USA|Kansas

Leadership, courage, and conviction; House passes tax increase

The Kansas House of Representatives passed Sub. for HB 2360, by a vote of 64-61, in the wee hours Tuesday morning. The debate began just before 7:00 pm and didn’t end until shortly after 2:00 am. Although there were a number of members who spoke to the bill, most of the time was spent waiting for Rep. Virgil Peck (R-Tyro) to drive to the Capitol following a “call of the House.” A call of the House requires all members to vote on the bill, unless the call is raised at some point; it was not, in this case. As Rep. Peck was not present on Monday, the vote was held open until he could drive up from his home.

Beyond the call, a number of observers noted particularly those who had voted for the budget (SB 572), but did not vote for the revenue package to help fund it. Those members included Representatives Horst, Meier, Palmer, Prescott, Rardin, Schroeder, Shultz, Tafanelli, and Talia. Reasons for that varied, but certainly there have been a plethora of groups putting gross pressure on legislators—threatening to find opponents to run against anyone who voted for a tax increase and to direct campaign funding toward those races. Americans for Prosperity, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and other very conservative groups are among those who have run ads, sent letters and postcards to targeted legislative districts, and employed other “intimidating” tactics aimed at keeping legislators from voting for both a responsible State Budget package and a responsible revenue package to go with it.

USA|Kansas commends and is grateful to those leaders who stepped up and demonstrated true leadership in these times of economic hardship—who didn’t turn their backs on school children, seniors, the disabled, battered women and children, and so many more of our most vulnerable citizens—and matched their consciences and convictions, with remarkable courage. Please take time to contact those legislators who supported so many of us in the budget and tax process, and remind them of how grateful we are for their responsible leadership on behalf of this great state.

Sub. for HB 2360 now goes to Governor Parkinson, for his signature. Following is a listing of how House members voted on the bill.

Yeas: Ballard, Barnes, Benlon, Bethell ,Bollier, 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, Johnson, Kuether, Lane, Light, Loganbill, Long, Lukert, Mah, McCray-Miller, Menghini, Moxley, Neighbor ,Otto, Pauls, Peterson, Phelps, Pottorff, Proehl, Quigley, Roth, Ruiz, Slattery, Sloan, Spalding, Svaty, Swanson, Swenson, 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, Grange, Hayzlett, Hermanson, C. Holmes, M. Holmes, Horst, Huebert, Jack, Kelley, Kerschen, Kiegerl, King, Kinzer, Kleeb, Knox, Landwehr, Maloney, Mast, McLeland, Meier, Merrick, Morrison, Myers, Neufeld, O’Brien, O’Neal, Olson, Palmer, Patton, Peck, Powell, Prescott, Rardin, Rhoades, Schroeder, Schwab, Schwartz, Seiwert, Shultz, Siegfreid, Suellentrop, Tafanelli, Talia, Vickrey, Whitham, B. Wolf, Yoder.

Conference committee action
Two conference committee reports of interest to K-12 leaders also received action by the Legislature on Monday. The first is what I’ve been calling, “The little school bus that could…go 25 years!” Tucked into the Conference Committee Report on SB 300, is a policy measure which extends the legal age limit for school buses from 20 years, to 25 years. This measure passed the House by a vote of 105-18 and the Senate by a vote of 32-8. The bill now goes to the governor for his signature.

Yesterday, the Conference Committee Report on HB 2704 was signed and began making its way through the legislative voting process. The Senate passed the multi-faceted bill by a vote of 39-0; it now moves to the House, where a vote is anticipated before the House adjourns. As finalized by the Education Conference Committee, it contains the following five policy measures:

Expand a statute authorizing discussions regarding school district consolidation so that the statute would allow the boards of education of any two or more districts to discuss issues relating to consolidation and enter into agreements to form one or more consolidated unified districts so long as the result is fewer school districts;
Define “taxable tangible property” as real property, personal property, state-assessed property, and motorvehicles in the school finance law regarding the tax levies for ancillary facilities weighting, cost of living, and declining enrollment. Under current law, motor vehicle taxes are not factored into these levies;
Provide that any student transferring from a closed or discontinued school because of school district consolidation, disorganization, or reorganization would be eligible for interschool activities immediately upon enrollment at another school in the consolidated district;
Allow school districts to transfer money shifted from the general fund to the capital outlay fund during the 2008-2009 school year from the capital outlay fund to the school district’s contingency reserve fund during the 2009-2010 school year; and
Would amend the provision in the school finance law concerning the calculation of the high density at-risk pupil weighting and provide for a linear transition formula to calculate the high-density at-risk pupil weighting for districts having between 35 percent and 50 percent at-risk pupils. For those districts having at-risk pupil percentages between 35 percent and less than 50 percent, the district would multiply the number of at-risk pupils by a factor of .007. For those districts having an at-risk pupil percentage of 50 percent or more, or for districts having an enrollment of at least 35.1 percent at-risk pupils and an enrollment density of at least 212.1 pupils per square mile, the district would multiply the number of at-risk pupils by .105 to determine the high-density at-risk weighting. This provision would take effect in the school year in which the appropriation for general state aid is sufficient to fund base state aid per pupil at $4,492 or higher, and in each subsequent school year.

The bill would become effective upon publication in the Kansas Register.

The House has a couple of key bills to debate today, including the transportation plan and an adult care provider assessment, and should conclude its business later today. USA|Kansas will keep members updated on further education-related developments.