March 28, 2003
March 28, 2003
1. Floor Action This Week (there was a TON of action, these
are the highlights)
Budget: I do not even know where to begin. This
budget is so incredibly irresponsible on so many fronts:
education, transportation, KPERS, judiciary, balanced budget etc.
etc. I voted against the FY 04 budget, which passed on a vote of
83-42. With minimal exception, Democrats supported the Governor's
budget, so that is about 40 votes. This means that another 40 or
so Republicans also supported the budget.
Medicaid: Physician reimbursement rates are some of the
lowest in the Medicaid program, and have not been increased in 27
years. I introduced an amendment to the budget that would have
increased these rates to be equal with Medicare reimbursement
rates. Many physicians do not see Medicaid patients because the
cost of seeing these patients far outweighs the reimbursement
rates. This drives Medicaid patients to emergency rooms where
Kansas spends much greater amounts reimbursing for non-emergency
services. The bill would have cost $7.5 million, though it is
hard to calculate what the long-term savings would be.
STAR bonds (SB 235 passed 65-57): This bill provides
statewide STAR bond authority.
Sunflower plant (SB 237 passed 63-59): This was a close one
this morning! This bill enables Johnson County to create a
Redevelopment Authority to help determine the future of the Sunflower
Ammunition Plant lands. SB 237 was seen as a "Johnson County"
bill, so most folks were against it from the outset. However,
with some pleading phone calls, we were able to convince a number of
Democrats to switch their votes. As you can see from the vote
tally, it was a squeaker victory for JoCo (you must have 63 votes to
pass)!
Drug Treatment: SB 123 changes the criminal law regarding
penalties for possession of illegal drugs. This bill parallels my
education and health foci on prevention. In the case of health,
it is better to catch a disease before it develops, than attempt to
remove it or treat it at a developed stage. In education, studies
show that an overwhelming majority of felons are poorly educated or
illiterate. It is easier, and cheaper, to educate children than
pay for their incarceration and the societal harms that got them
there. Currently, 85% of non-violent felons convicted of drug
possession are sentenced to probation. Whether sent to probation
or prison, treatment to overcome drug addiction is not mandated to be
part of their sentence. I voted YES on SB 123 because it contains
a carrot - drug treatment - and a stick - prison. Under SB 123,
non-violent offenders will be sentenced to drug treatment after their
first and second convictions of drug possession. If subsequent
convictions occur, they will be sent to prison. SB 123 will help
cure addicted Kansans and will ensure repeat offenders are sent to
prison. The bill passed 74-48.
2. Committee Action This Week
A. Health
Physical Therapy Licensure: Senate Bill 225 was
substantially changed during negotiations separate from the House
Committee on Health and Human Services. The physical therapists
accepted significant compromises in the face of opposition from the
chiropractors and occupational therapists. Among other
concessions, the bill added chiropractors to the list of referring
practitioners and removed the specific examples of physical therapy
activities. My concerns with SB 225 began at a hearing of the
legislative committee of the Board of Healing Arts, when a
representative from the Cleveland College of Chiropractic included the
educational requirements for a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. It
astounded me that a student with just 90 credit hours, a 2.5 GPA, and
no college degree can attain a doctorate degree in this field - of
course this does not fit all chiropractors, but that is the minimum
requirement. This is especially troubling when schools of
physical therapy require a four-year degree for admission, and now PTs
will answer to chiropractors. Though I did support the bill, my
support was contingent on the accession of the physical therapists
(passed 107-15).
B. Commerce
No action this week. Next week we are holding hearings on
the Worker's Compensation bill that came out of the Senate. More
on that after the hearings in next week's Record.
C. Insurance
Credit scoring: Sub SB 144 would allow the Insurance
Department to regulate insurance scoring. This practice is
already occurring, and has been for a decade. This bill simply
gives the Insurance Commissioner the power to regulate it in the best
interest of the consumer. It passed out of the Insurance
Committee with an amendment that requires the Department to produce a
study in two years that shows how scoring has affected Kansas
consumers. There were a couple of floor amendments that changed
substantially the content of the bill. These amendments required
the Insurance Department to collect from insurance companies the race
and income of consumers. This is clearly outside the scope of the
department, and these amendments killed the bill in Final Action today
(57-64). I voted against the final bill because I felt these
amendments were discriminatory and an invasion of
confidentiality/privacy. However, the Senate position on the bill
(the good version that originally passed out of committee) is still
available for conference, so there is a good chance that a better bill
will come out of this situation.
SB 66: We attempted to amend this bill (would enable real
estate companies to sell title insurance) onto the credit scoring bill
Thursday afternoon. After a heated debate and challenge to the
germaneness of the amendment, the amendment failed to pass onto the
bill.
D. Ethics
No action this week.
3. EDUCATION!!!!
Finally some exciting news to report!
$27 BSAPP increase: Rep. Ed O'Malley proposed an amendment
to the FY 2004 budget bill that would have increased the Base Student
Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP). I also had amendments drafted for $27,
$50, $100, and $150 increases to the BSAPP. Rep. O'Malley was in
line before me and proposed the amendment. After much debate, the
amendment failed by a roll call vote of 45-80. He did a wonderful
job of carrying the amendment, there were good questions and a thorough
dialogue. The bill would have cost the state $15.6 million, and
thus many Democrats opposed it, trying to maintain the Governor's
proposal. Many Republicans also voted against it because it would
have necessitated a tax increase. The roll call vote is available
online in the journal from March 25th:
http://www.kslegislature.org/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi/journal/2003/hj0325.pdf
SB 22: In last week's Record, I mentioned SB 22, a bill
that would enable districts to use capital outlay funds to help defray
the increasing costs of property and casualty insurance and computer
software upgrades. THERE HAS BEEN ACTION! Pro-education
legislators supported amending the bill onto bill. After much
debate and strategizing with other areas of the state, SB 22 came to a
vote of the House. It failed 61-61. While this is a minor
procedural setback (we think the bill will be added to a conference
committee report forthcoming), it is a major philosophical victory
because we increased significantly the number of pro-education votes
for this particular issue. I hope to write back with good news -
that districts will be able to use capital outlay funds!
Rep. Faber: WHEW - that was scary! I am preparing
most of this on Thursday evening while we are on the floor hearing
debate... Just now, the House defeated an amendment by Rep. John
Faber (Northwest Kansas Rep. who intro'd a bill to spread the proceeds
of the newly-passed Johnson County sales tax across the entire
state!). Rep. Faber's amendment would have prevented any city or
state from raising a sales tax to benefit their school district.
Guess the district that he was targeting! Faber's amendment was
overwhelmingly defeated. (You can breathe now.)
4. Answer: Question of the Week:
OK, did you read the rest of the Record? I know you skipped all
of it to get to the answers to last week's Question!
The winner is Lisa Shields of Lenexa, at 6:17 p.m. on Friday. The next person in line was 58 minutes later. She quipped that this is the reward for working late on a Friday! She wins a lapel pin of the seal of Kansas.
Here are the answers, I think you will be surprised:
A. $40,624 7 votes
What's this? This amount is the median income in
Kansas.
B. $61,455 2 votes
What's this? This amount is the median income in Johnson
County.
C. $20,138 9 votes
What's this? CORRECT ANSWER In addition to salary,
this amount includes funds for expenses such as lodging and food.
I do live in Topeka from Monday through Friday during the
session. My first year of lobbying, I did drive back and forth
every day, put 30,000 miles on my car and nearly drove myself
insane! A representative is to report to Topeka when the
legislature is in session, basically Monday through Friday from January
to April, and again for veto session in May. The rest of
the year, there are interim committees, public forums, town hall
meetings, constituent mail and phone calls, and a variety of
events one attends.
D. $136,700 1 vote
What's this? This amount is the pre-tax salary for the U.S.
Senate and House of Representatives.
5. Question of the Week
When one is elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, what
is provided? Again, the winner will be determined, first come,
first serve!
Answer: A. 1 &
3
Options: 1. Desk
B. 2 &
4 2.
Computer
C. None of the
above 3.
Chair
D. All of the
above 4.
Printer
That's enough for this week - I really am trying to keep these short and sweet, but I want to keep you informed as well. Thank you for indulging me! As always, please do not hesitate to contact me about these or any other issues of importance to you.
Warmest regards,
Stephanie Sharp
17th District, KS House
Serving Lenexa and Shawnee