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Photograph of Charlie RothCharlie Roth - State Representative - 71st District of Kansas - Republican

Legislative Updates

Legislative Update - Week 9 - March 9-13, 2009


Death and taxes ~ they’re certainties in both life and the legislative arena. And next week both topics will be front and center as legislators prepare to debate major issues ranging from abolishing the death penalty to overhauling the manner in which property in Kansas is appraised and taxed. The 2009 Legislative session is nearing the final stretch of the “regular” session, with next week’s calendar marking the last week for policy committees to meet and consider bills that aren’t budget or otherwise exempt measures. Long hours and short tempers are forecast. Meanwhile, there was plenty of action in the House and Senate this week. Here are the highlights:

ANNEXATION

The House passed HB 2029 on a strong 75-47 vote. This bill substantially changes the states' annexation laws. The measure met with much resistance from city and county governments, in committee, and will no doubt face the same in the Senate.

    HB 2029 would specifically:
  • Reduce the time following an annexation before the board of county commissioners is required to hold a hearing to consider whether the city has provided the services promised in the annexation plan.
  • Reduce the time after it is shown that the city has not provided the municipal services stated in the annexation plan, before a landowner may petition to the board of county commissioners to de-annex the land in question.
  • Prohibit annexation of any portion of un-platted agricultural land of 21 acres or more without the written consent of the landowner.
  • Johnson, Sedgwick, and Shawnee counties would be required to hold an election for any proposed annexation to be made through approval by the board of county commissioners. The election will consist of qualified voters residing in the area proposed to be annexed, and if a majority of those voting reject the annexation, the city would be prohibited from annexing the land for at least four years from the election date.

STRIP ANNEXATION

The House is also likely to debate HB 2084, a measure which would prohibit unilateral or consent annexation of a narrow corridor of land used to gain access to non-contiguous tracts of land. If passed, the bill would require the annexed corridor of land to have a tangible value and purpose other than for enhancing future annexations by the city. This bill was drafted in response to the annexation recently carried out by the city of Mulvane which annexed a strip of land to gain access to a desirable location for the construction of a large casino development. The bill is expected to pass out of the House, but action in the Senate is questionable.

PROPOSITION K

The subcommittee on the sweeping overhaul of property taxation in Kansas, called Proposition K, began its work this week. Prop K is a proposal to drastically change the state's property tax system from the current ad valorem system and to one that would impose a capped 2 percent standard increase across the board. The subcommittee is focused on identifying aspects of the Prop K proposal that need further study by an interim committee; they do not intend to send any legislation back to full committee for review this year.

SCRAP METAL

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on SB 237 which would amend the state’s scrap metal statutes. The measure was modeled after compromise legislation passed by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and proponents testified that in doing so they have satisfied the concerns of the legitimate scrap metal dealers. The measure passed the Senate with a 33-7 vote and was presented to the House committee without opposition.

    Highlights of SB 237:
  • Require scrap metal dealers, or employees or agents of a dealer, to accurately and legibly record information of the transaction and of the parties to the transaction, as specified in the bill.
  • Requires a signed statement from the seller that the seller is the owner of the scrap metal, the scrap metal is free of encumbrances, and the scrap metal is not stolen.
  • Prohibits a scrap metal dealer from purchasing a vehicle from a seller without inspecting the vehicle and recording the vehicle identification number, and obtaining an appropriate vehicle title or bill of sale.
  • Makes it unlawful to receive any regulated scrap metal from a minor.
  • Prohibits scrap metal dealer from disposing of, altering, or destroying any regulated scrap metal if notified by law enforcement that the metal may be stolen. The scrap metal dealer would be required to hold the item or items for 30 days.

BUDGET WORK

Taking a page from strategy designed in other states, the Kansas Board of Regents has offered Kansas lawmakers the following deal: Don’t cut the budget for higher education deeper than 7 percent and they will utilize the federal economic stimulus dollars to address more deferred maintenance projects on university campuses and will impose a one-year freeze on tuition increases. This novel approach is designed to help Kansas families who are facing economic pressures and give Kansas lawmakers a degree of certainty that funds appropriated to the Board of Regents will be invested in Kansas universities in the form of added maintenance projects and no increase in tuition for their constituents.

Meanwhile, the FY 2010 budget bill is slowly but surely coming together in both chambers, with floor debate slated for early in the week of March 23. Not unlike many other sessions, it is likely that lawmakers will defer a number of key spending decisions until their “omnibus” legislative session in late April. It is at that time when lawmakers will have updated revenue estimates and critical information regarding restrictions and limitations regarding expenditures of federal economic stimulus funds.

KANSAS BIOSCIENCE AUTHORITY STORMS WASHINGTON

The Kansas Bioscience Authority, accompanied by Governor Kathleen Sebelius and the bi-partisan team of legislative leaders, made tremendous advancements for the state’s key bioscience initiatives this week. In meeting with members of the Kansas Congressional delegation and leading officials of the Obama Administration, the Kansas leaders’ annual trip to the nation’s capital helped advance the projects of NBAF and National Cancer Institution (NCI) comprehensive cancer center designation for Kansas.

Also, while in Washington, members of the Kansas Bioscience Authority approved key investments in the state’s cancer initiatives. These investments are seen as critical in advancing cancer research and clinical care in Kansas. For the University of Kansas the investments build on the nationally ranked programs already established at the KU School of pharmacy and the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Drug discovery and delivery expertise at KU is a tremendous pivot point for the NCI cancer initiative and this additional investment by the Kansas Bioscience Authority will let KU and Kansas State University work together in an integrated, high performance, drug delivery innovation center.

The Kansas Bioscience Innovation Center in Drug Delivery is a collaboration of industry, the University of Kansas, and Kansas State University that will transform existing outstanding academic drug delivery capabilities into an integrated, high performance, world-class drug delivery organization.

This goal will be accomplished by overlaying the best practices of pharmaceutical project management on top of the outstanding academic drug development researchers and group centers. The center of innovation will facilitate go/no-go decisions as drugs or drug delivery systems move towards commercialization. Collaborators include the Kauffman Foundation, Medimmune, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Elanco, and Bayer Animal Health. Projected outcomes of the center of innovation include a $900 million economic impact over 10 years; 300 jobs; and hundreds of inventions, patents, and start-up companies.

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