A week ago marked “Turnaround”, which is essentially “half-time” in the Kansas Legislative session, the point at which most House bills need to be out of the House and most Senate bills need to be out of the Senate. However, much like a basketball game where the second half is often much more intense than the first, the notion that we are halfway through our business is slightly misleading. In truth, much work has yet to be done to fix our state’s budget situation in addition to a need to make significant progress across a number of other issues from protecting life to securing our elections.
To put it bluntly, it’s time to get serious!
It was only four months ago when voters across Kansas sent a clear message to those of us serving you in Topeka - get our house in order. The good news is that the Kansas House has heard the message, passing a fiscally responsible rescission bill for 2011, in addition to several other pieces of legislation including the protection of the unborn, ensuring health care freedom for Kansans, enhancing the security of elections, and strengthening our immigration laws.
On most of these issues, Governor Brownback is also a leader, giving us a clear new path to follow, including on the issue of education, where we are finally beginning to address long-debated issues such as the definition of suitability, the need to reform the funding formula, and other issues related to K-12 spending.
Unfortunately, it currently remains unclear how much the Kansas Senate – which was not up for election in 2010 – has heard or will heed the clear message delivered by Kansans.
In the case of the rescission budget, it sits in a slow-moving conference committee over an issue which I believe is a “strawman argument” – that by passing the governor’s rescission bill, we will somehow be rejecting federal funds for special education, when the facts clearly state otherwise. I am hopeful that a compromise will emerge soon – not only so we can start down the road of reducing spending, but also because we must focus on the FY 2012 budget, which has yet to be debated.
Regarding the FY 2012 budget, I am optimistic that the House again will pass a budget that reflects our need to rein in spending, limit the role of government, and reform the education formula so we can address the structural issues related to education. We must do so if we are ever able to get a full grasp on education spending in Kansas in a way that Is fair to local school districts while demanding accountability and efficiency.
On other issues, I am currently working with my colleagues to ensure Senate votes on the following issues:
- Pro-Life Legislation. There are several important bills enhancing the culture of life in Kansas that are currently in the Judiciary Committee, on which I sit, two of which have previously passed in prior years in both the House and the Senate with nearly two-thirds majority vote, only to be vetoed by Govs. Sebelius and Parkinson.
- Kansas Health Care Freedom Amendment. As I noted in a previous newsletter, this passed the House with an overwhelming margin and deserves a vote in the Senate. You can go to this website to receive more information: www.kansashealthcarefreedom.com about how you can advance this legislation. In addition, there are links to the latest court decision by Judge Vinson.
- SAFE Act, the Voter ID bill. This is Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s bill requiring identification to vote and give proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
- Judicial Selection. The Kansas House passed HB 2101, which brings the Kansas Court of Appeals selection process in line with the federal system.In honor of your liberty,
Of course, there are many others. To keep track of other issues, I encourage you to look at the legislative reports on my website.
Other interesting news we received this week is the first batch of data regarding the 2010 census, which will be the basis for redistricting next year, both at the state and federal level. Included in the data is the fact that the population for the City of Shawnee is 62,209. Shawnee had the second highest percentage rate of growth between 2000 and 2010 among the twenty largest cities in Kansas with a growth rate of 29.6%. Shawnee also had the fourth largest increase in population, with our population growing by 14,213 persons in the last decade. The Census Bureau will continue to release additional information from the 2010 Census throughout the year.
Finally, if you are interested in the demographic information regarding the 10th Senate District, you can also find that on my site by clicking here.
I remain optimistic that we will do good things this session in advancing the causes of life and liberty. I look forward to keeping you up to date on our activities these critical next three weeks. For more immediate updates, please find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/imwithmary, where you can “like” me and follow my ongoing updates from Topeka or contact me at mary@pilchercook.com.
In honor of your liberty,
Mary Pilcher Cook
