January 28, 2022

The journey of a bill  After a bill is introduced. it is assigned to a committee so that the legislation can be properly vetted.  The chairman can schedule a hearing, allowing people, conferees, to testify.  Legislators can ask questions of conferees, evaluate and propose changes to legislation.  If a majority of committee members vote to advance the legislation, it will then be assigned to the Committee of the Whole.  Committee of the Whole is all of the members of that chamber.  The Majority Leader schedules debate for the Committee of the Whole.  After debate and possible amendments, the Committee of the Whole votes whether to pass the legislation and advance it to final action.  If a bill passes a final action vote, it will advance to the other chamber or it goes to the Governor if it has passed both chambers.  At that point the Governor can sign the bill into law, veto the bill, or do nothing and after 10 days the bill becomes law.

The Senate Tax Committee had hearings on two bills where the conferee was a Kansas resident who would like to have sales tax removed on manufacture coupons, Senate Bill (SB) 354, and sales tax removed on delivery charges, shipping and postage, SB 327.  Most people are not aware they pay sales tax on these items.

SB 347 is on the fast track to who knows where.  There was a major rush to pass SB 347 out of the Senate Commerce Committee and across the Senate floor.  SB 347 would allow the Secretary of Commerce to give sales, income, and property tax incentives, estimated to be over $1 billion to entice a company, very possibly a foreign company, to come to Kansas.  Proponents say it will bring 4,000 jobs to Kansas.  Good, but what company and what Kansas industries will be impacted by the “new” jobs.  When Kansas was trying to entice NASCAR to come to Kansas everything was up front, legislators knew the business and made the decision eyes-wide-open.  With SB 347, only a few legislators know what company the Governor and Secretary of Commerce are willing to give over $1 billion of taxpayer money.  I was able to get an amendment on that would at least stop the company from getting back more income tax than they paid to the state of Kansas.  I could not support this legislation.  With SB 347, the Secretary of Commerce has the authority to give away billions of dollars and there are no caps or restrictions on the number of companies to receive the tax incentives in the bill.  Disappointingly, the bill passed the Senate 32 to 7.  The House will push the bill through the process in an attempt to put it on the Governor’s desk the first week in February.  Hopefully, the House will be able to kill the current bill or make major changes so that it will be a win for Kansas taxpayers.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your 12^th District State Senator.

Caryn

SPARK Requests Input from Kansans for American Rescue Plan Investment Ideas

TOPEKA – The Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Executive Committee is inviting Kansans to share their investment ideas for the allocation of federal coronavirus relief funds allocated to Kansas through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of March 2021.

“This money offers the opportunity to make strategic investments that will have long-term positive impacts on our state,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “It is vital to the recovery efforts that we have input from Kansans across the state – everyone should have a seat at the table.”

This provides a chance for Kansans to make their voice heard as we rebuild our economy and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. The SPARK Executive Committee oversees the development of recommendations for the distribution of ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Funds (SFRF), assisted by the four SPARK Advisory Panels: Health & Education, Economic Revitalization, Connectivity, and Efficiency & Modernization. The SPARK Executive Committee then presents recommendations to the State Finance Council to distribute the SFRF allocated to the State of Kansas.

The online submission form for proposing a SPARK investment idea is available here. Currently, SPARK is requesting proposals for program-level investments. The four Advisory Panels may consider these submissions as part of the process to determine investment priorities and make recommendations to the SPARK Executive Committee. Advisory Panels will begin meeting in the coming weeks.

“This is a historic opportunity for Kansans to have direct input in how these funds are utilized to benefit our state long term,” Senate President Masterson said. “I look forward to reviewing the investments ideas that our citizens submit and working with the Advisory Panels to identify the investments that will best position our state moving forward.”

In making decisions, SPARK will adhere to the following guiding principles:

• Prioritize sustainable programs & investments through one-time use of funds vs. substantial expansion of existing services
• Combine with / leverage local and agency funds to maximize use of discretionary funds
• Foster long-term systemic impact for Kansans
• Consider equitable opportunities and outcomes
• Enable flexibility within investment strategies
• Ensure results are measurable to enable tracking & transparency

“The SPARK Executive Committee heard many great investment ideas from the citizens of Kansas at our regional meetings across the state,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman said. “The investment ideas submitted through this form will allow SPARK to further engage with the citizens of Kansas while determining investment priorities.”

Interested parties are instructed to complete the submission form in its entirety. The submission period will close on February 16, 2022.

Once submitted, investment ideas will be available for review by Advisory Panel members. By submitting an investment idea, interested parties acknowledge that SPARK staff may follow up with them for additional details. Submission does not guarantee assignment to or further consideration by an Advisory Panel and that additional information will not be reviewed unless requested.

Interested parties are also encouraged to familiarize themselves on allowable uses of SFRF. An overview of the Treasury Department’s Final Rule summarizing eligibility provisions for using SFRF can be found here, while the entire Final Rule is available here. Please note that not all investment ideas will fit within the allowable uses of SFRF.

An FAQ document on the submission form is available here. If there are any questions on completing the submission form, please contact [email protected].

January 14, 2022

2022 Session Begins

You thought last year was a mess – well – here we go again.   With the increased COVID-19 cases, variants, and major inflation, 2022 is going to be another challenge.  I am confident that we can meet these challenges with perseverance and by remembering the words of our Founding Fathers, that our government is of “We the People” and that every decision we make as legislators must be in support of our Constitution.

Wildfires

December 16, 2021, several communities in Kansas were devastated by wildfires.  The high winds, storms, and fires resulted in loss of life, homes, and livelihoods.  There has been an outpouring of help, but more is needed.  The Senate Tax Committee passed Senate Bill (SB) 318 out of committee. This Bill would allow a sales tax exemption on fencing material purchased as a result of losses from the wildfires.  The legislature has passed similar legislation in the past.  The difference in SB 318, is that it would not sunset so with any future fires the exemption would be available.

I offered an amendment to SB 318 that provides an option for County Commissioners to abate property taxes on agriculture or commercial property destroyed in a Governor declared disaster.  It passed unanimously.  Currently, County Commissioners have an option to abate property taxes on homes but they cannot abate property taxes on other property in a disaster.  It was reported that a Senator was concerned about the optional abatement because it might decrease K-12 funding from the 20 mil property tax.  Can you imagine losing almost all of your property and still having to pay property tax on it as if it wasn’t destroyed?

Personal Note

In less than a two-week period we lost several friends and family.  Two of them died from COVID-19, but the rest died from other causes.  We also have friends and family who are in the hospital and fighting to recover.  It has been a difficult time, but with God’s grace we find strength.

Some media and now social media allow people to make false claims about me not taking COVID-19 seriously.  This is fake news.  I have and will continue to take precautions and hope that you do also.  I will also continue to fight for your life, your liberty and your pursuit of happiness so that you may decide for yourself, not your government mandating and stripping you of your freedoms.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your 12^th District State Senator.

Caryn

www.KSLegislature.org

Governor Laura Kelly Announces Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

~ Governor Kelly keeps her promise to bring fiscal responsibility back to state government ~

TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly today announced her fourth budget recommendation. This budget builds on years of work by the Kelly Administration to restore the state’s fiscal prosperity, grow the state’s economy, expand the state’s workforce, and invest in the health and safety of the people of the state of Kansas.

“Fully funding K-12. Closing the Bank of KDOT. Balancing our budget. This is what the people of Kansas elected me to do,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “This budget not only restores state funding for critical services, it cuts the state sales tax on food. I encourage the Legislature to waste no time and send me a clean bill to Axe the Food Tax.”

The Governor’s budget fully funds K-12 for a fifth straight year and makes historic investments in workforce training and higher education to ensure that Kansans are ready to enter the workforce. By expanding Medicaid, the state of Kansas not only nets millions of dollars of enhanced federal matching funds, it allows more people to remain in the workforce and boosts local economies.

Recognizing that some revenues may be one-time only, the budget makes several one-time investments to reduce debt and increase structural balance, including paying off KPERS and other debts accrued under previous administrations, providing Kansas taxpayers with a $250 rebate, and making one-time investments and capital improvements in the state’s public safety, corrections, and juvenile justice systems.

Other highlights of this budget include:

• Responsibly cutting taxes for every Kansan: Unlike proposals that have focused the greatest benefit of tax reform on a small number of Kansans, cutting the state sales tax on food and providing a rebate for every Kansas taxpayer will ensure tax relief goes to the hardworking Kansans that power our state’s economy.
• Recognizing the service of law enforcement and other state employees: This budget calls for a minimum 5% pay increase for all state employees and includes funding to help recruit and retain State Highway Patrol officers, nurses, corrections officers, public defenders, Community Corrections, home and community-based service providers, child protection specialists, and others. It also includes funding to enhance pensions and new protective equipment and facility improvements for those working in secure facilities.
• Sustaining the state’s record-breaking economic growth: Kansas has continued record-breaking economic growth for a second straight year—bringing the two-year total of economic investment to over $7.6 billion. This budget builds on the Governor’s previous efforts to restore the Department of Commerce by fully returning the Economic Development Initiatives Fund to its intended purpose—economic development. In addition to efforts to enhance the state’s workforce through training and apprenticeships, the budget intends to capitalize on broadband development, encourage small business innovation, and develop and renovate new moderate-income housing.
• Achieving and maintaining school funding: This budget includes adequate school funding to meet the requirements of the Gannon settlement for a fifth straight year, ensuring that as students, parents, and teachers continue to learn and overcome the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, schools have resources to help keep our kids on track to graduate, earn postsecondary degrees and certificates, and ultimately join the workforce.
• Fully closing the Bank of KDOT: This budget not only fulfills the Governor’s promise to close the Bank of KDOT, it ends other extraordinary transfers out of the State Highway Fund. These transfers for non-infrastructure programs such as Mental Health Grants and debt service on bonds will now be funded out of SGF, returning needed infrastructure dollars to their original purpose.
• Promoting workforce readiness and competitiveness: funding for postsecondary education has not recovered to pre-Great Recession levels in over a decade. This budget not only restores higher education funding and freezes tuition at four-year institutions, it includes additional funding for need-based aid, Excel in CTE, and National Guard scholarships so that more Kansans can seek the education and training they need to qualify for in-demand jobs. It also provides capital investment funding to ensure that all institutions remain engines of economic growth with new facilities and technology to increase the state’s competitiveness.
• Reducing fees and making payments on-time: Under previous administrations, “one-time” and “temporary” measures were put in place that added to KPERS debt, increased fees for vehicle registration, and delayed the final school payment into the next fiscal year. Coming off the recent repayment of the PMIB loan, this budget ends the DMV surcharge, pays off KPERS debt early, and returns the 12^th school payment to the current year. It also pays bonds early, improving the state’s structural balance and securing Kansas’ finances in the event of future national or international economic challenges.
• Strengthening Access to Mental Healthcare: With the lifting of the moratorium at Osawatomie State Hospital, this budget continues the work of ensuring mental health access closer to home by providing funding for regional crisis services and hospital beds, suicide prevention grants for local agencies, and expanding access to mental health teams in the state’s schools. It also provides new substance use treatment options for those in state hospitals and corrections facilities.
• Promoting healthcare affordability: expanding Medicaid is not only a good deal for the state of Kansas, it helps Kansans remain in the workforce and keeps local health providers in business. Our healthcare providers are essential to keeping local economies strong. This budget also funds enhanced post-partum Medicaid coverage for up to 12 months, improving mental and physical health for mothers and young families.
• Protecting the state and safeguarding our future: After the state experienced significant natural disasters in recent years, this budget provides funding for staff and one-time funding for upgrades of facilities and equipment for our National Guard and state health and environment lab.
• Fully funding the state water plan: for too many years, the state’s radical tax policies led the state to defund efforts to protect one of our most valuable resources: water. This budget fully funds the State Water Plan Fund for the first time since FY 2008—providing irrigation technology and other water-saving resources that will promote the resilience and abundance of our rural communities and ag industry for generations to come.
• Saving for tomorrow: Until this budget, Kansas has been unique among states to have either a small or non-existent budget stabilization fund. This budget ensures that Kansas has a real “Rainy Day Fund” in case national and international events threaten to harm our sustained economic growth.

  View the Governor’s full budget recommendation here.