Good day everyone:
The legislative session is now officially over and everyone can start focusing on 2020 and the elections ahead. We’re very tired and we’re just going get to the point this morning.
Here’s a roundup of the best stories we published in the last week with a look at what you might have missed but need to know.
- The Legislature failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the tax bill.
- Republican state Sen. Ty Masterson, chair of the Truth Caucus, backed off pushing ahead with a constitutional amendment changing how Kansas Supreme Court justices are picked.
- The Senate confirmed the governor’s nominee to the Kansas Court of Appeals.
- U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran was rescued from an Arizona mountain after injuring his ankle while hiking.
- The state is moving ahead with a study of electric rates, but no one is certain of the cost. Estimates indicated it could cost $1 million, but some worry it could be more.
- The state revenue secretary says tax season would have been a disaster had the state moved ahead with software upgrades that were part of a no-bid contract awarded under former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration.
- Lots of legal sword rattling over the decision to close the Senate chamber down last week amid protests over Medicaid expansion.
Now onto other news:
Dangerous rural roads
A new study shows that Kansas has the ninth highest fatality rate on rural highways in the country.
The study by the transportation industry group TRIP shows that in 2017, there were 2.47 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in Kansas, the highest of any of the surrounding states.
For instance, the fatality rate in Missouri per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was 1.66, in Iowa it was 1.56, in Nebraska it was 1.69 and in Colorado it was 2.13. In Oklahoma, it was 2.24.
The fatality rate for noninterstate rural roads was more than twice the rate of fatal accidents on other Kansas roads, which was 0.85 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
State highway officials are examining factors that might be contributing to the state’s fatality rate on rural roads.
They’re not sure why the fatality rate is high but suggested some possibilities.
They note that Kansas has the fourth biggest road system in the country with about 142,000 miles, a large percentage of which are two-lane roads.
“We know that two-lane roads normally have fatality rates and crash rates that are higher than four-lane freeways,” said Chris Herrick, director of planning and development for the Kansas Department of Transportation.
He also said transportation planners are examining how other states might be defining “rural” and whether it’s different from how Kansas defines it.
“That is something in our conversations that has come up, and we’re checking with other states,” Herrick said. “We want to make sure it’s an apples-to-apples comparison.”
He also pointed out that $2 billion has been moved out of the state highway fund in the last decade, money that would have gone to projects with safety components.
He noted that the state delayed 21 expansion and modernization projects that would have included safety improvements such as adding shoulders or improving sight distances for drivers.
“Our safest highways are the interstates because they’re designed at the highest level,” said Steve Buckley, the state’s highway safety engineer. “As you improve each road type…the average crash rate comes down.”
The state budget includes $160 million for roads that will no longer be transferred to other parts of the state budget.
The Transportation Department plans to put about $80 million of that money into four modernization and expansion projects plus another $50 million into preservation work.
The department’s plan also calls for putting between $5 million and $10 million into a safety program.
The agency is now looking at where that money can be used to improve safety.
Engineers are looking at ways to spend money on low-cost safety improvements such as adding rumble strips or improving signage and pavement markings.
KDOT also is working with counties across the state to develop plans that would identify road safety needs that could be financed with federal safety funds.
The federal funds could be used to augment the $5 million to $10 million that the state plans to put into safety.
Kobach-affiliated group investigated
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has started an investigation into a group affiliated with former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach that is privately trying to fund the construction of a border wall.
The agency told WLRN radio in Miami that it has opened a case looking at We Build the Wall Inc., which counts Kobach as a board member. The investigation comes at a time when Kobach has been considering a bid for the U.S. Senate in Kansas next year.
WLRN notes that We Build The Wall Inc. is incorporated in Florida, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services oversees charities in that state. 
There’s also this story out of the Arizona Republic, which explains that the investigation focuses on the organization’s tax-exempt status and plans to raise more money for the border wall.
Last week, leaders from We Build the Wall showed off sections of the wall that had been constructed in Sunland Park, N.M.
The city of Sunland Park, meanwhile, tried to stop the wall because the group didn’t secure the necessary permits.
Kobach, however, told a Fox affiliate in El Paso that the problems were fixed and the project now has the city’s go-ahead to proceed.
“There is nothing in the ordinances that prohibits us building a wall, and the city of Sunland Park has come to that same conclusion. There is nothing in the ordinances that this wall violates,” Kobach told the Fox station.
Here’s move coverage of the wall project from KOAT-TV in Albuquerque.
Denning discusses Medicaid, political future
The featured guest on the latest episode of KCUR’s Statehouse Blend was Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning.
Host Jim McLean asked Denning some direct questions about the Capitol protests and claims that Kansans will die without expanding Medicaid coverage.
“That’s an emotional issue, and I don’t run on an emotion,” Denning told McLean. “All my decisions are based on good policy.”
Denning says he never intended to work on Medicaid expansion this year, saying 2020 was always his target.
He said expansion needs to be addressed carefully because “once you turn that program on, there’s no turning it off.”
McLean also asked Denning about whether he would want to be Senate president if he returns. We won’t spoil it for you. It’s a podcast worth listening to this Sunday.
Ike and Abilene
Not so much of a Kansas political story, but we love history here at the Sunflower State Journal.
As we approach the 75th anniversary of D-Day this week, try out this splendid piece from the Los Angeles Times about Abilene and its relationship with Ike, the mastermind of one of the largest military operations in history.
More nominee troubles
Gov. Laura Kelly’s new nominee for corrections secretary is already running into trouble after The Kansas City Star reported on Friday how a judge found that Jeff Zmuda provided “disingenuous” testimony in an open records lawsuit in Idaho.
The Idaho Department of Correction, where Zmuda has served as deputy director, has been mired in a lawsuit brought by a professor who studies the death penalty.
The professor asked for documents related to the drugs used in the state’s two most recent executions in 2011 and 2012 as well as future executions.
A judge ruled that Zmuda testified “disingenuously” in an affidavit for saying that “all known” documents had been located in the case. The public information officer was fined $1,000 for withholding information.
In that affidavit, Zmuda described difficulty finding documents relevant to the request, noting that they were in various offices and in the possession of various employees.
He acknowledged in the affidavit the department had “previously failed to organize documents properly.”
“We have found multiple copies of the same documents in various places. We have found many draft copies of a document that was later finalized,” he said in the affidavit.
“Following this experience, we have collected and safely stored all known documents related to the executions,” he said in the affidavit.
The judge criticized the representations in the affidavit.
“The emphasis on the word ‘known’ in a sworn affidavit filed with this Court is disingenuous since the affidavit was filed with the intent to have this court rely on its representation that IDOC had conducted an adequate search at the time it was filed,” the judge wrote.
The judge also criticized Zmuda for not turning over a corrections document requested by BuzzFeed News seeking correspondence with an India-based vendor who sells lethal drugs to prisons in the United States. The document was stored in Zmuda’s files. She called his conduct “frivolous.”
Just last week, the Idaho Department of Correction turned over six more documents related to the case and the professor’s open-records request.
During a trial on the lawsuit, Zmuda also had to defend extensively blacking out portions of the documents the professor sought.
Another story gives some insight from Zmuda about how difficult it was for the agency to collect all of the records related to the executions.
New budget projections
New budget projections show that the state will exhaust its reserves by fiscal year 2022.
The numbers produced by state fiscal analysts on Friday show that the state will have an ending balance of about $870 million at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.
The amount will drop to about $552 million in 2020 and roughly $168 million in 2021.
The latest analysis shows the state – at its current spending levels – running about $208 million in the red by 2022 and $486 million by 2023.
Lots to debate here. Just chew on those numbers this Sunday afternoon.
Brownback recognized
The Hindu American Foundation is honoring former Gov. Sam Brownback for his work as the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
The group is giving Brownback its Mahatma Gandhi Award for Advancing Pluralism, which honors individuals or institutions for promoting America’s “inclusive and pluralistic character.”
The foundation is committed to “recognizing those who work to strengthen the ideals of pluralism, tolerance and understanding.”
The foundation is honoring Brownback for advocating on behalf of Hindu minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations.
Sports wagering update
For those watching the sports wagering experience nationally, here’s a nice recap from ESPN about what we’ve learned about sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go forward nationally last year.
Also, Illinois was moving closer this weekend to authorizing sports betting as part of an expanded gambling package.
Here’s coverage from The Associated Press via WGN, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Sportshandle.com.
Escalating state health insurance costs
Gov. Laura Kelly is worried about the state’s mushrooming health insurance rates for state employees.
The Capital-Journal reports on Sunday morning that state health insurance premiums have skyrocketed after the state reduced its financial commitments to the state employee health insurance fund during former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration.
The newspaper reports that premiums ranged between 16% to 37% from 2016 to 2019 as the state’s contributions to the health insurance fund declined.
“I’m deeply troubled by what we have learned about the mismanagement of the state employee health insurance plan over the last four years,” Kelly told the Capital-Journal.
“We have been reviewing options to give state employees some relief from the year-over-year increases and will be implementing changes.”
The C-J reports that the State Employees Health Care Commission is expected to consider a cut in employee premiums on Monday.
Wrongful incarceration
The Associated Press has this piece about the number of wrongful conviction claims paid out by the state so far.
So far, the state has settled two claims, is negotiating another and fighting two others, the AP reports.
A year ago, the Legislature passed a bill providing $65,000 for each year someone wrongfully spent in jail and no less than $25,000 for each year they spent on parole or post-release supervision.
The law requires someone who believes they were wrongfully convicted to file a lawsuit challenging their conviction.
They would be entitled to damages if they show by the preponderance of the evidence that they were wrongfully convicted.
About a week ago, the attorney general’s office announced it reached an agreement to pay $1.03 million to Floyd Bledsoe, who was imprisoned after being wrongfully convicted in Jefferson County of murder, kidnapping and indecent liberties with a minor.
His conviction was vacated and charges against him were dismissed in 2015.
Soave’s legacy
Former Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave has been gone for almost two years, yet he continues to make headlines.
Last week, the Topeka Capital-Journal revealed that the former secretary quietly transferred data about Kansas companies, business leaders and economic development recruiters to his own consulting firm before leaving the agency two years ago.
Soave made the transfer despite warnings that state employees are not supposed to release data collected by the state to vendors, contractors or anyone not affiliated with the state, the Cap-Journal reported.
Of course, this came after The Kansas City Star reported back in 2017 how Soave steered state contracts as commerce secretary to his friends and business associates.
The Star’s revelation came after Soave left the agency and as he was running for Congress in the Kansas 2nd District.
Soave abandoned his congressional race after The Star published its story about the state contracts.
Another complaint lodged against Wagle
The Kansas Sunshine Coalition joined The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle in protesting the circumstances relating to the closing of the Senate chambers last week during protests over Medicaid expansion.
The coalition, whose sponsors include the Kansas Association of Broadcasters and the Kansas Press Association, filed a complaint last week over the decision to close the Senate to the public during the protest.
The complaint was filed with the attorney general’s office.
The Sunshine Coalition said Senate President Susan Wagle’s order to remove the media as they covered the protesters in the Senate violated the state constitution and the Senate’s own rules.
The Star and the Eagle focused their complaint on threats to pull the floor credentials of reporters who refused to leave the chamber so they could cover the protests.
