Category: Kansas state government
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KPERS report sparks backlash from Wichita SEIU
Recently Kansas University professor Art Hall, along with a co-author, published a study explaining the funding crisis in KPERS, the Kansas Public Employee Retirement system. In summary, the report states: “The key finding of the study is that the KPERS system will not be in actuarial balance over the thirty year amortization period set in…
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Kansas is at the undemocratic extreme in judicial selection
Kansas University law professor Stephen J. Ware has extensively researched and written on the method of judicial selection in the United States. His recent paper The Bar’s Extraordinarily Powerful Role in Selecting the Kansas Supreme Court again lets us know that in Kansas, a select group of lawyers has tremendous control over the nominating process.…
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Kansas court system to be explained
At this Friday’s meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, Judge Eric Yost will present “An Overview of the Kansas Court System.”
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Dale Swenson, tea party critic, a barrel of laughs
Today’s Wichita Eagle contains a story (Tea party organizers: We paid for event) covering the dust-up between a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and tea party organizers. The state representative — Dale Swenson, a Democrat whose district covers parts of southwest Wichita — said of the tea party event: “We need taxes to…
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Kansas judicial selection needs examination, reform
The upcoming retention election for Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier provides an opportunity to examine the judicial selection process in Kansas.
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Lawrence Journal-World headline doesn’t deliver
Yesterday’s edition of the Lawrence Journal-World has the headline ‘Buried treasure’ claims debunked. The headline and article refer to a report issued by the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy and covered in my post Kansas funds have large, unneeded balances. The dictionary says that “debunk” means “to expose the sham or falseness of.” The…
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Clarifications to Kansas unencumbered fund balances report
Last week the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy released a groundbreaking research report detailing the several billion dollars hidden away in Kansas state government funds. My reporting on this, along with links to the study document, is at Kansas funds have large, unneeded balances. There’s been a bit of pushback. Some officials have said…
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Kansas funds have large, unneeded balances
The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy has released research that shows that the state of Kansas has large unencumbered balances, representing excess funds needlessly collected from Kansans in the form of taxes and fees. The numbers are staggering, with over 1,600 state funds holding between $2 billion and $3 billion in excess balances, depending…
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Schodorf introduced bill to reduce notice of some bond sales
Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf, who is considering a run for the United States Congress, doesn’t have much regard for citizens’ right to know of impending sales of municipal bonds.
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Jean Schodorf a candidate for Congress?
I just received a tweet from Jean Schodorf, a Republican member of the Kansas Senate from northwest Wichita: “JeanSchodorf Special announcement regarding 4th Congressional District, 2day from 12-1 @ the Midtown Resource Center. 1150 N. Broadway. Lunch Provided”
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Josh Svaty named Secretary of Agriculture
Today Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson appointed Josh Svaty, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives as acting agriculture secretary. Svaty is a Democrat from Ellsworth.
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Who will watch for Kansas minimum wage victims?
Today, the new Kansas minimum wage law takes effect. It’s likely that as employers are required to pay their workers more, some will lose their job. So now minimum wage supporters have a duty to perform. They need to watch for people who may lose their job and for companies that may close due to…