TOPEKA – Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is considering whether to seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2018.
On Wednesday morning, he sounded like a candidate. On his private social media account, Kobach criticized state legislators’ vote to override Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a bill that would repeal or roll back past income tax cuts he has championed.
The legislators who voted for this obscene tax increase have failed in their obligation to represent their constituents. #ksleg
Kobach said during a recent Associated Press interview that he’s looking at the governor’s race very seriously. GOP Gov. Sam Brownback is term-limited.
The Kansas secretary of state was considered a candidate for a job in President Donald Trump’s administration. But he said he turned down positions in the White House and the Department of Homeland Security because he and his family wanted to stay in Kansas.
Conservative Republicans, some of whom voted for sweeping tax cuts in 2012 or defended them in the years since, parted ways with Gov. Sam Brownback on tax policy Tuesday — at least long enough to side with moderates and Democrats in overriding his veto of a $1.2 billion tax increase.
Kansas legislators voted Tuesday night to override a veto by Gov. Sam Brownback of a $1.2 billion tax increase. Sen. Gene Suellentrop, a Wichita Republican, urged colleagues to pass on their votes until Senate President Susan Wagle cast her vote. CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The law to increase taxes over the next two years comes as legislators seek to close a projected $900 million budget gap for that same period and bolster funding for K-12 schools under a Kansas Supreme Court order.
“It’s a huge vote,” said Rep. Steven Johnson, an Assaria Republican and chairman of the House tax panel, adding that legislative leadership had explored many routes to find a tax solution that would gain sufficient support in both chambers. “It’s a huge vote for looking for an option for Kansas among limited options.”
#ksleg House back in. It may be a long night. House Veto Override Vote is close, but it will pass. It is known.
Passage of Senate Bill 30 with two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate brings to an end signature tax policies of the Brownback administration. Most of those policies were part of a 2012 law that exempted owners of more than 300,000 small businesses and became a political flashpoint in recent elections.
At 109 days on Tuesday and counting, this year’s legislative session is now just five days from the longest, in 2015. With a tax plan complete and new school finance formula sent to the governor, the Legislature still must agree on the state budget.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka said that Democrats had foreseen repercussions for the state’s financial health when the tax cuts were approved in 2012. CREDIT CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Floor debates on taxes ran late into Tuesday evening, but in the end, 27 senators and 88 representatives rendered Brownback’s veto — which had been handed down just hours earlier — irrelevant.
It was the second time this session the governor sought to block legislation that would unravel 2012 tax reforms and raise revenue through a three-bracket income tax structure. The first time, in February, lawmakers fell three votes short in the Senate of pushing past his opposition.
The veto nearly survived this time, too: Though the House exceeded the override threshold by four votes, the Senate results came in at exactly the minimum needed.
Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat, described feeling tremendous relief, and said she believes many Kansans will share that sensation.
“Now we have a source of money. Then we can work our way out of the hole that we’re in,” she said. “It’s almost like you can breathe.”
Mopping it up
Senate leadership split on the vote, with Vice President Jeff Longbine and Majority Leader Jim Denning supporting the override and laying out their reasoning on the floor. Senate President Susan Wagle, without comment, voted no.
Denning said lawmakers had known since May 2014 that the tax cuts were leading to fiscal woes and not playing out as intended. He said while he voted for the 2012 changes, he believes in cleaning up one’s messes in life and planned to cast his vote accordingly.
“I’m going to mop it up,” he said.
Conservative Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, of Hiawatha, drew on the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty in his appeal that colleagues uphold the veto. He suggested some lawmakers might think Brownback is like the main character in that poem, but it is in fact the spend-happy legislators who are shattered.
“They continue to want more and more,” he said. “They want to interfere in people’s lives.”
Pyle accused Wagle of seeking to block a filibuster through procedure — a claim that she rebuffed — and Sen. Gene Suellentrop urged lawmakers to pass on voting until she voted first.
Her last name means she comes second to last on the chamber’s alphabetical roll.
“I want to know where our Senate president, our leader, what her position is, before I vote,” Suellentrop said, though when it came time, other lawmakers followed alphabetical order.
Three-tier tax plan
The tax plan sets three income tax tiers: 3.1 percent, 5.25 percent and 5.7 percent. Kansas currently has two rates, 2.6 percent and 4.6 percent, for tax year 2018.
Much of the impassioned debate in the Senate came from conservative opponents of the bill, while many moderate Republicans and Democrats sat silent. Those who rose to comment rejected conservative’s claims that increasing taxes defies common sense.
“From our side of the aisle, that tax plan didn’t receive a single vote,” Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said of the 2012 cuts, adding that Democrats had foreseen repercussions for the state’s financial health.
Sen. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat, said Kansas had been riding “the crazy train” and was long overdue for a solution.
Some lawmakers expressed hope after Tuesday night that the Legislature could finish its work in Topeka this week. However, critics of the school finance bill that passed Monday have speculated the Kansas Supreme Court will likely strike down that legislation, sending lawmakers back to the drawing board, potentially necessitating a special legislative session later this summer.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
SALINA -The Salina USD 305 School Board committed a “technical violation” when they voted not to renew the contract of Superintendent William Hall, according to a school district spokesperson Jennifer Bradford-Vernon.
On March 14, the board voted not to renew Hall’s contract, which didn’t expire for two more years.
According Bradford-Vernon, a local resident David Litchman, sent a letter of complaint to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General’s Office said the board had committed a “technical violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act” by using abridged language to extend the executive session.
According to Bradford-Vernon, a formal motion must be made every time executive session is extended because KOMA does not provide extensions. The school board is reviewing internal policies and procedures based on the AG’s decision, she added.
“All board members will undergo Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) training at the June 13, 2017, work session. The KOMA training will be provided by KASB.
There was no intention to violate the spirit of the KOMA or hide anything. The Attorney General is not pursuing any further enforcement.”
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The sentencing for a Lawrence man who stabbed his grandmother to death has been delayed while he awaits an evaluation at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.
Eighteen-year-old Jaered Long’s plea agreement in April required that he undergo the evaluation to determine where he would serve his sentence for killing 67-year-old grandmother, Deborah Bretthauer in 2015. The evaluation has not yet occurred.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports Long’s attorneys withdrew from his defense Monday because of a potential conflict of interest.
Long pleaded no contest in April to second-degree murder in Bretthauer’s death. She was found dead from dozens of stab wounds at the Lawrence home she shared with Long. He was 16 at the time but was scheduled to be tried as an adult before he accepted the plea agreement.
WICHITA-Are you working to make Kansas a better place? Then the Kansas Leadership Center is looking to partner with you!
We want to collaborate with organizations and communities to develop the leadership skills necessary to tackle tough challenges. This is where you come in.
We hope that your group or organization will apply for a Leadership Transformation Grant. The goal of these grants is to ensure that any organization or group has the resources necessary to boost leadership capacity. The grants provide up to $50,000 in leadership training by allotting your team up to 80 slots in the Kansas Leadership Center’s core programs in 2018.
Anyone in Kansas can apply, but here are the types of groups we could imagine applying:
· Education: School districts, school support organizations, PTOs, school boards, etc.
· Community-Minded Business Organizations: Civic clubs, business associations, economic coalitions, etc.
· Government: City, county or state government entities, etc.
· Non-Profits: Community Foundations, United Ways, community coalitions, etc.
· Faith: Churches, district level entities, collaborative faith initiatives, etc.
To learn more about whether this opportunity is right for you, you are invited to an informational webinar with any others in your organization at 10 a.m. on Fri., June 16 or 1 p.m. on Fri., June 30.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for the shooting death of his son.
Forty-one-year-old Glen Farrow was sentenced Monday for killing his 17-year-old son, Michael, in March 2017 during an argument over school. Farrow pleaded guilty in April to voluntary manslaughter.
KAKE-TV reports an arrest affidavit says Michael messaged someone before the shooting saying he was arguing over when he had to return to school after spring break.
Officers who went to the home found Michael in a nearby alley suffering from a gunshot.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The first of tens of thousands of U.S. lawsuits over Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta’s introduction of a genetically engineered corn seed variety is underway in a Kansas federal courtroom.
The trial that began Monday in Kansas City, Kansas, involves four Kansas farmers representing about 7,300 farmers in the state. Another trial involving about 60,000 cases begins next month in Minnesota.
The lawsuits allege Syngenta introduced the seed variety to the U.S. market before China approved it for imports, wrecking an increasingly important export market for U.S. corn and causing price drops.
Syngenta denies it caused farmer losses.
The Kansas trial is the first test case. It and the Minnesota trial will provide guidance for how the complex web of litigation in state and federal courts could be resolved.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police say a Lawrence officer was taken to a hospital after his patrol vehicle was struck while it was stopped at the scene of a rollover crash.
The officer’s injuries were believed to be non-life threatening. Police say the 8-year veteran of the department was in his vehicle Tuesday when another vehicle collided with it.
The crash briefly stopped traffic while officials investigated.
Law enforcement authorities on the scene in Saline County-photo Rocky Robinson
SALINE COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities are investigating the discovery of a body in rural Saline County.
Just after 10:30 Tuesday, kayakers discovered the body near the Smoky Hill River bridge in 2300 Block of East North Street just north of the Salina Country Club, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.
Law enforcement authorities closed East North Street between Marymount and Eastborough.
The cause of death is still under investigation, according to Soldan.
No additional details were released.
City Attorney addresses the council on the marijuana ordinance during Tuesday’s meeting
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — More lenient penalties for first-time marijuana offenders in Wichita are a step closer to reality.
The Wichita City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave initial approval to an ordinance that would reduce some marijuana penalties. The council will have to give the ordinance final approval at a later meeting.
Among other things, the ordinance would require a $50 fine for first-time offenders, who will not have to undergo drug-related counseling if they are over 21. A second marijuana conviction would bring a fine not to exceed $2,500 and one year in jail.
Wichita voters approved more lenient penalties in a 2015 special election. The Kansas Supreme Court invalidated the election because of a technicality in the petition-gathering process.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate over raising taxes to fix the state budget and provide additional funds for public schools (all times local):
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has fulfilled his promise to veto an income tax increase approved by Kansas legislators to fix the state budget and provide additional funds for public schools.
The governor announced his action Tuesday afternoon on Twitter. Legislators are expected to try to override his veto, and their votes could come as early as Tuesday night.
The bill would have repealed or rolled back past income tax cuts championed by Brownback as pro-growth policies and undone a political legacy that’s brought him national attention. The bill would have increased income tax rates and end an exemption for 330,000 plus farmers and business owners.
Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls totaling $889 million through June 2019 and the state Supreme Court ruled in March that education funding is inadequate.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 27-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man was sentenced to nearly 13 years in federal prison for an armed carjacking that ended with the victim’s dog dying in a wreck.
Prosecutors say Stephen Bagley was sentenced Tuesday for carjacking.
The Kansas City Star reports prosecutors say in June 2014 Bagley pulled a gun at a convenience store, demanded a woman give up her vehicle and sped away with a dog named Mister in the car.
Mister died in the 2014 accident-courtesy photo
The car wrecked a few minutes later. Police found Mister dead inside the vehicle and recovered a spent .40-caliber shell casing. The dog’s body was not examined to determine how he died.
Bagley was released from prison a few months before the carjacking after serving time for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Dozens of thirsty police officers responded to an “emergency” call to visit a lemonade stand run by a 3-year-old aspiring cop in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Kansas City Star reports that Hannah Pasley set up her lemonade stand last Friday and Saturday to raise money to buy her own police uniform. After buying the uniform Saturday morning, Hannah returned to her stand — wearing police coat and hat — that afternoon.
When the flow of customers thinned, Hannah’s aunt, Ashly Rooks, and her friend Sierra Moore took to Facebook to encourage officers to visit.
Rooks says the street was soon packed with squad cars. Moore says “50 plus” officers responded, and a police helicopter buzzed overhead.
They gave Hannah a Kansas City Police Department patch and a Clay County Junior Deputy badge.
