Good morning everyone:
Just one more week before we get to take a short breather from the legislative session when we reach turnaround. Last week seemed to be marked more by bills dying in committee than getting passed.
Yes, the Senate passed the Farm Bureau’s health benefit bill and the House approved $115 million for the state retirement system and sent it to the governor for her signature.
And a proposal repealing a state law governing political signs is on its way to the full House, although it nearly became a bill allowing prevailing wage.
On the other hand, we saw a bill loosening up the law for voter registration get shelved as well as another bill abolishing the death penalty.
A bill calling for an electric rate study stalled after a utility executive called it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” designed as a “crafty” way to change how Kansas electric rates are set.
Deliberations on the rate study legislation will resume after turnaround as both sides in this high-stakes debate try to work out a compromise.
And after two days of hearings and a day of discussion, the House utilities committee killed a bill putting new regulations on wind turbines, a proposal critics said would have stopped development of new wind farms.
Now onto news you may have missed but need to know from the sixth week of the 2019 legislative session.
Robocall complaints soar: Can the Legislature do anything?
Robocalls complaints are surging in Kansas, but no one is sure what can be done about resolving the problem at the Legislature.
There were 44,792 robocall complaints in Kansas during fiscal year 2018, according to the most recent data from the Federal Trade Commission.
While the number of complaints was down from 2017, it’s up 66 percent since 2014, when there were 26,944 complaints lodged.
Nationally, there’s been a similar trend with robocall complaints up 78 percent since 2014.
In Kansas, there were 27,242 complaints in 2015, 41,781 in 2016 and 55,207 in 2017, according to FTC data.
At a recent meeting of the House utilities committee, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Carter spelled out many of the hurdles that regulators face in combating robocalls.
“After-the-fact enforcement alone will never be able to solve the problem because the volume of calls is simply too large,” Carter told lawmakers.
Enforcement was stymied, she said, because technology allowed calls to be placed from anywhere in the world to Kansas.
She noted that “spoofing” — where calls can be disguised as a local number — makes it harder to crack down on illegal robocalls.
While there are several pieces of legislation that have been introduced this session to deal with robocalls, Carter said enforcement will be an issue.
“While we applaud these efforts…our ability to enforce the current law or any laws that may be enacted is limited by our ability to find the actors who are doing the calls,” Carter said.
“We would caution that the passage of additional legislation is unlikely to have a noticeable effect in reducing robocalls since in most cases these callers are already in violation of state and federal laws,” she said.
Carter said there are ongoing national efforts to fight robocalls, including a bipartisan working group started by the National Association of Attorneys General and another initiative launched by the Federal Communications Commission.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is part of the national attorneys general group working to stop or reduce robocalls.
Last year, Schmidt joined other state attorneys general to file comments with the FCC urging several regulatory changes allowing telecom companies to develop and deploy better robocall-prevention technologies.
Kelly visits Washington
A couple of dispatches this weekend about Gov. Laura Kelly’s visit to Washington and the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. Here’s some coverage from WIBW with a video interview of the governor and from the KC Star.
WIBW reports that Kelly is working on many of the same issues she’s articulated throughout her campaign for governor and her first weeks in office: education, Medicaid expansion, infrastructure and child welfare.
Davids’ campaign manager returns
Dan McNamara, the campaign manager who guided Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids to victory over Kevin Yoder last fall, is back in Johnson County looking to go two for two.
McNamara posted a tweet Friday saying he was returning to Kansas City to help elect Jan Faidley to the Roeland Park City Council.
Faidley is running against Courtney Craig to fill the unexpired term of Becky Fast, who was elected to the Johnson County Commission.
McNamara seems to be taking a working vacation of sorts.
His Twitter account indicates that he’s working to elect Democrat Alex Balkin in California’s 50th District, which is now represented by Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter.
McNamara has worked in politics nationally, including in North Carolina as political director of the North Carolina Senate Democratic Caucus and for Sean Bunny, an attorney who ran but dropped out of a congressional race in New York.
He also managed the successful campaign of a Democratic Virginia legislative candidate in 2017.
See you in a few #SD on my way back to #KC to help elect @jan66205 to Roeland Park City Council #JanForRoelandPark pic.twitter.com/ynWUMZg7rx
— Dan McNamara (@Mac_Danny_) February 22, 2019
Lieutenant governor talks health care
Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers made a stop in Emporia on Friday where he met with administrators and health care providers at Newman Regional Health. Rogers talked about the financial plight of rural hospitals and how they might benefit from expanding Medicaid. Here’s an account of the meeting from the Emporia Gazette.
Trump vs. Planned Parenthood
Social conservatives scored a win last week when President Donald Trump’s administration handed down a rule that could cut Planned Parenthood off from millions of dollars in funding.
Among other things, the rule would bar federally funded family-planning clinics from working out of the same facilities where abortions are provided. A legal challenge is expected.
Here’s coverage from Politico, Bloomberg, the Associated Press, CNN and Fox News. Here’s the Department of Health and Human Services’ news release announcing the rule change as well as the new rule.
China and soybeans
It was reported Friday that China plans to purchase an extra 10 million tons of soybeans. It should be good news in this era of trade wars. The Hutchinson News takes the temperature of Kansas farmers, who greeted the news with caution.
For what it’s worth, Bloomberg News reports that only 7.4 million tons of soybeans had been sold from the most recent harvest nationally, compared to 26 million tons from the same time a year ago.
K-State president and the cost of higher education
Kansas State University President Richard Myers last week warned that the cost of higher education was going to price students out of college.
Myers cautioned that as the state has reduced funding for higher education, state universities are compensating by raising tuition.
Here’s the story from the Topeka Capital-Journal via the Manhattan Mercury.
International students
State universities are seeing a decline in international students, and that’s affecting not only the cultural diversity on campus but also is costing the schools money, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
Overall, international students on Kansas college campuses are down about 11 percent since 2015, the newspaper reported. Here’s the newspaper’s examination of this trend in Kansas higher education.
In memoriam
Kenneth Peterson, former executive director of the Kansas Petroleum Council and press secretary to former Congressman Jim Slattery, passed away last week. He was 71.
Peterson, a former reporter at the Topeka Capital-Journal, is survived by his son, Kyle Peterson; his daughter, Erica Peterson; his companion, Elizabeth “Betty” Watson; and his former wife, Kathy Damron.
A memorial is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 3, at Dove Cremations & Funerals, Southwest Chapel, at 3700 S.W. Wannamaker in Topeka.
The family suggests that memorial contributions can be made to the Friends of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
