The following statement is from Governor Laura Kelly:

In the seven weeks since the inauguration, my administration has been hard at work.

I presented a plan that balanced the budget, prioritized schools, paved the way for Medicaid expansion, invested in children and families, enhanced public safety, and left the largest ending balance in two decades.

My budget was structured to stabilize our fragile state finances and pay down the record amount of debt racked up during the last eight years. Not only that, my bipartisan Cabinet hit the ground running with the long, hard task of rebuilding our state agencies.

Together, we’ve increased transparency by sharing, honestly, the severity of the problems we uncovered at the Department of Corrections, Department for Children and Families, and Department of Revenue. We’ve shed light on the number of no-bid contracts hidden throughout state government.

Contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, that didn’t go through the proper channels, and may not be in the best interests of Kansans.

My team at the Department of Administration is currently in the process of developing new, stricter standards of ethics and accountability in the procurement process. We look forward to announcing that plan once it is finalized in the coming weeks. And we are just getting started. We understand the urgency of our work. Our work touches the lives of Kansans every day and we take that very seriously.

Unfortunately, I’m disappointed that the Legislature has yet to act with the same level of urgency, especially given the breadth of our challenges and the deadlines we face.

As a former legislator, I have deep respect for the legislative process. It is not unusual for many of the biggest issues of the session to be resolved later in the session. This is not a race. But the deadlines are real. And they are right around the corner. It’s frustrating that little progress has been made on the most critical issue of the session: school funding.

After seven weeks, I worry that some legislative leaders have allowed serious deliberations and the development of policy alternatives give way to partisan games and unnecessary name calling.

In 2011, the first year of the previous administration, the Legislature debated and acted on 99 more pieces of legislation by this point in the session than they have this year. At this moment, halfway into the session, just one piece of legislation has reached my desk.

I’ve met with leadership. I’ve met with lawmakers of both parties. And my door continues to be open. I’m eager to find bipartisan consensus when lawmakers return for the second half of the session. I’m looking forward to seeing their plans so we can begin negotiations.

On election night in November, I was hopeful that lawmakers could put our differences aside and work together on behalf of Kansas families. Today, I choose to remain hopeful. I am ready to find middle ground.

I was elected to rebuild our state following years of mismanagement and failed policy. I offered a plan to do just that. I hope lawmakers will join me in earnest when they return.

In the meantime, my team will continue to do our work – cleaning up messes and charting a more responsible path forward. We will continue to put the best interest of families first. We will prioritize schools, health care, roads, and job growth.

All Day In The House
Starting last Tuesday, the members of the Kansas House of Representatives spent all day in the House chambers debating and voting on a wide array of bills.

On Tuesday, February 26, 2019, the House debated twenty five bills and Wednesday, we debated eight additional bills.

Some of the bills that we discussed were:

House Bill 2084, which revises the Kansas 911 Act. The bill also repeals three outdated statutes in the existing act.

House Bill 2006 requires that the Kansas Department of Commerce create a database for information regarding economic development incentive programs.

A couple of bills that were debated affected the Board of Regents in the state of Kansas. House Bill 2209 authorizes the Board of Regents to purchase cybersecurity software. House Bill 2168 allows the University of Kansas to sell property located in Douglas County and Kansas State University to sell two properties, one located in Saline County while the other property is in Cherokee County. Wednesday morning I voted in support of all these bills.

The House completed final action on all of the bills debated last week.

Turnaround
The culmination of last week marks what is referred to as “Turnaround,” or simply the halfway point of the legislative session. The Senate and the House spent the majority of last week in our respective chambers debating bills from the bills’ chamber of origin. Most of the House bills introduced so far this session needed to be debated and voted on by Thursday, February 28, 2019, or they would run the risk of not advancing in this session. The same can be said for bills in the Senate.

When we return on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, our focus will be on bills that were debated and passed out of the Senate. The Senate will then evaluate the bills that we in the House have passed. That will be the major work for the committees until we adjourn for our April recess.

More Bills
House Bill 2225 requires that a driver stop the vehicle at least fifteen feet before crossing a railroad track if other track equipment, in addition to a train which is current law, is nearby. I did not support this bill because it is common sense to stop at a railroad crossing.

House Bill 2223 makes revisions to vineyard permits by now calling them producer permits. The bill also allows for wine producers to use a wider variety of agricultural products for wine production. I support this bill.

House Bill 2360 is a bill that came from the Children and Seniors committee, and it concerns background checks for employees and volunteers that have unsupervised access to children, the elderly, or individuals with disabilities. I voted “yes.”

We had planned to debate House Bill 2173, the commercial hemp bill, however it was pulled from discussion this week. Due to the passage of the federal farm bill of 2018, which allows for the production of commercial hemp, we need to have this bill debated to clear up existing statute language that we passed last year.

Anytime that one would like to participate and listen to the developments of committee hearings or discussion on the House floor, one can tune in by listening to the audio footage at www.kslegislature.org.

Contact Information
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, follow on twitter at @waymaster4house, visit www.troywaymaster.com or email me at [email protected]. Also, if you happen to visit the statehouse, please let my office know.

It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.

Troy Waymaster (R-Bunker Hill) is the 109th Dist. state representative and chairman of the House Appropriations committee. The 109th District includes Osborne, Russell, and Smith counties and portions of  Barton, Jewell, Lincoln and Rush counties.

Last week was turn around week at the State House. Turnaround is considered the halfway point of the legislative session. Bills that have passed across the Senate chamber will now go to the House to be considered and bills passed across the House floor will come to the Senate for consideration.

Some of the bills of interest to our Senate District that passed this week are:

SB 67 passed out of the Senate this week. SB67 establishes the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act. If an insurance company (insurer) shall preform a comparison of its insured’s and force policies, contracts, and retain asset accounts against a death master file, on at least a semi-annual basis, by using the full death master file once and thereafter using the death master file update files for future comparison to identify potential matches of its insured’s.

SB 15 revises the definition for “service-connected” as that term is used to determine death and disability benefits in the Kansas Police and Fireman’s Retirement System. Under current law, service-connected causes for death and disability benefits include heart disease, lung or respiratory disease, cancer and will add blood borne pathogens. This bill passed unanimously.

The Senate passed SB105 authorizing a city to determine the start date of a regular term of office for a city officer by resolution of the city. In law regarding city elections, the bill would require the start date be on or after December 1 following certification of the election and no later than the second Monday in January following certification of the election. If the city does not establish an alternative date, the bill would specify such term would begin on the second Monday in January.

SB 71 passed the Senate, which reauthorizes the Postsecondary Technical Education Authority by repealing the statute specifying sunset date of June 30, 2019. The bill would also require the TEA to make an annual report to the Legislature on the performance of its functions and duties.

School Board Elections: SB7 passed and would amend current law regarding the timing of appointing a replacement school board member, timing of elections of officers of a local board of education; the date local school district board officials take office, and the timing of an election to change the method of election or voting plan for school board members. SB7 also requires the first meeting of the Board of Education to be on or after the second Monday in January or at a later meeting if so determined by the Board at the first meeting, rather than in July.

Passing the Senate was Sub SB130 that amends law concerning advance ballots and associated signature requirements. The bill requires a county election officer to try to contact each voter who submitted an advance-voting ballot without a signature or with a signature that does not match the signature on file and allow the voter to correct the deficiency before the final county canvass.

I would like to thank Jay Smith and Jaelyn Daily for paging for me last week.

Thank you for allowing me to serve the 40th Senate District and please feel free to email or call me at [email protected] or 785 296-7399 or 785 899-4700.

Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, is the Kansas state senator for the 40th District, which includes Cheyenne, Decatur, Ellis, Gove, Graham, Logan, Norton, Rawlins, Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas, Trego and Wallace counties as well as portions of Phillips County.