Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas legislature

Articles about the Kansas legislature, both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

  • Kansas smoking ban opponents meet in Wichita

    A group primarily composed of business owners met in Wichita on Thursday to discuss the recently passed Kansas smoking ban and what might be done to overturn it or mitigate its damage to business.

    Phillip Bradley of Kansas Licensed Beverage Association briefed the group on the current status of the smoking ban and what types of action might be possible in the future.

    Bradley told the group that it’s nearly impossible to get a new bill through the Kansas Legislature at this time. The greatest chance for action is to have an amendment added to a bill that’s already in conference. He mentioned SB 454 as a possibility, adding that it’s being made into a “Christmas tree,” meaning that many interests are attempting to add to the bill.

    There are three issues related to the smoking ban that can gain traction with legislators, Bradley said. The first is that the state exempted state-owned casinos from the smoking ban.

    The second is the “ten foot rule,” which says that smoking is not allowed within ten feet of “any doorway, open window or air intake” of a building, except for those buildings (like state-owned casinos) that are exempt from the smoking ban. This is a problem for downtown areas or malls where businesses may be in close proximity to each other, and to sidewalks and outdoor patios where smoking is permitted.

    The third relates to treating similar classes unequally in the law. Private clubs that were in existence before January 1, 2009 can be exempted from the smoking ban. Private clubs formed after that date, however, are subject to the smoking ban.

    Bradley explained some of the difficulties involved in understanding legislative action. The so-called “gut-and-go,” for example, is where a bill that is passed by one chamber — say the Senate — is stripped of its content by the other chamber, the House of Representatives in this example. The original text of the bill is replaced with new text, which might refer to a totally different topic. The reformulated bill — passed by the House, even though it now refers to a totally new and possibly entirely different subject — goes back to the Senate as having already been passed by that body.

    Representative Brenda Landwehr, a Republican who represents parts of northwest Wichita and who is chair of the House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee, addressed the group and offered advice as to how to influence legislators. She recommended personal telephone calls to legislators explaining how the smoking ban will impact their businesses. If legislators say studies show that smoking bans have no impact on business, she suggested callers ask legislators why the state exempted its state-owned casinos from the smoking ban. “People don’t understand the amount of money that bars bring to this state,” she added.

    Landwehr said that the state-owned casinos, being exempt from the smoking ban, are competition to already-existing bars near the casinos, both existing and those that may open in the future.

    She advised the group that legislators generally respond first to people who live in the district they represent.

    Ali Issa, owner of Heat Cigar and Hookah Lounge in Wichita, where the meeting took place, urged the group to take action. Expressing the concern that the smoking ban is harmful to business, he said “Our goal is to stay in business.” He urged the group to make calls to legislators and spread the message through social media like Facebook.

    A question asked by some business owners asked about the possibility of gathering signatures on petitions. As Kansas has no initiative and referendum process, it’s not possible to force votes on state laws through this process. Petitions, however, can powerfully express the sentiment of the public.

    It was mentioned that under a conservative Kansas governor — presumably Sam Brownback — the smoking ban might not survive. But Sheila Martin, a Hutchinson business owner and activist in the smoking ban issue, said that many people will be out of business by the time Brownback becomes governor in January 2011.

    The group plans to hold a public meeting soon to bring attention to this issue.

    A website has been established to support the efforts of business owners. It may be accessed at Kansas Right to Choose.

    Other coverage of this meeting is at Business group will fight state’s smoking ban.

  • Kansas governor speaks on spending, taxes

    In a press conference this afternoon, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson said there are no more spending cuts possible, and that taxes must be raised.

    Parkinson said the Kansas economy has made progress, but there are still significant challenges. He said that in February the unemployment rate went down, and that has been noticed in the declining number unemployment benefits applications.

    He said that March revenues may exceed estimates.

    Concerning the first part of the legislative session, Parkinson said that the consensus is that state programs can’t be cut any farther. He said that after one billion dollars in cuts, there are no more possible cuts. “There just isn’t any other area that we can cut.” Some conservative legislators have confided to him that they agree, he said.

    He said the “Yoder budget,” which he said calls for cutting school spending while at the same time leading to potential property tax increases, has gone nowhere. He said he believes this budget doesn’t have enough votes to proceed.

    The solution is not painful, Parkinson said. He said we should raise the tobacco tax to the national average and pass the temporary one cent sales tax. He repeated the assertion, as he has in the past, that the people of Wichita didn’t notice the start or the end of the one cent sales tax used to build the Intrust Bank Arena.

    The tax would go away, he said, except for a small part used to fund a highway plan.

    Other reporting is at Parkinson, Senate leaders predict mix of tax increases to solve budget crisis and Gov renews call for tax increases. State of the State KS provides video at Governor Calls House Budget Reckless and Says Legislators See Need For Taxes.

  • Kansas House candidate to address Pachyderms

    On Friday April 2 at the Wichita Pachyderm Club, Eric Payne will address members and guests. Payne is a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for the Kansas House of Representatives for the 87th district. This district in east and southeast Wichita is currently represented by Raj Goyle. Joseph Scapa, another candidate for this position, will speak to the same group on April 30.

    All are welcome to attend Pachyderm club meetings. The program costs $10, which includes a delicious buffet lunch including salad, soup, two main dishes, and ice tea and coffee. The meeting starts at noon, although it’s recommended to arrive fifteen minutes early to get your lunch before the program starts.

    The Wichita Petroleum Club is on the ninth floor of the Bank of America Building at 100 N. Broadway (north side of Douglas between Topeka and Broadway) in Wichita, Kansas (click for a map and directions). Park in the garage just across Broadway and use the sky walk to enter the Bank of America building. Bring your parking garage ticket to be stamped and your parking fee will be only $1.00. There is usually some metered and free street parking nearby.

  • Amtrak, taxpayer burden, should not be expanded in Kansas

    Recently the Kansas legislature and governor decided to authorize the Kansas Secretary of Transportation to establish and implement a passenger rail service program in the state. This service would most likely be implemented through Amtrak, the federal passenger rail authority.

    This service, true to the nature of Amtrak, would require subsidy from taxpayers in order to survive. Most of the arguments of rail supporters boil down to “other things get subsidy, so we want ours too.” The proper response to this is to advocate for ending all subsidy to all forms of transportation. In this way, we can fully learn which forms of transport are truly valued, and by what relative margin. Then private sector investment can be channeled to where people — not politicians, government bureaucrats, and rail enthusiasts — value it most.

    Rail supporters — we should be accurate and call them taxpayer-funded rail supporters — argue that the total dollar volume of taxpayer funds redirected to support Amtrak is small. That, however, ignores the context of the passenger mile. In this context, government funding of rail travel is truly alarming.

    In 2008, a Cato Institute report stated “In 2006, subsidies to Amtrak totaled just over $1 billion, or about 22 cents per passenger mile.” The subsidy to highways was about one-half cent per mile.

    Subsidyscope, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, has a recent study about the taxpayer subsidy flowing into Amtrak. For the Heartland Flyer route, which runs from Fort Worth to Oklahoma, and is proposed by taxpayer-funded rail supporters to extend into Kansas through Wichita and Kansas City, we find these statistics about the finances of this operation:

    Amtrak reports a profit/loss per passenger mile on this route of $-.02, meaning that each passenger, per mile traveled, resulted in a loss of two cents. Taxpayers pay for that.

    But this number, as bad as it is, is totally misleading. Subsidyscope calculated a different number. This number, unlike the numbers Amrak publishes, includes depreciation, ancillary businesses and overhead costs — the types of costs that private sector businesses bear and report. When these costs are included, the Heartland Flyer route results in a loss of 13 cents per passenger mile, or a loss of $26.76 per passenger for the trip from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City.

    This isn’t the type of business we should import into Kansas for economic development purposes. Hopefully Kansans will realize the tremendous burden to taxpayers that is Amtrak.

  • AFP to present Kansas budget update

    On Wednesday March 31, Susan Estes of Americans for Prosperity-Kansas will present on the topic “An update on the budget shortfall in Kansas, how we got there through excessive spending, and how our state’s tax burden compares with neighboring states.”

    This presentation will be from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Wichita Central Public Library in downtown Wichita, in the private meeting room on the top floor.

    For more information or to RSVP, contact John Todd, Wichita AFP volunteer coordinator at john@johntodd.net or 316-312-7335, or Susan Estes, AFP Field Director at sestes@afphq.org or 316-681-4415.

  • Kansas makes unwise bet on passenger rail

    Last week Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson signed into law HB 2552, which enacts the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact. This act will promote improvements to passenger rail service and the development of plans for long-range high speed rail service in the Midwest, according to the governor’s press release.

    “Passenger rail service in Kansas would create economic opportunities for the future, but the planning must begin now,” said Parkinson in a press release. “A strong public infrastructure system helps attract businesses and jobs to our state, and a high speed rail service is another piece in furthering our economic recovery. I am pleased to sign these two bills that will set the gears in motion for increased avenues of transportation in Kansas and the entire Midwest.”

    The governor also signed SB 409, which authorizes the Kansas Secretary of Transportation to establish and implement a passenger rail service program in the state.

    In Kansas, the Northern Flyer Alliance has promoted this legislation as a way to return passenger rail service to Kansas, specifically from Kansas City through Wichita to Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. It’s a bad idea. Any expansion of Amtrak, which is how this service would be implemented, is bad public policy.

    Consider some of the recent history of Amtrak. In 2001, the Cato Institute Policy Analysis Help Passenger Rail by Privatizing Amtrak contained this in its summary:

    Amtrak has failed to secure an increasing portion of America’s growing transportation market. It carries only about three-tenths of 1 percent of all intercity passengers. Its on-time performance on most routes is terrible, and it covers up this fact by measuring punctuality at a limited number of stops and building in lots of extra time before those stops.

    Many of Amtrak’s trains run much more slowly today than did trains on the same routes earlier this century. Moreover, Amtrak uses creative accounting to disguise its financial problems. For example, Amtrak receives many subsidies from government agencies and has recently abandoned standard accounting practices to hide operating expenses as capital costs.

    In the recent Cato Institute briefing paper High-Speed Rail Is Not “Interstate 2.0”, author Randal O’Toole provided this summary:

    The administration has likened President Obama’s high-speed rail plan to President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System. Yet there are crucial differences between interstate highways and high-speed rail.

    First, before Congress approved the Interstate Highway System, it had a good idea how much it would cost. In contrast, Congress approved $8 billion for high-speed rail without knowing the total cost, which is likely to be at least $90 billion.

    Second, highway users paid for interstate highways, whereas high-speed rail will be almost entirely subsidized by general taxpayers who will rarely use it.

    Third, interstate highways connect all 48 contiguous states and major metropolitan areas. The FRA’s high-speed rail plan consists of six unconnected networks that reach only 33 states and less than two-thirds of the nation’s 100 largest urban areas.

    Fourth, the average American traveled 4,000 miles on interstates in 2007. High-speed rail proponents optimistically estimate that the average American would ride the FRA’s high-speed rail system less than 60 miles per year.

    Finally, interstate highways improved social welfare by increasing highway safety. In contrast, far from saving energy and reducing pollution, high-speed rail would actually increase energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

    For all these reasons, the United States government should not fund high-speed rail. The $8 billion in high-speed rail stimulus funds should be invested in safety improvements, not in new trains and new routes that will add to future taxpayer obligations.

    Amtrak also has problems with transparency and accountability, and has troubles complying with provisions of the federal Inspector General Act. A recent investigation concluded: “… contrary to the requirements of the IG Act, the OIG’s independence at Amtrak has been diminished and threatened by recent policies and practices at Amtrak affecting OIG investigations and giving the appearance that OIG is subordinate to the Law Department. The involvement by the Law Department in OIG investigations both impermissibly and unnecessarily restricts the OIG’s access to document and information …”

    Amtrak is a federal agency that should be disbanded immediately, not expanded.

    In testimony before the Kansas House Transportation Committee on March 3, advocates for the Northern Flyer project gave several reasons for supporting it. One reason is that other states are getting federal money for similar projects, and Kansas residents are “donating to what other states will receive.” The point was made that fares will offset some of the operating expenses, but that this rail services will not be profitable. Rail should not be expected to operate without subsidy, proponents said. Many other forms of transportation are subsidized, too, and the amount of money spent on rail subsidy is small.

    But when compared to other forms of transportation, rail is subsidized at a much higher rate. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2002, highway use was subsidized at the rate of negative $1.00 per thousand passenger miles. “Negative numbers show user charge payments to the federal government in excess of cost responsibility,” explains the report, meaning that highway drivers are subsidizing other forms of transportation.

    Commercial aviation was subsidized at the rate of $6.18 per thousand passenger miles, with general aviation racking up subsidy at the rate of $91.42 (2001 figures.)

    Railroad received $210.31 per thousand passenger miles. It’s a very expensive way to travel.

  • Kansas news digest

    News from alternative media around Kansas for March 29, 2010.

    Passenger Trains Are One Step Closer To Rolling Into Kansas

    (State of the State KS) “Governor Parkinson (D) signed two bills Wednesday that pave the way for passenger rail in Kansas.”

    Governor Mark Parkinson on the Economy, the Budget and Kansas Health

    (State of the State KS) “Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson (D) addresses budget shortfalls, key Capitol legislative issues and the need for bipartisan work in Kansas and Washington.”

    Chamber vs. Chamber: The Battle of Economic Theories

    (State of the State KS) “The growing divide between the Chambers of Commerce reflect the battle of economic theories facing off at the Capital.”

    President Obama Signs Health Care Reform Prompting Some To Block The Law Locally

    (State of the State KS) “President Obama signed historic health care reform into law Tuesday prompting some Kansas Republicans to try to block pieces of the legislation.”

    Rep. Moore’s wife interested in Third District race

    (Kansas Liberty) “Moore afraid of threats but doesn’t fear for his wife.”

    Health care freedom amendment fails in House

    (Kansas Liberty) “The Kansas Health Care Freedom Amendment failed to pass out of the Kansas House today after the measure gained a vote of 75-47, which was nine votes short of what was needed for the legislation to be adopted.”

    Kansas GOP playing defense against ObamaCare

    (Kansas Liberty) “Kansas legislators from the local and the national level have already waged a full attack against the health-care reform bill President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday. Kansas lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have started to promote bills that would repeal the health-care plan, and proposed initiatives to ensure that the health-care overhaul does not receive federal funding. Several congressional candidates have taken a different approach by asking Kansas Attorney General Steve Six to join the list of attorneys general who are legally questioning the constitutionality of the health-care bill.”

    Senate stands against EPA ruling

    (Kansas Liberty) “The Kansas Senate passed a resolution today 34-3 which sends a message to the federal government criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that greenhouse gasses are harmful to the public’s health.”

    Groups claiming to represent the interest of business ask for tax hike

    (Kansas Liberty) “Representative says residents who benefit from taxpayer dollars have ‘infiltrated’ local chambers of commerce, resulting in the pro-tax message.”

    Much undone as Legislature heads for first adjournment

    (Kansas Health Institute News Service) “TOPEKA – The Legislature will take first adjournment sometime this week with budget and tax work far from complete and a statewide smoking ban still one of the few far-reaching accomplishments of the session.”

    “I’ve been defamed,” Kansas Speaker O’Neal tells panel

    (Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, told an investigating panel Tuesday that he’s been defamed by House Democrats who earlier this month filed an ethics complaint against him.”

    Kansas teacher policies fall short

    (Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas teacher policy standards did not make the grade in 2009 according to a new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality. The state policies received an overall grade of D-minus. The report examined areas in which state policy affects the delivery of well prepared teachers by schools in the state; expansion of the teacher pool; identifying effective teachers; retaining effective teachers; and exiting ineffective teachers.”

    My View: Kansas should pass shield law

    (Kansas Watchdog) “Trust, confidence, protection, faith — these are the words that describe the relationship between doctors and patients, lawyers and clients, and reporters and sources. However, only two of those three relationships are provided legal protection from sharing the secrets passed between parties. In several states, reporters have absolutely no protection when it comes to revealing their sources on a given story.”

    Obama’s second cousin, a doctor from Kansas, pushes for Kansas Health Care Freedom

    (Kansas Watchdog) “On his web site Barack Obama’s second cousin, Dr. Milton R. Wolf, Leawood, is pushing for passage of the Kansas Health Care Freedom Amendment.”

  • Kansas legislature special session possible

    Yesterday’s edition of the KPTS television public affairs program Ask Your Legislator featured talk on taxes and speculation that a special session of the Kansas Legislature might be needed this summer.

    Senator John Vratil, a Republican from Leawood and vice-president of the Senate, said that the way to solve the budget problem is through a combination of cuts and tax increases. He said its unlikely that there will be increases in income taxes and property taxes.

    Vratil has been in favor of a variety of tax increases, including raising the sales tax and starting a tax on soda pop.

    Representative Marti Crow, a Leavenworth Democrat said she’s heard rumors that House leadership is talking about “going home” without a budget. She said it’s been a “do nothing” year in the house, and that it’s irresponsible for the legislature to not be doing its job.

    Vratil said that the Senate leadership has taken the position that the budget should be handled until after the consensus revenue estimates become available on April 16. This is different from the usual practice, where the legislature creates on budget by the end of March, and then revises it after the April estimates are available.

    He said it is possible that there could be a special session of the legislature in July to deal with the budget.

    Both Vratil and Crow said that there will probably be future efforts to extend the recently-passed smoking ban in Kansas to include casino floors. They also added that their constituents are in favor of tax increaes.

    Reporting from the Lawrence Journal-World is at Senate vice president says special session on budget possible.

  • New Kansas Economic Freedom Index

    A new Kansas Economic Freedom Index has been issued for both the Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate, based on new votes being recorded. See Kansas Economic Freedom Index.