This is the first part of a three-part series with Emporia’s legislators speaking about the biggest issues the Kansas Legislature will be talking about during the 2012 Legislative session.
With the 2012 Kansas legislative session set to begin on Jan. 9, Rep. Don Hill of Emporia is looking ahead to a busy year.
Gov. Sam Brownback in his second year has outlined an ambitious agenda for the upcoming session in an attempt to reorganize how the state is run and to address troublesome issues. Topping the list are reforms for school finance, taxes, KPERS and Medicaid. The governor intends to present details of his agenda during his State of the State Address in January.
“Ambitious may be an understatement,” Hill said of the year ahead. “The governor has had the opportunity in his first year in office to formulate an agenda and do some significant work on developing that, so as is always the case, what he will be proposing or advancing in the way of an agenda will largely determine the direction.”
School finance reform will be one issue to top the list of initiatives, Hill said. Brownback recently released details of his ideas on how to fix the school funding formula that has been in place since 1992. The governor’s proposal includes an increase in per-student aid to school districts from $3,780 to $4,492, but it eliminates weighted enrollment for students needing intensive education. At the same time the proposed funding system would eliminate a statutory cap on the amount school districts can assess on property taxes.
“Based upon my understanding of the proposal, I have a lot of concern about impacts on districts like Emporia,” Hill said. “I’ve been in dialogue with the governor’s office,” as well as Theresa Davidson and Rob Scheib of the Emporia Public Schools.
To be constructive and proactive, Hill said, one first must understand the proposal in as much detail as possible.
“I’m still in that process,” he said. “That’s something we’ll be working on, and hopefully being sure that Emporia and districts like Emporia are dealt with in an equitable manner if in fact there is reform passed.”
Brownback also hopes to reform the state’s income tax system to make Kansas more competitive with surrounding states. The governor has made the argument that Kansas has consistently lost population to states with lower income taxes, while gaining population from states with higher income taxes.
“In the case of all of these you start with the position that the best tax is the tax that has the broadest possible base and the lowest possible rate,” Hill said. “I subscribe to that, and I also subscribe to the belief that Kansas has been really well-served by our three-legged stool: property tax, sales tax and income tax.”
That we need to be more competitive is a case that will be made and discussed in the upcoming session, he said.
The retirement system for state employees also will be a prominent issue in 2012. The KPERS system as it is now is not sustainable for a variety of reasons, Hill said.
“Three things have contributed to us falling into a situation where we have some unfunded liability in the out years,” he said. “In the system we have, the state has had to assume the market risk and there’s been a downturn in the market, and that’s not good.”
Another risk the state has had to assume is one of longevity, he said, with people living substantially longer than they did when the plan was conceived.
“So there have got to be some changes that address those concerns,” he said. “And then also importantly, the state needs to provide additional funding to help shore up the system. There have been a number of years, historically, where that’s not done enough, and we’ve fallen behind.”
Along with Medicaid reform, mental health funding and funding for the arts, Hill says there will be “a myriad of other things” legislators will be working on.
“We’ve had a lot of change in the last year and there will be more change going forward, and when that’s the case there seem to be a lot of questions,” he said. “I’ve been working on getting questions resolved.”