Dear Friends and
Family,
With
the House reconvening this Wednesday, I wanted
to get an update out on some of the more
important issues and give you an outline of what
the rest of session will look like. This edition
of the newsletter contains several updates on
budgetary policies which will have both an
immediate and future impact on Kansas
economy.
This week, we will be
returning to Topeka for the second part of the
legislative session. This time is commonly known
as the "Veto Session" and we will be working
very hard in order to get the best policies for
Kansas passed.
As always, I will be
keeping you up to date throughout the remainder
of the session.
Sincerely,
Mike
Slattery,
State
Representative
|
|
Budget Update FY
2010
The House and Senate came to an
agreement on the FY 2010 Mega Budget Bill, which
was officially approved by both chambers.
I have a number of concerns about this budget,
which is why I stood in opposition to the
bill.
The $13 billion budget may not take
full advantage of federal stimulus dollars to
protect higher education, but it includes $58.3
more in spending than Governor Sebelius
proposed. We did this while cutting public
education- which is one of our most important
investments and something we have worked to
protect all session.
It is important to
remember that this budget has been created using
a four-month-old financial forecast. On
April 17, a new revenue estimate was created
that showed a $328 million decline in revenue
available for FY09 and FY10. This means the mega
budget approved in early April will not balance,
and legislators will be forced to revise it
during the veto session in late April. At
that point, the mega bill will provide a
blueprint which will be adjusted to create a
balanced budget. Once the legislative
session adjourns in May, the Governor can make
adjustments during the interim to prevent the
state from operating in the
red.
|
Civics 101: The Omnibus
Bill
One of the primary
tasks of the Wrap Up Session is to approve the
Omnibus Bill. It is called the Omnibus
Bill because it includes appropriations for a
wide variety of purposes and for every agency
requiring further appropriation action for the
current or forthcoming fiscal year. The
Omnibus Bill normally contains three basic types
of items: technical adjustments to previous
appropriations bills, financing for Governor's
budget amendments which were not considered as
part of regular appropriations bills, and
financing of substantive legislation that passed
the Legislature earlier in the
session.
Additionally, this bill
sometimes includes various items of interest to
individual legislators that are offered as
amendments during either Appropriations/Ways and
Means Committees or Committee of the Whole
deliberations. The Omnibus Bill also
differs from other appropriations bills in that
the Omnibus Bill, as introduced, actually is
prepared by a legislative committee. Most
other Appropriations bills, while nominally
authored by the Appropriations/Ways and Means
Committees, actually begin as the Governor's
recommendations. The Omnibus Bill is one
of the last bills passed each session.
|
| House Bill 2292 Protects
Kansas Consumers
House Bill 2292 will increase the
consumer's ability to place a security freeze on
credit reports. The bill is before
Governor Kathleen Sebelius awaiting her
action. Currently, only victims of
identity theft have the authority to freeze
their consumer reports, but this legislation
will expand the right to all consumers.
House Bill 2292 deletes the requirement for a
police report or identity theft and enables
consumers to request a security freeze by mail,
through a secure website of the consumer
reporting agency, or by telephone The
agency may charge a fee of $5 or less for
placing, temporarily lifting or removing each
freeze. No fee can be charged to a
documented victim of identity theft.
Also, the bill would allow
consumers who suspect that they are victim of
identity theft to the police file a
report. The police in the jurisdiction
where the consumer lives would file the report
and could then send the report to the police in
another jurisdiction.
The freeze
will prohibit credit reporting agencies from
releasing the credit report or credit score of
the consumer, allowing individuals to take
control over who is allowed access to the
personal and financial information. Within
10 days of placing a freeze, the agency must
issue a personal identification number to use
like a password if you choose to remove the
security freeze from your file or authorize the
temporary release of your credit report for a
specific person or period after the security
freeze is in place. Each agency must place
a security freeze on a consumer report no later
than five business days after receiving your
request. They must lift a freeze within
three days if requested by mail and within 15
minutes when requested electronically.
|
Update on Energy Credits
and Biofuels
The number of ethanol and biodiesel
plants in Kansas is growing. Currently there are
11 ethanol plants operating in Kansas, three
under construction, three have received
necessary permits but have yet to begin
construction, and unfortunately two have
recently gone idle due to the economic
downturn. There is currently only one
operating biodiesel plant in Kansas, although
two are under construction, two have yet to
break ground, while two biodiesel plants have
also gone idle. The growth in the ethanol and
biodiesel industry is proof that recent energy
tax credit incentives are helping bolster
development. It is expected that these tax
credits will be critical to future growth by
incentivizing out of state investment.
The outlook of the pilot plant
under construction in Hugoton is also positive.
The $500 million plus investment project is
expected to begin construction sometime later
this year and is expected to be operational by
2011. This plant is the first commercial
facility of Abengoa that utilizes
cellulose-based ethanol technology. The project
will not only bring millions of investment
dollars to Kansas, but will also be utilizing
local agricultural production for raw materials
- an obvious plus for Kansas. Abengoa has also
taken great caution to ensure that the local
environments where they operate remain as
healthy and integral as possible. To date,
Abengoa has already invested twenty million
dollars in the project and yields of staff in
excess of 150 people.
|
|
