Chairman's Column - June 2015

The 2015 Kansas legislative session will probably have concluded by the time you read this piece.  As I write this we do not know the final decisions on taxes and the budget.

One of the things that WIBA members rarely see are the efforts of our lobbyists, staff and members to support and protect independent businesses.  Our positions and policies are developed within the Government Affairs Committee which is open to all members.  You are encouraged to join by contacting Tim Witsman at ftw@wiba.org.

WIBA advocates for you in many areas, including being a member of the core group that successfully developed and passed a change from the array to fixed system for unemployment insurance that will save many members a considerable sum and make the cost more predictable.

I will focus on the tax issues as they dominated the 2015 legislative session.  As the legislature prepared to reconvene it was clear that there was little appetite for further cuts. The bulk of the State budget is in education, social services and transportation.  They won't touch education again for fear of the Ks. Supreme Court coming down with a decision that makes the deficit even worse.  They don't want to talk about social services because they don't want to have a vote on expanding Medicaid.  They've already transferred many tens of millions of dollars from the Transportation Fund. 

Chairman's Article Continued