Lawmakers speculate on today’s message
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:30 p.m., January 14, 2008
Updated 01:30 p.m., January 14, 2008
Kansas legislators don’t get an advance copy of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ State of the State speech. Until she delivers it at 7 o’clock tonight at the Capitol, they can only speculate on what she’ll talk about.
Knowing the governor’s agenda, and knowing what’s on tap for the new legislative session that began today, naturally they can offer some educated guesses. And “educated” seems to be an appropriate word, as local legislators are certain Sebelius will have plenty to say about education in the state.
Emporia’s legislators — Sen. Jim Barnett, Rep. Don Hill and Rep. Peggy Mast — all see education as one of the key issues of this session. Barnett said he anticipates Sebelius will focus on early childhood education, an area in which he believes he has similar views as his former opponent in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
“That’s been a thrust of the governor’s recent discussion,” Barnett said.
Energy policy is another theme all three expect Sebelius to touch on.
“I would say she’s probably going to talk about renewable energy, pressing the wind energy,” Mast said. “She’s probably going to talk about early childhood development, more funding into preteen programs, prekindergarten programs. Maybe her health initiative, which is something she’s been pushing for three years, which is similar to (Hillary Clinton)’s health initiative.”
Hill agreed Sebelius would talk about energy policy and education, as well as health care and the economy. But he said that historically, the governor’s address doesn’t have a lot of specifics.
“The State of the State is the big picture, the generalities,” he said. “It’s sort of a thematic approach, long on style and pretty short on real substance. And that’s what I would expect will continue to be the case.”
The specifics, of course, are something legislators will have a large hand in tackling after Sebelius delivers her address. In Hill’s opinion, education, health care and economic development are “easily the three” big issues of this session, but he anticipates a crowded agenda.
On the education issue, Barnett said he will be working toward the formation of a multi-year funding plan for grades K-12.
“I think we would save money by regularly planning for increased funding, rather than ending in court,” Barnett said, referring to the Schools For Fair Funding lawsuit filed back in 1999. In January 2005, the Kansas Supreme Court responded to the suit with a ruling that resulted in an $800 million increase in K-12 funding.
Barnett said that lawsuit will always be a factor in state discussions about education funding. Having served as both a school board member and as a legislator and gubernatorial candidate, Barnett said he’s seen the education funding issue from both sides and doesn’t want to see another lawsuit again.
“I believe that the most important job for the state is to fund education,” he said. “And I think that if other legislators feel the same way, then we should commit to a multi-year plan.”
Hill said it was important to make a commitment to funding for K-12. He also mentioned the importance of getting Emporia State University the resources it needs to help its math and science teachers enhance their preparation.
“That’s a huge need, and it’s going to become even more critical because of current (teacher) shortages and shortages that are projected to be substantially growing over the next five years,” he said. “So that’s Emporia State’s first priority. It’s going to be competitive as far as a lot of worthwhile (Kansas Regents) programs competing for limited resources.”
For Mast, energy is one particular concern. She has served on the utilities committee for four years, and in that time, she has formed a favorable opinion of nuclear energy, which she feels is cleaner and more efficient than wind energy.
But Mast is disappointed that Kansas doesn’t appear to be moving forward to embrace nuclear energy when other states are building nuclear plants.
“The more that I find out about it, the safer I’m convinced it is,” she said, “and it’s foolhardy to me that we really try to invest a lot of dollars in something as inefficient as wind energy, when we could be gearing up to invest in something that would last a long time and be so efficient, and so clean, and so consistent as nuclear power.”
Barnett said it’s critical that state leaders try to strike a balance between the desire for cheap energy and the need for a clean environment.
“I think nuclear energy has its role,” he said. “I would really like to see us look toward renewable sources and sources that don’t (produce) that type of waste long-term.
“I would like to see us look a lot stronger at hydrogen. I think hydrogen is one of the most exciting areas of research and development, because when you burn hydrogen ... what you get is water.”
As the chairman of the Senate’s Public Health and Welfare committee, Barnett is one of a number of legislators who would like to see Kansas enact a public smoking ban.
“I think the time has come for a statewide ban for public areas,” Barnett said, “and I believe the ban should be equal and uniform across the state.”
He said it was interesting that other countries, including France and Italy, had gone to public smoking bans. Barnett feels there’s broad public support for such a ban in Kansas but knows getting it passed is going to be difficult.
“It would be a challenge,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, and I’ve certainly offered my willingness to work with the governor and other legislators, both Republicans and Democrat, to advance the issue.”
As a health care professional like Barnett, Hill also would like to see a statewide smoking ban.
“That’s my professional bias, it’s my personal bias,” he said. “The difficulty, of course, is philosophically, what role does government legitimately have in creating mandates? And that’s a question that I will evaluate some more.”
One less weighty issue that Mast may tackle early in the new session is the state’s stance on profanity in rap music. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that after legislators began the new session today, Mast planned to introduce a resolution condemning gangsta rap at the urging of Sonny Scroggins, a Topeka activist who says he is tired of hearing profanity in that music.
“It’s just that we can send a message that this is not something that Kansas approves of or welcomes,” Mast recently told the AP.
Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, told the AP that the RIAA knows of only one other legislative condemnation of gangsta rap, which was passed in Connecticut.