The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

The Kansas Legislature has reached the halfway point in the 2009 session, and area lawmakers are looking ahead to the next phase.

At the top of the list is the federal stimulus package that was passed in Washington and how it will affect the state’s budget for 2010 and 2011.

The federal stimulus bill will provide about $1.7 billion for the state for the next two years, and legislators are trying to decide how best to spend the money.

Sen. Jim Barnett said the spending package is complex.

“Our researchers are still sifting through the bill,” Barnett said.

Rep. Don Hill said the details of the bill are becoming clearer, and the money will help create jobs and provide breathing room for the next two years’ budgets.

“The stimulus package will provide very meaningful enhancement for Kansas,” Hill said.

Part of the stimulus will go toward completing a 10-year transportation plan that has been in the works for some time.

“The transportation plan is already programmed, designed, ready to have bids and commence work on,” Hill said. “That’s very positive. It creates jobs immediately, it’s a capital investment that we’ll benefit from for literally decades.”

There will also be money for school districts, Hill said, which will help with the shortfalls in school budgets left because of the state’s budget deficits.

Hill said the largest dollar amount of the stimulus money will be going to provide Medicaid relief.

“That will be a quantifiable, direct benefit to our budget shortfall in 2010 and 2011,” Hill said. He expects health care assistance to amount to $300 to $400 million over the next two years.

In other House business, Rep. Peggy Mast said she is not pleased that HB 2027 did not make it out of the House Utility Committee. The bill was designed to bring the oversight of the Kansas Corporation Commission to a utility company in Americus that many think is charging unfairly high rates to its customers.

“I’d like to thank everyone who gave support for this bill,” Mast said in an e-mail, “and rest assured I’m not giving up on it.”

Mast said she will try to attach the bill as an amendment to an existing bill, and asks supporters for help by writing to Peggy.Mast@house.ks.gov.

In other Senate business, Sen. Barnett said he is pleased that the Autism Task Force has been renewed for the coming year.

“There are great needs in the state as far as diagnosis and treatment for autism,” Barnett said, “so that is a bill that stands out in my mind.”

Barnett also is pleased with the Senate’s passage of a bill that will increase the teaching of financial literacy in schools.

“I spoke last year at ESU to a group of students,” Barnett said, “and they thought we should be doing more for financial literacy.”

The Senate also passed a bill increasing the minimum wage in Kansas from $2.65 an hour to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour.

“It’s a significant piece of legislation,” Barnett said, “particularly when you look at how low Kansas been at $2.65 an hour.”