topeka prosecutor filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging members of the Kansas Corporation Commission violated the state’s open meetings law on a vote that more than doubled the water rate for a small community near Salina.
Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor filed the suit that sought to void KCC’s order granting a rate increase of more than 120 percent for a private water utility company that serves Howison Heights.
“The primary purposes of this action are to ensure that both the statutory provisions of the (Kansas Open Meetings Act) are adhered to and the purpose of the act, governmental transparency, is enforced,” Taylor said in a statement.
The KCC, the state’s primary regulator of utility rates and practices, said it did not violate the opening meetings act.
The lawsuit was spurred by a complaint from the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayer Board, a small state agency that advocates for consumers in utility cases. The group said that the three-member commission violated the open meetings law while approving the rate increase on June 6.
CURB said the commission may have been routinely violating the law for years through a process called “pink sheeting,” which allows commissioners to sign off on decisions without having a public meeting.
In a letter to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Taylor and CURB, the commission said it “is meticulous in its efforts to comply with” the law.
The commission acknowledged a “potential technical violation” of the law by KCC Chairman Mark Sievers and Commissioner Shari Feist Albrecht during the process of delivering the order and minutes.
In addition to the commission, Sievers, Feist Albrecht and Commissioner Thomas Wright were named individually in the lawsuit.
At a public meeting in Topeka on Wednesday, commissioners received a very brief report from their chief litigation counsel on efforts to re-evaluate and, if necessary, change some of the ways the agency does business.
The lawyer, Bob Fox, said commission staff members are working toward hiring an outside consultant to examine the KCC’s processes and make recommendations.
Asked how the effort was going, he said, “I think we’re good.”
David Springe, chief consumer counsel for CURB, said that Taylor’s filing of the lawsuit vindicates what his group thought was a violation of the open meetings act.
“Ultimately, it’s not my intent to beat up the KCC,” he said. “We have a fundamental disagreement with the KCC over what the open meetings act requires. We need some clarity.”
Springe is hoping the lawsuit will accomplish that.
“We need to go through this process, get on the same page about what procedures are required,” he added. “Getting it sorted out is good for all of us.”
The case revolves around KCC’s handling of a rate increase request filed by Howison Heights Rural Water District Inc., which serves 62 customers in the development. Developer Tim Howison, owner of the utility, requested a rate increase of $48,702 and was granted one for $47,231.
According to a petition filed by Taylor, Howison failed to deposit all payments for water sales into the utility’s account, and a large percentage of the utility’s expenses were not supported. The company was in a “dire financial situation,” the petition said.
During a public comment period on the rate increase request, a third of the customers criticized Howison’s quality of service, the petition said.
As for the allegation of violating the open meetings law, the petition said that Feist Albrecht and Sievers together reviewed the proposed order for a rate increase and approved the action. The proposed order was then “routed to Commissioner Wright, who without knowledge of the collaboration between” Feist Albrecht and Sievers, reviewed and approved the order, the petition said.
In an e-mail from KCC attached to CURB’s complaint, commission lawyers defended approving orders in private as an “emergency” process to meet state deadlines.
The pink sheeting is used to approve orders when it’s inconvenient to bring the three commissioners together for a meeting, the e-mail said.
The practice draws its name from the color of slips of paper used to gather the signatures.
Given the controversial nature of the rate request, Springe said he was surprised the commission didn’t conduct the process more openly.
“This flew under the radar,” he said.
In addition to the allegation of violating the open meetings act, Springe said, “We have a troubled water utility out there. We all need to find some way to solve the problem, because we want to make sure the customers have clean, safe water at affordable rates and that you have a viable business.
“But you can’t keep throwing customer money at it.”
In addition to the short briefing by Fox on Wednesday, the commissioners received a substantially longer report on the tiny water company whose case is at the heart of the closed-meeting allegations.
Jeff McClanahan, KCC director of utilities, said the Howison Heights water company is in deep financial trouble and is facing an Oct. 1 trial on foreclosure proceedings by two banks.
Although the commission primarily regulates electric and gas utilities, a handful of small, privately owned water companies, including Howison, falls under commission jurisdiction.
Several possible scenarios were discussed at the meeting, including:
• The Howison wells and distribution system could be sold to a rural water district or the nearby city of Salina.
• Banks foreclosing on Tim Howison’s assets could be required to comply with terms of his company’s “certificate of convenience,” a state document that authorizes the operation of the water service and requires it to be continued.
• The commission could take over the water company and find an operator to run it.
Sievers said his main concern at this point is that “we don’t end up stranding 62 families and leaving them with no water.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/19/2855291/kansas-corporation-commission.html#storylink=cpy
Eagle editorial: State budget cap harmful Published Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 12 a.m.
Though it received little media attention, one of the most significant and potentially damaging parts of the state’s new tax law is a cap on spending to be triggered by revenue growth.
As Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, warned: “It’s a self-inflicted budget crisis of huge proportions.”
Starting in fiscal year 2018, the law requires the Kansas secretary of revenue to automatically cut personal income taxes any year that the state’s tax revenue grows by more than 2 percent – thereby effectively capping potential spending increases at 2 percent. Once personal income taxes are phased out – assuming that is possible – the state must begin automatically phasing out corporate income taxes, and then a similar tax paid by financial institutions.
Americans for Prosperity-Kansas has been pushing for spending limits for years and is pleased. “That may be the most important piece of legislation this year,” Jeff Glendening, AFP’s state director, told Associated Press.
Controlling state spending is important. But there is a reason why other states don’t have spending caps: They create more budget problems than they solve.
One of the main problems is that it is difficult for states to control certain spending, such as Medicaid. As a result, other state programs may have to be cut to keep overall spending within the cap.
For example, budget profiles that lawmakers used this past session projected state spending would increase by nearly 3 percent each year just because of Medicaid programs, the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System and school finance (and that’s not factoring in the likelihood that the state will lose the school-funding lawsuit). That means other areas of the budget would have to be cut significantly.
What will it be – more cuts to the prison system and higher education? What about inflation or raises for state employees? Or investing in programs such as early childhood education that cost more now but save money in the future?
A 2 percent cap year after year is not realistic.
Another concern – at least among those who believe state services are important – is that the cap locks in spending at recession levels, with little hope of making up for past budget cuts.
For example, overall state funding for higher education was 8 percent lower in 2013 than in 2008 (and next year’s funding was cut again). Even if the economy booms, it would be difficult for universities to recover this lost funding, because revenue gains will be redirected to more tax cuts.
State budgeting is complicated, and circumstances and priorities change. States need flexibility, not a straitjacket.
For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/20/2854860/eagle-editorial-state-budget-cap.html#storylink=cpy
Pompeo, Huelskamp vote against farm bill By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press Published Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 2:04 p.m. Updated Friday, June 21, 2013, at 6:57 a.m.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The House has rejected a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that would have cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and let states impose broad new work requirements on those who receive them.
The cuts weren’t deep enough for many Republicans who objected to the cost of the nearly $80 billion-a-year program, which has doubled in the past five years. The vote was 234-195 against the bill, with 62 Republicans voting against it.
Among the Republicans who helped defeat the bill were Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, and Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler.
Thursday afternoon, Pompeo said he voted against the bill because of the growth in the food stamp program, despite hearing from representatives of key farm groups that supported the measure.
“This was a food stamp bill with a little piece of farm bill stuck up on the top of it,” he said., “and I couldn’t in good conscience vote for it,” he said.
He said he supports legislation to continue crop insurance programs for crop farmers.
He sees a bill coming in the near future to extend the current farm bill.
The bill also suffered from lack of Democratic support necessary for the traditionally bipartisan farm bill to pass. Only 24 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation after many said the food stamp cuts could remove as many as 2 million needy recipients from the rolls. The addition of the optional state work requirements by an amendment just before final passage turned away any remaining Democratic votes the bill’s supporters may have had.
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said the work requirements, along with another vote that scuttled a proposed dairy overhaul, turned too many lawmakers against the measure.
“Our people didn’t know this was coming,” Peterson said after the vote.
Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said the same, telling reporters the vote “turned out to be a heavier lift even than I expected. “
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., voted for the bill, but Boehner supported the dairy amendment and Cantor supported the amendment that imposed the work requirements.
Lucas and Peterson had warned that adoption of those amendments could contribute to the bill’s failure.
Contributing: Dan Voorhis of The Eag
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/20/2856322/pompeo-huelskamp-vote-against.html#storylink=cpy
The Kansas City Star
STEVE KRASKE
Kansas’ march to zero could be a march to a showdown
June 21BY STEVE KRASKEThe Kansas City Star
The Kansas State Board of Education released a report this week with one of those eye-popping numbers that you can’t help but notice.
$657 million.
That’s how much the state will be underfunding public schools a year from now, the report said.
In January, it was a different eye-popper — $440 million. According to a three-judge panel in Shawnee County, that’s how much more must be spent on schools each year.
Hundreds of millions here and millions more there and pretty soon we’re talking real money, right?
The $657 million is just a figure in a report. The state has appealed the $440 million total to its Supreme Court.
But pretty soon, legislative types predict, some kind of big number is going to become a reality that the Kansas Legislature must confront. A ruling from the Kansas Supremes is expected late this year or early next.
You can only begin to imagine how a multihundred-million-dollar demand would impact the state budget at a time when Republicans are leading a “march to zero” on the state income tax.
This week, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said the state can’t continue cutting
taxes and paying off a half-billion-dollar school settlement at the same time.
“There’s no way both can be done,” he said.
Not so, said Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. The march to wipe out income taxes will continue if only because the state has no choice, he told me. Population numbers keep drifting downward.
“We’re going to continue to have an aggressive tax policy so that we can grow,” he said.
Differing opinions aside, here’s what you need to watch. Other lawmakers, such as Rep. Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican, are saying something very different. Schwab believes that if the Supreme Court orders more school spending, lawmakers might well balk. Their thinking: The court has no right to order them to appropriate money for schools or anything else.
Appropriating money, they insist, is the legislature’s duty as prescribed in the state constitution.
The state went down this road a few years ago. The court ordered more school spending, and lawmakers blinked and ponied up. That won’t happen next time, Schwab said.
The buzz phrase in Topeka these days is “constitutional crisis.” Bets already are being placed as to which state officials would get cited for contempt.
And then what happens to the march to zero?
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/21/4306559/kansas-march-to-zero-on-income.html#storylink=cpy
Be patient, Missouri. Kansas will self-destruct June 15BY STEVE ROSESpecial to The Star
It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. Now, Kansas politics looks more like Missouri — a legislature at odds with its governor. And Missouri in some ways looks more like Kansas.
Kansas voters elected a conservative Republican governor and a conservative Republican-controlled legislature. Together, they were to be a juggernaut.
Something has gone terribly amiss. They are not at all of one mind.
That was to be expected in Missouri, where the legislature is controlled by conservative Republicans, while the governor is a Democrat.
But in Kansas? The governor helped elect many legislators, who now have gone over to the dark side, passing bigger cuts in spending than Gov. Sam Brownback requested.
Brownback has a vision. He sees in the future a state booming with increased jobs, increased population and increased tax revenue.
He says he will get there by cutting income taxes eventually to zero,
starting with last year’s massive tax cuts. But — and this is a big but — before and possibly after the so-called boom occurs, Brownback admits there will be a huge shortfall of tax revenue.
That’s why he wanted to make a “temporary” sales tax increase permanent. It will ensure that at least some of the lost revenue will be covered. In the end, the balking Kansas House capitulated, keeping nearly all the sales tax in place.
Meanwhile, Missouri legislators, concerned about how dramatically lower taxes in Kansas will affect border cities like Kansas City, St. Joseph and Joplin, have come up with their own tax-cut plan, just vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, but possibly to be overridden by the legislature.
Brownback and Nixon, strange as it may seem, share a common philosophy. Neither wants to drastically cut the services the states are now providing.
Brownback, though a conservative, has never barnstormed the state calling for slashing the budget. He has been more interested in his “pro growth” strategy. In fact, he barnstormed the state to keep the budget of higher education intact.
Nixon has been a staunch supporter of keeping his state’s budget fairly constant and has no stomach for budget cutting, nor can he justify tax cuts when the budget is already under
pressure. He clearly is not a believer in “supply-side economics,” which says you get more revenue by cutting taxes.
Meanwhile, back in Kansas, there are two movements afoot. One is Brownback’s naive belief he can reduce income taxes to zero, generate fantastic growth but not have to sharply cut spending.
Then, there is the other vision. The pro-growth agenda is not the highest priority of the ultra-conservative legislators, as well as the influential Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the billionaire Koch brothers of Wichita, and their allied organizations, like Americans for Prosperity.
They looked at the massive tax cuts as an excuse to slash spending. Their motto is: “We do not have a tax problem, we have a spending problem.”
That is not the Brownback vision. And that’s why there is a chasm.
The hard-line spending cutters just slashed the budgets of Kansas higher education and prisons, not at all what Brownback was seeking. And that is likely just the beginning of deep spending cuts, as future years face increasing deficits.
In Missouri, conservative legislators want to become more like Kansas, with tax cuts, followed by big budget cuts. That certainly is not Nixon’s vision.
Nixon did the right thing by vetoing his legislature’s efforts to jump off the cliff to compete with the Kansas experiment. That tax-slashing experiment is bound to fail, and in the long run, Missouri will come out ahead by providing a better state to live in, and thus will generate more economic development compared with Kansas, not less.
Kansas is destined to buckle under from both the ongoing tax-cutting fanaticism of Brownback and the ongoing budget-cutting fanaticism of the ultra-conservative block.
This is a border war that Missouri is destined to win, if it just will be patient, while the Kansas experiment falls on its face.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/15/4293821/be-patient-missouri-kansas-will.html#storylink=cpy
Protect Kansas universities June 21
Kansas needs doctors and nurses. It needs high-tech farmers, computer whizzes, skilled auto mechanics and even great poets.
The surest way to find and keep these people is with a financially accessible system of first-rate colleges and universities. The Kansas Legislature has undercut that mission with its recent cuts to higher education.
It’s little wonder normally guarded members of the Board of Regents vented this week while approving tuition increases at six public universities, as much as 7.3 percent at
the University of Kansas Medical Center and 8.1 percent at Wichita State. Whatever relief families may be feeling from Gov. Sam Brownback’s income tax cuts will be wiped out by higher college costs.
“You cannot have economic growth if you are cutting university budgets,” said regent Fred Logan of Leawood.
Adjusted for inflation, Kansas has reduced its spending on higher education by $745 per pupil since 2008, or by nearly 25 percent, according to research by groups opposed to the budget reductions. The latest cuts slash the amount by an additional $216 per student.
Some of the universities have been innovative about finding efficiencies, but years of cuts have taken a toll.
Kansas leaders must realize they can’t have it all.
University officials must understand they can’t have every new program or facility they want, regardless of what their peers elsewhere are doing.
And the governor and legislature must come to grips with the fact that they can eliminate the income tax or they can have a great university system. But they can’t have both.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/21/4306579/protect-kansas-universities.html#storylink=cpy
One-third of Kansas voter registration applications held up June 24The Associated Press
LAWRENCE — Roughly one-third of all voter registration applications submitted in Kansas since Jan. 1 are in “suspense” because applicants could not provide proof of citizenship, but some say a flawed computer upgrade is responsible for most of the problem.
Six months after the state started requiring new voters to prove their citizenship, 11,101 people who attempted to register were considered unqualified to vote because of lack of proof of citizenship, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. During that period, 20,780 have been added to the voter rolls, according to figures provided by the Kansas secretary of state’s office
When people show proof of U.S. citizenship to get a driver’s license in Kansas, the documentation is not making it to election officials for voter registration purposes, said Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew.
“There are quite a few in suspense across the state, and we (in Douglas County) are no different than that,” Shew said.
In Douglas County, 339 of the 370 applications in suspense are due to a lack of citizenship documentation, and 310 of them came from the state’s Division of Vehicles, where people often register to vote while getting their driver’s license, Shew said.
The 370 voter registrations that are in suspense come out of about 1,000 applications, which means 37 percent
are in suspense since the new requirement took effect.
“The large number … right now is a concern among election officers throughout the state. And that is just within a six-month time in an off season. What does that number look like in an election season?” Shew said.
A $40 million upgrade to the computer system that handles driver’s licenses was supposed to allow the Division of Vehicles to store electronic copies of birth certificates and other documents proving a driver’s citizenship and transfer them to election officials, as needed.
That hasn’t happened yet, Shew said, and without the documents, election officials have to send letters and contact applicants to tell them their voter registration needs to be cleared up.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who pushed for the Kansas law, said he is confident the system will soon be seamless. The goal, he said, was to have a system were the Division of Vehicles automatically transfers proof-of-citizenship documents to election officials “without any human touching a button.”
Kobach said those documents currently are being transferred by email, but Shew said that isn’t the case.
One reason that a large number of registrations are in suspense is that people might not see any urgency now to provide those documents because there isn’t a big election scheduled in the near future, Kobach said.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/24/4310962/one-third-of-kansas-voter-registration.html#storylink=cpy
Kobach thinks Kansas voting law unaffected by Supreme Court ruling June 17BY DION LEFLERThe Wichita Eagle
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Monday that he intends to continue enforcing a state law that requires new voters to provide proof of citizenship, even though the United States Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship law.
Kobach said the Kansas Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) Act is different enough from Arizona law that he does not think that the Supreme Court ruling affects its constitutionality.
The Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s law in a 7-2 ruling, saying it conflicts with provisions of the National Voter Registration Act passed by Congress in 1993. That federal law is widely known as the “Motor Voter” act because it requires states to offer voting registration in conjunction with issuing drivers licenses.
Most of the justices joined an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, who said Arizona’s requirement violated a section of the federal law that requires
states to “accept and use” a standard federal form for voter registration.
That form only requires prospective voters to swear under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen. It does not require them to produce citizenship documents as the Arizona and Kansas laws do.
While Kobach wrote the Kansas statute on voter ID – and has advised and represented Arizona on its immigration law – he said he had no role in drafting Arizona’s voter ID requirements, which were established by a ballot initiative in 2004.
He said when he wrote the SAFE Act for Kansas, which he introduced in January 2011, he was aware that an appeals court had already ruled against Arizona and took an approach that he thinks would withstand a similar challenge.
While Arizona law requires that voter registrars reject federal forms that aren’t accompanied by proof of citizenship, Kansas law requires election officials to accept the form and add the voter to the registration roll, Kobach said. The registration is then put “in suspense” until the voter provides citizenship proof, such as a birth certificate or passport, he said.
Although the voter cannot actually vote until providing the proof, Kobach said he thinks the acceptance of the form
answers the Supreme Court’s objection to the Arizona law.
“Our statute specifically says the county official will accept any federal registration form and use it, too,” he said. “We don’t reject forms like Arizona did.”
Part of Scalia’s opinion appeared to address that issue and discussed at length the meaning of the terms “accept” and “use.”
Scalia wrote that it is arguable that the act of receiving the form constitutes accepting it, in much the same way a store might accept credit cards but require ID to complete a purchase.
But Scalia also wrote: “Words that can have more than one meaning are given content, however, by their surroundings. And reading ‘accept’ merely to denote willing receipt seems out of place in the context of an official mandate to accept and use something for a given purpose. The implication of such a mandate is that its object is to be accepted as sufficient for the requirement it is meant to satisfy.”
Kobach said in the coming months, the ruling will be parsed by legal scholars to determine exactly what it means. For now, he said he plans to continue the process of fine-tuning regulations and continuing implementation of the Kansas requirement for citizenship proof, which officially took effect Jan. 1.
Kobach, who has worked as a professor of constitutional law, said Supreme Court rulings can themselves be ambiguous and that advocates for both sides in the proof-of-citizenship battle will scour the ruling for sentences supporting their positions.
“We’ll obviously continue to watch the situation closely,” he said.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/17/4298484/kobach-thinks-kansas-voting-law.html#storylink=cpy
Kobach issues alarming gun threat after protest at his house June 17BY YAEL T. ABOUHALKAHThe Kansas City Star
Kansas Secretary State Kris Kobach isn’t pulling any punches after 200 or so immigration reform supporters showed up at his Wyandotte County house Saturday when he wasn’t there.
“It’s important we recognize there’s a reason we have the Second Amendment,” he told a Fox News journalist. “There are situations like this where you have a mob and you do need to be able to protect yourself.”
In other words, Kobach sounds as if he would have been ready to shoot if someone had gotten out of hand, although it’s important to note that no one did (as the video in the Fox News link indicates).
Kobach was responding to a protest put together with the help of Sunflower Community Action; here is information from the group about why it did what it did over the weekend.
A representative comment came from Ana Mancebo of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement: “I came down all the way from Iowa to tell Kris Kobach to stop spreading his policies that are hurting families and communities across the country.”
Of course, like most anyone, Kobach didn’t like the idea that people showed up on his porch and driveway, touting messages he doesn’t agree with.
“I was just appalled,” Kobach said. “They have a right to protest at my office or at public places — that’s fine. But they don’t have a right to enter someone’s private property and engage in this kind of intimidation. I have four little girls and they would have been terrified to see 200 protesters shouting at their daddy on megaphones on the front lawn.”
But appalled or not, Kobach ought to be ready to accept the criticism that comes his way.
He has reaped national publicity and monetary gains by working on immigration issues for years, basically being on the wrong side of history along the way.
His attack on voting rights has been particularly anti-democratic.
His constant references to “illegal aliens” — including his comment that some must have been in the protest on Saturday — are meant to antagonize
people, not find a solution to America’s immigration issues.
Kobach’s statement about using a gun to protect his family was not surprising either; he’s a big support of gun rights. And he made some of his strongest statements after saying it took police 15 minutes to respond to the rally.
“I shudder to think what would have happened if one of those members of the mob had tried to break into the house,” he told Fox News, adding, “The Second Amendment is the private property owner’s last resort.”
While it’s understandable Kobach is upset about what happened at his residence, it’s alarming to hear him talk about essentially being ready to shoot one or more of those who showed up there on Saturday.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/17/4298150/kobach-issues-alarming-gun-threat.html#storylink=cpy
Immigration protest at Kobach home draws criticism, anger June 17BY DAVE HELLINGThere’s quite a back-and-forth today between Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and supporters of immigration reform who protested at his Wyandotte Co. home over the weekend.
Videos and other accounts say the protesters (estimated between 100 and 300 people) walked up Kobach’s driveway and left items at his front
door. They also chanted, with one protester using a bullhorn.
Kobach apparently wasn’t home at the time.
Protests at the private homes of public officials is unusual, although not unheard of. And most public officials, regardless of political affiliation, will tell you protests at a home are out of bounds.
In remarks to a reporter, Kobach talked about armed resistance.
The protesting group has fired back.
Walking up to a doorway isn’t necessarily trespassing — if it was, the mailman would be in trouble.
But anyone who walks on private property must leave when asked, or face prosecution.
That apparently didn’t happen Saturday because Kobach wasn’t home.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/17/4298198/immigration-protest-at-kobach.html#storylink=cpy
Kansas should drop onerous ‘proof of citizenship’ law June 18
Kansas’ misguided “proof of citizenship” law is now squarely on the wrong side of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Legislature should repeal it at the first opportunity.
By a 7 to 2 count, justices said in a ruling announced Monday that a federal law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, overrides an Arizona law
that requires citizens to produce official documents, like a birth certificate, when registering to vote.
The federal law, known as the “Motor Voter Act,” requires citizens to state, under penalty of perjury, that they are American citizens. Congress did not require documents to support that oath, and the court found that the Arizona law violated citizens’ constitutional rights by demanding a more onerous process.
It is not a stretch to assume the same would be true of Kansas’ 2011 law, which is similar to Arizona’s 2004 statute, enacted as the result of an initiative petition. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a lawyer who works nationally on measures targeting immigrants, has praised the Arizona law and used it as the foundation for the Kansas law.
The Supreme Court ruling was exactly on target. No one, Kobach included, has been able to show that undocumented citizens are illegally casting votes. The idea that people staying in the United States illegally would risk detection in that manner defies logic.
What’s not hard to believe is that the proof of citizenship documents required by Arizona, Kansas and the other states have created a chilling effect on registration and voting. Elderly, poor and young voters, especially, may not have a driver’s license, birth certificate
or passport. And they may not have an easy way to obtain one.
The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund has estimated that more than 31,000 persons were rejected for voter registration in Arizona after that state’s controversial law took effect.
Kansas began requiring proof of citizenship documents for voter registration in January. Monday’s court ruling makes a court challenge to the 2011 law highly likely.
Both Kobach and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wrote briefs supporting Arizona’s case before the Supreme Court. Both framed the case as a states rights vs. federal power issue.
It is not. The right to vote is constitutionally protected for all Americans. The Supreme Court has now said states cannot dilute that right with onerous restrictions. The Kansas Legislature should do the right thing and rescind its unfair law, which will inevitably disenfranchise U.S. citizens.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/17/4298563/kansas-should-drop-onerous-proof.html#storylink=cpy
Brownback to lead Kansas delegation to Paris air show
June 14The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Sam Brownback plans to lead a Kansas delegation to an international air show in Paris next week to promote the state's aircraft industry.
The governor's office says Brownback and state Commerce Secretary Pat George expect to spend a week in Paris, starting Monday.
They'll be joined by representatives of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition and several Kansas-based aviation businesses. Wichita is an aviation hub, and the state has more than 30,000 aviation workers and 200 industry suppliers.
Brownback also is touting the state's tax climate as attractive to aviation. The Republican governor has pushed over the past two years to decrease personal income taxes.
Kansas had nearly $12 billion in exports last year, with aircraft sales topping $2 billion.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/14/4292738/brownback-to-lead-kansas-delegation.html#storylink=cpy
Joco lawyer is Kansas House speaker’s new legislative director June 18
TOPEKA — Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick has hired an attorney in the secretary of state’s office as his new legislative director.
Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, said Monday that B.J. Harden will join his staff in July.
Harden will replace Wade Hapgood, who recently was promoted to chief of staff. Merrick’s former chief of staff, Christie Kriegshauser, left to take a job with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce.
Harden has worked in the secretary of state’s office since August 2011. He also serves as a volunteer deputy executive director for the Kansas Republican Party.
He received his law degree last year from Washburn University in Topeka.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/18/4299272/johnson-county-lawyer-is-kansas.html#storylink=cpy
Farm bill fails in House; dysfunction continues UPDATED June 20BY DAVE HELLINGThe House — in a major surprise — has rejected a 10-year farm bill costing almost $1 trillion.
Some Republicans thought the bill didn’t cut food stamps enough. Democrats thought it cut food stamps too much.
Local Reps. Kevin Yoder, Vicky Hartzler, and Sam Graves were yes votes. (All, by the way, have accepted, or are related to someone who has accepted, farm subsidies.)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver was a no vote.
UPDATE #4: So was Rep. Tim Huelskamp. He blamed food stamps.
“I could not vote for a bill that locks in the massive expansion of the food stamp program and spends nearly 80 cents of every dollar on food stamps.”
Huelskamp’s parents have received more than $1.1 million in farm subsidies.
Huelskamp offered an amendment that would have increased the food stamp cuts in the bill by 50 percent, and added work requirements. The amendment failed 175-250.
No Democrats supported the Huelskamp amendment, and 57 Republicans opposed it as well.
Hartzler, Yoder, Graves, and Huelskamp all voted for the $31 billion food stamp cut. Cleaver voted no.
UPDATE: So was Rep. Mike Pompeo of KS-04, which is Wichita. He blamed food stamps and a “Soviet-style milk program.” (Note: The dairy provisions were stripped from the bill before the final vote. Pompeo sent out a corrected statement.)
What happens next isn’t clear. The Senate has passed a farm bill, but was waiting for a conference with the House. That can’t happen now.
UPDATE #2: Graves’ statement: “This cannot be the end of the process. I hope that the House will soon consider a revised bill that can pass the chamber and get us closer to working through our differences with the Senate.”
UPDATE #5: From Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a yes vote: “Too many Democrats and Republicans allowed politics to trump progress, and chose to defeat this bipartisan effort. I am truly disappointed by today’s vote to accept a badly broken status quo.”
UPDATE #3: Statement from Sen. Claire McCaskill: “This has gone on long enough, and the fumbling of the U.S. House leadership is only hurting our farmers and ranchers and the economic health of our state.”
Likely? Another one-year extension of the current bill.
A classic example of congressional dysfunction.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/20/4304319/farm-bill-fails-in-house-dysfunction.html#storylink=cpy
Brownback PAC chief says governor will run for re-election next year June 21The Associated Press
LAWRENCE — A top political supporter confirms that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will seek a second term next year.
The first-term Republican governor has sent a message to supporters seeking to raise funds for the 2014 campaign.
David Kensinger, who heads Brownback’s political action committee, said Friday that the governor “is actively raising funds and mobilizing grassroots supporters.” Kensinger
noted Brownback has not made a formal announcement yet but says he is a candidate for re-election.
Brownback’s message says that under his administration, Kansas has gone from a projected budget deficit to a surplus. The governor also says he has cut taxes and increased jobs in the private sector.
The message goes on to say, “Now is the time to protect and build on our achievements.”
Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/21/4306692/brownback-pac-chief-says-governor.html#storylink=cpy
Sandy Praeger finds herself an outsider among Kansas Republicans June 23BY STEVE KRASKEThe Kansas City Star
Sandy Praeger was always the team player and never the black sheep.
As mayor of Lawrence, state representative, state senator and now Kansas’ three-term insurance commissioner, Praeger was mainstream Republican all the way and a close ally of former Gov. Bill Graves.
That’s “mainstream Republican” the way it used to be.
These days, Praeger is a GOP misfit out of step with her lifelong party, shunned by the establishment and a virtual relic of a bygone political era.
Now 68 and in her final term as insurance commissioner, Praeger favors abortion rights and gun control in a state that has squished both like a bug underfoot. She wants to spend far more on public schools in a state that has fallen far behind its own promises on education funding. She decries what she calls GOP “hate-mongering” and its anti-immigration rhetoric.
When it comes to Obamacare, she is perhaps Kansas’ biggest cheerleader for a program that’s roundly despised in many pockets of the state. Praeger insists that the governor of her own party, Sam Brownback, is leading Kansas down a precarious financial path. She talks openly of backing someone else for governor next year while clinging to an abiding belief that someday, somehow, Kansans will come to regret their tilt to the right.
And yes, it has been lonely at times.
“It would be hard to run again as a Republican, I will say that,” she said in an interview. “It would be very hard. I don’t subscribe to most of the Republican dogma right now.”
After Praeger won her third term three years ago, the state Republican Party sent out a letter that listed GOP statewide office-holders. Her name wasn’t listed.
“I thought that was hysterical,” she said.
But 2014 will be Praeger’s last full year in a public-service career that reaches back to 1985, when she was elected to the Lawrence City Commission. Her husband, a surgeon, is gearing up to retire, and Praeger said the couple are making plans.
That Praeger is so down on the Kansas GOP is disappointing, said state Rep. Scott Schwab, a former Johnson County Republican chairman. The party stood by Praeger for three terms with primary voters backing her over conservative challenger Eric Carter in 2006.
“I’d say she’s out of touch,” Schwab said. “I don’t know when she quit listening to the people who sent her to office. But she quit listening.”
In 2008, Praeger became president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners based in Kansas City, a post that gave her a platform to weigh in on national health care reform. On that score, she has been a relentless advocate — the yin to Brownback’s yang, although the governor pointedly has not rejected expanding Medicaid as President Barack Obama has advocated.
Kansas lawmakers this year ignored Praeger’s pleas to expand Medicaid and establish a health care exchange where Kansans could shop for insurance policies. That will leave thousands of poor Kansans below the poverty line
without coverage even after Obamacare goes into effect, Praeger said.
But many Republicans, including Brownback, have said they feared the long-term costs of Medicaid expansion. The federal government may eventually not be able to pay its 90 percent share and will pass a higher percentage down to the states, they said. Health care exchanges weren’t popular with lawmakers either because of the integral role they play in Obamacare.
Praeger said one consequence of rejecting Medicaid expansion will be the closing of rural hospitals because federal dollars will dry up.
She is equally frustrated with Kansas’ fiscal direction under Brownback, a path she calls unsustainable. The income-tax cuts Brownback and the Legislature have enacted go too far and cut essential programs too deeply, she said.
To Praeger, cutting taxes alone won’t be the job magnet that so many Republicans believe it will be, because too many businesses count on a skilled workforce that comes about only as a result of high-quality education.
Praeger, who toyed with the idea of running for governor in the 1990s, said she thought about running next year after she got calls asking her to consider it. “It would be so tempting,” she said.
But she discarded the idea after weighing her odds in a Republican primary and her age. Her conclusion: It would cost millions. And, “I’m too old.”
Praeger’s career includes a two-year stint in the state House when she sat next to another moderate Republican, Mark Parkinson. He would go on to switch parties and become a Democratic governor after Kathleen Sebelius resigned.
But Praeger won’t switch. “I used to say my sweet, little old grandmother would roll over in her grave” if Praeger became a Democrat. “But she probably would understand today.”
But she will consider backing some Democrats next year.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she said. “Look at what Sam did to his own Republicans last year, going after moderates (in the Legislature). We lost a lot of seasoned veterans who just wanted to do the right thing for the state. They didn’t go along with the big tax cuts because they believed in funding essential core services like education.”
Brownback rules by intimidation, Praeger said. Either toe the mark or you’re gone. “He’s proven he can take anybody out,” she said.
Clay Barker, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party and a political spokesman for Brownback, doesn’t buy it, pointing to the House’s resistance
this session to extending a three-year-old sales tax.
“I don’t think Brownback intimidates people or tries to take them out,” Barker said. “But he will support those who generally align with his polices, and that may mean that he ends up opposing others.”
Praeger has been on the scene a long time, he said. Her critique of Brownback fits the classic moderate response that voters repeatedly rejected last year in Kansas GOP primaries.
“Voters have changed over time,” Barker said. “The moderates who served well for years no longer fit the voters.”
Praeger, though, sees things differently.
“I hear (other Republicans) saying they want to get rid of all the moderates and the Democrats,” she said. “But why? They’ve got control. I don’t know why they need absolute control.”
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/06/23/4309326/sandy-praeger-finds-herself-an.html#storylink=cpy
