Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kansas legislature

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

  • Articles of Interest

    Kansas budget, wind power, alternative fuels gone wild, newspaper bailouts, journalism entrepreneurship

    House pushing big K-12 cuts (Topeka Capital-Journal) “The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a budget-reduction plan that would trim $100 million in state aid to public schools in Kansas. The 3.3 percent reduction for the upcoming 2010 fiscal year would help balance the state budget.” With K-12 schools consuming about half of state general fund spending, it’s surprising that is all they’re asked to sacrifice.

    Wind farm to provide power to Greensburg homes, businesses (Wichita Eagle) A town destroyed by too much wind now seeks to benefit from wind. Actually, it’s milking the government subsidy that will benefit Greensburg: “And NativeEnergy Inc., a leader in climate solution services, will buy about two-thirds of the wind farm’s renewable energy credits over 20 years.” It’s unlikely this would be happening without taxpayer subsidy.

    Brownback backs Open Fuels Standards Act (Kansas Liberty, a subscription service) “Republican Sen. Sam Brownback today endorsed the introduction of legislation that would require 50 percent of new cars to have the capability to operate on gasoline, ethanol and methanol or diesel or biodiesel.” This is more of government trying to plan the future of the automobile industry, this time from someone who is considered a conservative.

    Kerry aims to rescue newspapers (Washington Times) “Troubled by the possible shuttering of his hometown paper, Sen. John Kerry reached out to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, then called for Senate hearings to address the woes of the nation’s print media.” Bailout fever continues to spread. If you think it’s bad for the federal government to run banks and automobile companies, just think how bad things will be when the press is beholden to people like Kerry for its survival.

    True/Slant Tests Another Model Of Web Journalism (Wall Street Journal) “This week, a new Web news site is entering the fray, with a novel approach to journalistic entrepreneurship, new forms of advertising, and an effort to blend journalism and social networking.” This site’s address is trueslant.com. If journalism is to survive — and let us hope it thrives — it will serve America best if it is through private initiative like this, rather than through Sen. John Kerry’s government bailouts.

    Alternative Fuel Folly (Kimberly A. Strassel in the Wall Street Journal) Describes how a paper company may reap a $1 billion annual windfall by simply continuing to do what it already does. It’s an example of how government policies often produce unintended effects.

  • Final Kansas legislative forum Saturday

    The southcentral Kansas legislative delegation will host its final public forum for 2009 on Saturday, April 25. The time is 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The location is the City of Wichita Water Center, 101 E Pawnee at Broadway.

  • Wichita BOE’s Rogers: Kansas taxes are not high enough

    According to Lynn Rogers, president of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, the problem in Kansas is that our taxes are not high enough.

    Last Thursday Kansas House Appropriations chair Kevin Yoder (Republican from Overland Park) and vice-chair Jason Watkins (Republican from northwest Wichita) met with local government officials. The purpose of the meeting was to report on the fiscal situation in Kansas and to seek inputs and suggestions.

    About 40 people attended. No news media was present.

    According to sources in the meeting, Jeff Turner, CEO of Spirit AeroSytems, made a remark about how there may be no reasonable way the state can deal with the budget situation if K-12 school spending cuts are off the table.

    Wichita school board president Rogers took “massive affront” at Turner’s remark. Rogers said that the state cannot cut spending for schools. The problem, he said, is that the state has cut taxes too much already.

    The appetite for tax revenue shown by Rogers is characteristic of the public school lobby in Kansas. Despite the fact that school spending has increased rapidly in Kansas and Wichita, it’s never enough for this group. Even the smallest proposed spending reductions are protested vigorously by the government school lobby. (See Kansas school lobby: not enough spending, not enough taxation for a chart showing Kansas school spending growing faster than inflation.)

    Earlier this year representative Jim Ward said that cutting the $604 million Wichita school budget by $10 million would “have a significant impact on the ability to deliver education.” (See Do Kansas Budget Cuts Pose a Threat to Wichita Education?)

    If it’s true that the ability of Kansas schools to educate the children of Kansas hangs in such delicate balance that even small changes in funding will cause trouble, we have a grave problem.

    The real problem, however, is the voracious appetite for taxpayer funds — greed it is, really — of the government school monopoly and those who feed off it.

  • Kansas Senator Anthony Hensley calls for higher taxes

    Appearing on Sunday’s episode of the KPTS television public affairs program Ask Your Legislator, Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, Democrat from Topeka, called for delaying scheduled Kansas tax cuts.

    According to Hensley, when the legislature cuts taxes, it “erode[s] the base of the treasury.”

    There’s no appetite for tax increases, but the legislature should delay the phase-in of some of the tax cuts that have been passed, he said.

  • Government employees thrive

    We’ve known for some years in Kansas that the number of state government employees has been increasing rapidly, outpacing the growth of the private sector.

    Now the Topeka Capital-Journal reports that these government employees are doing very well, in terms of salary and benefits.

    That newspaper’s recent editorial Earnings gap widens between private, govt. employees reports this:

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public employees across the country earned benefits worth $13.38 an hour in December 2008, compared with benefits worth $7.98 an hour earned by private-sector employees. The overall compensation — wages and benefits — for state and local workers was $39.25 an hour in 2008. That was $11.90 an hour more than wages and benefits earned in the private sector. In 2007, that gap was $11.31 an hour.

    These high and rapidly growing employment costs are a problem for taxpayers, especially in tough budget times. Says the editorial: “We can fault elected officials for continually increasing the load on taxpayers who don’t work for a government entity in favor of those who do … it might be a good time to slow the growth in public sector wages and benefits.”

    The problem with wages and benefits, however, is just a part of the overall problem in Kansas. Capital-Journal news reporting (KPERS problems compound) has reported on the problems with underfunding of the Kansas state employee retirement system. This remains a looming problem.

  • Articles of Interest

    Bailout costs rise, local election turnout, health care, light bulbs, newspapers, Kansas coal prospects

    Estimate of TARP’s Cost to Taxpayers Increases (Wall Street Journal) “The Congressional Budget Office has quietly altered its estimate of the ultimate cost to taxpayers of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, now figuring the initiative will be much more expensive in the long run than it previously figured. In January, the CBO pegged the ultimate cost to taxpayers of the $700 billion TARP at $189 billion. When the agency issued revised numbers in late March, it revised that to $356 billion, a change that drew little attention.” I don’t imagine this will be the last time we see the cost of bailouts rising.

    Expected Turnout For Tuesday’s Election: 12 Percent (Brent Wistrom in the Wichita Eagle) “The six candidates for Wichita City Council have clashed on many fronts. But they agree on one thing. The projected turnout for Tuesday’s election is dismal.”

    That’s ridiculous (Letter to the editor of the Wichita Eagle) A letter-writer makes the case for government provided health care by illustrating a scenario where if a citizen calls for police or fire assistance, they’ll have to make payment arrangements before receiving service. This, of course, is a ridiculous comparison and ignores the context in which these services are provided. Besides, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to look into private provision of police and fire protection.

    Climate Change’s Dim Bulbs (George F. Will in the Washington Post) Will comments on some of the problems with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), as recently noted in a New York Times article The Bulb That Saved the Planet May Be a Little Less Than Billed. He concludes: “Worrywarts wonder what will happen when a lazy or careless, say, 10 percent of 300 million Americans put their worn-out bulbs in the trash. Stop worrying. What do you think? That Congress, architect of the ethanol industry and designer of automobiles, does not think things through?”

    Life After Newspapers (Michael Kinsley in the Washington Post) Kinsley claims that people are getting more news and analysis than ever. It’s just online. If true — I was not aware of this — then there is hope for newspaper companies to survive: “Sorry, but people who have grown up around computers find reading the news on paper just as annoying as you find reading it on a screen. … If your concern is grander — that if we don’t save traditional newspapers we will lose information vital to democracy — you are saying that people should get this information whether or not they want it. That’s an unattractive argument: shoving information down people’s throats in the name of democracy. But this really isn’t a problem. As many have pointed out, more people are spending more time reading news and analysis than ever before. They’re just doing it online.”

    Sebelius holding coal cards (Tim Carpenter in the Topeka Capital-Journal) Analysis of the “coal bill,” which passed the Kansas house, but with fewer votes than it has in the past. House Speaker Mike O’Neal said earlier this year that there would be enough votes in the house to override the governor’s promised veto, but it looks like the vote count is moving in the wrong direction.

  • Articles of Interest

    Wichita real estate development, redistricting, newspapers, free markets

    Wichita developer plans to turn old school into apartments (Bill Wilson in the Wichita Eagle) All that’s missing from this story is the developer’s propensity to seek subsidy, that is, a handout from government. We’ll have to wait to see how that develops.

    Longtime Wichita developer George Ablah may be forced to shut down (Wichita Business Journal, a subscription service) “George Ablah says the economic downturn could force him to soon shut down his commercial real estate business. Ablah, who celebrated his 80th birthday Tuesday, estimates he has purchased and developed $2 billion of property … Now he wonders how much longer Ablah Enterprises can continue, given the current market conditions and a presidential administration that he says is crippling his business.”

    Rethink redistricting in Kansas (Rhonda Holman in the Wichita Eagle) A cure for the problem Holman discusses in this editorial is term limits. But in the past she’s written: “Term limits are a dumb, artificial device that ends up throwing out the good leaders along with the bad and tends to fill governing bodies with novices who are easy prey for lobbyists.”

    Editor’s message about changes at the Monitor (Christian Science Monitor) Today is the last daily printed edition of the Christian Science Monitor, although there will be a weekly print edition. I wonder if this newspaper’s reporters could get press credentials at the Kansas Capitol? I was told that because the Voice For Liberty in Wichita doesn’t print on paper, my application for credentials would not be considered.

    The Miraculous Market (A speech by Leonard E. Read from 1965) “Awakening during the night, I flicked a bedside switch and soon the room was flooded with a piano concerto composed by Johannes Brahms. Perhaps the music itself induced a reflective mood: how explain this wonder of wonders for my enjoyment and with a near imperceptible effort on my part?” (Back in 1965 there were no IPods, CDs, and stereo was a recent invention.) As our country appears to be moving away from free markets to more government control — be it at the federal level, at the Kansas statehouse, or in Wichita city hall — we need be aware of the tremendous innovation that markets inspire in man.

  • How does Kansas fare in freedom, compared to other states?

    The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has just published a fascinating paper that ranks the states in several areas regarding freedom. According to the authors, “This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres.”

    What is the philosophical basis for measuring or determining freedom? Here’s an explanation from the introduction:

    We explicitly ground our conception of freedom on an individual rights framework. In our view, individuals should be allowed to dispose of their lives, liberties, and property as they see fit, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. This understanding of freedom follows from the natural-rights liberal thought of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Robert Nozick, but it is also consistent with the rights-generating rule-utilitarianism of Herbert Spencer and others.

    It’s something that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius wouldn’t understand. At least she doesn’t want to trust us with these freedoms.

    According to the authors, “No current studies exist that measure both economic and personal freedom in the fifty states.” So this is a ground-breaking work.

    How does Kansas do? Surprisingly, not too badly. Not outstanding, but not as bad as I might have thought.

    For the four areas measured, here’s how we did: In fiscal policy, Kansas is 28. In regulatory policy, 4. In economic freedom, 18. In personal freedom, 15. (In all cases, a ranking of 1 means the most freedom.)

    Our overall ranking is 12.

    Some of our neighbors do pretty well in the overall ranking. Colorado is 2, Texas is 5, Missouri is 6, and Oklahoma is 18.

    Nebraska is not as good at 28.

    In case you’re wondering, for overall ranking, New Hampshire is best. The worst? It’s no surprise that it’s New York by a wide margin, with New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland rounding out the bottom five.

    The full study contains discussion of the politics surrounding these rankings, and a narrative discussion of the factors present in each state.

    You may read the entire study by clicking on Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom.

  • South Central Kansas Legislative Meeting a Disappointment

    On Saturday March, 14, a meeting of the south central Kansas legislative delegation was held at the Marcus Center of Wichita State University. This meeting was a disappointment for several reasons.

    First, at its maximum, nine legislators attended. This is a poor rate of attendance. At the meeting in January, about 22 legislators attended. About 40 to 50 citizens attended this meeting.

    Second, after introductions, the meeting started with a highly inappropriate waste of citizens’ time. Rep. Steve Brunk, vice-chair of the south-central Kansas legislative delegation introduced a special presentation, which was a sales presentation for school software. This would have been an appropriate topic for a local board of education, or perhaps a committee at the statehouse, but was totally inappropriate for a legislative forum.

    After a few minutes I turned to the person next to me and asked “why are we sitting through this?” A little while later, several in the audience expressed the same sentiment.

    Chair Melody McCray-Miller explained that this was a presentation that was set up in advance by Rep. Brunk, and explained the need for this type of product, but this did not explain why the audience had to endure this waste of time.

    The audience submitted questions to Chair McRay-Miller in writing. She read the questions, although many of the question-writers had to clarify their questions, so the exercise of taking questions in writing was a waste.

    Here are some things the audience learned:

    Rules of how Kansas many use federal stimulus money are not all available, and may not be until the end of this Month, or even into April.

    A question about “proforma Fridays” put a number of legislators on the defensive, as they explained how they still worked on these days. Proforma sessions, according to the rules of the Kansas House, are for the “sole purposes of processing routine business of the House of Representatives.” Role is not taken, and votes are not conducted.

    Racial profiling was a concern to a number of audience members. Somehow a mandatory seatbelt law, according to one speaker, contributes to racial profiling. Several speakers told how this is a community issue.

    One questioner told of the need for records in child “need of care” courts to be open.

    The bill that might allow residents of Sedgwick county to vote on slot machines is dead.

    On Proposition K. Rep. McRay-Miller said that expensive properties increase in value faster than lower-value properties.

    Regarding the Holcomb coal power plant. Rep. Myers expressed his amazement at the lack of information and the misinformation that is available. Sen. Kelsey said there’s not a lot of give-and-take on this issue, seeming to say that most members are pretty well established in their positions.

    The meeting ended at 11:00.