Good morning everyone:
Lots going on in Kansas politics but much of it not necessarily centered on the Kansas Capitol.
Yes, we have the ongoing dispute over corrections funding. The state Finance Council gave Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration some of what it wanted, but not all. Sort of like the Rolling Stones song.
Former Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins has come out in support of Republican Sara Weir, who is seriously weighing a bid for Congress in the Kansas 3rd District.
Senate Republicans say there is a reluctance to confirm Gov. Laura Kelly’s nominee for corrections secretary.
House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins challenged Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration for what he said was an attempt to get around welfare work requirements imposed by the Legislature.
And the state approved paying out about $600,000 in legal settlements, including one over a traffic fatality resulting from a police chase involving the Highway Patrol.
Now onto other news you need to know but may have missed.
Farming outlook dims
In the era of trade wars and tariffs, the outlook for farmers has dipped to its lowest levels in nearly three years, a new survey shows.
The latest Ag Economy Barometer produced by Purdue University reports that producer sentiment dropped 14 points in May from a month earlier and was at its lowest point since October 2016.
The survey of 400 producers nationally, including Kansas, is similar to the consumer sentiment survey done at the University of Michigan.
The Purdue study covers farms with gross revenues of more than $500,000.
The study has a baseline index of 100. Anything above 100 is generally more positive. Anything below 100 is tends to be more negative. In the latest survey, the outlook was at 101, down from its peak of about 150 in early 2017 and 115 in April.
“The sentiment decline was again driven by producers’ weakening perceptions of both current economic conditions and expectations for the future,” researchers said in their report released last week.
Farming sentiment for current economic conditions was at 84 last month, a decline of 15 points from April. Sentiment was at 108 for future expectations, also down 15 points.
Michael Langemeier, an agriculture economist at Purdue, noted the difference between the current and long-term outlooks.
“What that tells us is that even though farmers are pretty pessimistic about where 2019 might be heading, they were pretty optimistic about where we might be heading down the road five years from now,” Langemeier said in an interview.
“That has huge implications about land values,” he said. “If they’re fairly optimistic that we’re going to enter some kind of recovery and things are going to improve, that means land values are probably going to stay steady or increase slightly.”
What’s more interesting is how famers view President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
Sixty-five percent of farmers said they believed the trade war with China will be resolved in favor of U.S. agriculture.
Thirty percent said they didn’t think the trade dispute would help U.S. farms. Five percent didn’t have an opinion.
However, the percentage of farms that thought they would benefit from the trade war was down from 77% in March and 71% in April.
Here’s a video from researchers at Purdue explaining the results from their latest study:
Itemizations plunge
As predicted, the number of Kansans itemizing on their taxes dropped precipitously with new changes in the federal tax code.
The Department of Revenue reports that 96,328 itemized on their returns through the end of May, down from 169,347 a year earlier.
Overall, 8.4% of taxpayers itemized on their returns this year, compared to 15.2% last year.
Kansas taxpayers cannot itemize on their state returns if they take the federal standard deduction, which was raised to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples.
The state standard deduction is $3,000 for individuals and $7,500 for married couples.
Experts predicted that fewer Kansans would itemize because the federal deduction is relatively lucrative, especially when compared to the Kansas standard deduction.
The governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed Kansans to itemize regardless of what they did on the federal return.
Democrat lawmakers said they could have supported the itemizations, but they were wrapped into a bill that included a provision that would not have taxed income on foreign earnings and profits from domestic companies between 1986 and 2018.
Other tax facts from the Department of Revenue through the end of May:
The average balance due for tax year 2018 through May was $1,328, compared to $987 for 2017.
The average refund was $433 for 2018 compared to $404 for 2017.
Missouri passes border war bill
We don’t usually pay a lot of attention to what happens in Missouri, but here’s some news that you will find very relevant.
The Missouri General Assembly this year passed a bill barring the state from extending tax breaks to businesses relocating to Missouri border counties from Kansas border counties. The bill passed on the last day of the Missouri General Assembly regular session.
The bill specifically identifies the Kansas border counties as Johnson, Wyandotte and Miami. The Missouri side doesn’t mention specific counties but defines them as meeting certain population sizes.
The bill is intended to bring an end to businesses hopscotching back and forth across the state line with tax incentives.
Estimates indicate that Kansas and Missouri have spent more than $300 million during the last decade luring businesses back and forth across the state line.
The bill, sent to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson for his signature, has a significant caveat.
It depends on Kansas taking similar action, mostly likely through an administrative directive issued by Gov. Laura Kelly.
The law would expire Aug. 28, 2021, unless provisions of the border war truce are in effect.
Missouri passed a law in 2014 that prohibited the use of state incentives to attract businesses from Douglas, Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte counties.
However, Kansas was required to enact similar legislation promising not to recruit businesses from Missouri border counties. Kansas later rejected the plan.
Wind news
A story out of the Wichita Eagle on Sunday morning details another effort to limit wind power.
This time it’s in Sedgwick County, where the planning commission approved a new regulation that would ban wind farms.
The Eagle reports that no one has sought a permit for a wind farm in Sedgwick County, but several property owners just outside of Wichita have leased land for wind development.
The Eagle reports the ban was backed by residents who, among other things, complained about the wind farms’ flashing lights and the shadows created by turbines flickering in the sun.
Sedgwick County placed a moratorium on wind farms in February.
House candidate files for community college board
Kansas House candidate Laura Smith-Everett has filed to run for the at-large position on the Johnson County Community College Board of Trustees.
The Democrat filed to run for the board just a couple weeks after filing for the House District 17 seat now represented by Tom Cox.
The filing was probably of keen interest to Jo Ella Hoye, who filed to run for the House District 17 seat as well, setting up a primary with Smith-Everett.
Last year, Smith-Everett mounted a vigorous campaign against Cox but came up 330 votes short. Cox, a Republican, has filed to run for the state Senate in 2020.
We’re not sure what Smith-Everett is planning. We tried to reach out via email and did not hear back.
Kobach news
Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was back in the news last week, this time over his refusal to answer questions from Congress on orders of the White House.
At issue are 15 questions Kobach refused to answer about communications he had with the White House about adding a citizenship question to the census.
Congressional Democrats contend that the White House is interfering in an effort to keep Kobach from cooperating with the investigation by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Here’s the coverage from last week, starting with the Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, CNN and National Public Radio.
Congressional hearing on USDA relocation
Kansas and Missouri both are anxiously awaiting an upcoming decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to relocate its research divisions out of Washington to one of several possible locations across the nation.
Local officials are eager to bring the department’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the KC area. However, the issue isn’t without naysayers.
Last week, a U.S. House Agriculture subcommittee held a hearing on the move, and some were still skeptical.
Subcommittee chair Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands was among the doubters.
“The decision to relocate ERS and NIFA lacks transparency and is not supported by an overwhelming majority of stakeholders who partner with the agencies,” she said in her prepared remarks.
“Any reforms to USDA’s research agencies must have clear benefits to ag research and be conducted in a transparent manner. Secretary Perdue’s proposal lacks both,” she said.
Here is other testimony from the hearing last week:
- An Indiana farmer testifies about why the research arms should not be relocated from Washington, D.C.
- William Tracy, an agronomy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, testifies how the relocation will hurt the country’s capacity for agricultural research.
- Jack Payne, the University of Florida’s senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, also expresses concern about moving USDA’s research arms out of Washington.
Or if you want to watch the hearing to get a full scope of the pros and cons, here it is. It’s about 40 minutes.
Nevertheless, the congressional delegations from Kansas and Missouri are pushing to bring the facilities to Kansas City.
Here’s a story from the KC Star that looks at the possible move through the lens of local representation.
In recent weeks, there have been questions about whether moving the research divisions out of Washington is going to hurt their effectiveness.
Additionally, agency employees say the move is driven by an effort to ostracize researchers who have challenged President Donald Trump’s policies on taxes, climate change and the farm economy.
And researchers are leaving the agency in droves.
Yoder’s new client
Politico reports that former Congressman Kevin Yoder has a new client at the Washington lobbying firm Hobart Hallaway Quayle.
It reports that Yoder is representing American Alliance for Economic Development, a group that is pushing to reform the EB-5 visa program.
Created in 1990, the visa program gives green cards to anyone investing a half-million dollars in a business that creates or saves at least 10 jobs.
The group describes itself on its website as the “voice of the EB-5 investor community and the leading advocate for a meaningful policy agenda before key policy stakeholders in Washington.”
“Yoder worked on a bill that would have made some of the changes the coalition is now seeking,” Politico reported.
Rep. Highland on the issues
Emporia’s KVOE radio has this interview with Republican state Rep. Ron Highland where he talks about Medicaid expansion and taxes, among other things.
Sports wagering update
Admittedly this is getting to be a weekly feature, but there’s a lot developing on this front even if it’s not in Kansas.
Here’s what sports wagering may look like in Illinois now that it has been appoved by lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Indiana will start accepting applications on July 1 for sports wagering from casinos, horse-racing casinos and off-track betting facilities, the Indianapolis Star reports.
The New York Gaming Commission is set to vote on rules next week that would regulate sports betting in the state.
What’s noteworthy is that New York doesn’t plan to allow bets on mobile devices or anyone to wager on events that include a college team from New York. Bets also could not be placed on events in New York that include a college team.
Here and there
The lobbying firm of Braden Heidner Lowe & Associates announced two new hires last week.
Travis Grauerholz, Senate Majority Leader’s Jim Denning’s director of policy and communications, is joining the firm as director of government relations and association management.
Grauerholz, who just completed his sixth legislative session, will work with the firm’s government affairs clients and help manage several nonprofit associations.
Grauerholz, who graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in business administration and marketing, also worked as legislative director for former House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey.
The firm also announced the hiring of Blake Murray as government relations and association management manager.
Murray, who started work in BHL’s Topeka office last December, will work with the firm’s clients from its Jefferson City office in Missouri.
Murray is a recent graduate of Washburn University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science with a certificate in nonprofit management.
During the 2018 legislative session, Murray interned for Democratic state Rep.
Jim Gartner and previously served as an intern for several years with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
“Our team could not be more excited about the addition of Travis and Blake to our staff,” Sandy Braden said.
“Both have unique skill sets that allow them to work effectively in multiple areas of government affairs and association management that make them assets to our clients.”
***
Jeanny Sharp will be leaving the Department of Corrections this week for the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Sharp will become the comms director at KDOT, which will almost assuredly be not as busy as corrections. She starts her new transportation gig Wednesday.
She worked as the editor and publisher of the Ottawa Herald from 2000 to 2016 before joining the Hutchinson News as its marketing solutions director.
She worked as associate publisher and advertising sales director for the Emporia Gazette from 2018 to 2019 before joining the Department of Corrections.
She has a master’s in business administration from Ottawa University and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Kansas.
***
The Kansas Supreme Court last week named District Judge Grant Bannister as chief judge of the 21st Judicial District starting June 16.
Bannister will succeed Judge Meryl Wilson, who will retire June 16. Bannister will serve as chief judge until the end of this year.
“We are glad that Judge Bannister has agreed to serve as chief judge, providing continuity in capable leadership in the 21st Judicial District,” said Lawton Nuss, chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Former Gov. Sam Brownback appointed Bannister to the bench as a district judge for the 21st Judicial District in September 2016. The 21st Judicial District covers Clay and Riley counties.
He received a bachlor’s degree from Fort Hays State University. He later received his law degree from the University of Kansas.
Bannister was an attorney with Knopp & Bannister before Brownback appointed him as a judge.
***
Gov. Laura Kelly last week appointed Marshall County Attorney Laura Johnson-McNish to fill the term of retiring Magistrate Judge Roy Roper in the 22nd District.
Johnson-McNish has spent the last eight years as the Marshall County Attorney, where she prosecuted criminal, traffic and child-in-need-of-care cases.
She was initially appointed county attorney in 2010 to fill an unexpired term. Since then, she’s been elected to the office twice.
Before working for Marshall County, Johnson-McNish was a deputy director of the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Division of Property Valuation.
She graduated from Washburn University in 1983 and earned her law degree from Washburn University School of Law in 1991.
***
Gov. Laura Kelly last week named Shelly Buhler to the Washburn University Board of Regents.
Previously, Buhler was a Shawnee County commissioner.
Buhler also recently served as mayor of Rossville and is currently president of Hayden Catholic High School.
There are nine seats on the Washburn board, three of which are appointed by the governor.
***
Shawnee County District Judge Mark Braun will retire July 12 after serving 13 years on the bench.
Braun became a judge in 2006 and served in Division 15 of the 3rd Judicial District.
“I am proud and honored to have served the people of Kansas for the last 33 years,” Braun said in a statement.
“I have appreciated working with good, earnest, hardworking public employees at all levels throughout this state,” he said.
Braun graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1986.
He worked 20 years as a lawyer in public service: as an assistant county attorney in Reno County; an assistant attorney general in the consumer protection and litigation divisions under Attorneys General Robert Stephan and Carla Stovall; and as attorney for Kansas Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs.
Braun also was an adjunct professor in Washburn’s criminal justice and legal studies program for 25 years. He served three terms on the Topeka Public Schools board of education.
