Good morning everyone:
It was a topsy-turvy week, marked by more news about David Toland’s controversial nomination for commerce secretary, Gov. Laura Kelly suddenly replacing the top leadership at the Kansas Highway Patrol and a Capitol protest that led to three students being banned from the building — only to have that decision later reversed. Let’s not forget Kelly’s veto of the tax bill.
We have a week left in the regular session in which lawmakers will be racing to complete a school finance plan.
The state has until April 15 to file its briefs with the state Supreme Court showing how it plans to meet a court order to fund education adequately. The Legislature wraps up its regular session this Friday, so the clock is ticking.
The House has only passed a bill with new education policy, focused heavily on accountability measures.
The House has a finance plan but left it languishing on the calendar last week as lawmakers adjourned for a four-day weekend.
Skeptics believe the House plan will not be acceptable to the court, nor do they believe it has the votes to win approval. Some have speculated the bill is five to 10 votes short in the House.
The Senate has passed a plan that many believe will pass court muster. The upcoming week should be interesting.
Toland support
More than 40 chambers of commerce and economic development organizations on Friday came out in support of David Toland’s confirmation for secretary of commerce.
Toland has been in a tough confirmation fight, driven partly by political enemies from his time running Thrive Allen County.
He even drew opposition from Kansans for Life, which opposed him because Thrive Allen County received money from a memorial fund named after late-term abortion provider George Tiller.
The money went to help less affluent women with health care needs such as smoking cessation and access to birth control.
However, Toland has enjoyed broad support from the economic development community from across the state. On Friday, they sent out a letter in show of support for Toland.
“We collectively represent more than 12,000 Kansas businesses across the state of Kansas from home-based businesses to global companies,” the letter from the eco devo community states.
“Business and workforce development statewide are priorities for our communities and we urge our senators to swiftly confirm David Toland,” the letter said.
Those familiar with the vote count believe Toland will be confirmed next week when it comes up in the Senate. And Gov. Laura Kelly has indicated she thinks he will be confirmed as well. The vote, however, is expected to be close.
Meanwhile, Kansas News Service and The Kansas City Star/Wichita Eagle dispatched reporters to Iola last week to look at what is driving the controversy behind Toland’s confirmation.
Barbering bill flap
Who would have thunk that a bill regulating the barbering business would have been so controversial. Well, it was.
The bill, among other things, would have raised the minimum age for barbers and increased the cap on fees for barbering licenses as well as the exam for a license.
In one odd twist, the bill also would have banned anyone who is not a licensed barber from displaying one of those red-white-and-blue candy cane striped polls synonymous with a barbershop.
The fine for a violation? $1,000.
At one point, the bill even sparked a debate over LGBT rights when there was an attempt to add sexual orientation to one of the protected classes spelled out in the barbering bill.
The amendment was voted down 61-58, and the bill failed to advance to final action. Here’s coverage from the Capital-Journal.
Aviation tax credits
The Capital-Journal takes a look at the prolonged debate last week over a bill creating income tax credits aimed at luring students into the aviation industry. The bill by Republican state Rep. J.R. Claeys would have created two tax credits, including one for aviation companies paying up to 50 percent of an employee’s college loan. The House passed the bill 106-18.
The goal of the legislation was to reverse a decline in aviation employment. Testimony on the bill indicated that aviation employment in the state dropped 18 percent from 2005 to 2017. Supporters hoped the bill would help Kansans pay for degrees and technical certificates needed to get jobs in aviation and aerospace.
Sharice Davids’ town hall
In case you missed it last week, here is coverage from Congresswoman Sharice Davids’ town hall last week in Olathe. Here’s coverage from the KC Star, KSHB and KCUR.
Davids followed up the town hall meeting with a video posted on Twitter answering more questions from her town hall meeting.
In the six-minute video, Davids answers questions about how she will engage with voters who didn’t support her during the last election and how she will work to cut pollution as a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
As an aside, Davids reveals she’s a fan of creamy, not chunky, peanut butter. Davids was a fan of no particular brand.
Sunday's town hall in Olathe was a great chance to speak directly with the people of #KS03 about the issues impacting our community. Since we weren't able to get to everyone's questions, I thought I'd take the opportunity to answer some now! pic.twitter.com/qRPCX2vLMX
— Rep. Sharice Davids (@RepDavids) March 29, 2019
Laura Kelly’s latest Facebook message
And speaking of videos, here’s Gov. Laura Kelly’s latest Facebook video where she too answers questions left over from her town hall meeting at Johnson County Community College. Her next town hall is set for 5:15 p.m. April 5 at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. And for what it’s worth: No signs are allowed. Now, here’s the governor’s latest message. This time, Kelly talks about education, Medicaid expansion and the budget.
Sen. John Doll’s protest
It did stand out last week when Sen. John Doll voted against Gov. Laura Kelly’s nominees Julie Lorenz for secretary of transportation and Mark Burghart for revenue secretary.
Doll, an independent, was the only senator to cast a vote against either nominee, neither of whom seemed to draw much attention. In fact, Lorenz is generally well regarded in transportation circles.
However, Doll explained to the Hutchinson News that he wants a Cabinet nominee from western Kansas.
His votes against Kelly’s nominees are just his way of sending a subtle message to the governor that he would like to see someone from western Kansas in the Cabinet.
“I want Gov. Kelly to be successful,” Doll tells the News’ Mary Clarkin. “I just want her aware that we have people in western Kansas that would be a tremendous asset to her administration.”
As an aside, Doll also offers an explanation of his “Big Lebowski” look.
Claire and Lola’s Law passes House
Lots of coverage of a bill that cleared the House letting someone with a disabling health condition use CBD oil with a low level of the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana. The House passed the legislation on a 89-35 vote.
Called Claire and Lola’s Law, the bill would bar the state from starting child removal proceedings based solely upon the parent’s or child’s possession or use of a cannabidiol treatment preparation with THC.
The bill also would provide an affirmative defense to someone prosecuted for possession of such a treatment if they have a debilitating medical condition. It also would similarly shield parents of a child with such a condition.
The bill was pushed by Gwen and Scott Hartley of Benton, the parents of two children — Claire and Lola — born with special medical needs. The Hartleys lost one of the children already and are looking for an alternative method to care for their surviving daughter.
Here’s coverage last week from the KC Star, the Capital-Journal and KWCH.
Abortion reversal
North Dakota last week became the fifth state to enact a bill that requires physicians to tell women that they can have a drug-induced abortion reversed.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation similar to what Kansas is now considering. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a sixth state — Kentucky — has passed a bill and sent it to Gov. Matt Bevin for his signature.
Kansas could be the seventh state, although Gov. Laura Kelly might be expected to veto the legislation given her strong record on abortion rights — something she campaigned on last summer during the Democratic primary.
The Kansas bill, which had widespread support, has already passed the House and is headed to the Senate.
Comparable legislation also is being considered this year in Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The census
The Hutchinson News’ Mary Clarkin previews the upcoming census count and what it means for Kansas. One year from Monday and the census count begins. Among other things, the story looks at the obstacles that make it hard to count the population in southwest Kansas.
