This past weekend, I participated in legislative updates in Hays and Ellis along with receiving briefings and toured the wildfire damage in Ellis and Rooks counties. We owe a debt of gratitude to our volunteer fire fighters, first responders and other volunteers and staff who did a tremendous job in working the fire and protected people and property. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to the other counties who suffered losses of livestock, fences and buildings last week. At the time of this writing, all the fires have been contained and the cleanup and assessments are now underway. The outpouring of support from the areas not directly affected have been truly heartwarming, and it continues to strengthen us as a state and nation that neighbors continue to help neighbor in times of need.
In the Tax Committee, I introduced HB 2387, which is working its way through the legislative process. This bill would enact a sales tax exemption for certain properties destroyed by wildfires in 2017, much like the bill that was passed last year in response to the Anderson Creek fires in south central Kansas.
If you would like to support the efforts of recovery, here are a couple of places to start: The Kansas Livestock Association (kla.org) and Kansas Farm Bureau (kfb.org).
This past week the Appropriations Committee has been finalizing Budget Committee recommendations. The Committee received its last report on Monday March 13 and will begin to assemble the Mega Appropriations bill after that. The Committee has also received Efficiency Study Updates from the Budget Committees. These updates report what Alvarez and Marsal (A & M) projected for savings on the 105 recommendations in the study, specifically those in the purview for that committee. The updates note whether the recommendations have been implemented, if any savings have been realized and the amount realized, and any further comments from the Budget Committees.
The process has also begun on formulating a school finance funding formula. The Education Budget Committee received a briefing on the recent Gannon IV ruling. The Committee also continued looking at an important piece of school funding, at-risk funding. The Committee heard from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and Legislative Post Audit (LPA). KSDE provided the costs associated with at-risk funding. Legislative Post Audit’s analysis described and evaluated the two measures for at-risk funding, free lunch and census based poverty counts. There will be several ideas on how to fund education in Kansas, the hope is something that will satisfy the adequacy portion of the Kansas Supreme Courts ruling.
During the session, my office is Room: 352-S. My phone number is: (785) 296- 7463 and email is: [email protected] and my cell number is (785) 302-8416. You can also follow along with what is going on through social media: kenforkansas on Facebook, @kenrahjes on twitter or my website: kenforkansas.com.
It is my honor to serve as your representative.
Ken Rahjes, (R-Agra), is the 110th District State Representative.
Many grown-ups remember that you never knew how a first date was going to turn out until you were on the doorstep and got kissed…or not.
Well, and you gotta hate the comparison, but the Kansas Legislature is a little like that first date every year. We’ll not know how it worked out until the last day, and we’re just a dab over halfway done, roughly 50 of the 100 days that legislative leadership decided last year that it would take them to complete their work this year.
That 100-day session, up from the traditional 90 days, is supposed to cover everything: Getting this fiscal year’s budget balanced, figuring out the budgets for the next two fiscal years and coming up with a tax plan to pay for it. Oh, and probably dusting off an old school finance formula and paying for it.
For all the rancor over delays and inaction and such, whether Gov. Sam Brownback is really working with the Legislature and whether the Senate is holding out for a rescission bill (that’s balancing the budget for the remaining four months of the fiscal year) with cuts, and whatever, just because things haven’t been done yet doesn’t mean they won’t get done.
Key is, of course, balancing this year’s budget. The governor and the House have a plan that the Senate didn’t like, and so things are shortstopped for the time being. And, that rescission business is slowing down everything else, but practically there’s plenty of time left.
Surprising so far is that the House has passed some fairly heavy weight bills to the Senate and the Senate hasn’t acted on any of them, and earth-shaking or not, the House also has sent the Senate more little bills than the Senate has sent the House.
There’s expanding the state’s Medicaid (KanCare) program, there’s tenure for schoolteachers, but nothing yet on concealed-carry of guns on college campuses and in hospitals. Oh, and nothing’s known yet about just what tack lawmakers will take on that Kansas Supreme Court decision to spend more money on schools…
But, the clock hasn’t run out yet, and there’s still time, and it may be getting warmer this spring, so it will be more comfortable for those folks who want to visit the Statehouse and see debates and such.
Is there a time-crunch crisis? Is the Legislature working too slowly? Are things not getting done, or just not getting done yet? The topic is good for all politicians: Those who are angry that things aren’t moving faster and those who say they want to think through some important legislation before the bills are sent to the printer to be put in the statute books.
Politically, the longer it takes the Legislature, mostly the Senate, to adopt a rescission bill to get the state through the final months of this fiscal year probably works to the advantage of folks who don’t want to see end-of-year cuts to agency budgets and programs. The reason is simple. The less time to achieve in-house operational economies, the more likely that lawmakers will run out of time to make such budget cuts.
That means that the governor, who is proposing payday-loan style borrowing from state idle funds, will probably win this one because the clock will run out.
If you don’t want cuts in spending, just some rather unseemly borrowing, well, you’re in no hurry. With the recent spate of revenues topping predictions, even that internal borrowing might be less than was predicted back in January.
There’s still plenty of time left before we find out what happens on the doorstep at the end of this date…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com.
Kurt BeyersThe word on poor people and health care, from the Honorable Roger Marshall, U.S. representative from the great state of Kansas, First District: “Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us. … There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.” Quoted in Stat magazine, a publication devoted to medical news.
Hear now, Rep. Marshall and all you politically holy Republicans, the word of the Lord concerning the poor: “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings” (Deuteronomy 15:10, New American Standard Bible).
The next verse, 11, may sound familiar: “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”
Jesus’ reference to this verse is recorded in three places: Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7 and John 12:8. In the last days of his life on earth, the Son of God is in the house of Simon the leper, eating with a group of disciples, including Mary, who takes a quantity of very expensive perfume and anoints Jesus with it – his head, in Matthew and Mark’s account, his feet according to John.
A disciple or disciples protest that this is a terrible waste. The perfume, worth 300 denarii or more – equivalent to at least 300 days’ wages for a laborer; very expensive indeed – could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Mary is berated, but Jesus tells them to leave her alone.
From Matthew and John: “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” All three gospels agree that Jesus points out that she is preparing him for burial.
Mark and John add detail relevant to the discussion here. In the Mark verse, the full quote is this: “For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.”
And so for Dr. Marshall et al., the question becomes, Why don’t you ever want to help? Their answer is always some version of four basic answers: We can’t afford it; it’s not the government’s job, it’s the church’s; pump more money upstairs, more will trickle down, and fewer people will need help; or, stated by Marshall more baldly than most, they can’t be helped because their poverty is the only way they know.
The Stat writer asked Marshall to expand on his thoughts, and Marshall said, “The Medicaid population, which is [on] a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I’m not judging, I’m just saying socially that’s where they are.”
A few days later, after taking some heat, Marshall spoke to The Kansas City Star, trying to lower the temperature. The first thing he said was entirely predictable: He was misinterpreted. Second, he’s a doctor, not a physician, and he therefore doesn’t “perfectly rehearse talking points.” Third, “I was explaining that we cannot build a national healthcare policy around any one segment of the population.”
About this second go-round, two things: One, he did not disavow his first statement. Two, if what he said the second time was really what he was trying to say the first time, no wonder he was misinterpreted.
His first statements, the ones to Stat, were on the character of a particular socio-economic level (“socially, that’s just where they are”). In the second try, to The Star, he did not change his judgment about that particular group’s cultural attitude toward health care and healthy living (and yes, it was a judgment). Instead, he changed the subject from a particular social condition to a discussion of the technicalities of health care policy. His claim was that the statement to Stat had been simply a poorly worded version of what he was then telling the Star.
But those two things are so far apart conceptually that it is highly unlikely to be a matter of interpretation, and I can conclude only that in his first statement he was speaking from his heart, and in the second statement he was speaking from his head, with a primary goal of hiding what was in his heart.
This brings the discussion back to scripture, which is where Marshall began it. The apostle John, in his telling of the story of Mary, the perfume and the poor, has another detail that is not present in Matthew and Mark. It was not, says John, disciples plural who protested the awful waste of money on perfume. It was one disciple, Judas.
John 12:6: “Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.” John notes that Judas will betray Jesus, but his importance to this story is in his nature as a liar and thief.
Money that goes for perfume to prepare Jesus for burial is not money that goes to the money box, where it is available for Judas. Tax money that goes to health care for the poor and working class is money that cannot go to tax cuts for the rich.
Read Deuteronomy 15:1-11, on the sabbatic year, which is a year that is all about forgiveness of debt and treatment of the poor. Jesus, citing one verse, is referencing all of them. He knew his audience was familiar with the whole passage and what it meant. The contrast he was drawing was between a duty of daily life and the need of a particular, extraordinary moment, when a loving, faithful servant performed an extraordinary kindness to help prepare for the death looming over Him.
The fact is that a lot of people at the lower end of the American economy are about to lose something very valuable and basic to life – health care. Marshall and the Republicans don’t even deny this. They justify it. One of their justifications is scriptural: See, even Jesus says it’s no used trying to help the poor. The party that claims so loudly and insistently that it is the party of the Christian God, based in no small part on its supposedly “pro-life” beliefs, is nonchalantly careless, callous even, in its use of scripture. If they prove themselves untrustworthy on spiritual things, why should they be regarded as trustworthy on earthly things like the economy and health care?
The answer is they shouldn’t be, especially by Christians, because in the present day application of the story of Jesus and the poor, Marshall and his party have too often cast themselves in the role of Judas.
Kurt Beyers, a former newspaperman, is a communications professional at Fort Hays State University.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Let’s go hunting. No, not for deer or turkey. Today we are going hunting for a geocache, a hidden container which we can find with the aid of GPS technology. The practice of finding geocaches is not only attracting visitors to Kansas, it is bringing a major gathering of geocachers to our state in spring 2017.
Last week, we met geocaching enthusiast Ryan Semmel. He is a leader of the effort to bring a major geocaching event to Kansas. After serving in the Army overseas and most recently at Fort Riley, he retired in Manhattan. Ryan and his wife have two daughters and a son.
Ryan enjoys geocaching, the practice of finding hidden caches outdoors through the use of GPS technology. The caches are small containers containing a logbook and, in some cases, trinkets for exchange. Someone will hide the cache and then post the location on the geocaching.com website for people to find. When a cache is found, the finder enters his or her user name in the logbook, exchanges gifts if desired, and then posts about it on the website.
Ryan enjoys exploring the outdoors and sharing the experience with others. “It has taken me to places that not everybody gets to see,” he said. He started a Facebook group for Flint Hills Geocaching which has about 200 members.
Then he heard about something called MOGA: Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure. Essentially, this was an open contest where geocachers would compete to see how many geocaches could be found within a limited time.
“I like the competitive aspect,” Ryan said. He went to a MOGA event in Jackson, Missouri, and heard the organizers say that they like to go to new and different places. He wondered if MOGA could be brought to Manhattan, Kansas. Ryan worked with several partners, got encouragement from Marcia Rozell at the Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau, and ultimately submitted a successful bid for Manhattan to host MOGA in 2017.
Ryan estimates that hundreds of geocachers will come to Manhattan for MOGA April 20-23, 2017. There will be both individual and team competitions where geocachers try to find the most caches possible within 2.5 hours. The caches will be located in rugged, rural Flint Hills terrain in the hills overlooking the community of Zeandale which has a population of perhaps 30 people. Now, that’s rural.
For the competition, each contestant will get a punchcard and a map. The caches, which are the size of pillboxes, will contain a punch which the finder uses to mark his or her card once the cache is found. The one with the most finds wins. In order to make it fair, competitors are grouped with others of the same age and gender.
MOGA also offers a geocaching competition for those who are disabled. That will take place at Tuttle Creek State Park.
The hosts in Manhattan have created some beautiful medallions as keepsakes of this event. One is a spinner which features the MOGA logo and the seven wonders of Kansas on one side and the state seal of Kansas on the other. The other is an award coin, like a medal for the competitors, which has a gorgeous Kansas sunflower design.
“The event is free but everyone needs to register,” Ryan said. “Don’t stay away if you feel like you don’t know about geocaching,” he said. “This is for everyone.”
MOGA is a major event. The Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure is the largest geocaching competition in the world. Manhattan, Kansas is the farthest west that MOGA has been held. The 2017 event will be the first of its kind in Kansas.
“People will have a lot of fun and get to see the wonderful Flint Hills of Kansas,” Ryan said.
Let’s go hunting. No, not deer or turkey. In this case, we are using GPS technology to hunt down and find a geocache. We commend Ryan Semmel for making a difference by promoting the practice of geocaching. Not only are they finding geocaches, they are finding a way to promote rural Kansas as well.
Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.
While last week’s high winds were unpleasant for anyone living in Western Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas, they changed life for many. Our hearts ache for families learning to live with only the memory of lost loved ones, ranchers who’ve lost livestock, and those who’ve lost homes and possessions. Despite the tragedy, Plains people once again saw that catastrophe reveals our best nature.
Social media offered a peek into individuals, families, and communities who share this landscape. It’s comforting to see relatives supporting loved ones who traveled wherever necessary to battle raging flames or evacuate threatened residents. One post shared a photo of a young girl who fell asleep praying for her daddy and his squad working 24/7 outside of Hutchinson. You know she was concerned, but her peaceful face and clasped fingers revealed such deep faith. Her innocent confidence reveals how those affected by this firestorm will rebuild their lives.
In addition to individuals, communities contributed help. In short time, groups organized supply drives, collecting water, Chap Stick, eye drops, clean socks, and other necessities to support those willing to leap into an inferno. While many battled flames, others took their places at work or at home, so firefighters could focus on immediate dangers. Hundreds wrote heartfelt thank yous to men and women who dropped what they were doing to protect distant towns. That said, you know these warriors are sad about homes and property they couldn’t save. Supporters’ kindnesses offer a balm for those heartaches.
In other photos, junior high and high school students readied sleeping and eating areas for evacuees in gyms and cafeterias. These kids modeled what they’ve seen parents and grandparents do repeatedly during crises. They made certain people had shelter and food. School buses transported nursing home and hospital patients to safety. In this case, that wasn’t always enough. Due to uncontrolled winds and flames, some evacuation centers relocated. You didn’t hear complaints. People continued ministering to others experiencing the worst time of their lives.
Now that the most urgent firefighting efforts are winding down, truckers are hauling hay and fencing materials into fire-ravaged regions. Churches, clubs, and other organizations are collecting supplies and funding for those who’ve lost everything. First responders and others are reviewing their procedures. Those who weren’t affected are wondering how best to help during future events. Many are donating to local fire volunteer fire departments to enable them to repair and replace necessary equipment.
No matter what, it’s good to know we live where people sacrifice to keep one another safe. It’s worthy to note that residents support firefighters, first responders, and law enforcement. We let them know in various ways that their and their families’ sacrifices are appreciated. As more stories emerge, it’s clear that living on the Great Plains is a challenge. Those we call neighbors make it worthwhile.
Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.
I get occasional emails from readers about stories I write, so seeing the email Sunday in my “in-box” was not unusual. The sender said he was 87 years old, and that was impressive, but what really got my attention was the caption at the bottom of the email that read “Sent from my iPad;” that told me volumes about the 87 year old sender.
Keith Kimple grew up east of Lyons, and in the fall of 1940 when he was about 10 he accompanied his dad to visit a cousin in Iowa who was a coon hunter. They hunted coons for several nights, in those days still with the aid of a carbide light, and although they got no raccoons, the cousins dogs caught a wild mink each night by digging them out of their dens.
Steve Gilliland
Keith had been bitten by the hunting and trapping bug, and when they got home from Iowa he began experimenting by skinning skunks and possums dragged into the yard by his dog “Skip.” He had a couple old double-spring traps and set one in front of what he thought was a badger den in the pasture. He said as a young kid he was scared to death the morning he found a coyote in that trap. He managed to get the coyote skinned and stretched on a homemade stretcher he fashioned from a board; all following directions found in the back of a 1944 trap supply catalog from a company called FC Taylor Fur Company in St Louis (Keith still has that catalog.) FC Taylor also bought fur, so Keith bundled up his coyote pelt and spent twenty three cents to mail it to St Louis. His reward was a check from FC Taylor for twenty five cents!
Kimple’s introduction to fishing came at a young age too, using a novel ice fishing technique. When he was 6 or 7 he remembers often going with a group of kids and their dads to Cow Creek when the ice was safe enough to walk on. With a hand saw the grown-ups would cut a long narrow notch in the ice across the frozen creek. Ground up oyster shells, which were used in chicken feed and are very white, were sprinkled onto the creek bottom, making it easier to see fish when they swam under the hole. The kids would all walk onto the ice a long ways away from the hole and begin stomping and jumping to scare the fish toward the hole, where the dads would be waiting with steel spears to spear them as they swam beneath. Kimple told me they had a forge at home used for shoeing horses, and when he was in high school, he used that forge to make his own fishing spear out of a five-tined pitchfork. That homemade spear once snagged him a 10 pound carp that was laden with 2 pounds of eggs.
In 1951 Keith married his sweetheart Marilyn, and told me “She’s always been a better fisherman than me.” Marilyn introduced Keith to bass fishing, having learned on her families’ pond, and he also enjoyed catching channels cats and flatheads on limb lines set along Cow Creek. They heard tales of unbelievable fishing in Minnesota’s innumerable lakes, so after harvest in 1958, with 3 young kids, 1 only a year old, they packed up and headed to Ruth Lake in Minnesota where they fished for northern pike from a boat hand made by a local Swedish man. Fishing at Ruth Lake became an annual event, and years later, after finding a cabin for sale there, they called from a bag phone on the trip home and bought that cabin. Kimple said “That was the best thing we ever did for our family.”
In the early 1950’s Kimple did a stint in the marine corp. and was stationed at an air base near Santa Anna California. The base had a hobby shop for GI’s to use and “I began going there when I wasn’t doing something important like walking guard duty,” Kimple said with a grin. There he got hooked on leather working and purchased a $6 leather working tool kit. He ordered leather and supplies from the Tandy Leather Co., so by trial-and-error and by following instructions supplies with various leather kits, he became a skilled leather worker.
Over the years Kimple has also made many knives, grinding and polishing old files into blades, using deer antler and various woods, including Osage Orange for handles and making leather sheathes for each. One of his most recent projects is a full length leather scabbard for an old Henry .22 caliber rifle he owns. In 1980 he heard that a “log cabin camp” in Lyons was selling out, so he bought one of their little 12 x 14 Sears and Roebuck log cabins for just over $100 and moved it to their present home northwest of Hutchinson on a homemade trailer he built from an old tractor front end. These days he spends time out there most mornings working on leather and other projects of some sort.
The Kimples son and grandsons, several of which are medical doctors all enjoy the outdoors as much as their parents. Kimple says their living room becomes a deer camp for a week every deer season as they all come there knowing grandma will cook for them. When I asked Keith and Marylyn if I could do this story, he replied “Well we are a little shy, but if you think it worthwhile after seeing our stuff, we will agree. We all have to have our hobbies, and mine kind of run to the outdoors.” I couldn’t agree more! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoor.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Max Kautsch
By Max Kautsch, Board Member, Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government
Advocates of open government have good reason to celebrate this Sunshine Week, a national celebration of government transparency, which runs from Sunday, March 12, through Saturday, March 18. In Kansas, the week also represents an annual commemoration of the Kansas Sunshine Laws, which primarily include the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) and the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA). Under these laws, members of the public can exercise their right to request access to government records and meetings to learn how public officials exercise their power.
In Kansas one cause for celebration is a successful exercise of open government rights by a member of the public from Independence, with the assistance of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. This success is proof that remedies are available to Kansans who feel their government is less transparent than it should be. For her work in promoting open government over several years and in pursuing her complaint of an open records violation to the highest levels of state government, the Kansas Sunshine Coalition is awarding a 2017 Friend of Open Government to Debbie Miller.
In April of last year, Ms. Miller, a longtime resident of Independence, made a request under the open records act for a copy of the form the city uses to evaluate the city manager’s job performance. Ms. Miller was not requesting any personally identifiable information related to any performance evaluation; she simply wanted a copy of the blank form itself.
Although the KORA provides access to many documents in the possession of public agencies, those agencies can legally deny access to a document if it falls within an exception in the law. For example, under the KORA, a public agency is not required to disclose “[p]ersonnel records, performance ratings or individually identifiable records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment.”
This “personnel record exemption” is the reason the Independence city administration gave Ms. Miller to justify withholding the blank form she had requested. The city also asserted that it did not have to disclose the form because it “was specifically created to assist in the evaluation of Mr. Micky Webb, the Independence City Manager.”
However, Ms. Miller was not satisfied with that response. She believed that a blank form was public information that could not possibly be exempt from disclosure as a personnel record. Believing the city was in violation of the law, she filed a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office in May of 2016.
After a lengthy and thorough investigation, the Attorney General’s Office found that the city had indeed violated the KORA. In a letter to the city dated January 30, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Mendoza wrote that the blank form was “sufficiently generic that it raised a question about whether it was in fact ‘specifically created solely to assist in the evaluation of” the city manager.” Moreover, according to Ms. Mendoza’s letter, a Google search showed that an “identical” document produced by another source existed on the internet.
Thus, the Attorney General’s Office concluded that the city “fell well short of meeting its KORA obligations,” and found the city in violation of law for the manner in which it had responded to Ms. Miller’s request. In turn, the city commissioners signed a “Consent Decree” admitting that the city violated KORA, agreeing to pay a $250.00 fine, and also agreeing, going forward, to “comply with the requirements of the KORA…in responding to each KORA request it receives.” Meanwhile, the City Commission voted not to renew the contract of the city manager, and has begun a search for a new city manager.
The finding of a KORA violation, resulting in the fine and the consent decree, reflect well on the Attorney General’s Office and indicates it is making good use of expanded Sunshine Law enforcement powers granted by the Kansas Legislature in 2015. Still, sunshine would not have come to Independence without Ms. Miller’s determined efforts to challenge the city’s refusal to disclose a blank form. She is an inspiration to members of the public everywhere who are concerned about transparency in government, and she proved that persistence pays off.
This Sunshine Week is a time to celebrate the initiative of Ms. Miller as a concerned member of the public, coupled with action by the state’s open-government enforcement agency, to effectuate change. The process of asserting rights under the KORA and KOMA can often be akin to the state’s motto, “to the stars through difficulties.” However, Ms. Miller’s successful efforts and the city’s decreed consent to abide by the law suggest that more sunshine may be on the horizon in Kansas.
Max Kautsch, an attorney for the Kansas Press Association, the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, blogs about open government issues at kautschlaw.com. He also represents members of the public seeking to assert their rights under the Sunshine Laws, including Debbie Miller.
Wind-whipped prairie fires devastated much of Kansas earlier this week. A number of Kansans were forced to evacuate their homes to escape the advancing flames.
Would you be prepared for a situation like this? If you had to evacuate your home in the face of oncoming fire, what would you take with you? Would you have the important information needed to recover if your home was destroyed?
The devastating fires are a stark reminder of the importance of being prepared. Disasters do happen in Kansas– anywhere in the state, any time of year. Experts say it is “when” you need to be prepared for emergency, rather than “if.”
Here are some reminders from K-State Research and Extension’s Prepare Kansas program to help protect your family’s financial situation now and be able to recover and rebuild after a disaster:
1. Review your insurance coverage periodically. Make sure you are covered for replacement costs to your house and contents and adjust as values increase.
2. Take inventory. You’ll need good records of your belongings after a disaster, both for insurance claims and to prove losses on your tax return. To get started, photograph or videotape every wall of every room of your home. Don’t forget the basement, attic, garage, outbuildings, etc. (It takes less time than you think– I photographed my entire house and garage in about an hour and a half.) Open doors and drawers to photograph the contents of dressers, cabinets and closets.
List large appliances, electronics, antiques, guns, jewelry and other valuables with model or serial numbers, purchase price, appraisals, receipts or other records to prove the value of these items.
Update your home inventory annually and store the images and records on a flash drive, in a safe deposit box, on the internet cloud, or other safe location away from your home.
3. Make a grab-and-go kit. Assemble a set of your important papers in something you can quickly grab and take to the basement in case of a storm or take with you if you have to leave your home. Use a durable, sealed waterproof box, bag, backpack or briefcase. Put in copies of important papers that can help your family manage without access to your home for a long period of time. (Note: keep this information carefully secured and protected against unauthorized access.)
Things to add to your grab-and-go kit might include:
* identification and other key documents that may be needed to prove identity and restore records, including copies of your driver’s license, social security cards, passports or naturalization papers.
* copies of important legal papers such as birth certificates, deeds, mortgage documents, powers of attorney, wills and other papers which might be required after a disaster.
* copies of medical prescriptions, including eyeglasses, contacts and hearing aids.
* copies of children’s immunization records.
* copies of insurance cards and policies, including phone number of insurance agents.
* account information and phone numbers for all financial accounts.
* list of important telephone numbers (family members, medical providers, attorney, religious advisor, etc.)
* a copy of your home inventory– written and/or photos.
* safe deposit box key.
* list of electronic access user ID’s and passwords.
* list of monthly bills, contact information and when they are due.
* pocket notebook and pen or pencil for keeping records after a disaster.
I hope you are never forced to evacuate your home due to an emergency. But this week’s fires emphasize the importance of being prepared. Taking time now to make sure your financial documents are up-to-date, accessible and ready to “grab and go” can save a lot of time and frustration in the event of a fire, storm, flood or other emergency.
Want to learn more? Contact me at the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430, to schedule a disaster preparedness program for your Ellis County group.
For Prepare Kansas information via social media, follow us on Facebook at “K-State Research and Extension- Ellis County.”
More information on creating a grab and go kit is available in the K-State Research and Extension publication“Get Financially Prepared: Take Steps Ahead of Disaster” MF3055. Use the search function at www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu or contact the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main in Hays.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
Legislative events took a backseat this week as our focus was on the tragedy unfolding out west. Wildfires spread across many areas of central and western Kansas, destroying homes, property, and livestock. Dry conditions combined with powerful, frequently-shifting winds turned the fires into the largest in Kansas history. Through Friday morning, 711,950 acres had burned. That equals 1148 square miles. Put another way, 1.4% of the land area of the entire state has now been consumed by the fires. There are no estimates yet on the loss of livestock and property. Clark County and the city of Ashland, Kansas were hit the hardest, with 85% of the county’s landmass having been burned.
Through community, state, and federal efforts most of the fires have been contained. In Clark County, the fires are still the most active, but are calculated to be 70% contained. The fires in Reno, Ellis, and Rooks counties are all over 95% contained.
Many Kansans have friends who have lost their homes and in some cases much more. My sympathies go out all affected by the fire, including my friends the McLean family in Ransom, Prose and Shroller families in Lane County, and Gardiner and Giles families in Clark County. Though recovery will be slow, the dedication of numerous volunteer firemen and countless offers of help have been overwhelming. This is Kansas at its worst and at its best – neighbors helping neighbors in times of difficulty.
Resources for information and assistance for those affected by the fire:
FEMA has approved Federal Fire Management Assistance Grants for the following counties: Clark, Comanche, Ellsworth, Ford, Lincoln, Ness, Rooks, and Russell.
HB2387, which would provide a sales tax exemption for certain property destroyed by this wildfire, was introduced to the House Committee on Taxation and will have a hearing on Monday, March 13th.
HB2140, which enhances the abilities of fire departments to assist each other across state lines, has passed the house and awaits action in the Kansas Senate.
Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution outlines the state’s role in guaranteeing the fulfillment of each citizen’s right to public education. It is notable that the framers of our state constitution believed that public education was of such importance that its establishment comes directly after the organization of our system of government in Articles 1 through 5, which established the three branches of government, elections and suffrage. In Article 6, Section 6, Subsection (b) the constitution states “The legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.”
On March 2nd, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Gannon v. State of Kansas which dealt with public K-12 school finances. In 2015, Governor Brownback and the legislature repealed the K-12 school funding formula with the intention of developing a new system within 2 years. For the interim, they passed the CLASS Act, more commonly known as the block-grant funding bill. In their decision, the KS Supreme Court held that CLASS fails to meet the constitutional requirement of adequacy in terms of both funding and educational outcomes. The court proceeded to give the legislature until June 30th to come up with a new formula which would meet that requirement, the same deadline the legislature had already self-imposed.
To meet that objective, Speaker Ryckman and I formed the K-12 Education Budget Committee to which we gave the responsibility to craft a new, constitutionally-viable funding formula. The members of that committee began their work in early January, and have already held hearings on 5 different plans, and taken informed testimony from a variety of stakeholders. They are now turning their attention to developing a new formula based on the information they have accumulated. It is expected that they will have the final product ready for consideration by the full House before the end of the month.
Nearly all observers believe that the new finance plan and the court ruling will require additional funding for K-12 public education. Estimates of the amount vary widely, but are primarily based upon the old formula, which was discarded in 2015. In fact, no one can give a reliable estimate of exactly what will be required until a new formula has been passed and signed into law.
Update on Budget and Tax
On February 22 Governor Brownback vetoed the income tax bill, HB 2178, which was passed by the House in mid-February and subsequently approved by the Senate. The House then successfully over-rode the governor’s veto but the senate fell three votes short of enough to over-ride. Now it is back to the drawing board for both chambers, with broad consensus that the current fiscal imbalance in state government cannot be solved responsibly via budget cuts and one-time infusion of funds from other sources. Additional revenue will be required, and both chambers are in active discussions as they work toward the most acceptable plan.
Appearance on WIBW radio
On Thursday, March 16 I will be on WIBW radio at 6:00 a.m. with my friend and colleague, Larry Hibbard (R – Toronto). We again discuss the current legislative session. You can listen live to WIBW Radio 580 on:
SB 155, The Cannabis Compassion and Care Act, was brought up to be worked by the Federal and State Affairs Committee.
An amendment was offered to eliminate the language of SB155, and replace it with the language from SB151, titled Eliminating criminal and professional penalties for non-intoxicating cannabinoid medicines. The language in SB151 states that this is “AN ACT concerning non-intoxicating cannabinoid medicine; eliminating criminal and professional penalties for recommending, dispensing, distributing or possessing non-intoxicating cannabinoid medicines and related paraphernalia.”
What this does is create a platform where Kansas residents can no longer obtain, own, ingest, etc., what is currently legally available, CBD oil. Under this act, it would require a doctor’s prescription and only be accessible through a licensed pharmacy. Anyone found to be in possession of, or administering to someone not prescribed, CBD would be held criminally liable.
There is no exact description of what a “non-intoxicating cannabinoid” is within the bill, so we
can only be left to assume that none of this legislation would include any THC, so it is also our assumption that this would be an isolated CBD product. Therefore this is actually a step backwards for patients, not forward.
The amendment passed with a split vote, and the amended bill passed out of the committee unanimously.
The good new is that this does not affect the Kansas Safe Access Act at all. We are in a different committee entirely with our bill, and look forward to its progression in the future.
The KSAA is both comprehensive, and well regulated. It is based on many months of research into the rapidly evolving landscape of cannabis law, technology, environmental impact, and medical research. We worked with experts in fields across the industry. It has met all recommendations of the Kansas Health Institute’s health assessment impact study, and met all guidelines of FOCUS, the largest cannabis industry regulatory group.
It has also been our intention to address the concerns of lawmakers, expressed to us over the last few sessions. We seek to address those concerns via regulation, packaging requirements and educational outreach programs.
We also wanted to establish a Kansas focused model, addressing needs present in our largely rural state. Rural areas are in need of new revenue, but also have little access to health programs. As our bill is a non-for-profit model, all proceeds after base expenses are met will be donated back to patients, and to the local community, to be defined by local
patient-owned compassion center boards, based on the needs of their patients and community.
We seek to establish a guarantee of the highest standards of labeling, testing and standardization for patients, with tight quality control, lot control and seed to sale tracking, with full government transparency.
Based on current research and law from other established medically legal states, we also sought to minimize the potential environmental impact of the cannabis industry. We have written a 100% sustainable energy law and establish guidelines for medicine grown with organic-only methods.
We hope to stop the flight of Kansas medical refugees, who take their talent and taxes to other states, to bring new business, new jobs, and new revenue to Kansas.
Most importantly, we seek to to save Kansas lives, and end needless suffering.
Lisa Sublett is the president and founder of Bleeding Kansas Advocates, a non-profit group seeking to provide education, awareness and support for Kansas patients.
Education: Gannon Case Supreme Court Decision
On Thursday, March 2, 2017, the Kansas Supreme Court gave its ruling on the Gannon VI Case. In its decision, the Court held that the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success Act (CLASS) enacted in 2015 by the Legislature, does not meet the structured requirements in being constitutionally adequate. For K-12 education finance, the CLASS Act currently will expire on June 30th, 2017, and the Court prefaced that the Legislature must enact a new school financing system by that date.
The Court held that the State must demonstrate that such a financing system is “reasonably calculated to address the constitutional violations” of the adequacy requirement while also satisfying the equity requirement, which were addressed in a special session in 2016. Referring to Article 6, the Court stated that the Constitution of the State of Kansas stipulates the Legislature to “make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” This requirement contains both adequacy and equity components that must be satisfied for a constitutional school finance formula.
In Gannon v. State (Gannon I), the Kansas Supreme Court determined that the adequacy component is satisfied “when the public education financing system provided by the Legislature for grades K-12 is reasonably calculated to have all Kansas public education students meet or exceed the Rose standards, which are seven capacities of learning.
Special Joint Wildfire Committee
A Special Joint Committee of the House of Representatives and Senate was convened on Thursday, March 7th, 2017. The meeting, which heard testimony from members of the Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Department of Agriculture, and Kansas Emergency Management Administration, served as a valuable briefing for Committee members on the current state of counties affected by the wildfires currently plaguing the state. Kansas counties suffering considerable damage from fires are Ford, Rooks, Clark, Ness, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Russell, and Comanche.
It was also learned that roughly 646,950 acres had been burned thus far by the fires for a total cost of $1.2 million. If you want more information on this issue, you can call the Kansas Livestock Association at (785) 273-5715 or visit their website at KLA.org. The Department of Agriculture also has a link, agricutlture.ks.gov/wildfire.
House of Representatives in Action: Bills Pass the House
The House of Representatives passed five important bills dealing with various issues in the state during the week prior to last week’s recess. The first bill being House Bill 2158 which passed on Tuesday, February 22, 2017, revises the deadlines for the acceptance of advance voting ballots.
House Bill 2153 ensures that moneys received under statutory provisions for specific purposes are kept as separate funds from other governmental purposes and creates a notification system for moneys received by state fee funded agencies. Second was House Bill 2140, which authorizes the governor to enter the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact which increases the state government’s capacity to respond to fires in the state. The fourth bill, House Bill 2076, was passed on Thursday, February 23, 2017. The bill creates the Seat Belt Safety Fund to educate children on the benefits of seat belts and increases the fine for adult seat belt violations from $10 to $30.
The last bill passed on Thursday, was House Bill 2148. The bill enables the creation of distinctive autism awareness and 4-H foundation license plates for vehicles. These bills passed out of the House and we will now see how they proceed through the legislative process in the Senate.
Contact Information
As always, if you have any concerns, feel free to contact me (785) 296-7672, 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 L. Waymaster, (R-Bunker Hill) is the 109th Dist. State Representative and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Kansas budget cutters: the time has come to get real and very specific. Which expenses can be cut to balance the state budget? What’s your plan? Put out the details so that Kansans can judge the best course of action.
Duane Goossen
Despite multiple rounds of budget cuts over the last years, some legislators and groups like the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Prosperity have continued to make vague, abstract pronouncements that Kansas has a spending problem. They suggest that financial trouble in Kansas can be solved by getting rid of “inefficiencies.”
That kind of talk nurtures a popular stereotype of government, but does it at all ring true in Kansas anymore? If true, those saying such things should have no trouble naming the spending that needs to be eliminated. Surely, with the financial health of Kansas on the line, would-be budget cutters can muster specificity.
In the wake of a new court ruling, what part of school funding can be cut? Saying “put students first” is not an adequate answer though. How about chopping Medicaid? Doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes providing services had their Medicaid reimbursement rates cut 4 percent this year. Can that cut be made deeper? Vast amounts of money have been lifted from the highway fund, causing many road projects to be cancelled. Should Kansas spend even less on highway maintenance and bridge repair? State employees have not had a raise in 9 years. How about making it 10? Or maybe cutting their health benefits can save money.
Without specifics, claims of an inefficient, overspending state government come up empty and lead nowhere.
When explaining his recent veto of a revenue-raising bill, Gov. Brownback chided lawmakers for not considering more expense cuts, but his own budget does not show the way. His main proposal to reduce spending shorts the required payments into the already precarious public employee retirement fund. That’s like a homeowner skipping mortgage payments. It doesn’t actually eliminate the expense, just piles it onto the obligations in future years.
Kansas faces a festering budget gap between income and expense that now exceeds a billion dollars. Only two approaches can effectively solve the problem: cut expenses—in a real way—or raise revenue. Lawmakers have not done enough of either to cure the structural imbalance in the budget.
Instead, they have resorted to short-term patches that kill Kansas financially—blowing through the reserves, borrowing, putting off bill payments, raiding the highway fund, trying to sell assets. With each of these maneuvers, Kansas has become poorer, but without fixing the problem. These misguided efforts have to stop.
If there was ever a time for serious budget cutters to shine, this is it. Put your proposals out on the table and explain them. But if you are only able to talk in generalities, don’t waste everyone’s time. Either offer credible ways to reduce expenses, or let the Legislature proceed to rollback the 2012 income tax cuts. Duane Goossen formerly served 12 years as Kansas Budget Director.
Edward Cross is President of the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association.
As the Trump Administration begins it is clear that their approach to energy policy could not be more different than the previous administration’s.
With the change in policy comes new opportunity for the energy industry to achieve its full potential.
Energy is so thoroughly woven into our daily lives that few will ever question whether it will be there, or where it comes from. Petroleum plays an integral role in nearly every aspect of our lives.
Oil-based products are likely the first thing you touch at the beginning and end of each day, whether it is your alarm clock, television remote, cellphone, or even the toothpaste and toothbrush you use to brush your teeth. Those who wear makeup or synthetic fibers, such as polyester or nylon, are using or touching petroleum nearly 24 hours a day. As a key component in heart valves, seat belts, helmets, life vests, and even Kevlar, petroleum is saving tens of thousands of lives daily. Furthermore, oil and gas are key components in many medicines and antibiotics such as antiseptics, antihistamines, aspirin, and sulfa drugs.
Energy production in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last decade because the
independent oil and natural gas industry is committed to investment and job creation in the U.S. and are using technology and innovation access more oil and natural gas reserves. In addition to leading the world in the production of oil and natural gas, the U.S. also leads the world in emission reductions.
Just five years ago, no one would have imagined the U.S. could increase production of oil and
natural gas while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which are now near 25-year lows. According to the EPA, oil and gas methane emissions now account for only 3.63% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. A recent study by the Energy Information Administration indicates the U.S. emitted 23% fewer energy-related CO2 emissions in 2015 than in 2005. Further, thanks in part to the increased use of domestic natural gas, ozone concentrations have dropped by 17% since 2000. The oil and natural gas industry has proven that over the long-term it is possible to lead in energy production AND in environmental stewardship.
The fundamental change under the Trump Administration is that market realities and a respect for consumers and their preferences will drive smarter regulations that focus on protecting the environment and growing the economy. The Trump Administration understands that all Americans benefit from a safe, environmentally responsible, and thriving oil industry. And they recognize the importance of letting market forces, not government mandates, drive energy policies.
The change in administration means we have the opportunity to achieve America’s true energy potential by embracing the market-driven innovation and entrepreneurial spirit embodied by the millions of men and women who work in the American oil and natural gas industry.
What Americans expect and deserve are the facts. And the fact is, recent history has disproved the false premise that economic growth and significant increases in energy production must, necessarily, come at the expense of environmental improvement.
What would it mean for consumers, the economy, and future job creation if we substantially
limited exploration, development, and use of fossil fuels in America’s energy supply mix? A recent study by the Energy Information Administration indicates the average American family would see their energy costs increase by $4,550 by 2040. It could mean a cumulative loss of $11.8 trillion in the nation’s GDP and the loss of 6 million jobs.
That’s just a few of the costs to America’s families and economy of an energy policy based on less energy. What’s more, the vision of less energy in the future contradicts the overwhelming consensus of experts who agree that we will need more energy for decades to come. In the U.S., oil and natural gas will supply 60% of U.S. energy needs by 2040, even under the most optimistic scenarios for renewable energy growth. Worldwide energy consumption will increase by 48% by 2040, and 78% of that energy consumption will be met by fossil fuels.
We hope the Trump Administration will pursue environmental policies that build on the progress our nation has made in the last several years thanks in large part to the American oil and natural gas energy renaissance. We also hope the Trump Administration will recognize that the innovation and core commitment to American energy security displayed by America’s oil and natural gas industry is a national asset that should be encouraged and promoted.
The U.S. has a unique opportunity to show the world how energy abundance can be used as a
positive force to lift people up. More than a billion people around the world face challenges for adequate food and education, clean water and protection from heat and cold due to a lack of access to energy. We should work to ensure more people have access to safe, affordable, and reliable energy, no matter which state, nation, or continent they reside. Because to rise out of poverty and enjoy health and safety, people need more energy, not less.
We need a new American understanding of energy and with it a national energy policy based on science, the free market, and entrepreneurial spirit. We should set aside the acrimony and
division that has marked too much of past national energy policy discussions and work together as one nation on a positive forward-looking energy future based on the understanding that our nation’s best energy future can only be achieved through a true all of the above energy strategy.
Future generations are looking to us to get our nation’s energy policy right. They’re counting
on us to leave them with a country that is second to none in energy production, security, and
economic prosperity.
Edward Cross is president of the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association.
Many grown-ups remember that you never knew how a first date was going to turn out until you were on the doorstep and got kissed…or not.
