I know the feeling of watching the sky turn black, the acrid smell, seeing the smoke blanket the landscape and wondering why?

Those farmers and ranchers who continue to pick up the pieces of their broken lives know this feeling. They lived to tell about the wildfires that exploded March 6 and swept through an estimated 1.5 million acres in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. For them the recovery has just begun.

“A lot of people say it looks like Mars – desolate,” according to veteran farmer/stockman Jim Harden, Clark County. “I’ve never been to Mars, but I can tell you this countryside is barren – completely burnt up as far as the eye can see.”

The only real color in this southwestern Kansas county – other than black – is the green wheat fields. Because of the dry weather, they don’t look too green either.

“What we really need now is a slow, soaking rain of about two inches throughout a two-day period,” Harden says. “Heck, I’d even take a nice snow if it would lay flat and not blow off.”

Winds clocked at 76 miles per hour fueled the grass fires that destroyed more than 461,000 acres in Clark County. Dozens of farm and ranch families lost their homes, out buildings and livestock. Countless wildlife fell prey to the fiery devastation including dead and severely injured deer, coyotes and jackrabbits.

Harden, who farms with his brothers, consider themselves extremely fortunate. Their losses were small. A few head of stocker cattle, approximately 750 acres of grass, 10 miles of fence and the equipment they tore up fighting the fires and helping hard-hit neighbors.

Once local firemen and volunteers contained the fires, help began pouring in. Truckloads of hay arrive daily along with fencing supplies. Fence-building crews are beginning to tackle the task of replacing miles and miles of damaged posts and wire.

Harden says a group of FFA youngsters from Saint Francis helped clean up his burned out fence posts.
“If we can get the fences rebuilt, that will make a big difference,” the Clark County stockman says. “I’m hopeful many of us will weather this tragedy.”

The outpouring of those wanting to help has been overwhelming. Friends helping friends. Neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone in the community and from across the country pitching in.

“It’s this kind of spirit and selflessness that convinces me Clark County and this region of our state will recover,” Harden says. “We appreciate all the help we’ve received.

While Harden doesn’t know if there will be federal money to help the firefighters, he encourages those who wish to donate to the fire relief effort consider contributions to rural fire departments in the burned region.

“Our firefighters need good, reliable equipment and training to continue battling wild fires,” Harden says. “We’ll need them to fight fires in the future. Believe me, this isn’t the last fire out here.”

Various programs are available to help those recovering from the devastating fires. Farmers and ranchers should contact their local service centers for more details.

For those who wish to donate money, Kansas Farm Bureau encourages people to contact the Kansas Livestock Association at 785-273-5115. Checks can be mailed to the Kansas Livestock Foundation at 6031 SW 37th St., Topeka, KS 66614. “Fire relief fund” should be written in the memo line.

Cash donations can be made through the Kansas Livestock Foundation (KLF),KLA’s charitable arm, by going to www.kla.org/donationform.aspx

Those who were impacted by the fires are encouraged to seek help via the web page www.kfb.org/firerelief.

John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.

Week ten was spent working on the 2018/2019 budgets in the Ways and Means committee. Mid-week we passed a budget bill out of committee that should be voted on this next week on the Senate floor. This bill is debatable and amendable when it is being worked on the floor. The budget relies on borrowed money from the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB). This loan will borrow all the remaining balance from the investment fund.

A few of the projected line items in this bill consist of: The 2018 budget has provisions outlined to provide a 2% salary increase across the board for state employees. This salary increase would total approximately $22.5 million. The last salary increase for state employees was in 2008. There is a possibility that the salary increases may be postponed until the 2019 budget year, if the state revenues do not generate enough to include raises in the 2018 budget. Included in the budget are KPERS payments due for 2018. This bill will also include a transfer of over $200 million from KDOT. Fourth quarter payments to the schools are due to be paid yearly at the end of June. For a number of years these payments have been pushed back to the first part of July in order to help balance the budget. This June payment has again been projected to be delayed in 2018. In order to balance the 2018 budget tax increases will be necessary. Next week after this budget is passed out of the Senate chamber I will outline additional changes that will be included in the budget.

Sub SB 69, allows for KanCare updates and reforms. These include standardizing provider credentialing and payment processing, which will reduce the number of procedures needing prior authorization among other reforms. We have heard from many hospitals, medical clinics and hospital associations that the legislature needs to consider updates and reforms to strengthen the program. This was passed out of the Senate.

Another bill of interest was passed out of Financial Institutions, Insurance and Pensions, which would simplify KPERS rules for working after retirement. This bill will be debated next week on the Senate floor. I will follow up in next week’s newsletter with additional information.

On Thursday and Friday the Senate Ways & Means and the House Appropriations conference committees had our first joint meeting to reconcile the rescission bill for the 2017 budget. The way this process works, the conferees negotiate back and forth on the differences in the Senate 2017 rescission budget and the Houses positions on their rescission budget. There were approximately 17 line items that differed from the two Chambers. Several of the positions on the differences were agreed to at the first meeting. We will meet again on Monday and continue to meet until each line item is agreed upon.

Non-exempt committees have wrapped up their work for the year but exempt committees (Federal & State Affairs, Assessment and Taxation, Ways & Means) will still be able to meet in the coming weeks. The Senate plans to be on the Chamber floor all week debating and voting on legislation.

Thank you for the pleasure of allowing me to serve you and please feel free to email or call me at [email protected] or 785 296-7399.