Friends:

This is Kansas Days weekend, the annual Republican shindig where we elect the new chair of the party and other party officers. Hold onto your seats, things are about to get very interesting. Read on…

In case you haven’t heard the scuttlebutt, there is still one House seat that is technically in limbo. You may know Rep. Jim Yonally lost the primary election in August to Dennis Kriegshauser. Dennis then lost by two votes (or three, depending on who you ask) to Rep. Gene Rardin, who has been sworn into the House. Kriegshauser challenged the results and continued his lawsuit through a couple of stages. Now, here’s the scenario:

The District Court judge agreed with the Johnson County Election Office and the Board of Canvassers which certified the election, that Rardin won by two votes.
Yesterday, the judge passed his findings to the House of Representatives.
Next, the Speaker of the House appoints three Republicans and three Democrats to a select committee to consider the evidence of the case.




a. Statute states equal numbers, and three of each party is what has been done in the two previous cases of this happening.

b. In these two cases, one was an exact tie and the winner was selected out of a hat. The second case was pretty clear - apparently the election commissioner in that county refused to count military ballots. So obviously, the legislature required the ballots be counted and the winner was clear upon that count.
Upon their appointment, the select committee has 10 legislative days to submit a recommendation to the entire House to uphold or overturn the election results.
After the recommendation is submitted, the House has five legislative days to vote on the recommendation. Yes, the House (78 Republicans, 47 Democrats) could overturn the election, regardless of any other findings.

See what I mean? Very interesting.

Announcements

Floor Activities

Commerce & Labor

Transportation

Government Efficiency & Technology
Where's Waldo
Resources

Announcements

The Kansas Senate is considering a statewide smoking ban! According to my 2007 online survey so far, an overwhelming majority of you support such a proposal. Obviously, this tends to be a controversial issue, and one in which legislators will need strong support from their district in order to support. To share your support or opposition on this issue, email your Senators:

          Julia Lynn: lynn@senate.state.ks.us

          Nick Jordan: Jordan@senate.state.ks.us

Ron Worley (30th District State Rep) and I will be hosting a community town hall meeting at the Lackman Library on February 10th, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. The public is invited and snacks will be provided. We will be sharing happenings in the legislature and we hope you have questions.
Congratulations to Lenexa Mayor Mike Boehm and Councilwoman Amy Slater on coasting to re-election! However, incumbents Andy Huckaba and John Ramsey have general election opponents, and Tom Nolte has both a primary and a general election.

Floor Activities

It was a great way to kick off floor activity for the session – with an all-out debate on education finance. Senate Bill 30 is the Senate’s version of a funding "lockbox" for years two and three of the education finance bill (that’s the education bill that passed last year that was bad for our area, and every JoCo legislator opposed). The House Appropriations Committee added a little debt repayment for the Regents institutions, to help with their maintenance funds. The Johnson County delegation attempted to add amendments to this bill which would make the plan better for our constituents. Without those amendments, it’s the same education plan we all opposed last year, so we opposed it again this year. We will continue working to tweak the formula so our kids get a fair shake.

Bill passed 105-17. I VOTED NO.

SB 30 (http://www.kslegislature.org/supplemental/2008/SN0030.pdf)

Commerce & Labor

Minimum wage basics: Some of you have asked for a briefer on minimum wage in Kansas. About 19,000 Kansans work in jobs that are exempt from the minimum wage. Of course, many of these are in positions where tips are intended to make up the difference (and then some) between the state minimum ($2.65) and the Federal minimum ($5.15). In general, any employee of a company that engages in interstate commerce is subject to the federal minimum wage.
 

The legislature has a handful of options on the table with regard to minimum wage. The first is to increase the state minimum wage. The second is to repeal the minimum wage completely and follow the federal minimum. The third is to see what the federal government does in the next few months - the U.S. House recently passed a minimum wage increase, and the bill is currently in a U.S. Senate committee for consideration.

Transportation

HB 2071 http://www.kslegislature.org/fiscalnotes/2008/2071.pdf

During the last session, we named a highway after a group of war veterans. Veterans of other wars thought we should recognize them as well. This bill renames the following:

Hwy 160: Spanish-American war veterans memorial highway

Hwy 24: World War II veterans memorial highway

Hwy 169: Civil War veterans memorial highway

Hwy 83: Korean War vegterans memorial highway

K-96: Persian Gulf War veterans memorial highway

K-156: War on Terrorism veterans memorial highway

K-53: patriot guard highway

The bill passed out of committee on Tuesday.

Government Efficiency & Technology

We’ve had continuing discussion on technology efficiencies that could be realized at the Regents institutions. Don Heinemann, the legislature’s Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) briefed us on the history of technology resources in Kansas, and we were able to ask questions about how we got where we are today and how we move forward.

We heard testimony on Wednesday regarding Fort Hays State University’s attempt to create an "Information Assurance" program.

Where's Waldo?

Meeting with Mary Ann Ciochon and others from Shawnee Mission NEA (teacher’s organization)
Overland Park legislative dinner
Press conference announcing introduction of campaign finance legislation
Meet with Sherry Streeter with the Johnson County Small Business Development Center at JCCC
KS Technology Enterprise Center’s PIPELINE reception & dinner. PIPELINE is an entrepreneurship program that recruits and trains Kansas’ top talent, helping them grow their businesses and stay in KS.
United Methodist breakfast
City Hall Day at the Capitol: Visits from Mayor Mike Boehm and City Council members Diane Linver and Cindy Green, in addition to City Administrator Eric Wade and Assistant City Administrators Matt Shatto and Molly Deckert
Participated in a grassroots advocacy panel for Interhab
Hope to see you at the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce annual dinner tomorrow evening!

Resources

Johnson County Election Office - www.jocoelection.org

Keep Kansas Sharp Blog: www.keepkansassharp.blogspot.com

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org

KS Ethics Commission: http://www.kansas.gov/ethics/

KS Legislative Research: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/ksleg/KLRD/klrd.html

Next week’s hearings: See anything of interest? Come to Topeka and testify (it’s easy and I can help).

House: http://www.kslegislature.org/agstat/2007/ha0126.pdf

Senate: http://www.kslegislature.org/agstat/2007/sa0126.pdf

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

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