Articles about the Kansas legislature, both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity has created an information system to help keep Kansans notified when legislators propose to increase taxes.
According to AFP: “AFP’s Kansas Tax Alert will notify you when a state representative or state senator sponsors legislation that will increase taxes. You will be just a few clicks away from letting that legislator know how you feel about the proposal to increase your tax burden.”
To register for the system, click on Kansas tax alerts.
News from alternative media around Kansas for January 25, 2010.
(Kansas Liberty) “Republican Senatorial candidate Scott Brown made history last night when he defeated Democratic candidate Martha Coakley in the election for Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts seat. Kansas Republicans are lining up to proclaim how this victory could signal a change in the tide for the Democratic Party and for the Democrats health care plans.”
(Kansas Liberty) “Last Friday, approximately 400 liberty-minded Kansans flocked to the Statehouse to support a Senate Concurrent Resolution that claims state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The resolution serves notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates, provides that certain federal legislation should be prohibited or repealed, and it directs distribution of the resolution to Congress and the President. … According to legislators and organization members who were present at the rally, the grassroots support for the amendment was substantial, but many of the mainstream media outlets painted a watered down picture of the outpouring of support. Several reports also focused in on the sole opponent who testified during the hearing, an educator at Wichita Collegiate School, which is a private K-12 school.”
(Kansas Liberty) “Roughly a dozen tax-increase advocacy groups have banned together to form the Kansans for Quality Communities Coalition. According to its mission statement the organization’s key goal is to ‘ensure the prosperity of Kansas communities through the responsible investment of taxpayer dollars.’ To achieve this goal the group is heavily lobbying for tax increases, an action already sanctioned by Democratic leaders, including Gov. Mark Parkinson.”
(Kansas Liberty) “Attorney General Steve Six has asked the Kansas Supreme Court to deny the Schools for Fair Funding coalition’s request to reopen the Montoy v. State of Kansas lawsuit. “The Court in 2006 issued its mandate directing the district court to dismiss the case, and on the stipulation of all parties, the district court did so,’ Six said in a statement issued to the Kansas Supreme Court yesterday. ‘This case is over.’ Six referred to the request as ‘unprecedented’ and said that it ‘achieves no efficiencies, and is merely an attempt to circumvent the procedures for initiating new cases.’”
(State of the State KS) “Kansas Senator Chris Steiniger (D) talks about county consolidation and his recent announcement to run for Secretary of State.”
(State of the State KS) “House Assistant Minority Leader Jim Ward (D) and Kansas Senator Carolyn McGinn (R) spoke at an energy panel hosted by City of Wichita’s Dale Goter.” Full video of the conference is at Wichita Energy Conference Legislative Panel .
(Kansas Watchdog) “Propublica, a national independent non-profit investigative journalism organization, on Wednesday reported that two dozen states have unemployment funds in the red, with nine more to be in the red within six months.”
(Kansas Watchdog) “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that businesses and unions may spend freely on political campaigns, but this ruling only affects federal races in Kansas. ‘It won’t affect us at all’ was the response from Carol Williams, the executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. Williams said that 24 states had corporate and union contribution bans but Kansas did not.”
(Kansas Watchdog) “The Wichita Business Journal reported in today’s edition that the Wichita Chamber of Commerce is beginning what will likely be a multi-year effort to repeal the personal and business income taxes in Kansas.”
(Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Furloughs for the Kansas Legislature are off the table until late in the legislative session, at the earliest, state Senate President Stephen Morris said.”
(Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas school children, the state’s elderly and its most fragile citizens simply cannot afford any more state budget cuts, proponents of a proposed one-percent sales tax increase told a Kansas House tax policy committee Thursday.”
(Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – In the fight over school funding, both sides agree that school districts in Kansas are sitting on at least $1.4 billion in cash reserves. The battle over whether that money is available to spend played out during two competing presentations Thursday morning in front of the House Appropriations Committee.”
(Kansas Health Institute News Service) “TOPEKA – The shockwaves emanating from Republican Scott Brown’s U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday are being felt beyond the Bay state and Washington, D.C. They’re registering in state capitals across the country, including Topeka.”
(Kansas Health Institute News Service) “TOPEKA – Senate leaders today said a combination of tax increases and spending cuts would be the best way to balance the state budget. Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said he thought a plan to close sales tax exemptions and increase the tobacco tax could win legislative approval as lawmakers try to close a projected $400 million budget gap. Senate Vice President John Vratil, R-Leawood, said balancing the budget solely with more spending cuts would be ‘catastrophic.’”
Does the application for press credentials to the Kansas Senate contain questions designed to limit or restrict the types of organizations that apply?
A bit of background: In a New York Times op-ed from a year ago (News You Can Endow), the authors tell of the financial troubles of newspapers: “Today, we are dangerously close to having a government without newspapers. American newspapers shoulder the burden of considerable indebtedness with little cash on hand, as their profit margins have diminished or disappeared.” The reaction of newspapers: “News organizations have cut costs, with grave consequences.”
It’s an important issue. As the article states: “If [Thomas] Jefferson was right that a well-informed citizenry is the foundation of our democracy, then newspapers must be saved.” I would argue that it doesn’t matter much if newspapers survive in their present form of physical delivery — as the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund has said, on dead trees.
But newspaper-style journalism must survive. Former editor of the Wichita Eagle W. Davis “Buzz” Merritt wrote a book that chronicles some of the changes in newspapers over the past decades (Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy At Risk). My review of the book contains Merritt’s summary of the properties of newspaper-style journalism that separates it from other forms: “… newspaper journalism is ‘not shaped by a limiting technology,’ such as a television broadcast; it values completeness over immediacy, it is lengthier and deeper than other sources of journalism, its goal is relevance rather than entertainment, and opinion and analysis is presented separately from news.”
Returning to Kansas: Newspapers in Kansas have suffered financially. The Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star have reduced their staff. Morris Publishing, owner of the Topeka Capital-Journal, recently filed for bankruptcy.
Now some organizations have been created and are stepping up to fill the void. These organizations are of the type that the Times op-ed recommends as a way to save newspapers: non-profit organizations.
Specifically, Kansas Watchdog and Kansas Reporter, both started last year, provide coverage of Kansas issues. Both are staffed by experienced journalists, some with reporting backgrounds in Kansas newspapers. Similar efforts are springing up in many states.
They’re both non-profit organizations, and that has created a problem.
Here’s a question on the application for Kansas Senate press credentials: “Please list below the organization’s shareholders, owners or major contributors: (Shareholders, owners or major contributors of 5% or over)”
The problem is that many people who donate to non-profit organizations prefer to remain anonymous. Donors may prefer anonymity for any number of reasons.
Regarding donor-funded journalism, some argue that anonymous donors will require that the news be produced in a way that advances a political agenda. That’s possible, and equally so for news outlets on both the political left and right. It can happen whether donors are anonymous or known. It happens in traditional media, no matter what the structure of ownership.
These issues — primarily how newspaper-style and investigative journalism will survive — are vitally important. It’s likely that the answers will be known only after a period of experimentation where answers are hammered out in public.
But Stephen Morris, who is president of the Kansas Senate, seems determined not to let this happen.
You can read all the questions the Kansas Senate President’s Office asks by clicking on 2010 Kansas Senate Press Credentialing Application.
Access to the Kansas Senate by alternative media is discussed on the KPTS Television public affairs program Kansas Week. Bob Weeks is the guest. Tim Brown is the host.
Other information on this topic is available at Kansas alternative media senate access discussed on WIBW, Kansas alternative media shut out of legislative access, and Kansas alternative media discussed on Kansas Week. The latter story contains video of a previous appearance on the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week regarding this issue.
The application form for Kansas Senate press credentials for 2010 is available at 2010 Kansas Senate Press Credentialing Application.
Do Kansas business tax exemptions benefit only business at great cost to the state? Member of the Kansas House of Representatives Dale Swenson thinks so, according to a recent letter written by him that appeared in the Wichita Eagle.
He cites a Kansas sales tax exemption on the purchase of hearing aids, something Swenson says helps “regular folks.” The way it helps folks — and only those folks with hearing problems, by the way — is by making these purchases less expensive.
But right after this Swenson complains about tax exemptions for business, that, he claims, benefit only business to the detriment of everyone else: “This means average citizens are paying more and more to fund public services, while business pays less and less.”
The problem with this argument is that taxes are a component of costs that business firms face. When costs are lowered, firms can reduce prices to their customers, just as hearing aids are less expensive when not taxed. Big-tax advocates often argue that business just pockets the tax savings as a way to increase profit. But when markets are competitive, that’s not easily done. Savings are passed along to consumers.
The people of Kansas who would like to have a job also benefit from lower taxes on business. The state and local governments like the City of Wichita continually grant targeted tax relief to businesses in order to induce them to locate in Kansas, or to stay here instead of leaving. Whether these targeted incentives work is a separate issue. I and others contend they don’t, and that a better policy is lower tax rates spread over a broad base. But it is evidence of belief that high taxes are bad for business, and low taxes are good for jobs — at least for private sector jobs.
The real problem the legislature faces is that spending in Kansas has risen rapidly in recent years, developing constituencies that are accustomed to or dependent on ever-rising government spending. When revenues fail to keep pace, there’s a big problem.
For good measure, Swenson throws in a few pokes at those who oppose his big-taxing and big-spending agenda: “Now we have self-proclaimed ‘think tanks’ that are well-financed (likely by some of those businesses that benefited from tax cuts and exemptions).”
He also writes: “During the next five months, when you read or hear self-proclaimed independent groups criticizing spending for our schools and programs, take a moment to wonder who would want to make these cuts.”
From these jabs, should we conclude that Swanson believes being well-financed is bad, and that being independent is good? I don’t know, but a quick look at Swenson’s campaign finance reports shows generous contributions from KNEA (the Kansas teachers union), Stuart Elliott (a Wichita labor organizer), Kansas Families for Education PAC (a school spending advocacy group) , Service Employees International Union, Kansas State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Kansas AFL-CIO COPE fund, and Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation.
From this writer’s viewpoint, it looks like Swenson is beholden to two special interests: unions and public school spending advocates.
By the way, the reports also show a contribution from Sedgwick County Republican Women. I wonder if this group would like their money back, since Swenson left the Republican Party and became a Democrat.
Kansas Watchdog reporting at Kansas Senate decides who is press and who is not may have caught the eye of Topeka radio talk show hosts Raubin Pierce and Megan Mosack, as they invited me to appear on their show today to talk about my inability to obtain press credentials at the Kansas Senate.
(By the way, isn’t it great that people in Topeka and northeast Kansas have a radio talk show that covers politics and public policy? We definitely could use something like this in Wichita.)
My appearance is available for listening at the show’s archive page under the heading “Thursday’s Show 2nd Hour”, although I think the easiest way to listen will be to click on this direct link. If all goes well, an audio file will download and start playing in your computer’s media player. After a little banter by hosts Raubin and Megan — they’re on location at a pizzeria in Overbrook, and the pizza sounds delicious — I appear a little more than two minutes into the recording.
The application form for Kansas Senate press credentials for 2010 is available at 2010 Kansas Senate Press Credentialing Application.
Previous reporting by me on this issue is at Kansas alternative media shut out of legislative access and Kansas alternative media discussed on Kansas Week. The latter story contains video of my appearance on the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week.
Kansas Senate Bill 385, introduced by John Vratil, Senate Vice President and Republican from Leawood, would let Kansas school districts increase their local property tax levies beyond what is currently allowed.
This bill would allow school districts to levy additional property taxes — the so-called local option budget (LOB) — in the amount necessary to cover the shortfall between the actual base state aid per pupil and $4,433. Currently, base state aid per pupil is $4,012.
Appearing yesterday on KPTS Television’s Ask Your Legislator, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives spoke about K-12 school funding.
Jim Ward, a Democrat representing southeast Wichita, said school spending advocates are saying “We’re in a worse place that we were before the lawsuit, because now we have less money than we did in 2006.” He also mentioned that inflation means these dollars are worth less today than at that time.
Examining actual figures from the Kansas State Department of Education lets us investigate the reality underlying the claims of school spending advocates.
One of the things that school spending advocates do is to base their claims only on the funds that the State of Kansas provides, when that is just one of three government sources of funds.
Considering state aid only, for the 2005-2006 school year, the figure is $2.658 billion. For the 2009-2010 school year (estimated figures as of December 22, 2009), the figure is $2.858 billion. Per pupil, the figures are $6,006 and $6,292. These are increases.
Ward mentioned inflation, so I applied the consumer price index to these figures.
Considering state aid only, for the 2009-2010 school year (again estimated figures as of December 22, 2009), the inflation-adjusted figure is $2.602 billion. Per pupil, the figure is $5,729. These numbers are a little lower than the 2005-2006 figures.
But let’s not let Ward off the hook so easily. As mentioned, state aid is just part of overall school funding. When we look at all sources of funding, here are the numbers:
Considering all sources of funding, for the 2005-2006 school year, the figure is $4.689 billion. For the 2009-2010 school year (estimated figures as of December 22, 2009), the figure is $5.553 billion. Per pupil, the figures are $10,596 and $12,225. These are increases.
Adjusting for the consumer price index, for the 2009-2010 school year (again estimated figures as of December 22, 2009), the inflation-adjusted figure is $5.056 billion. Per pupil, the figure is $11,131. Both of these numbers are quite a bit higher than the 2005-2006 figures, about 5% for the per-pupil figure. (While that may not seem like much of an increase, remember that’s after adjusting for the effects of inflation.)
Ward mentioned school layoffs and budget cuts, asking “How far do we go? How big of class sizes are acceptable to the people of Kansas? How many public school teachers should we let go?”
This is one of the standard arguments of the school spending advocates: raise the specter of children lost in huge classes. Many people are starting to realize, however, that class size is not as important as other factors such as the personal characteristics of the teacher. This is something that the education bureaucracy is not willing to address.
News from alternative media around Kansas for January 11, 2010.
(Kansas Liberty) Not only do our state’s K through 12 schools resist efforts to become more efficient, so does our state’s flagship university: “Two weeks ago University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little complained in a Lawrence Journal World report that it was costing the university more than 1,000 hours of work to analyze how the school could implement recommendations to increase efficiency at the school.”
(Kansas Liberty) “In an unlikely pairing, Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, and Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, are working to promote a constitutional amendment that would require the state to put dollars into a ‘Rainy Day Fund’ in years when the state is prospering financially. Vratil and Kelly are promoting a Senate Concurrent Resolution that would mandate legislators set aside funds up to 7.5 percent of total of the state general fund during years when the state’s total revenue exceeds the previous year’s revenue by 3 percent or more.” Actually, the pairing may not be so unlikely, as Vratil has one of the senate’s most liberal voting records on fiscal issues.
(Kansas Liberty) “National Public Radio caught widespread attention this week after it posted a cartoon on its web page chiding and degrading the tea party movement. The left-wing promoting cartoon titled “Learn to Speak Tea Bag” is viewable on the news station’s opinion page.”
(State of the State Kansas) Coverage of a meeting of citizens with South-central Kansas legislators.
(Kansas Watchdog) Video coverage of a forum in Johnson County. “On Saturday at the Legislator Tax Forum held in Overland Park by Johnson County Republicans, Chris Stigall from the KCMO 710 Morning Show prodded seven legislators to answer this question: ‘Is there any tax you’d vote to raise this year potentially?’”
(Kansas Watchdog) “Citizens from South Central Kansas gave their legislators plenty of ideas and opinions to take to Topeka for the upcoming 2010 Legislative session. State Representatives and Senators from Wichita and the surrounding area listened as 31 citizens expressed their interests and opinions for nearly two hours Tuesday evening in the jury room of the Sedgwick County Courthouse in Wichita.”
(Kansas Watchdog) “In its first meeting of the New Year the USD259 Wichita School Board voted to support the effort by Schools for Fair Funding (SFFF), ‘to reopen the Montoy litigation and/or initiate new litigation against the State of Kansas …’ The vote was unanimous and will cost the district as much as $250,000, $5 per pupil, for fiscal year 2010.”
(Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas’ projected budget deficit grew again in December, as state revenue collections fell $23 million short of projections. New figures released Wednesday by the Kansas Legislative Research Department show December tax revenues and other state income totaled about $513 million, or about 4.3 percent less than the $536 million that research analysts projected would be taken in.”
(Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas schools representing more than 141,000 students plan next week to formally ask the state Supreme Court to reopen a decade-old lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of educational funding in the state, their attorney said Thursday.”