Friends:

We're in the home stretch.  Next week is the last full week of the legislative session.  Next Friday is "drop dead" where bills must be passed out of the second chamber, unless they're exempt (bills that have been in the Appropriations, Judiciary, Federal and State Affairs, or Tax committees of either chamber).  This means if the bill started in the House, it has to be passed out of the House and also the Senate, and vice versa.  We spent a lot of time on the floor this week (22 bills up for discussion today), committees must be done by Tuesday of next week, and then we will spend endless hours debating bills the end of next week.

If you have pre-teen or teenage students, or any child for that matter, be sure to check out the information under "Announcements".

Announcements
Education and Personal Activities
Floor Activity
Commerce and Labor
Higher Education
Governmental Organizations and Elections
Where's Waldo
Resources

Announcements
We talk a lot about protecting kids from online and in-person predators, but you may not know the ways your child could be unintentionally opening themselves to these kinds of predators.  It's hard to keep up with technology, so I asked my local tech gurus (Jon Males and Randy Clark at The Record Publications) for advice about what every parent should know:

§          After being alerted to sites like Xanga, MySpace, and FaceBook, I was absolutely appalled.  This stuff is terrifying.  Did you know 7,342 Xanga sites are from Lenexa and Shawnee?  OP, KCK, and Olathe residents have another 43,599 sites.  That's JUST the Kansas side, and JUST on Xanga. 

§          Check out this website:  http://metros.xanga.com/metros/directory.aspx?id=277, click on a community, and see if you recognize any of these students.  I didn't even open any of the sites - I didn't need to.  The names and pictures in the directory were enough to scare me, and most likely you too.  Pre-teens and teens are extraordinarily active on these sites - even the youngest children had provocative site-names and directory pictures.  These names and pictures are there to encourage you to view their site.

§          You can search for your kids' (or their friends') names in the "Search" section, see if they have a blog (online diary) or are mentioned in blogs.  Put the names in quotation marks ("Stephanie Sharp") so you'll pull up your kids' names, not every Jimmy or Susie in the system.

§          www.myspace.com, and www.facebook.com were not as easy to navigate a search for names, but you should still peruse them for your own awareness of what's out there.

Education and Personal Activities
Still no hearings on any education bills, still bills floating around.  There was some movement on redefining at-risk for the purposes of funding, but it is still very much up in the air because no one knows which education bill will "have legs".  I tried to get the skinny on the exact definition, but apparently it's still being negotiated.

Floor Activity
The House agreed to the Senate's changes to the booster seat bill, so it is now headed to the governor.  

Motion to concur with Senate amendments passed 94-27.  It is now headed to the Governor's desk.

Concealed Carry

Again, in my two previous issue surveys of the district, this issue has been the one with no gray area.  Our district voted 75 percent opposed and 25 percent in support of concealed carry of handguns.  Furthermore, the Kansas Chiefs of Police oppose the bill, and Lenexa Police Chief Extraordinaire, Ellen Hanson, even provided testimony against the bill in committee.  Our law enforcement in Kansas is second to none, and I trust them to continue doing the great job they have done to maintain our low crime rates.

SB 418  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/418.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/418.pdf

Bill passed the House 90-33.  I voted NO.

Workers' Compensation

Again, this bill does not change medical coverage or temporary disability for any work-related injuries, regardless of pre-existing condition.  The bill would only limit the salary an employer would pay to employees and their lawyers to the amount of injury the work caused.  The employer would not have to pay lost salary on the amount of the pre-existing condition.  Pretty complicated bill, but this is my best effort to boil it down to non-lawyer speak!

SB 461  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/461.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/461.pdf

Bill passed the House 67-58.  I voted YES.

Elimination of the Franchise Tax

Must say, I was shocked when this one came up!  I hadn't heard any gossip about this bill, no emails opposed, no emails supporting, but it came to the floor and we all looked up toward the well with confusion on our faces…  Was this actually happening?  And it did!  Without a question, without an amendment, we eliminated the franchise tax on businesses.  Obviously, I'm still a bit stunned that it went by so easily, but a happy camper nonetheless.

HB 2548  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/2548.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/2548.pdf

Bill passed the House 92-30.  I voted YES.

Gambling in (on?) the Senate

The Senate debated gambling yesterday.  The bill, SB 587 would allow 2 destination casinos, one in Wyandotte County and the other in either Crawford or Cherokee County.  It would also allow slots at tracks in Kansas, which includes The Woodlands, Wichita Greyhound Park, a reopened racetrack in Crawford County (Pittsburg), and a new racetrack in Ford County (Dodge City).  There are a lot of details about where the money would go, and I could go into that, but it's kind of pointless now, because it failed.  If you want to see the breakdown, the Fiscal Note is very helpful, see the "Explanation" below.

Bill:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/587.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/587.pdf

Bill passed/did not pass the Senate 20-16, there were four abstentions. 

JoCo Senators voting YES:  Allen, Vratil, Wysong

JoCo Senators voting NO:  Brownlee, Jordan, O'Connor, Wilson

Abstentions:  Francisco (D-Lawrence), Betts (D-Wichita), Goodwin (D-Winfield), and Schodorf (R-Wichita)

Commerce and Labor
Have you or your kids taken Advance Placement (AP) courses?  The Board of Accountancy does not recognize credits a college gives you for these courses as credible to count for the 150 hours required to sit for the CPA exam.  Especially if you're a CPA, let me know what you think about this.  From what I understand, the medical boards and the bar exam are OK with AP credits, I think the Board of Accountancy should be too.  We'll hear this bill on the floor next week.

Bill:  HB 3004  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/3004.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/3004.pdf

Higher Education
No action.

Governmental Organizations and Elections

We heard testimony on a bill that would streamline the consolidation process for cities and counties.  There are still a lot of unanswered questions on the bill, but there is no doubt that we have TOO MANY units of government.  We have more units and taxing subdivisions (cities, counties, school districts, water districts, sewer districts, etc.) than all but four states:  California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. 

Bill:  SB 379  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/379.pdf

Explanation:  http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2006/379.pdf

Sharp Shadow

My first "Sharp Shadow" was Gary Manderfeld.  Gary is the Kansas Business Relations Manager for Sprint Nextel.  I asked him to share his thoughts about the day:

"I attended the Republican House morning caucus to hear what procedural items they wanted to get done that day.

The morning Commerce and Labor committee had two hearings with standing room only.  The committee members heard from tenants and landlords concerning leasing rules.  Then they heard from a number of people concerning issues about workers comp.

Immediately from the committee hearings, I went to the house floor.  Two things I quickly discovered by being on the house floor for only a short time.  There are a lot of procedural rules that are adhered to.  And, except for rare times, there is a constant buzz...many people are talking and walking about.

                In the afternoon, I attended the Health and Human Services committee hearing, watched the Senate awhile when they were in session and attended the Social Services Budget committee hearing.  Members heard from those who feel that electricians in Kansas should have continual training to help them keep up with code changes.  One of the best parts of the day...I had a good block of time to talk to Stephanie...one on one.  I must have asked two dozen questions and had a great time just listening and talking with her."

Interested in being a Sharp Shadow?  There isn't much time left, and the days remaining will certainly be exciting ones!  Reply to this email to schedule your day at the Capitol.

Where's Waldo?

Most folks said they don't read this section, so I'll mention visiting constituents and pages in the "Announcements" section, and leave out my activities for the previous week.

Resources

Johnson County Statehouse Hotline - Call Topeka for free!  Dial 913.715.5000 and ask for your Representative or Senator.  If you don't know, simply give them your address and they'll head you in the right direction!

Next Week's hearings:  See any bills that interest you?
House  http://www.kslegislature.org/agstat/2006/ha0317.pdf
Senate  http://www.kslegislature.org/agstat/2006/sa0317.pdf

LIVE!!  House or Senate Chamber
LIVE!! Paperless House Health and Human Services Committee (1:30-3:30 pm MTWR)

Please do not hesitate to contact me about these or any other issues of interest to you.  I appreciate the opportunity to represent you in Topeka.

Rep. Stephanie Sharp
17th District, Kansas House
Serving Lenexa and Shawnee
www.stephaniesharp.com
Home:  913-894-1201
Topeka phone: 785-296-7654 (Note: this is a change from last year.)