Friends:

Hold onto your seats – you’re in for quite a ride!  Welcome to the Sharp Record.  Please do not hesitate to respond to any of the following issues, I value your input!

Personal Activities, Education, and Floor Action all-in-one!  TONS OF INFO

Streamlined Sales Tax delay

HB 2599: http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/2599.pdf

Supplemental Note:  http://www.kslegislature.org/supplemental/2004/SN2599.pdf

This bill is the famed “Destination Sourcing Bill”, or “SSTP”, or if you are a business owner, you are more familiar with the term “Bane of Our Existence” bill.

Delaying the implementation of the SSTP PASSED 95-29.

Tax Bill Alert - Watch for amendments!!!

HB 2560:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/2560.pdf

Seems pretty simple – would increase the limit on interest accrued to $5, below which the county treasurers of Sedgwick, Johnson, and Shawnee counties are not required to collect interest due on delinquent personal property taxes.  This allows treasurers to collect delinquent taxes, which they may never get if they return the check and ask for another check with $1-$5 interest.

Because this bill deals with taxes, many other tax-type bills are germane to it, so there were a lot of amendments:

1.      Doubling the marriage exemption to $20,000.  PASSED onto the bill.  I supported this, even though I would be footing the bill for it – THERE IS NO SYMPATHY FOR SINGLE TAXPAYERS!!  J

2.      Governor’s TAXING plan:  Remember, this is the HUGE hit to Johnson County.  Her tax plan focuses on a 5% income tax.  Both the Shawnee Mission School Board and Superintendent and the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce have opposed this plan.  FAILED.

a.       Some education groups will say this was a vote against education funding.  However, when it comes to taxes, I believe that if everyone hurts a little, no one will hurt a lot.  Under this plan, Johnson County ends up in the Emergency Room!  (Insert your own “siren” noises here.)

3.      Governor’s spending plan + 1% Local Option Budget (LOB) increase –PASSED onto the bill.

a.       What is LOB?:  The Local Option Budget is that portion of a district’s budget that is provided by local money.  State law allows a district to supplement its budget locally up to 25% of what it gets from the state.  Every JoCo school district is “maxed out” on LOB, in other words, they have used all of their local taxing authority to move to the 25% ceiling.  Many other large districts across the state are in the same position.

b.      For years, the JoCo delegation has attempted to increase that local authority, to no avail.  People are afraid that if JoCo gets LOB, that we will no longer vote for school issues that affect the rest of the state.  As you know, this is absolutely NOT TRUE!  Thirty to forty percent of Johnson County residents are “transplants”.  We all want to employ educated workers, regardless of where they come from – it is our duty to ensure a GREAT education for ALL Kansans.

4.      Removing the requirement for those who file estimated income taxes to file quarterly.  It would cost the state $110 million, and isn’t really a good idea.  FAILED.

5.      Unfunded mandate to require school districts to hire teachers at a minimum salary of $30,000/year.  I like this idea, but it’s hard for us to complain about No Child Left Behind mandates when we’re passing down our own!  PASSED onto the bill.

On Final Action, the entire bill FAILED 51-71.  I voted NO.

This bill is not enough – we get VERY little (1% LOB increase over 5 years), which is a drop in the bucket (more like a drop in the aquifer) for Shawnee Mission schools.  We are negotiating on a daily basis to work for what Johnson County really needs and wants, and I am afraid of settling for “good enough” right now.  Stay tuned…

Internet pornography bill: 

HB 2420:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/2420.pdf

Requires internet pornography filters be used on public library computers.  It is my understanding that the Johnson County Library system is already doing this, but many across the state are not.  FINAL ACTION – passed 71-52.

Kansas Education for Youth (KEY) Plan – This is the plan developed by Shawnee Mission School District Finance Director Dr. Tim Rooney.  After two hours of debate, this bill did not pass General Orders, which means it will not have a Final Action vote.

Commerce and Labor:

WE PASSED A BILL OUT OF THIS COMMITTEE!!!  It has been so long that the Vice-Chairman joked that he forgot how to write a bill brief.  We passed a bill enabling the Real Estate Commission to revoke licenses when an issue comes up, instead of waiting until the agent seeks a license renewal.  It also removes the prohibition of offering incentives for referrals.  We are one of just a few states that still prohibit this practice, which is pretty standard in any business arena.

SB 404:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/404.pdf

Passed a bill that removes the requirement for private employers of inmates to pay unemployment taxes.  Public employers do not pay this tax and this bill levels the playing field for private companies.  Into that bill, we amended language that prohibits employees who take a pre-hire drug test, start work, the results come back positive for drugs and are subsequently fired, from collecting unemployment.

SB 483 http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/483.pdf

SB 440 http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/440.pdf

Health and Human Services:

We passed a resolution encouraging the KS Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to increase their outreach on the importance of cervical cancer screenings on the survivability of this disease.

Additionally, we passed a bill expanding the cancer incidence reporting requirements to doctors and dentists.  This will help KDHE more accurately report cancer incidence in Kansas, and will help to investigate cancer clusters.

SB 366:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/366.pdf

Ethics and Elections:

We passed the “Help America Vote Act” legislation this week, again.  This one of the bills the governor vetoed last year.  It requires you to show ID when you go to vote.  Seems pretty reasonable, huh?  Most folks think you have to show it anyway!  Apparently, she didn’t like that, so we’re trying again.  There are some problems with the bill for those with disabilities, but we may try to fix those on the floor.  It is my understanding that current ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) language requires polling locations to be accessible, but there are concerns with conflicts in the bill, and it may be amended on the floor to reflect the ADA language.

SB 479:  http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2004/479.pdf

Resources

Johnson County Statehouse Hotline!  Call Topeka for free – 913-715-5000 and ask to speak with your Representative or Senator.

Next week’s committee schedule:

House (page 6):  http://www.kslegislature.org/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi/agstat/2004/ha0311.pdf

Senate (page 3):  http://www.kslegislature.org/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi/agstat/2004/sa0311.pdf

LIVE!  Paperless House Health and Human Services Committee (1:30 – 3:00 pm daily):

http://www.kslegislature.org/committeeminutes/03-04/house/hhealth/h_hhs.shtml

• See and hear the committee in action, read agendas and testimony for the day
• You see everything I do!

LIVE!  House or Senate Chamber:

http://www.kslegislature.org/currenthappenings/index.html

Where’s Waldo (Rep. Sharp)?  March 5 – March 12, 2004

(Besides session and committee meetings 9am – 5 pm)

• Lunches:
• • KS Optometric Association
  • Johnson County Delegation lunch sponsored by Olathe, Overland Park and Lenexa Leadership classes.
  • Freshman lunch briefing by Dennis Hodges of Legislative Research, on gaming proposals.
• Women’s Caucus dinner
• KS Arts Council breakfast
• KS Children’s Campaign reception
• KS Feed and Grain dinner

Question of the Week!

Last Week’s Question:  The seventh game of the World Series this year went eleven innings. The only one that went longer was in 1924 (twelve innings). The pitcher of the 1924 winning team was from Kansas, and has been called the greatest pitcher in baseball history. Can you name this player, give his nickname, and tell us where he was born in Kansas?  The winner has to get 2 out of 3 correct to win!

Answer and Winner:  Colin Gotham, at Evans and Mullinix in Shawnee, was this week’s winner.  Colin wins a Seal of Kansas lapel pin and one of my refrigerator magnets!

Walter "Big Train" Johnson was born in Humboldt, Kansas. He was one of the first baseball players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Among the amazing statistics highlighting his career, his lifetime ERA (Earned Run Average) was 2.17. Other statistics: 801 games (14th all-time), 531 complete games (5th), 5,923 innings pitched (3rd), 416 wins (2nd), 110 shutouts (1st), and 3,508 strikeouts (7th).

NEW QUESTION:  Here’s one for you movie buffs:

Judy Garland starred in two movies with "Kansas ties".....name the "other" one.

Again, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to keep you updated and respond to your concerns.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of service to you.

Stephanie Sharp

17^th District, KS House

Serving Lenexa and Shawnee

www.stephaniesharp.com