Three major hurdles left to clear in Topeka; Taxes-Budget-School Formula.

School Finance Update: Earlier this year, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the Gannon v Kansas case, regarding equity and adequacy of K-12 public education funding. The Court ruled that K-12 education funding is unconstitutional. The Court’s ruling was broad and allows legislators the breathing room to do our jobs and create a fair and fundable formula. The Court has not specified how much in additional money must be allocated for public schools to meet its standards of constitutional funding. However, the Court did mandate that the legislature create a new, equitable and adequate school finance formula by June 30. The House of Representatives passed their version of the school formula last week. The Senate Select Committee on Education Finance passed its own version of a school finance formula bill out of committee last Wednesday. This school finance bill will run this week. Once the Senate votes on their version of the school bill the Senate and House will meet in Conference Committee to defend each chamber’s position, reach an amicable consensus and present the bill to both the Senate and House for a final vote.

National Foster Care Month: May is National Foster Care month and we have been working hard to ensure Kansas has plenty of caring and quality foster care parents. We are encouraged by this campaign as a first step to improve the state’s foster care system and ensure every Kansas child no matter what circumstances they were born into has a warm bed, clean clothes and a loving family.

Lottery Ticket Vending Machines: HB2313 will allow the Kansas Lottery to use vending machines to sell lottery tickets. Lottery ticket vending machines would dispense a printed physical ticket, such as a lottery ticket, a Keno ticket, a pull-tab ticket, an instant bingo ticket or a coupon. The bill will authorize moneys in the Lottery Operating Fund to be used for transfers to the Community Crisis Stabilization Centers Fund and Clubhouse Model Program Fund of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. The Community Crisis Stabilization Centers Fund would receive 75% of the money deposited in the Lottery Operating Fund and 25% will go to the Clubhouse Model Program Fund. This bill was passed out of the Senate.

Working After Retirement: House Sub for SB21 makes changes to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System pertaining to working after retirement. Under current law, KPERS retirees may return to work for employers who participate in the Retirement System if there has been a bona fide separation in employment for a minimum of 60 days with no pre-existing arrangement to return to work. Participating employers who hire retirees are required to contribute to KPERS at varying rates, which can be as great as 30% of the retirees’ compensation, depending on the circumstances.

This bill establishes a new working after retirement rule, effective January 1, 2018. For retirees under the age of 62, there would be a 180-day waiting period before returning to work. If the retiree is 62 or older, the current 60-day waiting period would apply. The current prohibition placed upon prearrangement for employment would continue to apply. For covered positions, the employer would pay the statutory contribution rate on the first $25,000 of compensation and for that portion of compensation greater than $25,000 the contribution rate would be equal to 30% of the compensation. Covered positions for non-school employees are those that are not seasonal or temporary and whose employment requires at least 1,000 hours of work per year; covered positions for school employees are those that are not seasonal or temporary and whose employment requires at least 630 hours of work per year or at least 3.5 hours a day for at least 180 days. For non-covered positions, the employer would not make contributions.

The House was not able to work on SB86 last week. At this time amusement parks have until July 1, 2017 to comply with the rules and regulations for amusement park safety. The change in this bill is to extend the date of compliance to January 1, 2018 to give the Department of Labor the time needed to write the rules and regulations and allow our local carnivals time to assess the rules.

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.