TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The chairmen of the Kansas Legislature’s pensions committees say a proposal to issue $1 billion or more in bonds doesn’t represent the state backing off commitments to properly fund public pensions in the long-term.
Republican Sen. Jeff King of Independence and GOP Rep. Steve Johnson of Assaria said Monday that the state has an opportunity to improve the short-term financial health of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
Supporters of the idea say KPERS would get an immediate infusion of funds and the earnings from investing the dollars would more than cover bond payments.
Critics see the move as risky and worry that it would delay efforts to erase a long-term KPERS funding gap.
The House and Senate began negotiations Monday over the final version of a bonding bill.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are starting to hash out a plan for issuing $1 billion or more in bonds to shore up the short-term financial health of the pension system for teachers and government workers.
House and Senate negotiators met briefly Monday and planned to reconvene Tuesday.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has proposed $1.5 billion in bonds.
Supporters of the idea say the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System would get an immediate infusion of funds and the earnings from investing the money would more than cover bond payments.
The move also could lower the state’s annual payments to KPERS in the short-term.
Critics see issuing bonds as risky.
The House passed a bill last week authorizing $1.5 billion in bonds. The Senate passed a measure last month for $1 billion in bonds.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are working on the final version of a bill allowing the state to issue $1 billion or more in bonds to shore up the short-term financial health of its pension system for teachers and government workers.
House and Senate negotiators planned to meet Monday.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has proposed issuing $1.5 billion in bonds.
Supporters of the idea say the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System will get an immediate infusion of funds and believe the earnings from investing the money will more than cover bond payments.
The move also would allow the state to lower its annual payments to KPERS in the short-term.
The House passed a bill last week authorizing $1.5 billion in bonds. The Senate passed a measure last month for $1 billion in bonds.
Photo by Sierra Club Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club’s Kansas chapter, says Senate Bill 124 is an “interesting package” of measures related to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s supervision of land and water contamination.
By Andy Marso
When Rep. Annie Kuether saw the environmental issues combined into Senate Bill 124, she balked. It included changes to regulations on spreading oil and natural gas drilling waste on land, storing low-level radioactive material below ground and allowing the executive branch more authority to change water quality standards.
“I am not particularly fond of Senate Bill 124,” Kuether, a Topeka Democrat, told her colleagues at the beginning of a House debate Monday. “It is a huge piece of legislation with a lot of moving parts.” The bill still moved through the House 100-25, continuing a relatively smooth path toward passage.
Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club’s Kansas chapter, called the bill an “interesting package” of measures related to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s supervision of land and water contamination.
Pistora said his group examined each of the provisions separately before choosing not to weigh in on them in legislative hearings. The Sierra Club is relying on KDHE to act according to scientific research on acceptable exposure levels, he said, but will continue to monitor how the bill is implemented if it becomes law.
“With all these things, there’s a level of concern here and some skepticism,” Pistora said. “But at the same time, we’ve got to trust our agency is doing the best they can and keeping us safe.”
Radioactive material
Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the bill is the section on radioactive waste, which originally was part of Senate Bill 125.
It allows for underground burial of naturally occurring radioactive materials, known as NORM, and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials, known as TENORM.
Proponents included KDHE and state agencies that deal with waste management and conservation, as well as trash and recycling associations.
Bill Bider, director of KDHE’s Bureau of Waste Management, told legislators that while studying oil and natural gas drilling waste, the bureau found radioactivity similar to levels found naturally in rocks and soil. Bider and other proponents said the bill will permit continued disposal of that drilling waste in pits and allow KDHE to form rules so the radioactive material can be disposed of in high-grade landfills.
When it comes to radioactive material, Kansas has a politically fraught history that dates to the 1970s when the federal Atomic Energy Commission examined a salt mine in Lyons as a possible site for storing nuclear energy byproducts. A public outcry ensued and the federal agency ultimately scuttled the plan.
The state currently prohibits underground storage of all radioactive material, even though radioactivity occurs naturally in some substances and below certain levels is not dangerous to humans.
William Dunn, head of the mechanical and nuclear engineering department at Kansas State University, said he couldn’t speak directly to the bill Kansas lawmakers are considering. But he said the words “radioactive material” alone should not be scary.
“Low levels of radioactive materials are all around us,” Dunn said. “They’re part of nature.”
Naturally occurring radiation from substances like radon still can be dangerous depending on the exposure, he said, so it’s necessary to test and monitor levels.
Pistora said KDHE had assured the Sierra Club that radioactivity in the materials the bill addresses is at very low levels.
“If you’re getting more radiation (from X-rays) at your dentist’s office, it’s hard to argue with that,” Pistora said.
Land spreading
Starting in 2012, the state allowed oil and natural gas companies to dispose of “cuttings” produced in the drilling process by spreading them on unused land. The law allowing that will sunset July 1, though, unless the Legislature approves Senate Bill 124, which would keep it in place indefinitely.
The Bureau of Waste Management and the Kansas Corporation Commission’s Conservation Division spoke in favor of continuing to allow land-spreading. The National Waste and Recycling Association, which represents landfills, recycling plants and others in the waste management industry, opposed it.
The “drill cuttings” produced when oil and natural gas exploration companies bore holes in the earth are bits of broken rock usually carried to the surface by a drilling fluid circulating within the drill bit. Drilling fluids vary in their composition, and some of the chemicals used can have health effects depending on dosage.
But spreading the broken rock on land has the potential to improve soil quality, especially if the cuttings do not contain high levels of hydrocarbons and salt. Bider, testifying on behalf of KDHE, said so far land-spreading has been used in Kansas only in two areas of Rice County.
But he said “certain drilling companies that are active in other states prefer land-spreading, and they may someday expand their business activity in Kansas.” The practice is widely used in Oklahoma, he said. Bider said KDHE consulted with agronomy professors at K-State to identify best practices to protect the soil where the cuttings are spread. “The primary contaminant of concern is chlorides, which can be very high in some drill cuttings,” he said.
“Care must be taken to avoid over-application.” Legislators on the Senate Committee on Natural Resources attached one amendment to require land sellers to inform potential buyers of any land-spreading activities and another amendment to require the KCC to present an annual report on land-spreading to the committee.
Pistora said the Sierra Club would prefer the drill cuttings be disposed of in other ways, but the law allowing land-spreading has been on the books for a couple of years and KDHE has not identified any health hazards.
“From what they’ve said, they haven’t had any testing indicate any higher levels of chloride or anything that might be harmful to human health,” he said. Pistora said land-spreading remains “something we’re paying attention to.”
Water variances The third part of Senate Bill 124 would allow the KDHE secretary to temporarily change the water quality standards set in state law. It is a power that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has at the federal level and has generally used for specific pollutants.
Pistora said his understanding was that KDHE wanted the variances to assist small-town sewage treatment operations in complying with new ammonia standards meant to protect aquatic mussels and snails. Updating the treatment regimens could be costly, he said, and the Sierra Club understands KDHE’s desire to allow some leeway initially.
“We want to be reasonable in making sure folks can try to meet water quality standards as best they can without throwing the book at them, so to speak,” Pistora said.
While his group has some concerns about the legislation opening a broader hole in water quality standards, he said KDHE officials have said they will tighten that in the rules and regulations process. The three-pronged bill is heading to a conference committee Monday, when three House members and three senators will try to negotiate a final product.
Before the bill passed the House, Kuether proposed an amendment to require the KCC to also send its annual land-spreading report to the Senate Utilities Committee and the House Energy and Environment Committee. “More of us having eyes on anything to do with the environment or water issues is a good thing,” Kuether said.
The amendment passed, with Republican support. But that wasn’t enough to sway Kuether and her Democratic colleagues, most of whom voted against the bill. Rep. Ponka-We Victors, a Democrat from Wichita who will sit on the conference committee, said the bill’s contents, taken as a whole, made her uneasy. “It just didn’t sit well with me,” Victors said.
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Kansas’ appeal to reinstate death sentences for two brothers over the fatal shootings of four people in a snow-covered soccer field and for another man convicted of killing a couple.
The justices said Monday they will review rulings by the Kansas Supreme Court that threw out the sentences of Jonathan and Reginald Carr and Sidney Gleason. The Kansas court hasn’t upheld a death sentence since the state enacted a new capital punishment law in 1994.
The Carr brothers were sentenced to death for the four killings, which occurred in Wichita in December 2000 and followed dozens of other crimes, including robbery and rape. Gleason was sentenced to die over the couple’s deaths, in the central Kansas town of Great Bend in February 2004.
Every now and again, a little phrase mesmerizes lawmakers. This year, that phrase appears to be “consultant study on efficiency in government.”
The idea: Kansas is probably spending money on programs or assigning similar duties to different agencies or requiring certain reports or fees or something just because, well, that’s how we’ve always done it here.
The idea expands: We’ll spend up to $3 million next year to hire a consultant—presumably not from “here”—to look at how Kansas government operates and whether there are efficiencies that can be found by private contractors who don’t drink the local water.
That consultant contract for government efficiency concept caught fire in the House Appropriations Committee; it so lit up the eyes of those lawmakers that the Senate put the provision in its Mega budget bill that will finance most of state government. No, that $3 million item won’t be printed in red in the bill, but it is likely to be the most-read section of that bill and may draw some votes for it.
Those “not from here” consultants may turn up some cost-saving ideas that haven’t been thought of by Kansans. There are undoubtedly efficiencies that newly hired workers have discovered, and their agency managers either steal as their own ideas or dismiss because it’s a change, and many don’t care for change. Or that suggestion might work in other divisional offices, but not the one where it was first thought up.
But, state government is one of those institutions that tends to pave the cow path rather than consider new ways to get the cattle to the pond.
The concept is that after that $3 million study—which will of course be put out for bids, but now that most legislators seem comfortable for some reason with the $3 million number, well, the bids will probably be close to that sum—we’ll learn of enough big and little spending cuts to save dozens or hundreds of times that much.
Opponents in this tight budget year, which is already seeing its focus shift from spending to the taxes that will have to be raised to support that spending, figure that Kansas already has people on staff who can do that hard look at efficiencies.
Supporters of that outside look at state agency operations and management maintain that the local folks haven’t found enough new, startling and politically acceptable economies to balance the budget, so they need help. In a similar consultant-led scrubbing of state operations in North Carolina this year, the consultants identified what they say could pencil out to more than $600 million in savings in the next decade.
That is, of course, if North Carolina executive and legislative branches buy into the suggestions and enact them after, presumably, weighing the political backlash from suggested changes.
In Kansas, there’s that same issue: You have to wonder whether any changes that those “fresh eyes” suggest are going to be mechanically or politically feasible. Or, whether the Legislature will feel duty-bound to adopt at least $3 million worth of those savings suggestions just to break even on the deal.
Who knows? Maybe if Kansans could just hand their income tax payments to a Highway Patrol trooper who stops them, we’d need one less employee in the Department of Revenue? Or, do we really need a Secretary of State in years when there are no elections?
It might be interesting, but would the money be better spent dredging a reservoir…or could we lay off the meat inspectors if restaurant customers would just sign a hold-harmless agreement when they order a meal?
The idea is trendy—at least in the Kansas Legislature, which probably tells you something about the Legislature—but we’ll see where it goes…
Syndicated by Hawver News Co. of Topeka, Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit www.hawvernews.com.
Staff from the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University will make nine trips in a series of informational and recruitment tours in April and May.
A postcard from KAMS recently went out to Kansas high school students inviting them to attend one of the sessions. KAMS students stay enrolled in their high school but live on the FHSU campus and take college courses to complete their last two years of high school.
KAMS provides a unique residential learning experience for select high school juniors and seniors. Prospective students must have completed at least two years of high school with distinction in mathematics or science. However, outstanding academic achievement is not the only criterion for acceptance. KAMS selects students based on drive, interest, maturity, stability, and personal and family commitment.
Tuition, fees and textbooks are provided by KAMS for up to 18 credit hours per semester for students currently attending a public school in Kansas. This is provided through state funding and state appropriations.
April 13, Hays, 6 p.m.
Fort Hays State University, Memorial Union, Prairie Room
600 Park St.
April 14, Salina, 6 p.m.
Salina Public Library, Technology Room
301 W. Elm St.
April 20, Wichita, 6 p.m.
Lionel D. Alford Branch Library
3447 S. Meridian
April 22, Manhattan, 6 p.m.
Manhattan Public Library
629 Poyntz Ave.
April 29, Bonner Springs, 6 p.m.
Bonner Springs Public Library
201 N. Nettleton
April 30, Topeka, 6 p.m.
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
1515 SW 10th Ave.
May 11, Colby, 6 p.m.
Pioneer Memorial Library
375 W. Fourth St.
May 13, Garden City, 6 p.m.
Fort Hays State University Higher Education Opportunity Center
311 N. Campus Drive, Suite 102
May 19, Hutchinson, 6 p.m.
Hutchinson Public Library, Room 2
901 N. Main
The sessions are free. Students who are beginning the seventh grade through sophomore year in high school are encouraged to attend. Space is limited, so the academy asks that parents RSVP by calling (785) 628-4690.
Students and their parents can also schedule individual visits by contacting the office at (785) 628-4690.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter is considering easing some military enlistment standards as part of a broader set of initiatives to better attract and keep quality service members and civilians across the Defense Department.
While there are few details yet, Carter is exploring whether to adjust some of the requirements for certain military jobs, such as those involving cyber or high-tech expertise.
The idea, which is largely in line with many civilian sectors, upends the military’s more rigid mindset that puts a high value on standards. And it reignites a persistent debate about how the services approve waivers for recruits who have committed lesser crimes, behaved badly, are older than current regulations allow or have other physical issues that prevent them from joining the military.
Hays, Kansas – Carey A. Schulte, age 56, former Hays and Russell resident, died Friday, March 27, 2015, at Via Christi Hospital/St. Francis Campus Wichita, Kansas.
She was born July 8, 1958, Hays, Kansas, to John E. and Amelia (Dinkel) Schulte.
She grew up in Victoria and attended the Anderson School of Hope at Victoria until it closed in the 1970’s. She was a client with Development Services of Northwest Kansas for over 25 years and lived in Norton, Hill City, Ellis and Hays.
Survivors include two brothers, Damian Schulte and wife, Alicia, Escondido, CA; Regis Schulte and wife Brenda, Wichita, KS; one sister, Claudia Hertel and husband Denis, Great Bend, KS; three nephews, Philip Hertel, Chris Hertel, Matt Schulte; three nieces, Kim Schulte, Melissa Fehling, Alison Schulte; and seven great nephew and great nieces.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Services are 10:00 A.M. Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at The Basilica of St. Fidelis Victoria, Kansas. Burial in St. Fidelis Cemetery Victoria, Kansas.
A vigil service is at 7:00 P.M. Monday at Cline’s Mortuary, 412 Main Street, Victoria, Kansas 67671. Visitation is from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M. Monday and from 8:30 to 9:45 A.M. Tuesday all at Cline’s Mortuary Victoria, Kansas.
Memorial to the Cathedral of the Plains Charitable Fund, Inc. Condolences can be sent via e-mail to [email protected].
Francis R. “Frank” Rohleder, 86, Hays, died Saturday, March 28, 2015 at the Via Christi Village.
He was born September 3, 1928 in Hays the son of Peter N. and Clara (Toepfer) Rohleder. He was a graduate of St. Joseph’s Military Academy, Hays, in 1947. After graduation, he was a member of the Kansas National Guard. On October 4, 1948 he married Frances “Francie” Herman in Hays.
He was an electrician for over 54 years and owned and operated Rohleder Electric in Hays. He worked for Jay Stewart Electric before purchasing the business. He was an avid outdoorsman and loved the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs. He enjoyed watching college basketball and football, gardening and working in his yard, crafting yard art to display in his yard for every holiday, was an avid cook, and was passionate about fishing and camping. He was the self-proclaimed “King of the Lake” from 1958 until 2004. He cherished spending time with his family, friends, and grandchildren. He was a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and the Third Degree St. Joseph Council #1325 Knights of Columbus.
Survivors include his wife, of the home, two sons Eugene “Gene” Rohleder and Pete Rohleder and wife Terri, all of Hays, six daughters Mary Kay Dechant and husband Steven of Hutchinson, Chris McNiece and husband Jim of Wichita, Conni Dreher and husband Marion of Hays, Joan Gray of Wichita, Gloria Rader and husband Bob of Hays, and Dianna Mans and husband Joe of Topeka, a sister Mary Strunk of Wichita, thirteen grandchildren Jason Dechant, Aaron Dechant, Sarah Osburn, Josh McNiece, Jamie Gibson, Austin Gray, Jordan Gray, Scott Rader, Brian Rader, Nathan Rohleder, Nicole Rohleder, Kelli Mans, and Katie Mans, seven great grandchildren Sophie Dechant, Ella Dechant, Luke Osburn, Tyler Osburn, Caleb Osburn, Gavin Rader, and Oliver Rader, and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers Ben, Otto, Alfred, and Lawrence Rohleder, and two sisters Helen Riedel and Laurina Kuhn.
Funeral services will be at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 500 E. 19th Street, Hays. Burial will be in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 until 8:00 pm on Tuesday and from 2:00 pm until 3:45 on Wednesday all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine. A parish vigil service will be at 6:30 pm followed by a Knights of Columbus Council #1325 rosary at 7:00, all on Tuesday at the funeral home.
Memorials are suggested to Hospice of Hays Medical Center, Thomas More Prep–Marian High School, or to family wishes, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.
The Hays Fire Department will inspect fire hydrants and flush water mains today at KSU Ag Research and along Commerce from 13th Street to New Way and the Hays Regional Airport. This is part of a coordinated effort by the City of Hays to inspect all fire hydrants in the city and flush all water mains annually.
Inspecting fire hydrants ensures that the valves operate properly and that there is no damage or obstructions that will prevent or interfere with the prompt use of fire hydrants in an emergency. Firefighters are also checking the pressure and volume of water mains in each neighborhood for firefighting purposes. The associated flushing of water mains allows chlorine to be distributed throughout the system to eliminate bio-filming in the water mains.
Slight discoloration of the water supply may be encountered although there will be no health risks to the consumer. All reasonable efforts will be taken to minimize the inconvenience to the public. Drivers are asked to avoid driving through water discharging from a fire hydrant during the short flushing period.
