USA|Kansas

Sausage and the law

An oft-used quote in public policy circles says, “Those who love sausage or the law should never watch either being made.” As one who loves the public policy process, but has been perhaps too close to it this past week, I am seriously questioning whether I can ever trust putting a bite of sausage in my mouth again. More seriously, I keep reminding myself that the reason I love the policy process is that most of the time it does work out overall and in the end.

The last weeks and months have been trying for all of us, as we know how much we need the public process to work, so that the critical progress that has been made in K-12 education these past five years does not fall apart on the shoulders of school children. Early in the session, one superintendent sat in my office and said something to this very effect: “The thing that bothers me most,” he said, “is having to watch everything I’ve worked to put together for students in my district over the last decade, becoming so quickly dismantled.”

The good news is that there is a bipartisan coalition of legislators, both in the House and the Senate, working together to achieve the best they can for districts across our state. While there have been various pieces thrown into the legislative mix in recent days that tend to favor some districts more than others, the core coalition is trying to focus on the bigger picture—to ensure, as best they can, that a budget and tax package are passed that don’t further disadvantage schools and services to our most vulnerable citizens.

Current status of bills key to USA|Kansas members

School Funding; State Budget—Sub. for SB 572
As amended by a coalition of House moderate Republicans and Democrats, this bill funds K-12 education at its current level. It passed the House on Saturday, by a vote of 71-52. Following is a listing of how House members voted.

Yeas: Ballard, Barnes, Benlon, Bethell, Brookens, T. Brown, Burroughs, Carlin, Colloton, Craft, Crow, Davis, Dillmore, Feuerborn, Finney, Flaharty, Frownfelter, Furtado, Garcia, D. Gatewood, S. Gatewood, George, Grant, Hawk, Henderson, Henry, Hill, Hineman, Horst, Johnson, Kuether, Lane, Light, Loganbill, Long, Lukert, Mah, McCray-Miller, Meier, Menghini, Moxley, Neighbor, Palmer, Pauls, Peterson, Phelps, Pottorff, Prescott, Proehl, Quigley, Rardin, Roth, Ruiz, Schroeder, Shultz, Slattery, Sloan, Spalding, Svaty, Swanson, Swenson, Tafanelli, Talia, Tietze, Trimmer, Ward, Wetta, Williams, Winn, K. Wolf, Worley.

Nays: Aurand, Bowers, A. Brown, Brunk, Burgess, Carlson, Crum, DeGraaf, Donohoe, Faber, Fund, Goico, Gordon, Goyle, Hayzlett, Hermanson, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Huebert, Jack, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Maloney, Mast, McLeland, Merrick, Morrison, Myers, Neufeld, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson, Otto, Patton, Peck, Powell, Rhoades, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Siegfreid, Suellentrop, Vickrey, Whitham, B. Wolf, Yoder.
Absent: Bollier, Grange.

The bill is now awaiting Senate action. At this time, it is most likely there will be a motion to concur on the bill, as passed by the House. A motion to concur is debatable, but does not allow for amendments. CONTACT YOUR SENATORS and urge them to vote “yes” on a motion to concur with Sub. for SB 572, should it be brought up.

School Funding; Revenues—Sub. for HB 2360
As amended and passed by the Senate, by a vote of 23-17, this bill contains a sales tax increase and a couple of other tax measures related to relieving lower-income taxpayers of some increased sales tax burden. The package is worth more than $314 million in new revenue for the state and is necessary to fund the budget passed by the House in Sub. for SB 572. Following is a listing of how Senators voted.

Yeas: Brungardt, Emler, Faust-Goudeau, Francisco, Haley, Hensley, Holland, Huntington, Kelly, Kultala, Lee, Marshall, McGinn, Morris, Ostmeyer, Owens, Reitz, V. Schmidt, Schodorf, Taddiken, Teichman, Umbarger, Vratil.

Nays: Abrams, Apple, Barnett, Brownlee, Bruce, Colyer, Donovan, Huelsdamp, Kelsey, Lynn, Masterson, Petersen, Pilcher-Cook, Pyle, D. Schmidt, Steineger, Wagle

The bill is now awaiting action by the House. At this writing, it is likely there will be a motion to concur with the Senate on Sub. for HB 2360. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN THE HOUSE and urge them to vote “yes” on a motion to concur to ensure that the budget bill they’ve passed actually gets funded!

School bus age exemption—Sub. for SB 300
This may be the piece of school-related legislation that has been most like the old “follow the bouncing ball” pieces we watched as children. Originally introduced in HB 2486, this legislation will extend the current school bus age exemption from 20 years, up to 25 years. While this measure is relatively uncontroversial, in the Transportation Conference Committee it got attached to other measures that were more controversial, such as mandatory seat belt issues.

The conference committee report has now been signed by conferees in both the House and Senate. It will go, first, to the House and, then, to the Senate where motions to concur with the Conference Committee Report on Sub. for SB 300 will (should) be voted upon. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS and urge their support for this legislation.

There are various other measures related to K-12 education that have been debated and are being considered along the way. One such item was a measure to run KPERS through the districts’ general fund, thereby allowing increases to the LOB. One debate allowed it without a referendum; a more recent debate in the House required an election after one year. These measures have now failed in both the Senate and the House.

This piece has been of most interest to some Johnson County legislators, who have worked tirelessly to find ways to allow more funding options for their school districts. Although it has been primarily pushed by these legislators, there are many who feel it could potentially benefit any number of districts in future years, as federal ARRA funding goes away and a potentially more conservative administration is elected in our state.

USA|Kansas will make every effort to keep you updated as substantial issues are considered by this Legislature in the coming hours and, if necessary, days.