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Friends:
It is with great sadness that I let you know of the passing of Rep. Bob Bethell (R-Alden). He was killed Sunday night in a car accident on I-70 near Paxico on his way home after the 2012 adjournment of the Kansas Legislature. He was 69 years old and married to his wonderful wife, Lorene. He served in the Legislature since 1999 and represented the 113th District (Rice County and parts of Barton and Reno County) Rep. Bethell chaired the House Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, and was Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services. As a pastor, Bob lived his faith and beliefs each and every day. I was honored and privileged to work with Rep. Bethell on issues for senior citizens, the disability community and health related issues. He was a tireless advocate for those who could not advocate for themselves. I will truly miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.
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The Legislature FINALLY wrapped up the 2012 Session on Sunday, May 20th, the 99th day of the session. A compromise on the budget was reached late Saturday night. In a rare Sunday session, the Legislature met and both chambers passed the budget.
BUDGET
The Senate passed a balanced budget that reduces overall spending by $448.2 million. The budget is projected to leave the state with an ending balance of $463 million, which meets the 7.5% ending balance required by Kansas Statute. The Senate worked to achieve several priorities in this year's budget, including protecting funding for early childhood programs, such as Parents as Teachers; making under-market pay adjustment for public employees; increasing funding for community services for the aging and disabled; and increasing funding for our local K-12 schools.
REDUCING TAXES
Taxes were arguably the most disappointing part of this year's Session. The Governor came to the Legislature with an income tax proposal that received several days of hearings and consideration in both the House and Senate. Both the House and Senate offered up additional proposals for discussion in committee. Ultimately, an income tax proposal that addressed both the need for tax relief and the need for a balanced budget did make it through the legislative process. The Governor has indicated he will sign HB 2117, an income tax plan that will provide broad tax reductions for Kansans across the state. However, I have heard from many of you about the anticipated $3.7 billion price tag that comes with HB 2117. It is my hope that the Legislature can return next session to consider a more fiscally responsible plan. From the beginning, the Senate has been focused on three components of our tax structure: reducing property taxes, phasing out the temporary 1-cent sales tax, and reducing state income taxes. The Senate pushed for its property tax relief plan, which would have reduced our local property taxes by $180 million over the next four years. That plan was eventually rejected by the Legislature. The Senate also championed an income tax plan that included reducing individual income taxes to 5.65% and 3.1% in addition to eliminating the income tax on Kansas businesses up to $100,000. The Senate plan maintained certain components of our tax code that are widely used by Kansas taxpayers, including the home mortgage deduction, charitable gift deduction and the EITC. In the end, that income tax plan was also rejected by the Legislature in favor of HB 2117.
FUNDING OUR SCHOOLS
The Senate fought this year to restore classroom dollars that had been cut over the past few years from our local K-12 schools. During the economic recession, nearly $18,000 was cut from every Kansas classroom. The budget includes an additional $43.7 million for our schools this year, which is an increase of $60 per student on the base state aid. This budget is a good start toward restoring some of those lost dollars to help alleviate larger class sizes, increased fees and teacher layoffs.
STABILIZING KPERS
The Legislature finalized its plan to stabilize KPERS, our state's retirement system. The plan will make no changes for current retirees or current public employees. The changes will apply only to new public employees. New employees will continue to have their retirement funds managed by KPERS in what is commonly referred to as a cash balance plan. Cash balance plans provide long-term stability for retirees while costing the state significantly less to manage. Under this plan, employees will contribute 6% to their retirement account and the employer will match that with a 4% contribution. The vesting period would remain at five years for new employees and employees will be guaranteed a 5.25% rate of return at retirement. Overall, the plan will provide opportunities for higher returns if the KPERS investments yield higher than expected growth in a given year and it will allow the state to fill the $8 billion shortfall that is projected under the current plan.
MONITORING CHANGES TO MEDICAID
The Senate passed legislation this week that I sponsored to create a KanCare Oversight Committee. The Committee, made up of members from both the House and Senate, would monitor implementation of the Governor's Medicaid reform plan and ensure that quality and cost-effective care is being provided to Kansans under the new KanCare system. The Governor and his staff unveiled the KanCare model last year as a way to address increasing costs in our Medicaid system. The KanCare Oversight Committee would work to examine cost-savings, delivery methods and overall effectiveness of the transition. One particular concern for lawmakers is to make sure that Kansans with developmentally disabilities will continue to receive the quality, integrated care they need. Unfortunately the House defeated this as it was the last piece of legislation they considered. Rep. Bob Bethell championed this Oversight Committee.
USPS AND KANSAS POST OFFICES
Though U.S. Postal Service operations are a federal issue that the Kansas Legislature does not address, it was encouraging to get word this week that the USPS will not close any additional Kansas post offices. The USPS had previously announced it would close or consolidate 134 of our local post offices in Kansas. Instead, they will achieve the necessary cost-savings by adjusting hours of operation. Saturday service and access to lobby post office boxes will remain intact. I applaud the USPS and our federal delegation for working to find the cost-savings necessary to keep our local offices open and available to Kansans, particularly those living in rural communities.
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Floor Activities
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ACTIVITIES
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It was my pleasure to emcee the 2012 Small Business Awards Luncheon for the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce/GO Topeka. Congratulations to ShopGracieb.com (Grace Brown-Mitchell) - Emerging Entrepreneur of Distinction; TARC, Inc (Eileen Doran) - Non-profit Award of Distinction; Color Works Paint & Supply (Diana Swaffford) - Capital City Business of Distinction; and Educational Credit Union (Greg Winkler) - Capital City Business of Distinction Award. Thank you to Cyndi Hermocillo-Legg, GO Topeka's Vice President, entrepreneurial and minority business development, for a wonderful event! She is a true champion of small business development! Please see the pictures at right.
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Please do not hesitate to contact me about issues of interest to you. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you at the Capitol.
Sincerely, Vicki Schmidt
Assistant Majority Leader 20th District, Kansas Senate vicki@vickischmidt.com
785-296-7374 (Senate Office)
Paid for by Schmidt for Senate, Brad Koehn, CPA, Treasurer
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