Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The Kansas Legislature has completed the 2010 Legislative Session. As expected, it was a difficult year filled with complicated and controversial issues. We spent many long hours and late nights on the House Floor (which sometimes blended into early mornings) in an attempt to work through these challenges.
You are probably aware that the state budget crisis dominated most of the session. We were charged with the task of maintaining support for quality public education, meeting the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, and creating jobs to get the state economy back on track…all with $500 million less than we had last year. There were simply no easy answers. Ultimately, we had only a list of unpopular options from which we had to pick the least harmful. However, after 89 days of sometimes contentious debate, we managed to pass a number of positive measurers, including: a budget that reflects the values and priorities of our state, a transportation plan that will get 175,000 Kansans back to work, and legislation that will protect all of us from dangerous, secondhand smoke in public places.
I deeply appreciate the contact I received from you in recent months, without which I could have never gotten through this legislative session. I worked hard to ensure the interests of our district were addressed under the Dome. If I can ever be of assistance to you or your family, please do not hesitate to contact me at my Capitol office 785-296-7687 (when we are in session) or at home 913-268-9061. You can e-mail me at cindyneighbor@aol.com and you can also stay informed through my website, www.cindyneighbor.org. If you haven’t already, I hope you will contact me to sign up for occasional e-mail updates.
Thank you again for your feedback and support. It is an honor to serve you and I look forward to continuing our work to improve this great state.
The Budget Debate
This year, Kansas continued to suffer the trickle-down effects of a national economic recession. Our revenues began to dip soon after the collapse of the sub-prime lending market in 2008. Since then, the state budget has gone to the chopping block six times. Despite our best efforts to adjust to the economic climate by reducing spending by over $1 billion in just 18 months, we were still over $500 million short by April 2010. Two more years of declining revenue are projected, which is unprecedented in Kansas history.
I believe that a regular review and trimming of government programs and services is both healthy and necessary. Not every appropriation remains an efficient use of taxpayer dollars over time. However, over $1 billion in cuts go well past “trimming the fat.” By the sixth round, we began to impose serious, long-term damage to our state.
It took the entire session for a budget proposal to materialize in the House Appropriations Committee. Unfortunately, that proposal demolished our most important investments and created more problems than it solved. I simply could not inflict such a devastating level of harm onto Kansas families and communities. There are too many services and investments that would have cost much more to fix down the road than they cost to maintain in the current fiscal year. We had to think past the bottom line of FY 2011 and consider the long-term effects of our actions.
In the final days of the session, a bipartisan coalition came together to pass a more reasonable budget alternative. The coalition budget maintained critical investments that will both grow and preserve jobs, keeping Kansas on the road to economic recovery. This was truly a bipartisan effort. Both Republicans and Democrats were actively involved in the budget’s development and passage. It was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 71-48, just four days after the House Appropriations Committee’s proposal was overwhelmingly rejected 45-74.
It is important to note that the coalition budget cut over $200 million beyond the Governor’s recommendations (on top of the previous $1 billion cut). This is a fiscally responsible piece of legislation. We only included what was absolutely necessary to keep communities safe, vulnerable citizens protected and public education institutions intact. While the final product is not perfect, it was by far the best proposal that surfaced throughout the 90-day session. Every Kansas community will benefit from the bipartisan work we accomplished in Topeka in 2010.
New Transportation Plan will create 175,000 new jobs
The success of the 2010 session- and the long-term economic stability of Kansas- depended on the passage of a new comprehensive transportation plan. I am exceptionally proud that a new plan passed with significant bipartisan support.
The Transportation Works for Kansas Program (T-WORKS) provides the framework for a new the future of our state’s infrastructure. It is multi-faceted, with a focus on preservation, expansion, economic development, modernization (such as widening lanes or shoulders and upgrading interchanges), assistance to cities and counties, and a multi-modal economic development program, among others.
T-WORKS is the third, 10-year transportation program enacted by the Kansas Legislature. The Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) expired in 2009. It was preceded by the Comprehensive Highway Plan (CHP), which expired in 1989. Both of these programs were enacted during economic downturns and each resulted in over 100,000 new jobs for Kansas workers.
T-WORKS will provide about $8.2 billion in construction and modal spending over the next 10 years. By comparison, it would take $11 billion to replicate the CTP. T-WORKS is smaller and, I believe, appropriate for our times. It allows proper maintenance of our highways, includes much needed safety improvements, and funds transportation projects in economically strategic ways. Most importantly, T-WORKS will create or sustain an estimated 60,000 construction jobs and 175,000 total jobs (including local suppliers, construction, etc).
In an effort to engage local communities in the planning process, KDOT began surveying hundreds of local stakeholders with regard to their needs and suggestions in 2003. Then, in 2006, KDOT set out to develop a 20-year Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) in an effort to ensure that the next program be as forward-looking and proactive as possible. LRTP uncovered the need to make preservation a top priority. Additionally, LRTP suggested that transportation investments should be linked to economic outcomes and business model changes. This meant improvements in transit, rail and aviation service. Finally, in 2008, KDOT assembled a 35-member task force, T-LINK, to craft a transportation proposal based on LRTP’s recommendations. Nearly all T-LINK recommendations are contained in the T-WORKS bill.
More than 1,000 Kansans participated in the development of this program, and it could not have been enacted at a more appropriate time. Kansas maintains more than 130,000 miles of local roads, 10,000 miles of highways, and 20,500 bridges. Looking ahead, the need for efficient mobilization will only increase. T-WORKS was absolutely critical in ensuring that Kansas can meet future demands of our population, solve long-term energy challenges, and emerge from the economic recession as quickly as possible.
Statewide clean indoor air act signed into law
After making significant headway in the advancement of a statewide smoking ban last session, Governor Mark Parkinson revived the debate in January and encouraged the Legislature to move forward with the initiative in 2010. In his State of the State Address, Parkinson requested legislation that was not “full of loopholes” and that would satisfy the 75% of Kansans who want a “real public smoking ban.”
The Legislature met the Governor’s challenge. Effective July 1st, the Kansas Indoor Clean Air Act will protect Kansans from harmful secondhand smoke by banning smoking in public places, any place of employment, including restaurants and bars, and access points of all buildings not exempted by the bill. Those buildings exempted include: private homes, outdoor areas with ventilation, gaming floors of lottery gaming facilities or racetrack gaming facilities, designated smoking rooms in hotels, and tobacco shops.
This is not perfect legislation and it is likely that we will need to do more work on it next year. However, killing the bill would have delayed the advancement of any clean indoor air law for years. It was more efficient to press forward and with the option of improving the legislation over time (as we do with all statutes), rather than delay any movement at all for the indefinite future.
Protecting the health and safety of Kansans is my number one priority in the Statehouse, and there is no risk-free exposure to cigarette smoke. Tobacco-related diseases cost Kansas nearly $200 million annually in Medicaid costs and are the number one cause of preventable death. Not only will a smoking ban protect innocent Kansans from harmful secondhand smoke, it will save our state millions of dollars at a time when we have no dollars to spare. Health benefits aside, this is simply good public policy.
Lexie’s Law protects children from unsafe daycare providers
Lexie Engelman was 13-months-old when she suffered fatal injuries at a home day care in 2004. Last year, 18-month-old Ava Patrick strangled to death on a fence at another day care facility. To ensure these tragedies never happen again, the Kansas House approved House Bill 2356, also known as Lexie’s Law.
Currently, there are 2,600 home day care providers in Kansas. Previously, no home day care was required to undergo inspection. That will change beginning July 1, 2010.
Under Lexie’s Law, KDHE will gradually move all day care homes to a licensed status, carrying with it assurances of inspections. The agency will formulate rules for supervising children, including monitoring, physical proximity to children, diapering and toilet practices, safe-sleep practices and playground oversight. This category of home is currently registered with KDHE, but state inspectors are only dispatched after receiving complaints. As was the case for Lexie and Ava, complaints often come too late, after a preventable, unacceptable accident has already occurred.
Under this legislation, day care providers could lose their license if they violate regulations three or more times, or if they contribute to the death or serious harm of a child in their care. In addition, KDHE would create a way to access online information about day care providers and a history of citations and substantiated findings.
As a parent, Lexie’s Law was of particular interest to me. Although I wish no parent ever had to endure the loss of a child, I am grateful that Lexie and Ava’s parents turned their grief into activism in the Kansas State Capitol. Their efforts will protect future generations of Kansas families who depend on the highest possible quality of day care for their children.
State health insurance now covers Autism treatment for children
In an effort to recognize the needs of Kansas children with autism and their families, the Kansas Legislature passed Senate Substitute for HB 2160- also known as Kate’s Law- which requires the state health insurance plan to cover services for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for any covered patients under the age of 19.
According to the Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training, many as 1 in 150 children will be diagnosed with ASD, compared to previous estimates of 4 to 5 per 10,000. This makes autism more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Treatments have been developed in recent years to make it possible for nearly half the children who are diagnosed early with autism to eliminate the need for special education. The states that have health insurance mandates to cover these disorders are saving as much as $20,000 per year per child in special education costs, which adds up to more than $200,000 over a student's career. If children receive intervention treatment before the age of 4, many of them go on to live productive lives comparable to those without a developmental disability. It is projected that nearly $3.2 million in social service costs per person can be saved over their lifetimes with effective early treatment.
S Sub for House Bill 2160 stipulates that coverage must be provided in a manner determined between the autism services provider and the patient. Coverage will also be subject to the same annual deductibles and coinsurance provisions as established for other physical illness benefits. Additionally, S Sub for HB 2160 requires all individual or group health insurance policies (including the State Employee Health Plan) to cover the prescription of orally administered anti-cancer medications no less favorably than intravenously administered or injected cancer medications.
Kansas is the 18th state to enact insurance reform for Autism coverage.
New safety training requirements will protect social workers
Social workers have enormously difficult and important jobs. They work directly with our state’s most troubled and disadvantaged citizens in an attempt to help them become productive members of society. This can sometimes put these workers in extremely dangerous situations.
As such, the Legislature passed H Sub for Senate Bill 25, which amends the continuing education requirements for baccalaureate, master, and specialist clinical social workers. Applicants for first-time licensure renewal would be required to have completed, as part of their continuing education requirements, no less than six hours of social worker safety awareness training.
These new requirements were enacted in response to the murder of a Johnson County mental health worker, Terri Zenner. In 2004, Terri made a regularly scheduled stop at the home of one of her clients with whom she was working to build life skills. Although it was a routine visit, the unstable patient brutally murdered Terri and stabbed his own mother when she attempted to intervene. After Terri’s death, her husband, Matt Zenner, was told by investigators that Teri could have likely avoided the life-threatening situation if she had received some type of safety training. In the six years since her murder, Matt has worked tirelessly to increase safety awareness training for social workers.
There are over 6,000 social workers licensed in Kansas. Every year, between 500 and 600 social work students graduate and enter the field. It is absolutely critical that we arm these workers with skills they need to ensure the safety of both themselves and the Kansans they are working to help. This legislation puts our state on track to ensure that no other Kansas social worker will suffer Terri’s fate.
Sex offender registry laws strengthened
To preserve and protect Kansas communities, the Kansas Legislature passed a new law requiring persons convicted of a sex crime to register as a sex offender for life.
Currently, the Kansas Offender Registration Act requires a person convicted of a sex crime to register for ten years. House Bill 2468 amends the Kansas Offender Registration Act to require a person convicted of any attempt, conspiracy, or criminal solicitation of certain sex crimes to register for life. The following sex crimes would require lifetime registration; the attempt, conspiracy, or criminal solicitation to commit aggravated trafficking, rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated criminal sodomy, promoting prostitution if the prostitute is less than 14 years of age, and sexual exploitation of a child.
Public safety is one of my top priorities in the Kansas Legislature. Sex offenders commit some of the most heinous acts in our society and their victims are often the most vulnerable members of our society. I am proud to vote for any legislation that helps keep Kansans informed about potentially dangerous individuals living in their neighborhoods.
New legislation will lie groundwork for rail service in Kansas
Many successful pieces of transportation legislation became law this year that will lay the groundwork of our state’s infrastructure for years to come. Among this legislation was Senate Bill 409, regarding the implementation of the Passenger Rail Service Program Act.
The rail service aims to connect the Amtrak service from Kansas City, to Lawrence, Topeka, Oklahoma City and then finally Fort Worth, Texas. This bill will help get the program rolling by allowing the Secretary of Transportation to begin initiating plans with Amtrak, local counties, other states involved with the line, and rail operators.
This Amtrak system should not require any immediate money from the state general fund, and actually is expected to generate revenue (as well as new jobs, tourism, and economic development projects). Rail stations and railways are already standing and can be used for this project. Few upgrades will be needed for the Amtrak system, and the upgrades would cost significantly less than upgrades to smaller sections of highways. The bill will also enable the program to become eligible for the next round of federal funding.
Fifty-five communities and their city councils have declared their public support of an inner city passenger service. Trains are 18% more efficient than airlines and 24% more efficient than driving. Energy efficiency reduces dependency on foreign oil, as well as a decrease in pollution. By allowing commuters to travel via railway, congestion on highways is also lessened, which would also lessen highway maintenance expenses.
The Kansas Department of Transportation has already started working on a feasibility study of a rail program. There will be further discussions with Amtrak in the near future to help move this project forward.
Stricter medical gas installation requirements enacted
Last year, teenager Austin Stone visited a Lawrence oral surgeon to have his wisdom teeth removed. The oral surgeon had very recently moved offices. During construction, the medical gas lines were improperly installed and the oxygen and nitrous oxide lines were crossed. Tragically, this incident resulted in serious brain damage for Austin, leaving him blind, hard of hearing, and with difficulty speaking.
H Sub for Senate Bill 449 amends existing law with regard to the repair, maintenance, or inspection of medical gas piping systems. The bill requires this work to be done by a person licensed under plumbers and plumbing in a city’s or county’s statute and is certified under the appropriate professional qualifications of ASSE Series 6000. Installers would be required to obtain a proper permit from the county or city where the medical gas installation is being done.
In addition, H Sub for Senate Bill 449 requires all inspections of medical gas piping systems to be done by a certified third party agency. All documents of the inspection would be submitted to the city or county before any occupancy of the building or unit. The bill takes effect upon its publication in the Kansas Statute Book.
Unfortunately, this legislation is one of many that passed this year after someone else’s tragedy. Hopefully it will ensure that no other Kansas patient or oral surgeon suffers the consequence of a preventable installation mistake.
Legislation will allow better tracking of domestic violence
In an effort to stomp out domestic violence in Kansas, the Legislature passed House bill 2517 to give justice system necessary tools to better track domestic violence cases. The bill was introduced in response to the 2008 murder of Lawrence resident Jana Mackey.
Currently, many crimes related to an abusive relationship (such as harassment, damage to property or disorderly conduct) aren’t classified as domestic violence. House Bill 2517 will allow judges to determine whether crimes are linked to domestic violence and then tag them accordingly onto legal documents. This tag will connect any criminal act involving an intimate or domestic relationship. It will enable better tracking of repeat offenders. This is especially important with domestic violence cases, as most offenders repeat their crimes (including Jana’s murderer). Additionally, the bill allows judges to require treatment for the offender, such as therapy. Ultimately, this legislation will help sanction domestic violence before it escalates.
Additionally, the bill clarifies several definitions in relating to domestic violence and requires the KBI to make available to the Governor’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board crime record information related to domestic violence. The Board is charged with reviewing all adult domestic violence-related fatalities in Kansas, describing trends and patterns regarding the facts and circumstances of these fatalities, recommending improvements to prevent future fatalities and determining if adequate resources and trainings are in place for those who respond to domestic violence crimes.
Jana Mackey, originally from Hays, was a 25-year-old KU law student when she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2008. Tragically, she had previously worked as a lobbyist in the State Capitol on behalf of women who were victims of domestic violence. In her wake, Jana’s parents have carried on her passion for fighting domestic violence through the creation of “Jana's Campaign to Stop Domestic Violence.” The campaign's goal is to promote new and effective legislation to protect victims of domestic violence. Her mother, Christie, was in the House gallery when the bill came to the floor.
Stricter penalties will help deter driving under the influence
The Kansas House signed off on a bill this session that establishes stricter penalties for driving under the influence. Senate Bill 368 will amend current law for third and fourth or subsequent DUI convictions.
Under this legislation, third-time DUI offenders must serve a term of 72 consecutive hours in jail before the offender is eligible to participate in a work release program (current law requires a term of 48 consecutive hours). For a fourth or subsequent DUI conviction, incarceration in jail would increase from 90 days to one year or 180 days to one year. The term of incarceration that must be served prior to work release would increase from 72 to 144 consecutive hours.
Main opponents of the legislation felt that it did not do enough to deter first-time offenses. The House's initial proposal would have required first-time offenders to drive with ignition interlock devices for a year. Interlock devices won't allow the car to start if the driver's blood alcohol level is half the legal limit or greater. The driver's levels also are randomly tested while the car is moving. Many argued that tougher sanctions on first-time offenses would then cut down on second offenses.
While I agree that we must do all we can to keep drunken drivers off the road, Senate Bill 368 was never intended to be a long-term solution to problems associated with Kansas DUI laws. Ultimately, this bill is a “temporary compromise.” Most agree that our state’s DUI laws are in dire need of reform. This is why the Kansas DUI Commission was created last year to study issues surrounding our DUI laws and to make recommendations for improvement. Although most of us agreed that we should do more to deter first-time offenses, this legislation the most feasible proposal until the DUI Commission submits its official recommendations in 2011.
Brown v. Board to be commemorated in mural at Kansas Capitol
In an effort to honor one of the most local and historic Supreme Court cases in United States history, the Legislature will transform an empty wall in the Statehouse into a mural commemorating the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka court case.
Plans for the mural will be developed by the newly-created Capital Preservation Committee. The 12-member committee is responsible for approving all artistic displays proposed for the capital and ensuring that they are historically accurate. The proposed Brown v. Board mural is to be the committee’s first priority.
In May 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by declaring that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities.
In the Court’s unanimous decision, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote,
“It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”
Brown v. Board of Education initiated educational and social reform throughout the United States, paved the way for the modern Civil Rights Movement, and laid the foundation for international policies regarding human rights. It’s fitting that such an historic event in our state history be commemorated and forever remembered on the walls of our State Capitol Building.
Governor Mark Parkinson’s Session Wrap Up (Paraphrased)
During my 2010 State of the State Address, I told the Kansas Legislature that this year presented an historic opportunity. I told them that this could be a session where we not only protected what we built up over the last 150 years, but also plan for the future.
There were a lot of skeptics at the time, and rightly so. We were in the depths of the greatest recession that we’ve experienced since the Great Depression, and I think many were skeptical that we could even protect what we already had- let alone think about the future.
But on the 89th day of the legislative session, the Legislature proved me right.
Every once in awhile there is a session that is breathtaking in the accomplishments that come out of it. I personally remember one of the sessions as a legislator in 1991-1992, when Republicans and Democrats came together with a new governor (Governor Finney) and really achieved some incredible things.
When I think about this legislative session and what we’ve accomplished this year and last year and the first two years of this term, I think 2010 was that kind of session. There are four particular achievements that make me extremely proud of the work we’ve done together.
First, we protected what we have. At the State of the State, I emphasized our 150-year commitment to our elementary schools, high schools, and universities. I talked about our long-standing commitment to our safety net and how all of those were at risk because of the budget cuts that the Legislature and I had already imposed. I challenged the Legislature to draw a line in the sand and say: enough is enough. That even though states across the country are continuing to decimate these essential services , we will be a bright light in the State of Kansas and choose a different path out of this crisis.
The Legislature stepped up and did that, and I express how appreciative and grateful I am for their courage.
Now, if that’s all we had accomplished this session, it would have been enough. To protect our education system, to protect our vulnerable citizens, protect our corrections system…that is a lot. But we did more than that.
Our second major accomplishment was the passage of a new comprehensive transportation program. This program will benefit every part of this state: roads, airports, railroad lines and more will be built all over Kansas, and in the process we will employ tens and thousands of people and support the companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people.
Now, it is difficult to pass a transportation plan when revenues are good. To pass it in these types of economic times is astonishing. The credit for this goes to many people, but the effort was headed by our great Secretary of Transportation, Deb Miller. For three years, Secretary Miller has pulled volunteers across the state to lay the groundwork for this remarkable piece of legislation.
The third major accomplishment of this legislative session is the passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act. This year, Kansas joined many other states in protecting the health of nonsmokers. We didn’t do it in a way that included a lot of loopholes, that only “pretended” to protect the health of Kansans. We passed a comprehensive smoking ban that is for real.
Again, the credit belongs to a lot of people, but Secretary Rod Bremby at the Department of Health and Environment led the way, along with volunteer groups and health groups across the state.
The fourth accomplishment of this Legislature hasn’t been talked about in the press much and is a bit complicated to explain. But the fourth major accomplishment of the session is the improvement of nursing home care across the state.
Fifteen years ago, federal government said to all the states and said to Kansas: “If you can get your nursing homes to come up with a formula that they can agree to for an assessment on their nursing homes, we will match more than that with federal dollars to improve care in your nursing homes- particularly those that take care of people who are poor.”
In Kansas, this meant that if we could reach an agreement, an extra $56 million in federal dollars would flow into our state’s 340 nursing homes. For 15 years, nursing home groups- of which there are two in Kansas- could not agree on a formula that they all agreed was fair, so our nursing homes missed out on this money while nursing homes in 36 other states were able to obtain it.
It didn’t look like we’d be able to reach an agreement again this year. But then, 12 days ago, I called the heads of the two nursing home groups into my office and I presented a compromise plan that I thought could work. We didn’t seal the deal in that discussion, but we got the lines of communication open. A few days later, our Secretary of Aging was able to close the deal that resulted in an agreement that was codified by the Legislature on the final day of the session.
As a result, Kansas will receive an extra $56 million every year to help nursing homes care for their patients. When you do the math, this means that the average Kansas nursing home will receive an extra $150,000 from the federal government. I can tell you from having worked in the industry that $150,000 is a significant amount of money for a nursing home. It means that the institutions that take care of the poorest people in Kansas- people who have run out of money and are on Medicaid- will be able to hire more staff, improve the quality of food, and generally increase the quality of life for its patients. It is yet another accomplishment of the session and I believe it should be noted.
I’d also like to discuss the Trifecta of bills that made these accomplishments possible.
When we look at legislative activity, we tend to look at one bill at a time. That certainly makes sense, but I knew when we prepared strategy for this session that in order to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish, we really needed three different pieces of legislation. The failure of any of the three would have devastated the entire plan. Those three pieces of legislation were the budget, the revenue package, and the transportation plan. The only way to fairly evaluate any of them is to evaluate all three of them together.
What I want to talk about is the 64 members of the House and the 23 members of the Senate who had the courage to vote for all of these bills, including the revenue plan to pay for them. I want to talk about what those 64 and 23 legislators have provided to the State of Kansas.
When you look at them collectively, this is what they provided:
First: They have produced the biggest “jobs” bill that I have ever seen pass the Kansas Legislature. By funding what we already have, we are preventing the immediate layoff of hundreds if not thousands of teachers, public safety officers, nurses, and other state employees who provide our safety. Unlike other states, where these people are receiving pink slips- where teachers are being laid off, police officers are being let go, and nurses are being fired- we decided to protect these critical jobs.
Although economists tell us that the final leg of this economic downturn will involve layoffs of these critical employees, we’re not doing that in Kansas. By voting “yes” for the revenue package, they protected these jobs.
But they did more than that.
By voting for both the transportation plan and the revenue to pay for it, these legislators have created tens of thousands of new jobs. They have also ensured support of the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people who work for local suppliers of these construction projects.
Make no mistake about it, the people who voted for the revenue package were voting to protect and create jobs. The people who voted against the revenue package did just the opposite.
The second thing these legislators accomplished by voting for this Trifecta of bills is protect what we have, which is what I talked about at the beginning of my remarks. These legislators protected our schools, our public safety, our state’s safety net- all the things that enable state government to do its job, which is to protect our future.
The third accomplishment they achieved by voting for this Trifecta of bills was they cut taxes for the poorest of the poor in our society.
In order to make the sales tax provision fairer to people who are poor, we expanded the earned income tax credit, a tax credit that is claimed by 200,000 taxpayers in this state and affects 600,000 Kansans when you factor in their families. The legislators who voted for the revenue plan made that possible. They also expanded sales tax rebate on food, which will benefit an additional 37,000 people.
When you look at these three bills together, the folks who voted for this voted for a jobs bill, they protected our state’s most critical investments, and they cut taxes for our poorest citizens who are struggling the most during this difficult economic time.
One of the things that is unfortunate about current American politics is that the pros and cons of every piece of legislation are dramatically overstated, but the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Unfortunately during the revenue debate, there were constant predictions on the floor of the house that if we passed this one penny, three-year sales tax increase, the Kansas economy will be in serious trouble, that Armageddon will happen, that the state will end, and we won’t be able to move forward.
I think the best way to evaluate this is to look at relative size of revenue compared to Kansas economy. The Kansas economy has a GDP of $150 billion. To contend that a $300 million revenue package in an economy of $150 billion is going to topple that economy is a gross exaggeration.
Another way to evaluate it is to look at the past. The best way to predict the future is to look at the past.
In 2002 we faced a similar economic time, coming out of a recession even though revenues were still lagging. So, Graves orchestrated a sales tax increase in 2002. One thing that is interesting is to look at who voted for that sales tax increase. It includes Speaker Mike O’Neal. It includes Majority Leader Ray Merrick. It includes 11 other Republicans who voted against the sales tax increase two days ago and who have also argued that if you increase sales tax, you ruin the economy.
The other thing that is interesting to look at is what happened to Kansas economy after that sales tax passed. Guess what happened? The world didn’t end. We didn’t lose jobs, we grew jobs. The sales tax increase went into effect in 2003. By 2004 the economy grew 11,000 jobs. In 2005 we grew jobs by 8000, followed by 21,000 new jobs in 2006. In the three years after we passed the Merrick/O’Neal sales tax increase in 2002, the Kansas economy grew 40,000 jobs.
What I say to Kansans is this: In the coming weeks and months, you will see fliers and advertisements from special interest groups who will contend that these 64 members in the House and the 23 members in the Senate (who in reality did tremendous work on behalf of the state) have wrecked the Kansas economy. Please, keep it in perspective. Look at the numbers, look at history. Please realize that the economy will be just fine, and we have these 64 representatives and 23 senators to thank for it.
Before I close, I want to thank two groups of people. First, I think Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Any of my accomplishments have been because of her. Her team made all this possible.
Second, I want to thank the Legislature. I think that it is remarkable how civil and kind the Legislature has been to me- members of both parties. When you look at what is happening in Washington, D.C., people issue press releases every day attacking each other. That has really never happened to me throughout my time as Governor. The civility has been amazing. The opportunity to work with Senator Morris, Senator Hensley, and Representative Davis to assemble a plan to work through this very difficult time has been great. These are three terrific leaders that Kansas is very lucky to have.
And so, I say to the Tea Partiers, to the people with the signs and megaphones: you should set those down for just a little bit and look what has happened here this year. I understand why you’re mad, but you shouldn’t be mad at Kansas. What we did this year was remarkable. We set aside party interests, we cut our own salaries to set an example, we stood up to special interest groups, we proved that the little guy can win, we passed a budget that protects what we have, we prepared for the future, and I really am just so honored to have been a part of it.