School aid targeted to fund courts

Posted on 6 Feb 2010 at 12:07am

TOPEKA — An effort to keep furloughs from shutting down Kansas courts for several extra weeks in the spring got tangled up Friday in some legislators' frustration with school districts seeking to reopen an education funding lawsuit.Legislators appear to agree that they should add $5 million to the court system's budget to reduce a funding shortfall and limit the number of days workers are furloughed. Without the extra money, the courts could close up to 24 extra days between March and mid-J...

Kansas House speaker criticized over role in lawsuit against state

Posted on 6 Feb 2010 at 2:04am

TOPEKA — A Democratic legislator called Friday for Kansas' Republican House speaker to step down because he is representing businesses, trade groups and insurance funds in a lawsuit against the state.State Rep. Marti Crow said Speaker Mike O'Neal has a conflict of interest on legislation affecting any of his 17 clients in the lawsuit. Both Crow and O'Neal are attorneys."He has created a situation where he can't lead this body," Crow, of Leavenworth, told the Associated Press. "I don't know h...

House bill cuts lawmakers' pay

Posted on 5 Feb 2010 at 12:08am

TOPEKA — A Kansas House committee endorsed a deficit-reduction bill Thursday that cuts legislators' pay but still doesn't balance the state's current budget.The measure endorsed by the Appropriations Committee on a voice vote makes $91 million in budget adjustments. Most of the changes ratify actions Gov. Mark Parkinson took in November in hope of avoiding a deficit when the fiscal year ends June 30.But the state has collected even less tax revenue than it expected since then. Legislative re...

Kansas Gov. Parkinson vows to veto House smoking bill

Posted on 5 Feb 2010 at 2:34pm

Gov. Mark Parkinson on Friday said he would veto a House bill that would establish a statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places but allow numerous exemptions.

Gov: House smoking bill a 'fraud'

Posted on 5 Feb 2010 at 4:35pm

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson says a new bill being touted as a compromise on smoking in public places is a fraud.read more

Court funding hits snag

Posted on 5 Feb 2010 at 6:41pm

An effort to keep furloughs from shutting down Kansas courts for several extra weeks in the spring got tangled up Friday in some legislators' frustration with school districts seeking to reopen an education funding lawsuit.read more

House panel pares $91M in budget

Posted on 4 Feb 2010 at 8:07pm

A Kansas House committee endorsed a deficit-reduction bill Thursday that cuts legislators' pay but still doesn't balance the state's current budget.read more

Bill would legalize medicinal marijuana

Posted on 4 Feb 2010 at 12:05am

The peaceful plains of Kansas wouldn't seem to be fertile ground for medical marijuana.After all, Kansas was the first to embrace Prohibition, and one of the last to end it. Even today, full-strength beer on a grocery store shelf? Heaven forbid.Yet in the same week state lawmakers voted to make Kansas the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, a Wichita legislator introduced a bill to legalize marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

Aid delay prompts call for cuts

Posted on 2 Feb 2010 at 12:06am

TOPEKA — The state delayed paying some promised aid to public schools for a fourth straight month on Monday, leading a key legislator to call for fresh cuts in the state budget.House Appropriations Committee Chairman Kevin Yoder said he worries the state is headed again toward a deficit on June 30, the end of its current fiscal year. He said continued delays in payments to Kansas' 295 school districts are a sign of trouble.Budget Director Duane Goossen confirmed that the state made only half...

Parents seek safer child care

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 4:23pm

On her first day at a new day care last year, 18-month-old Ava Patrick strangled to death on a fence separating babies and toddlers at an Olathe home day care.read more

Legislator says Kansas' budget needs further cuts

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 11:55am

A key Kansas legislator says the state's cash crunch shows its current budget needs to be trimmed more.

Brunk offers budget reform

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 1:38pm

A House member proposed Monday a sweeping budget reform proposal that would require an amendment to the state constitution.read more

Lawmakers see savings in consolidation of local governments

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 12:00am

There are nearly 4,000 government units strewn across the state, directing everything from counties, cities, schools, townships, cemeteries and drainage systems. But amid the current budget crisis, legislators are warming to the idea of consolidation as a way to save some money.

Parents of domestic violence victim Jana Mackey testify before Legislatu...

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 4:08pm

The parents of Jana Mackey, who was slain in Lawrence in 2008 by her former boyfriend, urged legislators on Monday to approve a bill that would expand the definition of domestic violence and identify offenders earlier.

Gaffe depletes water legal fund

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 11:51am

Kansas lawmakers accidentally spent $17 million set aside to finance litigation aimed at forcing Colorado and Nebraska to abide by water compacts, state officials said Monday.read more

School aid payments delayed

Posted on 1 Feb 2010 at 11:23am

A cash crunch has forced Kansas to delay some aid payments to its public schools for the fourth consecutive month.read more

Pay raises unlikely for state workers

Posted on 30 Jan 2010 at 12:06am

TOPEKA — State employees shouldn't expect bigger paychecks this year, Republican legislative leaders told a group of businesspeople Friday."It would be highly unlikely that there will be pay increases," Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, said at the Kansas Chamber's Legislative and Congressional Summit.Emler, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, spoke along with House Appropriation Committee Chairman Kevin Yoder of Overland Park, Senate President Stephen Morris of Hugoton and House Speak...

Death penalty bill goes to Senate

Posted on 30 Jan 2010 at 12:06am

TOPEKA — The full Senate will have the chance to debate the death penalty after a panel endorsed a bill abolishing capital punishment in Kansas.The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 to move along Senate Bill 375 on Friday.It would eliminate the state's 1994 death penalty law and would replace the crime of capital murder with aggravated murder, punishable by life in prison without parole.