Week 1: Inauguration Week
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Welcome to my Legislative Newsletter.
The 2019 Legislative Session began Monday January 14
th
with the Inauguration of our 48
th
Governor and the swearing in of other state-wide officials and the House and Senate. As I drove to the Capitol that Monday morning, I thought about the remarkable journey that led me to the honor of serving as our State Representative for District 28.
Now our journey continues. I look forward to serving you, our community of the 28
th
District, by working on solutions that improve the lives of Kansans, while remaining faithful to our core principles that are time-tested and reflect our values. I will be releasing periodic newsletters like this one to continue the conversations we had this spring, summer, and fall when I knocked on doors around the district. Please e-mail me with any questions, and I will do my best to answer in a timely fashion. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this “inaugural edition”.
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Inauguration Day
As is customary, the Inauguration ceremony was on the South Capitol steps. That happens to be the view outside my office (166-W). It was a chilly day, and I was pleased that a constituent guest of mine joined me outside to watch. Our view of the ceremony is pictured here.
We listened to the governor's vision for Kansas, which promises a shift in policy. It will be important for Governor Kelly – who won just 9 of the 105 counties in Kansas - to work with Republicans in the legislature, as she has pledged to do.
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House Swearing In
At 2:00 p.m. on Monday, January 14th, Secretary of State Scott Schwab called the House of Representatives to order. Soon thereafter, Chief Justice Lawton Nuss swore in 125 State Representatives in groups of ten. Joining me from the Gallery as I was sworn in (second from the left in the picture) were my family, including my mom and dad who worked so hard with me driving my minivan as I walked door-to-door, as well as a constituent who walked many of our neighborhoods with me. It is an honor to be our Representative in the House, working for us.
After the swearing in, I attended the inaugural ball, and over the course of the day, visited with many colleagues, on both sides of the aisle. Whether Republican or Democrat, I look forward to working with everyone in a spirit of civility, even when we disagree. I am particularly enjoying getting to know my officemate, Rep. Suzi Carlson, and those who sit on either side of my desk on the House floor, Rep. Barbara Wasinger, and Rep. Tom Phillips.
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Contact me at the Capitol
It is easy to find me, and I encourage you to come visit! Two constituents already visited with me this week. I am located on the first floor in the west wing of the Capitol in Room 166W. The details:
Room: 166-W
Phone: 785 296-7646
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Committees
This week marked our first meetings in committee, which is where the bulk of work done to craft legislation occurs. One of the committee rooms is pictured here. I will be working on the following committees, as appointed by Speaker Ryckman:
- Judiciary
- Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications
- Health and Human Services
- Joint Committee on Special Claims Against the State
The first three committees are my regular committees, and typically meet a couple of times a week. You can view the schedule, times, and location by visiting my legislative portal which you can view by
clicking here
. This week primarily consisted of introductions of committee members and staff. Next week, we will begin holding hearings and presentations. The
www.kslegislature.org
website is also a great place to research the status of legislation as it makes it way through the process and to watch and listen to committee meetings online.
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Governor’s State of the State and Budget
The biggest event in the first week of any legislative session is the State of the State address, and it is particularly noteworthy in years where there is a new governor. On Wednesday, the Governor outlined her priorities for the state (you can view a transcript of the address by
clicking here
), which were further detailed in her budget that was released on Thursday morning.
Highlights of the Governor’s address and budget include:
- Medicaid Expansion. It is a priority of this governor to expand the reach of Medicaid in Kansas. Her budget estimates that it would cost $14.9 million in the first six months, though many have indicated that figure may be too low. There is much debate about the wisdom and pitfalls of expanding it in Kansas, due to a number of concerns. I campaigned on opposing Medicaid expansion because of those pitfalls, and as discussion in the legislature about this topic grows I will be addressing this in future editions of this newsletter.
- School Funding. I also ran on appropriate, robust funding for our public schools. The governor’s budget calls for over $363 million in new spending on K-12 education between FY 2020 and FY 2023. This is over and above the large increases of $800 million adopted in the last two legislative sessions. The Governor’s increases include automatic increases tied to inflation. I expect this issue to be thoroughly discussed, primarily in committee, this session, especially since the Governor asked the legislature to enact her 5-year funding proposal by February 28th in order to satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court.
- KDOT. A frustration often expressed is the fact that the State of Kansas, to balance the budget, frequently has swept State Transportation Funds into the State General Fund. This tactic, often referred to as “robbing the bank of KDOT”, will continue under the Governor’s plan since her budget does not address comprehensive transporation funding.
- KPERS Re-amortization. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the governor’s budget was the plan to re-amortizatize KPERS, which would re-finance the state retirement system. While providing a short-term $164 million pot of money to spend, it would extend our debt for another 15 years and cost the state a whopping $7.2 billion. On Friday, the KPERS Board, as you can see in this article, unanimously rejected that idea on Friday, with one member calling the idea “terrible.” Republican leaders in both chambers reacted with severe skepticism to the re-amortization idea.
- State Employee Pay Raise. The Governor’s budget proposes a 2.5% state employee pay raise at a cost to Kansas taxpayers of $63.0 million from All Funds and $22.0 million from the State General Fund.
- Department of Children and Families. The budget proposed a 14% increase in spending on foster care programs. The Governor’s agenda includes the hiring of 55 additional social workers. This would increase the department’s budget 8.7%, to $727 million.
- No Tax Relief. Despite the Governor’s campaign pledge to reduce the sales tax on food – which is of particular interest in my district since we border another state – there is no proposal to do so in her budget for FY 2020. This was a very popular item in my recently-conducted survey, so I am disappointed it was not included. In addition, she has no intention of doing a minor adjustment to Kansas tax law so we can keep more of our money as was intended under the federal tax cuts of 2017. Instead, the “windfall” would be kept in state coffers to spend.
In total, the Governor’s budget amounts to $18.4 billion, which would be the largest budget in Kansas history. Year-to-year spending would rise $1.2 billion, or 7.2%.
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MORE IMAGES FROM INAUGURATION WEEK
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Kellie with most of her family as they moved into her Capitol office in early January.
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Kellie with one of her constituents, shortly before the swearing-in ceremony.
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Higher Education Day was held at the State Capitol, highlighting many colleges around Kansas. Here are the KU and K-State tables.
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Kellie with several members of her family at her desk on the House floor, shortly before she was sworn into office.
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On the Friday prior to the inauguration, Kellie attended the dedication for the new lactation room at the State Capitol.
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Kellie attended the Governor's Annual Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday, January 17th.
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At Home
Balancing my work at the Statehouse with my work at my Leawood lawfirm, and at home with family, is going well. It was nearly business as usual at home, as I dropped off our 8
th
grader for early morning band rehearsal, our 4
th
grader for early morning choir practice and regular carline dropoff, and drove a basketball carpool, though none as often as I usually do. Of course my husband, my mom, our senior in high school, neighbors and friends, and even the kids, are helping in a big way. Thank you!
Thursday night (see the picture below) we went to Blue Valley HS for the annual (our 5
th
!) Tiger Band Spagetti Concert. This is where the 8
th
grade bands from the two middle schools that feed into BVHS perform with the BVHS band, and learn about the fun of marching band (where our senior has been her entire BVHS career). All the students performed so well! And the band parents put together a great spaghetti dinner!
This year was especially exciting for our family since because our 7
th
grader was playing up with our 8
th
grader in the middle school band, we saw all three of our band kids perform in one concert. This was the second time in about a month that happened. At the December Prairie Star Middle School band concert our 7
th
grader was playing up with our 8
th
grader, and they needed an extra percussionist so our senior filled in at the last minute! Fun to see all three perform together, and I think they enjoyed it, too!
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Coming Next
To give you an idea of how quickly the legislative process moves, the House must pass almost all of its bills in just five weeks in advance of “Turnaround.” That is going to be a lot of work in a short period of time, and I am so excited to work for us on it!
For the full
list of House bills introduced this session so far,
click here
.
So till my next Legislative Update, stay warm, and Go Chiefs!
Kellie
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