Budget Bill Passes the House

On Tuesday, March 26, we had final action on the Kansas House of Representative’s position regarding the budget. The final vote on the budget was 99-25, and now we will go into conference committee with the Senate to negotiate those details that differ between each chamber’s budget bill.

House Substitute for Senate Bill 25, which is the House Budget Bill, contains numerous provisions in it. It includes the annual bill that we pass regarding claims against the state, many of the recommendations from various state agencies, departments, and boards across the state, and some recommendations made by Governor Kelly.

Following are some of the highlights in the budget bill for the remaining months of fiscal year 2019 and for 2020.

• We are not going to payoff the Pooled Money Investment Board loan in full, as suggested by the Governor. Instead, we will accelerate the payment schedule so it is paid off more quickly.
• We will appropriate dollars for the hiring of 26 social workers in 2019 and an additional 26 social workers in 2020.
• We did provide funding in 2020 through the Department of Agriculture for the Cattle Traceability Program, money for the State Water Fund, additional funds for mental health, reestablishing funding for the Kansas Main Street program for rural development, and a 2.5% pay increase for all state employees, excluding legislators and the Judicial Branch. We have another provision for pay increases for the Judicial Branch in the budget bill.

Commercial Hemp

Also on Tuesday, final action was taken on House Bill 2173, the commercial hemp bill, which passed 119-5. I voted “yes.” Due to the federal government making provisions in the Federal Farm Bill that passed in December of 2018, the state of Kansas needs to update our statutes regarding hemp that we passed last year for the industrial research program. House Bill 2173 establishes procedures to be used by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in submitting a plan to the US Department of Agriculture under which the KDA would monitor and regulate the commercial production of hemp. This bill also stipulates that industrial hemp authorized by the Alternative Crop Act would be excluded from the definition of marijuana and the list of Schedule 1 controlled substances.

Senate Bill 16 – House Education Finance Bill

Among the 33 bills debated in the House of Representatives on Monday was House Substitute for Senate Bill 16. The bill, which is the House’s position for addressing the Supreme Court’s demands regarding K-12 Education, received lengthy deliberation and was passed in the House, 63-61, on Tuesday morning. While there was little to no funding provisions in the bill it does address how funding should be spent.

The bill provides for performance and longitudinal achievement reports, goals in meeting the Rose standards, accessibility for ACT testing, adding computer science and financial literacy courses, a bullying prevention hotline, changes the bilingual weighting to seven years, and adds the dyslexia task force for another two years, among other changes.

Although the bill provides only policy provisions, and has some flaws which I disagree with, it does create a House position from where we can negotiate with the Senate and start a discussion, which was why I voted in favor of the bill. Then we will see the final version to address education finance.

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.