Weeks 5, 6, and 7

Continuing civics lesson…

Last week was “turn-around,” the deadline for bills coming out of committees.  Until now, the committees have been introducing bills, getting them drafted, having hearings on the bills, working the bills, and then passing them out of committee.  All remaining bills had to complete this process and be voted on by the entire House last week or be declared dead.  After this deadline, bills may only be advanced through a few “exempt” committees. 

The remainder of the session will be spent on bills sent to the House after being passed by the Senate and the bills coming from the exempt committees.

The bills passed by the Senate will be assigned to House committees. The House committee chairman will decide which bills to advance.  Those bills will have hearings and be worked in committee. If passed out of committee favorably, they will go to the House where the Majority Leader will decide which ones will advance for vote.

As you can see, that simple flow chart that we all learned in civics class gets a lot more complicated in practice!

“Turn-around” means a rush of bills are handled in a short amount of time.  We had bills dealing with:
*licensure ( cosmetology 2721; home inspectors 2315; athletic trainers 2695; real estate        appraisers 2772; plumbers, electricians, and HVAC 2847; insurance agents 2675),
*license plates (Gold Star Mothers 2691, “In God We Trust” 2704),
*naming highways (Patriot Guard 2708, Atomic Veterans 2659),
*crime (sentencing 2732, theft of property 2845, conditional release 2780)                          *environment (energy efficiency 2632, capping old oil wells 2735, registering ag                     chemicals 2860, cleaning up ag chemical spills SB 447, motorboat noise 2657),
*agriculture (grain commodities 2897, groundwater intensive use control areas 2625),
*communications (broadband 2634, emergency communication 2805),
*safety (at the Capitol 2905, stalking 2850, cyberbullying 2758, sexual assault 2727 and       2726; school safety 2816),
*health (Board of Healing Arts 2620 and 2188; dentistry 2702 and 2781, county hospitals       2757; adoptions 2570; emergency powers for pharmacy board 2207; processing dead
bodies 2768),
*insurance (market conduct studies 2686, mutual aid arrangements 2783, vehicle                   protection products 2725), 
*boards/councils (state fair 2804, homes association 2826, appointments by mayors                 2648; tax appeals 2018;), and 
*other (agency audit 2802, veterans services 2923, guardians 2644; railroad leases               2824; age discrimination 2771; funds from water litigation SB 89).

If you want to know more about any of these bills, simply go to www.kslegislature.org and type in the bill number.  You will probably want to read the supplemental or fiscal note for a brief description of the bill before trying to read the bill itself, which can be overwhelmingly detailed.

Carrying my first bill…

All freshmen legislators are given a bill to carry.  I “carried” my first bill last week.
The bill, HB 2695, which deals with training and licensure of athletic trainers, was passed out favorably from the Health and Human Services Committee on which I serve.  The Majority Leader selected the bill to be acted on in the House. 

First, I presented the bill to Republican Representatives in our 8am gathering known as “calendar.”  This meeting gives Republican legislators a chance to informally discuss each bill---ask questions, learn about any amendments that will be offered, and address any concerns others may have. 

Then during session, I went “down to the well” (legislativeze for going to the podium and speaking to the House members) and explained the bill.  My knees were shaking!  Any legislator can then ask questions or offer amendments to the bill by pushing the “speak to the bill” button.   Of course, I was hoping for no questions and certainly no amendments. 

After my presentation, the chair instructed me to look at the board saying “Representative Quigley, you must have left out something significant…we seem to have a few questions.”  I looked at the board which was lit up with most members indicating they wanted to speak to the bill!  There was a lot of laughter at my embarrassment.  Apparently this is another bit of tradition…lighting up the board on a freshman legislator’s first bill!  My bill passed the next day with a vote of 121 to 1.

At the Rail… and beyond

I continue to meet with people interested in alerting me to and educating me on specific issues, some from my district and some not.  Over the past few weeks, I have meet with:

Emily, a social worker advocating for the Kansas Mental Health Coalition,
Rebecca Marks, a constituent, who discussed the Utilization of Unused Medications Act,
Sarah Todd, Sarah Parton, Janel Martindate, and Elizabeth Rix, SMW students                         representing the pre-collegiate Teacher Education Program at SMW,
Doris Housh, my church’s secretary, and other United Methodist women attending the                annual Legislative Day,
Carlton McNair, Jo. Co. Commission on Aging, gave me information on various issue facing the elderly,
Donna Lauffer, County Librarian for Johnson County, and Ellen Miller at the legislative day for Kansas Libraries,
Kent Fulton, Christian Science Committee on Publication for Kansas regarding accommodations for religious practices,
Thomas Witt of the Kansas Equality Coalition who discussed gender rights.
Sister Theresa Bangert, Kansas Catholic Conference, who spoke to me about immigration           issues,
Mary Blubaugh from the State Board of  Nursing who discussed fee increases.
Engineers from Burns and McDonald involved in studying CO2 capture by algae who             discussed the building of the coal-fired power plants in Holcomb.

Meetings and Events…

Bioscience Caucus
Every other Thursday, I attend a Bioscience & Information Technology Caucus luncheon.  The BioScience Authority was established by the 2004 legislature to facilitate the development of BioScience in Kansas.  There are four arms of this effort: 
    *the BioScience Authority, the funding arm; Tom Thornton, President & CEO
    *KansasBio, the industry arm; Angela Kreps, President
    *the Department of Commerce, the workforce arm, and
    * K-Tec, the angel/early funding arm; Tracy Taylor, President & CEO.
Several innovative companies have committed to Kansas through this initiative:  IdentiGen, offering DNA-based solutions in the agri-food industry; Edenspace, developing biofuels from sorghum, corn, and switchgrass, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition producing a nutrigenomic dog food that stops degeneration of cartilage. To learn more about these companies or the work of the BioScience Authority, go to their website, www.kansasbioauthority.org.

Pages
Four Shawnee Mission West  sophomores were pages at the Capitol on February 13.  They were David Blank, Nicholes Clow, Tim Wilkinson, and Andrew Sandt.  They were there on a busy day where we voted on seven bills.  We lunched with the Johnson County Delegation while hearing information from the Jo. Co. Commissioners and the University of Kansas Hospital.  Marci Blank, David’s mother, shadowed me for the morning.

Jellybean Conspiracy
I attended this theatrical production written by Howard Martin, a UMKC professor, about living with a disability from the perspective of the one with the disability and also from the view of a parent, siblings, and friends.  I joined Lurena Mead and Maury Thompson from Johnson County Developmental Support, other legislators, clients and service providers from across Kansas.

Kansas Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner
The Kansas Chamber of Commerce's Annual Dinner was hosted by Senator Pat Roberts and featured political commentary and humor from George Will.  I was the guest of Lenexa mayor, Mike Boehm, and Commerce Bank.

Issues…

I have heard from many of you about issues of interest to you. 
Home inspector registration
This bill, HB 2315 was passed by the House two weeks ago.  It requires anyone calling him/herself a “home inspector” to register with one of three national organizations, to pass a test, and to carry liability and errors & omissions insurance.  It also establishes a board of 3 home inspectors, one realtor, and one community person.  I voted for this bill; I believe that it offers protection for home buyers without undue regulation of inspectors.  Many home inspectors were concerned about the board composition, the cost to inspectors, and questioned the need for any kind of regulation of their profession.  Most of those concerns were addressed by changes in the bill.

Holcomb
As you probably saw in the papers, both the House and the Senate passed legislation in favor of building the coal plants.  The Senate bill (S Sub for HB2066) is veto proof but the House vote was 7 short of being able to overturn the expected veto of the bill by the Governor.  Both bills are now in conference committee.

The original House bill was hurried and a jumble of green measures of uncertain effectiveness.  The revised House bill was stripped of many green measures retaining:
    *net metering for small solar units only,
    *requirements for 5% renewables by 2010 and 10% by 2020,
    *a requirement that only those facilities built after 1/1/08 must use carbon
     capture
    *energy efficiency requirements for state buildings, equipment, and vehicles,
    *reduction of mercury emissions by 80%
    *tax incentives for energy efficiency in rental property,
    *limitation of KDHE Secretary Bremby’s ability to enforce standards more
      stringent than the Clean Air Act, and
    *legalization of the building of the two coal plants.
The Senate bill was even more lean.

I voted against H Sub for SB327 (against the building of the coal-fired plants).  Western Kansas will need additional baseline power and coal may be needed.  I am sympathetic to the economic needs of the area.  The deal is definitely a boon for Sunflower Electric---$98M initially and $25M yearly for 10 years.  However, Kansas needs a forward-looking comprehensive plan for energy that is strong on energy efficiency and alternative fuels.  Perhaps the conference committee will produce a version that includes such measures.  The majority of my mail has been from those concerned about the impact of the coal plants on the environment and urging me to vote against building of the plants, but I have also heard from proponents.  The debate continues with the possibility of a bill from the conference committee next week.

Immigration
There are several immigration measures before the legislature (SB 458, HB 2836, HB 2921, HB 2774 and HR 6009).  There were hearings on these bills last week with so many people wanting to testify that each could speak for only 2-3 minutes.  Legislators were offered a special presentation on e-verify, a national system for verifying immigration status advocated in some legislation.  Labor is worried about the impact on construction, farming, meatpacking, cattle and pig feed lots, and dairies; with current unemployment rates of 3-4%, these industries would face real workforce shortages.  Businesses are concerned about being penalized despite due diligence.  Strict enforcement of these laws would require additional law enforcement officers with special training, change the relationship between immigrant communities and police officers, and decrease the amount of time devoted to usual community safety and enforcement.  Many groups are concerned for the welfare of all immigrants if punitive legislation is passed. This issue requires action on the federal level; we need to proceed very thoughtfully, if at all, on the state level.

Education
Several bills, passed out of the Education Committee, were voted on in the House this week. 

In an effort to encourage consolidation of “small by choice” school districts, two bills were offered for vote.  One, HB 2760 was considered a stick because it took money from those school districts with fewer than 200 students and less than 200 sq. miles in physical size.  This measure failed.  The second bill, HB 2734, was considered a carrot because it allowed those same school districts who consolidate now to keep their higher funding for several years with a gradual reduction.  This bill passed.  Again, these bills affect only those districts that are “small by choice”---those who are located near other school districts but choose to remain small and receive higher per student money because they are so small.  I voted for each of these bills.

In an effort to address the math and science teacher shortage, HB 2870 was passed out of the Education Committee and voted on this week.  It had two major provisions, the $1000 reimbursement of district that give salary increases or bonuses of at least 5% to math and science teachers and a mentoring program.  I received calls and e-mails from teachers unhappy with this incentive who felt it would be divisive and interfere with their ability to negotiate with administration.  I voted against this bill and it failed.  There is a program “I Kan Teach” being considered which may address this problem in a better way.

HB 2605 attempted to change the school finance formula related to high- density at-risk weighting.  Originally this weighting was designed to give additional money to those districts dealing with urban poverty.  Over the years this weighting has grown to include more than 20 districts.  This bill would have used a linear model rather than a stair-stepped model to avoid drastic changes in funding with the loss of a few students.  This bill failed.

Campaign Finance
Four bills dealing with campaign finance were passed during turn-around.   These bills were all requested by the Governmental Ethics Commission.

SB 196 requires the reporting of last minute campaign contributions of $300 or more in a timely manner.  Designed to allow candidates and the public to know who makes expenditures just before an election, this bill passed 116 to 6.
HB 2408 requires a political action committee or a party committee to report the name of the candidate that they make expenditures on behalf of.  Providing the public with a better understanding of the money being spent to support or oppose candidates, this bill passed 121 to 1.
HB 2308 clarifies when a candidate can use campaign contributions for paying membership dues and making donations.  It passed 122 to 0.
HB 2697 adds an additional reporting requirement for any individual giving more than $150 to a campaign.  The industry in which the individual works must now be reported as well as the contributor”s name and occupation.

The Session Half Full…

Wow, these last two weeks have been a flurry of activity as deadlines approached.  My routine of reading each bill, attending calendar to hear discussion of the bill, and then talking with those on the related committee if I had further questions was severely tested!  Understanding each issue from both/all sides before voting is a challenging job. 

I am breathing a sigh and looking back at the bills and the process.  I truly appreciate those of you who took the time to send me a note about specific legislation.  Your perspective offers me additional insight into the issue…that broadened perspective is always helpful.  I am also grateful for the many knowledgeable legislators who are willing resources for me.  And what would I do without my computer and the Internet!

I am now about halfway through my first session.  This process is both amazing and frustrating.  Amazing in terms of bringing divergent views and expertise together to hammer out solutions to problems.  I have seen problems brought forth by individuals and groups, heard opposing testimony on the problem and the solution, seen experienced legislators ask probing questions and make enlightening comments, and watched as solutions are found, agreed upon, and legislated.  Amazing!  I have also seen people entrenched in the problem and their solution, unwilling to work, compromise or even seek a solution.  Frustrating! 

I look forward to the next six weeks of working with and for you.  Please contact me if I can answer questions or help you in any way. 

Jill Quigley
Representative 17th District
300 SW 10th Avenue
L26/27 Docking
Topeka, KS  66612
785-296-7680
jill@jillquigley.com